review

HALLOWEEN 3: SEASON OF THE WITCH

After wrapping up the Myers storyline - at least for the time being - with HALLOWEEN 2, John Carpenter and Debra Hill decided to move the still-emerging franchise in a totally unexpected direction. Envisioning the HALLOWEEN franchise as a TALES FROM THE CRYPT-style series, with unconnected stories using the holiday of Halloween as a backdrop, the pair turned to Nigel Kneale, author of the QUATERMASS series, to create a suitable storyline for their new film. After finishing the screenplay, Kneale bowed out, leaving Carpenter and attached director, Tommy Lee Wallace, to reshape the screenplay into the form we see today.


Tom Atkins and Stacey Nelkin in Halloween 3

The film was a total bomb, both critically and with HALLOWEENs fanbase - naturally as it did not concern Michael Myers - but has become a cult picture of sorts today. Had they decided to release HALLOWEEN 3 under its subname, SEASON OF THE WITCH, the film might have faired better. It should have faired better because HALLOWEEN 3 is one helluva fun film. It might not have the looks and style of the earlier entries - though cinematographer Dean Cundey returns - but it's eerily effective and, in many ways, much more enjoyable in that b-flick kinda way.


A misfire in Halloween 3

Wallace describes this movie frequently as a "pod movie" and it's easy to see why. The obvious influence on HALLOWEEN 3 is INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS - the setting of HALLOWEEN 3 is called Santa Mira after the setting of BODY SNATCHERS - and it shows right up to the end of the film. This is a film that could be considered science fiction as easily as it could be considered horror, with its vague science involving pieces of Stonehenge and neuro-transmitters, but few science fiction films feature scenes of eye-gouging and manual decapitation. Its also an incredibly funny film, with a sharp satiric eye and keen eye for irony. In a brief stretch of the film we bounce from the horrific - the "testing" sequence where the mad scientist/cultist kills off a whole family - to the suspenseful - a tense chase through a factory crawling with baddies - to the hilarious - Dan's repeated attempts to put down the automiton designed to resemble his girlfriend. This is a real treat of a film that works on so many levels that it's rather amazing it holds together at all.


Dan O'Herlihy as Cochran in Halloween 3

As far as motives and methods go, HALLOWEEN 3s villain Cochran fits right in with the James Bond baddies. His plan is simple: using his super-popular Halloween masks - he runs the Silver Shamrock Novelties Corporation, creator of children's toys - Cochran plans on murdering millions of children on Halloween night. He has attached to each mask a small piece of Stonehenge - Cochran's explanation as to how he and his cult had managed to not only steal a huge piece of rock but also transfer it is priceless - hidden inside the giant Silver Shamrock logo piece on the back of each mask. A special commercial is set to run on Halloween night and, as millions of children watch, a signal will trigger the piece of magic rock inside the masks, reducing them to bug-ridden corpses. We see this only once when Cochran demonstrates the power of the masks to Dan. As little Buddy watches the commerical, he grabs at the mask as it slowly seems to dissolve. When he collapses, bugs begin to pour out of the mask holes, followed soon after by large poisonous snakes. Ridiculous, to be sure, but also grotesque and hilarious. The use of the television set as the conduit, as the instrument of murder, is wonderful. No one ever imagines what would happen if that turned on us. It's in every house, usually on even if no one's watching, the perfect instrument of destruction for a mad scientist-type like Cochran.


Little Buddy bites it in Halloween 3

I'm glad to see that HALLOWEEN 3 is finally getting the love it deserves. I've long been a fan and it seems I've spent the majority of my adult life defending it from the HALLOWEEN fanboys who refuse to see past the title. Knowing Carpenter's intentions at the time for the franchise - which most HALLOWEEN fans do - would seem to get HALLOWEEN 3 off the hook, but it doesn't. That's a shame as HALLOWEEN 3 is one of the best, most original, fun, frantic, and hilarious horror films of the 1980s. I'll give it the title I feel is wasted on junk like FRIDAY THE 13TH and SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT... I'll call it a "classic".

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