Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Starring: Tom Atkins, Stacay Nelkin, Dan O'Herlihy
Writer: Tommy Lee Wallace & Nigel Kneale (uncredited by request)
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
****Major Spoilers****
Our story begins at a gas station on a dark and stormy night; a bored attendant watches some crazy shit on TV about a stolen piece of Stone Henge... brought to you by Silver Shamrock Novelties! After some strange noises outside, a fucking nutso busts in with a Halloween mask tucked under his belt and falls on the floor. The gas man then drives weirdo dude to a nearby hospital, where he starts mumbling about some apocalyptic level type shit. A drunken Dr. Challis is like “Whaaat?” Later on, crazy Halloween mask totin' dude is brutally murdered by a sharp dressed man with a penchant for fiery suicide. Again, Dr. Challis is like “Whaaat?” The following day, crazy Halloween mask totin' dude's Daughter, Ellie, shows up to the hospital to identify her Dad's body. Dr. Challis is like “Daaaaamn”. Wanting answers, the two of them pair up, --armed with lingerie and a six pack of beer-- and travel to Santa Mira, home of mask making company, Silver Shamrock novelties.
Ahhh, poor Halloween III, I love ya, buddy! Maybe as a kid, I was like “What the fuck? Where's Mikey?”, but I've grown out of that now. I can accept people not digging on this film because they think it's poorly acted or written or whatever... but hating on it just because there's no Michael Myers is not legit to me at all. Especially since almost every film after this with Myers fucking sucks hard --save for Halloween 4, I kinda like that one. SOTW is largely disliked for not following the original story. Well hell, take a look at H20; it straight up erases the fact that 4-6 even exist. But I guess it's okay because it at least has Myers. Pssh. Fuck that. I can't even watch anything past Return anymore, save for the backyard scene in Curse. Definitely not H20 or Resurrection. Sadly, my argument that this is a good film holds little ground, except to a few us that see the greatness of it.
Let's talk about the Silver Shamrock commercial with the infectious ditty that plays through it. It's a brainwashing scheme --concocted by a toymaker with a shitload of disdain for people whom have forgotten the true meaning of Halloween-- that gives children the feeling of absolute need for one of these three completely bad ass looking masks. Unfortunately, there's a emblem on the masks that contains particles from a stolen piece of Stone Henge, which has a furious power within it. Combined, the commercial and the masks become one big gigantic fuck you to the kids, as well as the parents whom let them sit at home all day watching too much television. The story is perhaps a bit smarter than its face value, and the overall idea is far more sinister than continuous coverage of a slashing madman.
As far as I'm concerned, Tommy Lee Wallace (Fright Night II) creates some crazy bleak atmosphere with his direction, as well as tons of intensity. The scenes of Harry Grimbridge --Ellie's Dad-- running through the dark streets trying to elude a couple of emotionless, super powered business man are some true edge of your seat moments --heavily helped by the score, more on that later. Another favorite chase goes on in Santa Mira --Invasion of the Body Snatchers shout out!-- after Ellie is abducted by the Silver Shamrock meanies, forcing Challis into rescue mode. 'The Mustache' escapes out a bathroom window of the local motel, runs through the town ducking behind houses, hiding in shadows and diving behind low picket fences. Company cars are zinging by in the lowly lit streets unbeknownst to his location, while he continues to stealth it up to the mask making factory.
Key favorite moment:
---Halloween evening; we get various shots across the U.S. of picture postcard towns with cheerful kids in their Silver Shamrock masks, skipping across streets, bicycling, skateboarding, trick or treating, gleeful as fuck all the while. The editing here is fantastic, as is the cinematography --especially in Phoenix, where the sun has just went down, leaving the sky in a deadly looking dark orange while kids walk over a blackened hillside. The “jolly” Silver Shamrock rhyme is chumming along the whole time, creating a mind rape on the senses... because at this point you already know the song is an incognito death hymn.---
Tom 'The Mustache' Atkins is the films leading man, Dan Challis, an alcoholic Dr. and ladies man extraordinaire. This dude is like walking Axe deodorant with every female he comes into contact with. He's also in a knee deep pile of shit with his Ex, due to constantly postponing quality time with his kids --his son is played by Joshua Miller from Near Dark! Challis has Miller High Life running through his fucking veins, my kind of dude! Is Atkins good in the role? Well, duh.
Stacey Nelkin plays Ellie Grimbridge, the girl hellbent on finding out why her Father is dead. However, she finds plenty of time for dropping her panties once her and 'The Mustache' duo it up and travel to Santa Mira. How can you blame her? Atkins is a fucking pimp! Nelkin is pretty damn adorable and gives a good performance, especially in the end after her rescue. She makes all the right moves to keep her new persona concealed.
Dan O'Herlihy (Robocop) straight beastin' it the fuck up as the evil as shit Silver Shamrock leader, Conal Cochran. While there is an attempt to keep the character's true self a secret, the awkward shit eating grin makes his devilish intentions pretty obvious. Nevertheless, O'Herlihy absolutely kills in the role, and he truly creates some hopeless and eerie atmosphere in a scene where he reveals the motive of all his madness. Cochran is a great baddie.
Oh... Jamie Lee Curtis does some voice work, too.
Special effects are impressive, and it gets fairy gory in a few scenes. We get a fucking intense eyeball poking scene --made more effective by the victims hands and feet grasping frantically-- provided by a robo-businessman who sits himself on fire, a head being ripped off (turning the neck into a blood spout), a nasty laser beam to the face death and robot egg yolk blood. But best of all, the “demonstration” scene, starring that annoying Kupfer family. I also want to give some praise to visual effects, because the Commodore 64 Jack-o-Lantern title sequence is amazing.
I'm real big on the musical score provided by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth (Gremlins). The sounds of 'The Carp' are always distinctive, but this is one of my favorites. The computer sequence I mentioned earlier has a great theme, containing notes that match the on-screen creation of the Jack-o-Lantern. I also love those noises thrown in when an assailant comes from out of nowhere. It gets more dark sounding as the film progresses, and when October 31st roles around we get some real creepy shit, with the notes building down like a dying heartbeat.
Random:
1) Cameo!
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2) Robo-Grandma knitter... Yikes!
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3) Battery drill death is off screen, but effective... thanks to its buildup.
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4) The Kupfer family. They define “dysfunctional” and "lame". Hah, had to add that Challis smile at the end.
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5) Challis' amazing skill of mask throwing while strapped to a chair!
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What the hell?:
1) Drunk alley dude moochin' a swig of the Atkins diet when he already has some hootch of his own. Jerk. He does like whipped cream sandwiches though... redeemed.
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2) Ellie packs lingerie to go and find out how her Father died? Hah (credit to my girlfriend for that one)!
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It's a shame that Halloween III was a failure. Carpenter had the idea of releasing a new Halloween themed film each year that stood on its own, had this been a success. That could have been awesome. Could have been bad too, I guess, but it's been bad for quite a while, anyways. I am unashamed to admit that I watch Season of the Witch just as much, if not more than Carpenter's classic. And it rules. That is all.
