Halloween III: Season of The Witch (1982).

[EmmanuelZorg]

A very misunderstood Sci-fi horror thriller from producers John Carpenter and Debra Hill, people been bitching on why Michael Myers isn't in it. There's a good reason for this movie:

Michael Myers died at the end of "Halloween 2" in 1981 cause co-writer John Carpenter had enough of him and wanted his story including Loomis's story to be over as they were blown in the hospital to be burned and Michael sent to hell perminately. He came up with a concept for the franchise to become a big screen anthology of different halloween themed stories kind of like "Twilight Zone", "Tales from The Crypt", "Creepshow", and "Tales from The Darkside" about the title holiday itself and not Michael Myers. Unfortunately when the film came out on October 27th 1982 Carpenter didn't marketed this concept to the public thus audiences were confused and the film bombed at the box-office big time.

Carpenter and Debra Hill with Dino De Laurentiis Studios discontinued the anthology concept and it died a quick death, of course he sold the rights to Moustappha Akkad who produced all three movies and John Carpenter returned for part 4.

Personally i thought this was a well done and very chilling mix of HP Lovecraft and David Cronenberg with that Carpenter tone as it actually predated films like "The Stuff" and "They Live" on the whole consumerism taken over an evil thing kind of concept. This movie has gotten more respect over the new millenium and is a cult classic for it tried to experiment on something but went wrong.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I actually watched this movie for the first time last year and was pretty impressed with it. I was expecting something godawful, but it turned out to be creepy and the Silver Shamrock song was both hypnotic and creepy. It was pretty cool to see The Old Man from RoboCop playing another villain role, and I thought the acting was well done.

Don't get me wrong, I love Halloween 4 and 5 but I would have liked to have seen the proposed anthology series. Maybe since they're plugging Halloween II as a final chapter, maybe they can retry the anthology series and market it as such.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I haven't seen it in a very long time but the last time I did the local station played that Silver Shamrock or whatever song at each commercial bumper. I couldn't get that out of my head for way way too long and I'm afraid to watch it again for that reason.

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

I really love this movie. It's nice to see some praise for it. I've seen it bashed for so long, mainly because Michael Myers isn't in it, but I've always found it to be a cool kind of B movie. Dan O'Herlihy is excellent as the villain and I love his speech about samhain. He brings a nice creepiness to the role of Cochrane, a man who hates what Halloween has become. "Kids go out begging for candy." For him it's like his religion and way of life and now it's become a mockery of what it originally was.

I have to give praise also to Dean Cundey as director of photography. He does such a great job with the look and feel for this film like he did on the previous two. For me, he is somewhat underappreciated when it comes to the work he did with Carpenter. They were a great team and I'd love to see them work together again. I'm surprised more horror directors haven't hired him.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

It had a Carpenter-esque feel at times, but I didn't care for it. The main reason was that song...arghh...I'll never watch it again for that reason.

There's a bit of absurdity to the premise. The villain can make life-like mechanical people but seems only interested in making kids suffer painful deaths on Halloween. (Were any of his workers real? Was the girl ever real?)

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

Yeah, there are some definite plot holes. I always thought the girl was real up until the end when they kidnapped her. I figured Cochrane replaced her at that moment. From that point on she doesn't talk and seems to be robotic acting.

 

[EmmanuelZorg]

Do you think the anthology idea would have worked? i think if they made "Halloween 2" the anthology idea instead of continuing Michael Myers with the big white face guy being left alone part 1 then would it work?

Hey Turd, what do you think of the original movie with part 2, H2O and Rob Zombie's Halloween?

 

[miraclefan]

I was thinking about doing a Halloween 3 thread, but ''Zorg'' beat me to it! Anyway I think this movie is VERY underrated, this is my favorite ''Halloween'' movie for so many reasons.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Do you think the anthology idea would have worked? i think if they made "Halloween 2" the anthology idea instead of continuing Michael Myers with the big white face guy being left alone part 1 then would it work?

Hey Turd, what do you think of the original movie with part 2, H2O and Rob Zombie's Halloween?

I love the first one, definitely one of my all-time favorite horror flicks. The second one bored me to tears and it's been a while since I've seen H20.

Rob Zombie's Halloween I'm kinda mixed about. I think the first half with Michael and Dr. Loomis in the asylum is an interesting take. But, I think it falls a little flat once Michael gets back to Haddenfield. So, I usually watch the first half of Halloween 2007 then finish it with Halloween 78.

And I think Malcolm McDowell is a great Dr. Loomis, although not quite as good as Donald Pleasance

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

Do you think the anthology idea would have worked? i think if they made "Halloween 2" the anthology idea instead of continuing Michael Myers with the big white face guy being left alone part 1 then would it work?

I think it might have done better if it was done for part 2 instead of part 3, but then again people loved the first one with Michael Myers so much that it's hard to tell. The ending of the first one looks like it was set up for a sequel even though that wasn't their original intentions. They didn't even know if it would make money at that time.

I personally would have liked to have seen an anthology series instead of what the series became. I do somewhat like part 4, the producer's cut of 6 and H20, The first three are my favorites though. I can watch those over and over.

 

[Daneel]

Not really a good film... it definitely screams "B-movie", but I do appreciate the attempt to do something different rather than just having Michael Myers stalking and killing people once again.

It did have some suitably creepy moments, and Dan O'Herlihy made for a decent villain (his ultimate plan was certainly frightening and heinous). But as has been said, there are a few plot-holes and logic problems towards the end (for instance, if the girl was a robot since the time the doctor "rescued" her, why did she help him escape? Why didn't she try to stop him from destroying the factory?) And yes, the whole thing does seem rather far-fetched.

Still, while it could have been better-executed, it's not unwatchable. A valiant effort to restructure the Halloween franchise, and I kind of wish they had continued on with this format.

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

(for instance, if the girl was a robot since the time the doctor "rescued" her, why did she help him escape? Why didn't she try to stop him from destroying the factory?)

I agree. I had the same problem with that too. The way I rationalize it now, after watching it numerous times, is that she doesn't seem to get hostile until the Silver Shamrock commericial is played on the car radio, maybe that activated some kind of programming in her. Not saying it makes complete sense, but that's the way I look at.

It's definitely a flawed film, but fun to watch it.

 

[Grant]

It was rightfully bashed because it does not give the audience what they bargin for---a sequel to the halloween saga.

i've got no beef with them making the movie they made---just don't call it Halloween 3--it is purposely misleading. whatever meager money it made would have been much less if people had known they weren't getting MM.

 

[barnaclelapse]

It's a shame it did so poorly, and I think it's gotten a bad rap over the years from its association with a series that it has nothing to do with. I've had a few conversations over the years with people who dismissed the film before even seeing it. I don't think it's any kind of masterpiece, but I do consider it to be a decent, little horror movie.

 

[Vonstadt]

I an a huge fan of the original two Halloween's with Michael Myers, but after that they just got silly and weren't to scary. I am not a fan of Zombie's take on it, I rather liked how Michael in the first two was this ambigious force of evil, not a defined psychotic.

However Season of the Witch is a great Halloween (the night not the series) movie! I loved it and the actual plot is rather chilling! Child Sacrifices and they will go willing to it!

*sings* 8 more days to Halloween...Halloween ...Halloween...Silver Shamrock...

Followed by the nice fatherly Silver Shamrock voiceover reminding children to wear their special masks and watch the broadcast JUST for them...

The blinking pumpkin....

Ever since I first saw the movie and now as a parent...God the thought of just how MANY children they would get....even with just the one Network still showing it at the end....WOW

Scary

A timeless B Movie classic in its own right.

Vons

 

[suarezguy]

I also watched it for the first time last year and was very impressed, the villains' power and evil was built-up very well and the Halloween day part was especially intense.

 

[Captain Craig]

I bought this movie on VHS circa 1990 to have a complete run of Halloween movies on my shelf. I intended to watch it, really I did. Then circa 2005 I sold all my VHS movies that I could(think I got $1 per tape) and threw the rest away.

Never did see Halloween 3. Maybe one day.

 

[EmmanuelZorg]

Michael should have been left for dead after part 2.

 

[nx1701g]

Michael should have been left for dead after part 2.

I'm sorry to say that I don't think that'll ever happen. The character has brought the company too much money and, while they're marketing Halloween II as the last one, I doubt that it'll be the end. Rob Zombie, for example, had said he felt his take on the character was over after Halloween, but the producers told him they were going to make another with or without his help so he signed on to do part 2.

I honestly expect in about two years there'll be Halloween 3.

 

[Pingfah]

I like this film personally, i've never been a Michael Myers fan, and whilst Halloween is groundbreaking in ways, and an interesting watch from a historical POV it is also not the best example of it's genre by any means. And viewed in the context of it's own legacy, it's actually quite an average boring slasher flick IMO. So frankly the absence of Myers is unimportant to me.

Halloween III presented a nice little idea, and carried it off fairly effectively. It was creepy, and bloody. For years though the only cut available on video in the UK was heavily edited for a 15 certificate, with scenes like the head wrenching and spurting blood removed entirely. It was always broadcast on TV in it's unedited version though, so I was pleased to finally be able to pick up an unedited DVD of it a little while ago.