When it comes to film franchises, the term “sequelitis” often gets applied. Movie studios try to wring more money from their franchise by attempting, and often failing, to capture what made the original movie a hit. Hollywood is a machine; that’s how it works. But what happens when a franchise attempts to go in a different direction by shedding everything that came before and telling people “No, this is not what you thought it was. It’s more.”?
Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a 1982 American science fiction horror film written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace. It takes the formula from the first two Halloween films and throws it out the window completely. Why? Why would a hit franchise go and do away with everything people loved about the previous two films? Actually, it’s not as crazy as you might think.
"Eight more days till Halloween, Halloween. Eight more says till Halloween. Siiiilveeer Shamrock." (Now it's stuck in your head, isn't it?)
See, Halloween creators John Carpenter and Debra Hill initially didn’t see the franchise as Michael Myers-centric. They saw it as an anthology series with the only common theme being Halloween night. Wallace saw their vision and made Season of the Witch, much to the chagrin of the viewing public. They didn’t want something different, they wanted Michael. To a degree I agree with them. You have these first two films that define a genre, as well as a unique and memorable character that people love and want more of, but you deny them both of those things. Instead, you give them this completely disconnected horror-thriller story, going so far as to have the original Halloween be a movie in this film and not actual events (albeit the film is a major hit in the SotW universe). There’s no potential for Michael to appear in any meaningful capacity. The fans you’ve garnered are gonna be pissed. But, on the other hand, I can very much see where Carpenter et al were coming from.
What John and the gang were trying to do was a clever idea, but poorly executed. When you think about it, there is a lot of potential in their idea. Halloween night is a time of mystery, when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest and the monsters stalk the earth. There’s a reason why there are so many movies that use October 31st as their setting; it has so much potential. Indeed, the story in Halloween III is actually really clever. However, while Halloween III is a decent horror movie, it is not a good Halloween movie.
The sign above these masks says they glow in the dark, but that sadly never comes into play anywhere during the film.
The idea of an anthology series is not new, however the idea to make it into a series of movies was. Usually, anthology series are relegated to either multiple stories in one movie, or a television series. Both mitigate the high-stakes of the Hollywood box office by either focusing on quantity, or avoiding it altogether. With an anthology series of films, however, each one would have to be a hit in order to keep it going, but with the varying quality of writers, directors on each film, that isn’t going to happen. I feel the idea was ahead of it’s time. Back then, you didn’t really have long-form television. You had limited series, sure, but you couldn’t get away with 90 minute episodes like you can now. Prestige television just wasn’t really a thing, let alone television that would let you get away with the things seen in a Halloween movie. If they had the option to split the franchise with the Michael Myers movies in theaters and the anthology movies on TV without the censorship of the networks, I think we’d have a whole world of Halloween today. Instead, Carpenter had to skulk back to his original character with his tail between his legs, his idea defeated by the populace of fans who didn’t understand or desire what they were trying to do.
Unfortunately, what they were trying to do didn’t include the world building I alluded to earlier, which I believe would have helped a lot to get people on board with their idea. Instead, Halloween III sees an evil CEO of Silver Shamrock, a toy/novelty company (with an incredibly catchy “London Bridges” style jingle), who is secretly (maybe?) a centuries-old pagan who is plotting to sacrifice thousands of people to Samhain on Halloween night. He plans to do this by activating a (not-so-subtly hidden) chip in their very popular line of masks that will kill the wearer and infest the room around them with poisonous bugs/serpents. It’s a neat idea, for sure, albeit one that is not executed well enough to kick off a series of similar films.
Apparently Stonehenge rock dust has the magic to make full-grown bugs and snakes appear when hit with a laser.
The movie isn’t terrible, as I said, it’s a decent horror movie in and of itself. The story is interesting and it keeps you engaged as the mystery unfolds, and the inclusion of the androids is fun. Sure, the third act requires some suspension of disbelief from the viewer (magic, it’s all explained by magic!), but taken as a whole it’s an adequate Halloween (the holiday, not the franchise) romp.
A lot of people do NOT like this film. I get that, I really do. However, as a fan of anthology series like Creepshow and Tales From the Crypt, I can definitely see the potential in the idea. In fact, I would love to see this executed in modern day. I’m sure Carpenter can get one of the streaming services to back the idea. I think with a little tweaking (like having the stories take place in the same world Michael Myers inhabits), a Halloween anthology series would be a hit. Unfortunately, as it stands, Halloween III: Season of the Witch is the black sheep of the franchise, much maligned and relegated to the collections of super fans or completionists whose neurosis won’t let them skip a number in their collection. But if viewed not as a Halloween movie, but rather a Halloween movie, it’s a not-so-terrible distraction that in fact entertains with some interesting ideas to boot.