I Warmed Up to Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

I saw Halloween on network television when I was nine years old. It scared the crap out of me and caused me to worry about the safety of my babysitters.

Run babysitter, run!

 Next, I saw the TV version of Halloween II, where The Shape, Michael Myers, returned to wreak havoc on Haddonfield, Illinois. I loved it and learned to steer clear hospitals.

Run nurse, run!

I watched Halloween III: Season of the Witch in October of my 11^th year on Earth. I was super stoked for it to show on TV, I anticipated the rage Michael Myers would dole out on Haddonfield, I watched and waited. Michael Myers was not in the film. The movie had nothing to do with its predecessors. Donald Pleasence is my favorite part of the Halloween franchise. Where were the mad rants from Doctor Loomis? 

This may have been the first time I had uttered the phrase “What the fuck?”

I spent the next twenty something years railing against this film until my friend Randy kept defending it, telling me to give it a chance. I ended up buying a copy of Halloween III, skeptically watching it, and enjoyed the movie.

Happy horror watcher.

 Despite the shrill shriek of “Happy Happy Halloween” in the tune of London Bridge, the convoluted story, and some questionable acting, Halloween III is bat-shit crazy, has a cool story of how it came to be, and is well worth a watch. 

The film has a bizarre premise. Inventor Conol Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy) owns the Silver Shamrock mask company. Chips in the masks will activate on Halloween and kill mass amounts of children, turning their heads into insect filled mush. 

He did not run.

 Cochran wants to rule the world. He is also a warlock and worships a segment of Stone Hedge. Did I mention that he has an army of Irish robots? 

Warlock child killer.

 Tom Atkins (Lethal Weapon, The Fog), the protagonist of the film, takes a back seat to the womanizing ways of his mustache, as usual. Atkins hits on every female in the film and emits machismo. For some reason his mustache has taken to the task of stopping Cochran from ruling the world.

Mustache!

 Halloween III was meant to be different. John Carpenter wanted to expand the franchise, making it an anthology, where each October a new film would come out under the Halloween banner.

The producers stuck with Michael Myers after Halloween III failed at the box office.

I win.

 Tommy Lee Wallace subtitled the film Season of the Witch because he was really into the Donovan song of the same name. He is not a great director but he made a great decision picking his director of photography. Wallace chose Dean Cundey (Apollo 13, Jurassic Park). Cundey shot my favorite movie, The Thing (1982). Halloween III is a great looking movie, which is a major reason I defend this film.

Great shot of Irish robots.

 Halloween III is fun and I have watched it every October the last few years.