by Michael Lyons
From divisive to beloved. That's the journey that Halloween III: Season of the Witch has taken in the forty years since its initial release.
When it first came out in 1982, audiences expected another entry in the Michael Myers storyline (and little did they think that would still be going on today), which this film wasn't, and critics were savage (Roger Ebert awarded the film *and 1/2 out of four and called it "...a low rent thriller from the first frame").
With this, Halloween III sank at the box office, becoming the lowest-grossing Halloween film up to that point. But, as it can be, time has been kind to this weird, mostly ridiculous, 80s time capsule of a movie, and Halloween III: Season of the Witch has gained its audience, and its place as a seasonal favorite, in the past four decades.
With the first two Halloween films centering on Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, director John Carpenter and Debra Hill wanted to create an anthology series of films, each with a Halloween theme and containing their distinct storyline.
The first of these was Halloween III: Season of the Witch, directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, in which Dr. Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) seeks to uncover a mystery surrounding the death of one of his patients. He is joined by the deceased patient's daughter, Ellie (Stacey Nelkin), and they travel to the strange small town of Santa Mira, California, and discover a plot by Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy), owner of Silver Shamrock Novelties, to use Halloween masks to take over the world.
It seems that on Halloween night, there will be a "big giveaway" broadcast on TV, and as kids sit near the television with their masks on, the broadcast will interact with a computer chip on the mask, which will initiate the takeover of the world.
There are also bugs and snakes that come out of people's mouths when this happens; robot henchmen who work for Mr. Cochran; something about the legacy of witchcraft and, oh yeah, Stonehenge is somehow involved.
The plot doesn't matter; the fun of Halloween III is how off-the-wall and far-fetched the plot is, in a B-Movie way. Audiences shouldn't look for logic but, instead, enjoy how illogical the film really is.
This is probably part of the reason why the cult status of the film has grown into something more through the years. That, and the incredible earworm of the countdown theme song that appears in the Silver Shamrock commercials: "Eight more 'til Hall-o-ween, Hall-o-ween, Hall-o-ween..." sung to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down.
Looking back on the film, recently on the website, From the Front Row , Mattie Lucas wrote: "No one will ever mistake Halloween III for a great film, but it is a misunderstood one, a curious experiment in franchise filmmaking that was bold as it was ultimately foolish. Taken apart from the Halloween franchise and evaluated as a stand-alone film, it's a solid piece of 80s horror and a fascinating 'what-if' that offers a window into an alternate universe where the series took a vastly different direction."
And, so, as Halloween III celebrates its 40th anniversary this October, all that's left to say, in the ominous tone of Conal Cochran himself: "Happy...Halloween."
This Halloween, don't be scared that you don't have the perfect gift for that movie-lover in your life for the upcoming Holiday Season! My book, Drawn to Greatness: Disney's Animation Renaissance is now available at Amazon . AND, signed and personalized copies are available on my website, Words From Lyons
Also on my website, this and other fun Halloween-themed podcasts and articles, check them out here:Words from Lyons .
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