“It's almost time, kids. The clock is ticking. Be in front of your TV sets for the Horrorthon, followed by the Big Giveaway. Don't miss it. And don't forget to wear your masks. The clock is ticking. It's almost time.”
'Halloween III: Season of the Witch' is one of the most hated and unappreciated sequels in the history of film. The public was excited to see another Halloween film, but when it came out in 1982 they weren’t happy with the film. Why? Well there was no Michael Myers in it. People almost instantaneously rejected it and loathed it. According to urban legends, the backlash involved fans attacking the screens and demanding the theaters to issue them refunds. Hopefully my review with my reasons on why I personally love this film you’ll give it another shot.
As any Halloween fan would know, John Carpenter and Debra Hill wanted to make a series of films that took place on Halloween. It was his vision for the Halloween franchise. It was a nice idea for an ongoing horror anthology series. Only one thing: Halloween II brought back Michael Myers, which instantly screwed up Carpenter and Hill’s idea for the series. They tried it anyways with Season of the Witch. If it wasn’t for Halloween II, I believe many would love the film. Imagine how many great Halloween films there would be. There would be no Halloween Resurrection.
The film starts off eight days before Halloween with Harry running for his life from men in business suits. He’s holding onto a Silver Shamrock Jack O’ Lantern mask for dear life. He escapes and is taken to the hospital. He’s under the care of Dr. Dan Challis. One of the suits found Harry and murders him in his room. Dan chases after him, but the suit burns himself in his car and it explodes.
The next day Ellie, Harry’s daughter, comes to talk with Dan about what happened. The both of them look into why her father was murdered. Their investigation brings them to Santa Mira, California. It’s the home of the Silver Shamrock Novelties Company, owned by a Conal Cochran. The company is responsible for making the Halloween masks that every kid wants. After further investigation they find out that the suits work for Cochran. That Harry found out the secret that Cochran plans to sacrifice all the children who wear their masks. Cochran wants to resurrect ancient witchcraft. The masks contain a pin, which has a microchip. The microchips have fragments of Stonehenge.
The performances are great. Tom Atkins plays the likable and charismatic Dr. Dan Challis. He’s a character you can’t help, but to root for. Women love him, but his ex-wife. He likes to drink, but he’s what you call a functioning drunk. Tom Atkins did a wonderful job and I think he’s a highly underrated actor. His performance was solid.
Then there’s our antagonist Cochran who plays a great villain. Actually looking back on it, he is probably in my top ten favorite villains. He’s the owner of Silver Shamrock Novelties and is basically running the town of Santa Mira where his company resides. He has cameras everywhere in town to keep an eye on the townspeople to make sure they do nothing to harm his company. He even gives the town a curfew. When we finally meet him, he comes across as a very polite, charming, and overall a really nice guy. But of course, he’s an evil Druid and his company is simply a front for a Druid witch cult. Throughout the film Cochran is uncannily calm. He never once raises his voice. The most intense he ever got was when he tells Dan what’s his motive for doing it.
“I do love a good joke, and this is the best ever: a joke on the children. But there's a better reason. You don't really know much about Halloween. You thought no further than the strange custom of having your children wear masks and go out begging for candy. It was the start of the year in our old Celtic lands, and we'd be waiting in our houses of wattles and clay. The barriers would be down, you see, between the real and the unreal, and the dead might be looking in to sit by our fires of turf. Halloween... the festival of Samhain! The last great one took place three thousand years ago, when the hills ran red with the blood of animals and children.”
He simply thinks of it as a joke on the children. When Dan manages to escape and turns the microchips against Cochran, but he doesn’t get upset or yell. He simply smiles and claps because he knows he’s already won. Dan O’Herlihy plays Cochran perfectly. It’s a shame he never played a Bond villain.
We can’t talk about the film without talking about the music. The music is fantastic and it’s mostly synthesizer. It fits in the film seamlessly, but we can’t talk about the music without that Silver Shamrock jingle. They took the beat from ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’ and made it into their very own creepy jingle. It’s upbeat, loud, and just plain aggravating. Even the characters in the film say how annoying that jingle is, but it definitely gets stuck in your head. “Happy, happy Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. Happy, happy Halloween, Silver Shamrock!”
The suspense is on point and its pace is good. You feel that sense of isolation, doom, and that danger is just around the corner. It’s atmospheric with that frightening tone throughout. The film has a very interesting idea on turning the commercialization of Halloween and the television against the consumer. It’s essentially a commentary and criticism of sizable corporations and of consumerism in general.
‘Halloween III: Season of the Witch’ is a remarkable film. If they took out Halloween III from the title and just called it ‘Season of the Witch’ I think the film would have been well liked. It’s a reputable horror film in its own right. I don’t agree with what most of the critics have said about the film that it’s a stupid clichéd horror film. It’s anything, but that. It’s atmospheric, suspenseful, great acting, an unnerving score, and a great ambiguous ending. It’s a highly enjoyable 80’s horror film and you should watch it.
5 out of 5 shamrocks
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