Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) Universal/Horror RT: 99 minutes Rated R (language, graphic violence, disturbing images, brief nudity, some sexual content) Director: Tommy Lee Wallace Screenplay: Tommy Lee Wallace Music: John Carpenter and Alan Howarth Cinematography: Dean Cundey Release date: October 22, 1982 (US) Cast: Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O’Herlihy, Michael Currie, Ralph Strait, Jadeen Barbor, Bradley Schachter, Garn Stephens, Nancy Loomis (as “Nancy Kyes”), Jon Terry, Al Berry, Wendy Wessberg, Essex Smith, Nurse Agnes. Box Office: $14.4M (US)
Rating: ****
Let’s dispense with the obvious. Everybody knows Halloween III: Season of the Witch has NOTHING to do with the previous two movies. Well, almost nothing. This entry does reference the Celtic festival of Samhain and links it to witchcraft. Samhain was mentioned in Halloween II, but any connection between that and the murderous activities of Michael Myers is only vaguely implied. Samhain plays a more significant role in the plot of this decidedly bizarre horror movie about an evil Halloween mask manufacturer, Conal Cochran (O’Herlihy, RoboCop), who has an evil surprise planned for Halloween night. Oops, I seem to be getting ahead of myself here; let me start from the beginning.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch opens with a man running away from mysterious figures wearing business suits. He appears to be insane. He’s clutching a rubber Halloween mask and saying “They’re gonna kill us all.” He’s taken to the hospital and placed under the care of Dr. Dan Challis (Atkins, The Fog). Another man in a suit (played by Dick Warlock who played Myers in Halloween II) enters his room and kills the man by breaking his skull with his bare hands. He returns to his car and kills himself by way of self-immolation.
The daughter Ellie (Nelkin, Get Crazy) arrives on the scene and demands answers that nobody seems to have. She initiates her own investigation and discovers that just before he died, her father, the owner of a small toy shop, drove to a factory in the small fictional town of Santa Mira to pick up an order of Halloween masks. They’re not the cheap kind of masks you’d find at Woolworth’s, the kind that fasten to kids’ heads with rubber bands. These are hand-crafted masks from the Silver Shamrock Novelty Company- a skull, a witch and a jack-o’-lantern.
Challis joins Ellie on a road trip to Santa Mira to find out more about her father’s business there. That’s where they find out Cochran is more than a toymaker. He runs Santa Mira. He has the entire community under surveillance. There’s a 6pm curfew for everybody. It should be obvious to our two amateur sleuths something sinister is going on. They’re invited on a guided tour of the factory by Cochran himself. It’s a super-secure facility; it’s guarded by men in business suits. Hmmm. Something definitely isn’t right here, but what?
As much as I really like Halloween III: Season of the Witch, it leaves me with a lot of questions. Cochran’s evil plan involves a rock stolen from Stonehenge. How the hell did he manage to steal it in the first place? Each rock weighs a few tons. And how did he get it to Northern California undetected by law enforcement. An object like that isn’t exactly inconspicuous. Was everybody asleep at the wheel that day or what? The logistics of such an undertaking are against it in every conceivable way. Here’s another one. If the town has a 6pm curfew, why is there a store still open for business when Challis ventures out for a bottle of booze? If nobody’s supposed to be on the streets, how does the store owner expect to do business? And if nobody’s supposed to be out after hours, how is it that a town drunk is wandering around? Actually, I do know the answer to that one. It’s a convenient plot device that allows Challis to gather intel on Cochran and Santa Mira.
The idea behind the different story direction taken by Halloween III: Season of the Witch is actually quite interesting. Instead of making a routine sequel, producers Debra Hill and John Carpenter wanted to turn the franchise into an anthology series a la Night Gallery or Twilight Zone with each subsequent entry focusing on a different aspect of Halloween. It obviously didn’t work out like they hoped. Horror fans directed a lot of hate at Halloween III: Season of the Witch for its deviation from Myers’ storyline. I thought it was a great idea. Writer-director Tommy Lee Wallace, art director and production designer on the 1978 original, does a fine job of creating something wholly original.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch isn’t so much a slasher flick as it is a mad scientist movie. Cochran is a cross between a mad scientist and a James Bond villain. Wallace employs the old “Talking Killer” plot device used in nearly every 007 movie. Upon capturing our heroes, Cochran carefully explains every detail of his nefarious plan to Challis. Like all movie villains, he thinks he’s rendered the hero helpless in stopping whatever he has planned. Like all movie villains, he’s dead wrong. Everybody knows the hero always prevails. The “Talking Killer” moment takes place in Cochran’s laboratory, a large room in the factory occupied by men sitting at computers while other men in white jackets rush around with clipboards. Yep, another cliché right out of the 007 playbook.
While I’ve been writing this review, I’ve been debating whether or not to reveal something about Cochran’s security force. I’ve decided against it even though I’m certain many of you reading this review already know. I’ll only say there’s a “reasonable” explanation why they’re able to rip a man’s head from his body with their bare hands. It’s a sweet gross-out moment though. There’s another cool scene where Cochran does a test run of his plan with icky results involving bugs and snakes. Believe me, it’s disgusting. The violence in Halloween III: Season of the Witch is markedly different from its two predecessors.
I’d like to return to the connection (or lack thereof) between Halloween III: Season of the Witch and the first two movies. Oddly enough, there are two scenes where footage from the first movie is seen on TV sets. It lends a surreal note to the proceedings. Here’s a little more trivia for all you buffs. Challis’ ex-wife is played by Nancy Loomis who played Annie in the original. Jamie Lee Curtis, star of the other two movies, contributes her voice as the curfew announcer and a telephone operator. When a character throws one of the masks onto a surveillance camera in the factory, there’s a shot reminiscent of the opening scene of the first Halloween where we see the murder of Judith Myers through the eye holes in young Michael’s mask. In a nod to another horror classic, Santa Mira is named for the town in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And isn’t it weird the motel owner bears a striking resemblance to Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond?
Both leads in Halloween III: Season of the Witch are very good. Atkins is no stranger to fans of John Carpenter; he also appeared in The Fog and Escape from New York. He has a genuine leading man quality. He makes Challis an interesting character. Here’s a doctor who drinks too much, neglects his two young children and continually tries the patience of his already pissed-off ex-wife. He takes off with Ellie at a moment’s notice, promising to be home in time to take his kids trick-or-treating. We know it’s a promise he won’t keep even if he could which he can’t.
I’ve saved the best for last and that would the wonderful Stacey Nelkin. Now she’s a young actress who really deserved to be a bigger star; she can act circles around the likes of Brooke Shields and Molly Ringwald. Much like Jamie Lee Curtis, she’s plays a character who’s intelligent and resourceful. She has a powerful voice and graceful presence. She’s also quite beautiful. I can’t believe she didn’t find the same level of stardom as many of her peers who got by on looks instead of actual talent. I’d actually like to see Nelkin make a comeback in a smaller independent movie, one in which she can display the full range of her talents.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch is an unusual movie to be sure. I wouldn’t exactly call it a scary movie, but it’s definitely an eerie one. I especially like the final scene; it’s simultaneously frustrating and the perfect way to end (or maybe I should say “STOP!”) this tale of terror. It stands far apart from the hackneyed horror sequels that teenage audiences show up in droves to see. It’s something different; who says that’s a bad thing?
I know how I have to end this article. Please join me in singing this little ditty I’m sure you all know.
“X more days till Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, X more days till Halloween. Silver Shamrock!”
