The Halloween franchise set aside Mike Myers for its third film, a bizarre supernatural/SF mystery thriller that underwent numerous rewrites. I find it not as bad as its initial mainstream critical reception—but nowhere near as good as its eventual cult following claims.
It’s Halloween in the 1980s and it’s most definitely the Season of the Witch.
Title: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Cast and Crew
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Writers: Tommy Lee Wallace, John Carpenter, Nigel Neale.
(The original script was Neale’s. He had his name removed due to the significant alterations)
Animation director: Ralph Bakshi
Tom Atkins as Dr. Daniel Challis
Stacey Nelkin as Ellie Grimbridge
Dan O’Herlihy as Conal Cochran
Michael Currie as Rafferty
Al Berry as Harry Grimbridge
Maidie Norman as Nurse Agnes
Nancy Kyes as Linda Challis
Ralph Strait as Buddy Kupfer
Jadeen Barbor as Betty Kupfer
Bob Denver Brad Schacter as Little Buddy
Garn Stephens as Marge Guttman
Jonathan Terry as Starker
Wendy Wessberg as Teddy
Essex Smith as Walter Jones
Paddi Edwards as Secretary
John MacBride as Sheriff
Dick Warlock as Assassin
Jamie Lee Curtis as Santa Mira PA voiceover
Tommy Lee Wallace as Silver Shamrock voiceover
Premise
A doctor with personal issues and the daughter of man who dies under mysterious circumstances unmask a fantastically bizarre plot to unleash real and lasting horror on Halloween night.
High Points
The story begins well, and it features a good, if unusual, central concept that taps into several popular fears which surround Halloween.
Also, fears about children and television, but those feel quaint now.
Low Points
The film grows increasingly ridiculous as the plot develops. The adversary, quietly menacing at first, becomes a parody of a Bond villain. He has a surveillance obsession –except when it serves the plot for surveillance to grow lax. Our doctor morphs into an action hero and the universe plays along. And with everything else we have to accept as a part of the premise, did Cochran also need to have an army of super-advanced robots that look like door-to-door religious solicitors… and who work on out-of-date surplus computers?
Finally, the villain’s plot itself should run into problems related to time zones. We also have the lingering question of just whom Challis call at the end to get those specific results.
The Scores:
Originality: 5/6 The film dared to do something different with the franchise, and it features a number of original elements. This premise really could have worked.
Effects: 4/6 The film features wildly uneven visual effects. Some of the death scenes remain effective. The effects created for the finale didn’t look great in ’82, and have become entirely laughable now.
Production: 4/6 The film features an interesting period soundtrack, which will appeal to some people and not others.
Acting: 4/6
Story: 3/6 The script goes increasingly off the rails in the second half, with more backstory added and elements that don’t really make sense and aren’t really needed.
Emotional Response: 3/6
Overall: 4/6 Halloween (1978) changed the face of seasonal horror. A less-than-positive response to Halloween II led the filmmakers in a new direction. Keep the title, but make the series a sort of Inner Sanctum/Twilight Zone/Tales from the Crypt, featuring different, unrelated horrors.1
It might have happened had this film been the second one.
As it stands, III fared poorly at the box office, and all future Halloweens brought back Michael Myers. Halloween III did turn a profit and its status as an oddball cult film has increased over the years. The film’s masks have turned up as Easter Eggs Halloween Goodies in some other films.2
In total, Halloween III: Season of the Witch receives 27/42
The Schedule
October 5/6: Abigail (2024) and Abigail (2023): JD
October 12/13: Season of the Witch (1972) and Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) and Season of the Witch (2009) and Season of the Witch (2011) : JD
October 19/20: Hocus Pocus (1993) and Hocus Pocus (2022): ‘Lex
October 26/27: The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) and Humanist Vampire Seeks Suicidal Person (2023): JD
October 31: The Love Witch (2016): ‘Lex and Sleepaway Camp (1983): JD and Dark Gathering (2023): Alexander Case
Notes
1. A brief advertisement for the original Halloween appears on TV at one point.
2. Livide (2011), The Guest, and some of the twenty-first century Halloween sequels.