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.