Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Year: 1983

Director: Tommy Lee Wallace

Written by: Tommy Lee Wallace

Threat: Black magic

Weapon of Choice: Mask

IMDb page: IMDb link

      Halloween III: Season of the Witch Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Other movies in this series:
Halloween
Halloween II
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Halloween: Resurrection

Rish Outfield's reviews
This is such an underrated movie. It is really well-written, Tom Atkins turns in another great performance, and The Old Man from Robocop is the villain. The bouncy, so-evil-it's-fun Silver Shamrock theme addicted me as a kid, and fills me with delight even now. This was a great low-budget conspiracy film, and it really gets a bad rap because of its title. Many, many people expected to see a killer wearing a William Shatner mask and closed their minds when it didn't happen. I'm lucky enough to not be one of them, having discovered this movie on Chicago's WGN station in my youth (I still remember the commercial: "It's almost time...time for a Halloween fright...a Halloween night...when no one comes home!"), and have been unbiased about its subject matter. The thing is, Michael Myers was DEAD! Carpenter (and Hill) wrote one story, then wrote a sequel that finished it, killing both Loomis and Myers in a pretty satisfying way. It was brave to want to continue the series, but with unrelated Halloween-themed movies. It's only now, I think, with a half dozen Shape sequels, that people frown on part three. You don't have to. You're better than that. This is a fun, interesting, creepy film. There's something truly horrible about the Irish folks' plans for America's children (of which I was among back in '83), a fiendish plot capitalizing on the greatest, and second-greediest holiday of all. Plus, the commercials are so dementedly sinister, and ubiquitous throughout the film, that my delight never faded.
Best Scare: What happens to the little boy in the pumpkin mask. CRICKETS!!!!!
I'd Recommend It To: Myself, for one, and other fools like me.

The tyranist's thoughts
The only non-Michael Myers entry in the series was largely panned and dismissed because it didn't have the William Shatner-masked, knife-wielding maniac that the rest of the series had. It's a shame that people can't look past that to see what is really a pretty good movie. I have heard that John Carpenter and Debra Hill produced this one with the goal of making the Halloween series holiday based instead of killer based. It would have been a fantastic idea for a series, especially since all the rest of the horror series out there are killer based. Of course, we wouldn't have ever seen Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, which I loved, but who cares.
Season of the Witch is an intelligent horror movie that makes me think twice about the costumes I buy for my children. And that creepy theme song. Is that sick or what? The performances seem to be a little flat and the story is a little slow at times, a little rushed at others, but all in all this is a better than average horror flick.

Total Skulls: 14

Sequel skull
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie skull Halloween
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title skull
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex skull
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location skull
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut skull
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower scene skull
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth skull
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes skull
What the hell?
x years ago . . .
Dark and stormy night skull
Killer doesn't stay dead skull
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim skull
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading skull
Blood fountain skull
Blood hits camera
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending