Halloween III: Season of the Witch Review
Halloween Ends isn’t the first-time moviegoers looked around the theater and asked themselves “Where’s Michael Myers?” That honor belongs to the 1982 franchise entry Halloween III: Season of the Witch. The next question they asked was “Ok…but where is the witch?”
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
Written by Tommy Lee Wallace
Starring Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin and Dan O’Herlihy
Halloween III: Season of the Witch Review
Believing that the Halloween franchise could continue without Michael Myers as the antagonist, John Carpenter and Debra Hill agreed to return to the franchise in 1982 if Halloween III was not a sequel to the first two films. Tommy Lee Wallace, editor on the original Halloween, stepped in as writer and director for an altogether different kind of Halloween.
Doctor Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) and Ellie Grimbridge (Stacey Nelkin) investigate a nefarious plot by the Silver Shamrock Novelties company. Discovering their intention to mass sacrifice children in a Samhain ritual, they must put a stop to their plan by Halloween night. There are also androids.
Halloween III is an interesting beast. It’s so odd…and yet it’s made like a straight investigative horror film where we get pieces of information as it goes along…as if that information isn’t utterly insane. It builds to a dynamite climax so you kind of forgive how slowly it progresses for a movie about androids and killer children’s masks.
Halloween III earns a full letter grade bump thanks to its lead character, Dr. Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins). Challis may be a womanizing, alcoholic, workaholic, absentee father…but he’s a womanizing, alcoholic, workaholic, absentee father with a heart of gold. Challis is so cavalier about the increasing lunacy of his situation that it’s little surprise when he straight up murders a group of Sliver Shamrock employees without batting an eyelash. Atkins walks through increasingly dire situations as if he is late for an appointment somewhere else…and it is wonderful.
Halloween III’s plot is so ridiculous that you can’t help but love it. By the time all is revealed we see pieces of Stonehenge used in Halloween masks to kill the person wearing them and release insects and snakes. The event will be triggered by a television special set to air on all three major networks (which used to be a thing). The evil plot is overseen by the diabolical Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy) and his army of androids. This is the plot of Halloween III. I suppose this Stonehenge Samhain sacrifice is the witchcraft…but I still don’t know why it’s called Season of the Witch.
Cochran is your standard “explain the entire plot and leave you to easily escape” villain, but O’Herlihy plays him with a quiet menace that works. With a scheme this insane it was a good choice to have the mastermind play it more grounded. He kidnaps Ellie and then stoically shows off his plan to Challis by killing a child in front of him. You’ll never see two people have less extreme reactions to child murder than Cochran and Challis.
Being our hero, for some reason, Challis rescues Ellie and escapes from the Silver Shamrock factory. In a twist that certainly wasn’t needed, but is a lot of fun, Ellie is now an android. Was she replaced by an android? Was she somehow turned into an android? They never tell us. But Challis vs. Android Ellie is on and it’s awesome. Dismembered arm attacks, headless body attacks…it’s all here. There isn’t the slightest hint that this is coming. Android Ellie waits until Challis has destroyed the factory, murdered the workers, and is driving away to reveal herself. She’s basically complicit in the whole thing despite playing for the other side.
Halloween III climaxes, as all movies should, with a phone call. Exactly who Challis calls to attempt to get programming taken off three national networks at once is anyone’s guess. It almost works. Two of the three stations pull the program in the nick of time…but the third network leaves it on. We end on what should be an iconic shot of Dr. Challis screaming to turn it off as, presumably, a third of those mask wearing children have been killed and released snakes and bugs on their parent’s carpets.
At least in theory…Halloween III doesn’t concern itself with time zones. They want everyone to tune in at 9 o’clock…and the movie is set in California…which means every kid with a mask could already be dead from the other three time zones for all we know. Still…good on Challis for saving as many as he could. I’m sure he cracked a beer and went back about his day the moment the movie ended.
Look, Halloween III is nuts. It’s also much slower than you’d expect a movie with this plot to be. Those could be big negatives…but somehow, they just aren’t in this case. Maybe it’s because the investigation results in the most batshit plan ever, maybe it’s because the movie is so well shot, maybe it’s because it has another killer score…but the whole thing works. Plot holes, odd choices and slow parts be damned.
Scare Value
Time has been kind to this once outcast entry in the Halloween franchise. It still sticks out of the series as it isn’t even a little bit about Michael Myers…but the quality of the film rises above several later installments. The anthology idea wouldn’t catch on and Michael Myers would return six years later and never leave the franchise again (well…mostly). Either way, Halloween III has a killer ending after a decent investigative horror build and Tom Atkins is great. If you’ve always skipped this movie in your Halloween watches…it’s time to give it a watch.
3/5
