HALLOWEEN III
SEASON OF THE WITCH
1982 *** 99 mins.
1982 *** 99 mins.
This is the last respectable installment in the Halloween series. Before I go into the film itself, allow me to explain its purpose for those who do not understand why Michael Myers is not in it.
Originally, Halloween was to be a stand-alone movie, made, simply, to scare the hell out of its viewer. After a couple of years, people kept hounding John Carpenter to do a sequel, so he gave them, Halloween II, thereby killing Michael Myers. After that, he was going to do a Halloween film every year, or ever other year, telling a completely different story, going with the original idea of "scaring the hell out of the viewer." After this one failed, though, people kept hounding him to bring back Michael, so he bailed out of the series, leaving us in the hands of the scum of Hollywood that turned it into just another teenage slasher series.
Now, on to the film itself.
Tom Atkins plays Dr. Daniel Challis, who is confronted with a man who was attacked and clutches a halloween mask in his hand. After the man's mysterious death, his daughter (Stacy Nelkin) and the doctor investigate the small town of Santa Mira, California and, more importantly, the mask factory Silver Shamrock. The story is intriguing and highly entertaining. It's far from greatness, though, but it's still an entertaining little horror flick.
Another reason why I believe so many people despise this film is that many of them have, probably, only seen it in full screen. This film, like all other films shot in a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio, looks A LOT better in widescreen. The full screen version looks horrible.
Anyway, I hereby present to you the last worthy film in the Halloween series. You can stop right here.
Rated R for violence, gore, brief nudity, language, and sexual content.
Written and Directed by
Tommy Lee Wallace