Halloween III Season of the Witch (1982)

In this blog I will be piggybacking off last week’s blog a little. Something I noticed consistently at Mad Monster Expo was Halloween III Season of the Witch fan memorabilia and interests. I realize this looks bad on me, but until the day after the convention I had never watched this movie. I always understood that Michael Myers was not part of Halloween III Season of the Witch, and I therefore had no interest in watching it. I never understood why it was part of the franchise if Myers wasn’t in it. I later learned that I’m not alone in this but, we’ll get into that piece of the story in a few. After seeing the fandom around this film, I decided to watch it. To my surprise, it was good.  Let’s talk about Halloween III Season of the Witch.

First, I was a little wrong in saying that it doesn’t feature Michael Myers. There is one scene where the main character is watching television in a bar. It follows that Halloween is playing and you see Michael Myers walking down the stairs on the tv screen but, that’s all we get from this iconic masked killer. Why is this though? Why is it that a film has the title Halloween and doesn’t feature another stack on the body count belonging to the horror of Haddonfield?

According to Adriene Taylor, John Carpenter and Debra Hill originally intended to end the Halloween franchise, featuring the character Michael Myers anyway, at part II (2019). In other words, when Michael Myers dies at the end of Part 2 he was going to be dead. As all the fans know, this October we’re supposed to see the last days of Michael Myers in Halloween Ends, so that death clearly didn’t happen. When Halloween III Season of the Witch came out, the two directors were following their plan to release an anthology series that would feature a new story and characters each year for this holiday. What they hadn’t anticipated was the cult following they would create and the association of the title “Halloween” to Michael Myers. The movie did poorly, and the story of Michael Myers picked back up in Part 4. The third installment has since become a cult classic though (Taylor, 2019).

The story in the movie is farfetched. I realize I’m talking about a horror movie but, this one’s story is harder to believe than most. A man basically owns an entire town and has a factory there that makes popular masks for Halloween. His ownership allows him to control everything. The people hired, the phone company, etc. He is a witch, and the masks have chips built in that will melt the mask wearer’s face when a signal is sent out. It is an ultimate “Trick” for trick-or-treating. His plan is to have a big giveaway at 9PM so everyone is watching at the same time. At 9PM, he intends to send out the signal and melt the head of everyone wearing one of the masks. Of course, this plot is discovered, and the main characters work to stop him. The film concludes with a very open ending and leaves you to decide what happens next.

One of the things that I enjoyed about this film was the storyline. Although very unrealistic, it was a unique idea. The masks that are manufactured by the gentleman’s factory are cool. There is a skeleton head, a pumpkin head, and a witch mask. They are loud and simple in design. The one scene I recall with gore is well done, especially for the time. The movie was well written and holds your attention. The factory owner’s plan is something that you don’t really pick up on until he explains it. This was cool because sometimes there is too much foreshadowing in movies, I think. Although I would have liked to see an ending, the guess at the end is really a shock and gives the film an edge. The commercial for the factory’s masks has a catchy jingle and the pictures of the masks flash on the screen. It reminds me of television when I was a child. All in all, I have been missing out and will rewatch this film. I won’t be buying posters and chasing autographs but, I will watch this one again and recommend it to fans who were of my original opinion.    

Reference List

Taylor, A. (2019 August, 25). Why michael myers isn’t in Halloween 3. Screenrant.com. Why Michael Myers Isn’t In Halloween 3 (screenrant.com)