Charles Band practically made up his whole career with this concept.
Just like every other popular and iconic slasher film from the so-called “Golden Age” of the mid-70s to early-80s, Halloween became a franchise with 7 sequels and (as of this writing) a proposed remake/“re-imagining” by Rob Zombie. The series is not really that unusual at first glance (Friday The 13th has 10 sequels, for example, and many genre films have been remade in the last few years). But upon closer inspection, there is one film which makes this series stand out from similar slasher franchises: Hallween III: Season of the Witch.
If you have never seen Season of the Witch, you might expect it to be another romp with John Carpenter’s foreboding killer Michael Myers (‘The Shape’) and Donald “It’s The Ultimate Evil!” Pleasance’s Dr. Loomis. Well, you’d be wrong! This film is an original story with no connections to the two earlier Halloween films, save for a pair of cameos by Carpenter’s film on TV. Originally penned by Nigel Kneale (of “Quartermass” fame!), he eventually removed himself from the project after director (and now-credited writer) Tommy Lee Wallace added some extra grue. But his touch remains fairly evident: this is a creative and imaginative take on a Halloween-themed spookshow, and packs some decent chops.
Our story opens with a shocking reminder that this film was made in the 80s, as a VGA Jack O’Lantern grins at us in all its digital glory! We also learn that in sharp contrast to the Midwestern setting of the first two entries, this film takes place in that magical hellhole known as California.. From there we bear witness to a very scared older guy running like hell from a couple Sharp Dressed Men – in the process managing to crush one of them with a car! Still, the old guy is not in great shape, and gets brought into the hospital by a halfhearted Good Samaritan/gas station attendant. It is worth noting that this scene also introduces us to important elements of the story, via that old standby Plot Point Specific Television (offshoot of the old-school Plot Point Specific Radio). Firstly, we learn that one of the stones from Stonehenge has been rock-napped, and then we also get to see (for the first of many, many times) the Silver Shamrock Novelty Company’s Halloween mask commercial. Sung to the tune of “London Bridge is Falling Down,” this song ranks right up there with the theme from The Green Slime for horror songs that you can’t stop singing!
Eight more days till Halloween,
Halloween, Halloween!
Eight more days till Halloween,
Silver Shamrock!
This song gets repeated, over and over, through the course of the film, with the days counting down as we get closer and closer to the big day. One has to wonder, though, how these masks can be so popular with only three designs – a skull, a witch, and a Jack O’Lantern. But let’s not think about that too hard, okay?
Right around this time we meet our middle aged and scruffy hero, Dr. Daniel Challis. The doctor pops in on his ex-wife (played, ironically enough by Nancy Kyes, who played Annie in the original Halloween) and kids, only to get paged to come back into the hospital. He stays long enough to 1) get chewed out by his ex-wife, and 2) establish for the audience that his kids have Silver Shamrock masks and like to sit waaaay too close to the TV. Challis arrives at the hospital in time to see the scared man, who is clutching a Silver Shamrock mask, gasp out that “They’re going to kill us!” before losing consciousness. The patient’s rest is short lived, however. Once Challis goes to grab a nap in the break room, a Sharp Dressed Man enters the patient’s room, and then proceeds to dislocate the man’s nose bone from his skull VIA HIS EYE SOCKETS. Hearing the screams of the frightened nurse who comes upon this scene, Challis gives chase long enough to find the Sharp Dressed Man sit down in his car, douse himself in gasoline, and fire it up.
Challis, being our lumpy action hero, does what any good protagonist in the wake of True Grit would do: he looks like he is going to cry, gets bitched at by his ex-wife, and then goes to the bar. While there he gets to see the Silver Shamrock commercial again, as well as learn that Silver Shamrock is going to be showing the horror classic Halloween (HA!) on the 31st, followed by “the Big Giveaway” at 9:00. Challis is then approached by Ellie Grimbridge, daughter of the dead guy. She doesn’t understand why anyone would want to hurt her sweet old man, and Challis is equaled confused. So the two unlikely detectives team up, first checking out the elder Grimbridge’s Five and Dime store – where his merchandise included Silver Shamrock masks. Checking his records, Ellie determines that her Dad had gone up to the tiny town of Santa Mira ("They're here already! You're next!"), home of the Silver Shamrock factory to pick up his latest shipment. So the pair set out to Santa Mira to, ahem, get to the bottom of this.
Once they arrive in the tiny hamlet, things get even stranger. All of the local townies stare at them, and there are closed-circuit cameras watching the whole town. Posing as a couple there to pick up an order at the factory, they learn about Conal Cochran, founder of Silver Shamrock and the man who basically controls the whole town. The pair also meets up with the obnoxious Kupfer clan, as well as San Francisco mask peddler Marge Guttman. Having to wait until morning to head to the factory due to the public-announced curfew, Challis and Ellie have unlikely hotel sex (urgh!), while Marge ends up inspecting a microchip she found on the Silver Shamrock tag which came off a mask. Much to her surprise, her tampering leads to her getting shot in the face with a blue laser beam (??!), and then having a bug crawl out of the wreckage of her skull (?!!). Cochran and his cronies quickly arrive to remove the body. Challis demands to know what’s going on (being a doctor and all), but Cochran just tells him that she will get “the best of care.”
The next morning, Challis and Ellie, along with the Kupfers, are given a tour of Silver Shamrock’s low-tech factory. Included on the tour is a peek at the heavy doors labeled “Final Processing,” which supposedly contains “trade secret” information which cannot be revealed. Things get even weirder when Ellie discovers her father’s station wagon being locked up on Silver Shamrock property, guarded by several Sharp Dressed Men. With Halloween fast approaching, Challis and Ellie have to act fast to find out just what is going on in this strange little town. But Cochran beats them to the punch, abducting Ellie that night and luring Challis to the factory. Things start to come together and the answers are somewhat answered, but can Challis stop Cochran and his plan to make sure that no one comes home on Halloween night?
Season of the Witch is a very strange film. It borrows elements from a lot of different films and kind of hammers them together into a working homeostasis, while throwing some unusual stuff in there as well. And all in all it works pretty well. Its hard for the Vaultkeeper be surprised by it now, having seen it as many times as I have on television over the years, but to a fresh viewer it does a good job of not tipping it’s hat too early. In fact, some aspects as purposefully left unexplained, which I like. Some people may consider Cochran telling Challis that “a good magician never tells his secrets” to be a copout, but I think it’s genius. Why should Cochran tell this guy how the Big Giveaway works? Just because the audience wants to know seems like poor motivation for the character to do so.
The gore is not as pronounced in this film as it is in the other Halloween sequels. There are some nifty deaths, for sure, but they tend to be more on the “creative” than “gruesome” side of things. This fits in with the more cerebral, less spring-loaded cat type-scares tone of the film well. I don’t know if I would give it the nod of really building much of sense of dread or suspense, but it does keep you guessing about where things are headed. Even the ending is a bit of a swerve.
For a dyed in the wool Shape fan like yours truly, it’s hard to consider this film a “true” Halloween entry. But it’s certainly not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination. While it may not achieve everything it set out to accomplish, I never criticize a film for being ambitious and creative instead of just “phoning in” the same old stuff. And this is a film that no one can say is not ambitious or creative.
Plus that damn song will be stuck in your head for a week. Three more days till Halloween, Halloween, Halloween! Three more days till Halloween, Silver Shamrock!
