Now that Halloween Kills – the third movie in the new timeline – is in theatres it is a perfect time to look back at another third Halloween-movie, Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982). This black sheep of the Halloween-franchise was long considered the worst entry by many. Critic Aja Romano called it “a dirty trick on all Halloween fans”. People primarily didn’t like it because of how different it was from the first two movies:; it doesn’t take place in the same timeline as its predecessors, and it isn’t a slasher. But the main reason that people hated it was that Michael Myers, the masked killer from the previous two movies, doesn’t show up in this one except for a few seconds on a small television. Now that almost forty years have passed it is time to give Halloween III: Season of the Witch another chance.
Halloween III’s strange place in the Halloween-franchise’s complicated chronology – like as you can see in the graphic below – can only be understood if you know some things that happened behind the scenes. When John Carpenter and Debra Hill – the creative brains behind the series – first came up with the idea of the Halloween-franchise they envisioned it as an anthology, like the Twilight-Zone or Black Mirror. But when the first entry became as popular as it did, the studio demanded another movie with the looming killer, Michael Myers. So John Carpenter and Debra Hill agreed, and Halloween II was made. When that sequel also was a box-office hit, they got the green-light to do what they set out to do from the beginning and they made Halloween III: Season of the Witch, a movie whose story is completely separated from the first two entries. Soon it would become known that that was not what people wanted from a Halloween-movie. The movie was a box-office bomb and almost only got bad reviews; it was considered so bad that it completely changed the plan of how the next movies in the franchise would look.
Overview of all the released Halloween-films up to 2021 in their respective timelines
An odd couple investigates an evil Willy Wonka
After her father is murdered under suspicious circumstances by an emotionless man in a grey suit, Ellie Grimbridge teams up with her late father’s doctor to investigate the murder. Doctor Daniel Challis – like so many movie heroes from the eighties – is a womanising alcoholic. Because the only hint as to what might have happened is the pumpkin mask that Ellie’s father was clutching in his hand, they decide to start there. Together they travel to Santa Mira, home to the toy factory where the famous Silver Shamrock masks are made. The company is owned by an overly happy and friendly owner; you could call him a kind of evil Willy Wonka. Working for him are a number of very similar emotionless men as the one that killed Ellie’s father and some of them even wear the same grey suits. Soon dr. Daniel Challis and Ellie Grimbridge will discover that the Silver Shamrock company has a dark supernatural secret.
A haunting score and a commercial earworm
The atmosphere of a movie can be made or destroyed by the choice of music. The score of Halloween III: Season of the Witch is like its predecessors composed by John Carpenter. Apart from being a director and producer he is most known for being an amazing musician. In this movie he again lives up to that reputation. The haunting score is reminiscent of the first two movies and really helps to build tension throughout the entire film. A piece of music that I cannot speak so fondly of is the jingle from the Silver Shamrock commercial. It’s an earworm that they play way too much and gets annoying verry fast.
Theatrical release poster for Halloween III: Season of the Witch – © 1982 Universal Studios
A popcorn movie that shows its age
I don’t want to pretend that this film is without any faults. It has a number of pacing issues; some scenes keep dragging on. The writing is very on the nose: characters always say exactly what they are thinking. The movie also shows its age on a number of occasions. The way the main character acts around women is seen very differently in a post-me too era. The big age gap is brushed off with the line “Relax, I’m older than I look”. The movie treats alcoholism as just another character quirk and makes extensive use of the nagging (ex-)wife trope.
That being said, I cannot in good faith say that this movie is bad. It has an intriguing premise that overall is well executed and a frightening villain. More importantly, it is original, which cannot be said about many of the other Halloween-sequels. In this one, Michael Myers doesn’t go around murdering a bunch of people until he is killed only to be resurrected in the next movie. But that is also its greatest weakness. It doesn’t feel like a Halloween-film and because of that – if you want to judge it fairly – you have to separate it from the rest of the franchise. Another strength of this movie is its great practical effects that still hold up to this day, like when we see a child’s head decay and turn into bugs and other creatures underneath his mask. This is even more impressive if you compare them to the almost always fake looking digital effects that movies of today so often use.
So, if you are in the mood for a campy horror film that combines mystery with science-fiction and a touch of witchcraft, I would recommend that you watch Halloween III: Season of the Witch next October 31.