Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Posted: by Findlay
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
In One Sentence: Masks. Robots. Stonehenge. Children dying. Creepy old guys. Ancient magic. Zero Michael Myers and that’s a good thing.
Why You Should Watch: Everyone loves slashers. There’s something in the easy formula that people just enjoy. It’s like macaroni cheese, how can you NOT enjoy it. Freddy and Jason are cool as hell, but Michael Myers kind of…..sucks. Which is a hard thing to admit being such a HUGE John Carpenter fan. The Halloween series squanders a total average character by making each incarnation worse and more boring than the last, which in turn makes me more afraid of grapefruits than Michael Myers. So with that, Halloween 3’s LACK of MM already makes it a good film, but thank actual Christ it’s a totally fantastic film on its own.
After Halloween 2, the series was intended to be a yearly product but this time, instead of featuring Mike Myers, each film would be its own little story which would build up an anthology FRANCSHISE. Sadly, this dream died after H3 thanks to slasher fans wanting more of the same boring old shit. Which is a shame because Halloween 3 is the most daring, fun, self-aware and Halloween-y feeling film of the whole set.
Directed by the WONDERFUL madman that is Tommy Lee Wallace (who also directed underrated sequel Fright Night Part 2) this story is a whole weird beast of its own.
Silver Shamrock mask company are a prevalent mask company but with a twist. The masks are part of a devious plan to kill children on Halloween using shavings of STONEHENGE that are embedded in every mask. YES I KNOW CALM DOWN ITS THAT GOOD.
Tom Atkins plays Doctor Daniel Challis trying to uncover and thwart this mad plan while trying to save a girl he kind of has a crush on. It’s amazing. Wallace’s direction style perfectly complements the campy wild ride without ever steering away from nudging metaphors or grim deaths (especially one of a child, which is SO GROSS).
Carpenter was still on board for Halloween 3, providing a soundtrack that apparently he didn’t give a shit about, which doesn’t matter because it lifts the film such a vast amount. Those razed, tangy synths brimming with a tic-tac pace and his beautiful typical electronix screams there to punctuate jumpscares. It’s just too fun.
After much derision following its release, Halloween 3 is now finding a totally loving audience so NOW IS THE TIME. Get it watched.
Favourite Quote: “One watch and you’ll be singing the Silver Shamrock song. Guaranteed.”
