Review of Halloween III: Season of the Witch

'Happy, Happy Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Silver Shamrock! It's almost time, kids. The clock is ticking. Be in front of your TV sets for the Horrorthon, followed by the Big Giveaway at 9.' quote the commercial in this film. Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, the movie is about a Halloween company's evil plot to kill millions of American children with deadly Halloween masks. These masks have a deadly computer chip made from a fragment of Stonehenge. When Silver Shamrock's commercial would air on Halloween night, the chip was to unleash a lethal swarm of insects and snakes, killing the wearer and anyone in the immediate vicinity. One might look at this film on paper, and call it silly at the time, but in a way, some people has smarten up and relooked it in a different light. It has gather somewhat of a cult status due to the fact that, it has taken as its own film and not part of the Halloween Slasher series. It also actually contains some interesting social commentary about commercialism and American greed. The movie is also has a lot of throwback to 1950s/ 1960 paranoia horror films like 1956's Invasion of the Body Snatchers & 1960's Psycho with hidden gems like the city of Santa Mira & the motel scene. You even see hidden homage to both of the previous Halloween films from 1978 & 1981 with clips of the previous film playing in the background and actors from the films having cameos like Jamie Lee Curtis as the curfew announcer. Still, it makes you wonder, if Michael Myer's Halloween was a movie than, why is Halloween 4 call Halloween 4, and not Halloween 3? It also makes you wonder how were; there even kids in 1988's Halloween 4: Return of the Michael Myers? The movie does have that fault, where the plot doesn't make a lot of sense. After all, it's mind-boggling to see oddly place twist and turns with robot androids, unexplained witchcraft, and random sex scenes. It drag the weak plot along with little to no exposition. How did they steal Stonehenge and shipping it secretly across the Atlantic? How does nobody in the western seaboard know about the fatal course-inducting ad? U.S does have four time zones. Even the film tagline doesn't make sense, "The night nobody comes home" is a play on the original Halloween movie's tagline, "The night, he came home.". If nobody came home, then does that mean that the children were saved, because none of them were able to watch the television program? By the end of the film, you're left with the question, 'WTF! Did I watch!?". Another fault of the film could be the overacting and underacting of the actors. Tom Atkins as the protagonist, Dr. Dan Challis wasn't what I call, memorable. He seem to fade in the background at times when stronger and more cartoony supporting characters are on the screen like Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy). Cochran is great, and really steals the film from Tom Atkins. He's a lot creepier than Michael Myers ever can be. Another reason why people might not like this film is because Myers isn't in it. Due to the success of the 1978 original, a sequel was indeed made, but when the studio want yet another movie. Producer John Carpenter had enough with the tiresome slasher. John Carpenter decided to transform the series into a yearly anthology of films centered around various aspects of Halloween. John Carpenter even try to pull the Halloween name from the film, wanting it to be titled: Season of the Witch. The idea was made because they wanted to keep the franchise alive and fresh, but any one of the entries could in turn become a franchise in its own right, spinning off its own sequels. It sounded like a studio's dream. Other producers like Dino De Laurentiis went against it, as it could be used as a hook to get audience members to see the film. Instead, Dino De Laurentiis ask for more blood and gore to the story, to feed the audience hungry for Michael Myers. Too bad, the special effects for the film were pretty cheesy and mediocre. The original writer of the story Nigel Kneale left during the production, and sued the producers to take his name off the movie after seeing how violent cheesy, it was. Halloween III attempted to accomplish the violent task without Nigel Kneale and original director Joe Dante, but ended up met with a massive backlash from a fan base and critics. It performed poorly at the box office due to this reason. As a result, John Carpenter walked away from the franchise, which would be given a reboot with Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers continuing the story from the original two films. It's sad in a way, because Halloween 3: Season of the Witch is more a Halloween movie than the original 1978's slasher film as the theme of the holiday plays more into the plot. It's an intelligent, surprising, and disturbing holiday film with a number of nice touches like the Silver Shamrock commercial. Not only is the tune, catchy as hell, but it was haunting to watch. Yes, it could be a bit annoying due to the overplay nature of it, but that's what's scary about it. It's an evil thing, hidden under children innocent. A novelization of the film was published in 1982 by science-fiction writer Dennis Etchison under the pseudonym Jack Martin. Despite the film's commercial failure, the book became a best-seller and was even reissued two years after the film's release, in 1984. Overall: Halloween III: Season of the Witch is one of my favorite guilty pleasure horror movies besides the nihilistic ending. While, it's not a good movie at all. It's still, entertaining.