Even with the telling tagline people were a little more than bemused when, while sitting down to the third instalment of Halloween, that Michael Myers was nowhere to be seen. The white mask doesn’t make an appearance (apart from a clip of the first Halloween film being shown on a service station ... Read review
Halloween 3 is set in the small California town of Santa Mira: home of the Silver Shamrock ... more
company, whose T.V. advertisement for its Halloween masks has been almost impossible to avoid in the run up to October 31st. With its hypnotic refrain of Two mor...
Release Date: 2002-09-30, Rating Suitable for 15 years and over,
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Halloween III: Season of the Witchwas producer John Carpenter's attempt to get the series ... more
away from the original psycho-on-the-loose storyline and turn it into a vehicle for more far-fetched Halloween-themed horror tales. Incredibly, the fans voted for...
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Halloween III: Season of the Witchwas producer John Carpenter's attempt to get the series ... more
away from the original psycho-on-the-loose storyline and turn it into a vehicle for more far-fetched Halloween-themed horror tales. Incredibly, the fans voted for more of the same and Carpenter walked away for others to rehash the Michael Myers plotline in a succession of lookalike movies that are still turning up every few years.Though original screenwriter Nigel Kneale (of theQuatermassseries andThe Stone Tape) removed his name from the final film after a coarsening rewrite by director Tommy Lee Wallace, his strange touch is evident in the offbeat story. After the mysterious deaths of a toyshop owner, a doctor (Tom Atkins) and the man's daughter (Stacy Nelkin), an investigation takes place in the Irish-dominated Northern California community of Santa Mira, a company town owned by the Silver Shamrock Novelty corporation, whose bestselling Halloween masks are pushed by an amazingly irritating TV jingle you won't ever be able to get out of your head ("Two more days to Halloween, Halloween, Halloween").Atkins and Nelkin are typical low-rent horror movie protagonists, dim-bulbs who discover anInvasion of the Body Snatchers-style conspiracy involving sharp-suited corporate robots. But guest star Dan O'Herlihy steals the film as a Celtic joke tycoon ("the man who invented sticky toilet paper and the dead dwarf gag") who hates the way American kids are despoiling the religious spirit of Samhain and decides to teach them a nasty lesson. His scheme, which involves a stolen Stonehenge megalith ("sure, you'd never believe how we did it") and a techno-magic spell that turns the heads of TV watchers into writhing masses of snakes and insects, is value for money. O'Herlihy mixes enough serious malice into the charm to come across as a great screen baddie.On the DVD:Halloween III: Season of the Witchis a disappointment on disc. After letterboxed titles, this defaults to full frame throughout, severely cramping Dean Cundey's Panavision cinematography, and it's a grainy, indifferent print that ill-serves the performances or the atmospherics. However, the severe cuts to the gruesome scenes made to previous video releases (in order to preserve the theatrical 15 rating) seem to have been restored. With an extras-packedHalloweendisc on the market, it's a shame the most interesting of the follow-ups rates such a flimsy release--with not so much as a trailer as an extra. --Kim Newman
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Advantages: An interesting idea | Brave move Disadvantages: It doesnt work | Not scary
...a clip of the first Halloween film being shown on a service station TV) and there are next to none teenagers to be found ready to be knifed up.
After Halloween and Halloween II John Carpenter decided that he had took the Halloween story, as we knew it, far enough. He, along with Derbra Hill, decided to take a new direction in the Halloween series. The plan was to create a new movie every year or so with the story focussing on Halloween ... ...have preserved Halloween I and II as the only ‘Halloweens’, they more than likely used the name of Halloween for brand recognition and familiarity, to further the chance of box office success. Season of the Witch was the first (and last) film to test this plan out. It grossed a small but not totally redundant $14m and while this far exceeded the $2.5m budget it wasn’t on the scale of Halloween and Halloween II. Also audiences were left with a bitter ... more
Even with the telling tagline people were a little more than bemused when, while sitting down to the third instalment of Halloween, that Michael Myers was nowhere to be seen. The white mask doesn’t make an appearance (apart from a clip of the first Halloween film being shown on a service station TV) and there are next to none teenagers to be found ready to be knifed up.
After Halloween and Halloween II John Carpenter decided that he had took the Halloween story, as we knew it, far enough. He, along with Derbra Hill, decided to take a new direction in the Halloween series. The plan was to create a new movie every year or so with the story focussing on Halloween and the myths that surround it. While they could have preserved Halloween I and II as the only ‘Halloweens’, they more than likely used the name of Halloween for brand recognition and familiarity, to further the chance of box office success. Season of the Witch was the first (and last) film to test this plan out. It grossed a small but not totally redundant $14m and while this far exceeded the $2.5m budget it wasn’t on the scale of Halloween and Halloween II. Also audiences were left with a bitter taste in their mouths after seeing the movie, expecting Myers but not getting anything remotely near to it.
The premise of Season of the Witch is odd to say the least. Surprisingly enough it’s Halloween and kids all over America are dying to get their hands on (or faces into) the Silver Shamrock masks that have been heavily marketed due to some TV advertising with an annoying jingle. However the masks are not what they seem as Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) finds out when he meets up with Ellie Grimbridge (Stacey Nelkin) who’s father has mysteriously disappeared since supposedly visiting the Silver Shamrock factory to see the mask maker Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy). Despite his cheery exterior the dastardly Mr. Cochran is hell bent on making this Halloween bloodier than all others as the masks in question have this tendency to kill whoever is wearing them by the form of snakes and all manner of unpleasant insects. Apparently this is keeping the tradition of All Hallows Eve when the ‘rivers ran red with blood’, or something to that effect. It is up to Daniel and Eddie to try and thwart the plans of the crazed mask masker and avoid a Halloween that will leave children with more than an upset stomach from stuffing their faces with chocolate.
The film starts good but goes down from there. The opening sees a man running from something, predictably at night so everything is dark and spooky, the scene is tense and quite unnerving and it also becomes very violent very fast. After escaping from the men trying to chase him he gets taken to the hospital where Daniel works. However the men don’t give up and soon the patient is murdered and the man who was killed him incinerated in his car leaving behind a few interesting things that leads Daniel to think all is not what it seems. He soon meets up with Ellie and thus begins the films downward spiral of lame detective work, shoddy script and below par acting.
Despite the premise being ridiculous it remains fairly interesting yet the film ignores this for the most part and focuses on the relationship between Ellie and Daniel for a good chunk of the film and relies on them to piece together the mystery without us viewing it ourselves. It wastes screentime by pointing out Daniel has problems with his wife and kids which, to me, its just too clichéd and a waste to mention, if only to get him off the hook for sharing a bed with Ellie one night. This being a horror film, or at least advertised as one, you do expect some horror but it just isn’t there. There is little threat posed by Cochran, and while he certainly could be threatening the script and surrounding cast wont let him, or his henchmen. Tension fails to build up, despite the interesting inclusion of a ‘curfew’ imposed on the town, it is not used to full effect with Daniel goes out after dark and just becomes another chase. The film is also predictable and so you are expecting the unfolding events so you can go on autopilot throughout most of the film. You know they are going to find Cochran out and you know Cochran will tell of his diabolical plans to one of the leads and you know there will be a big showpiece at the end to halt the plans. There are no big scares or interesting side plots to keep you going. Although Halloween was kept simplistic its atmosphere unmistakenly horror and if you have watched a lot of films like it you know what will happen but it still has the tension and suspense needed for interest. Season of the Witch doesn’t.
Between the beginning and the eventual finale only one scene sticks out in the mind whereby Cochran ‘tests’ his mask. While it is particularly gruesome to see, and I warn you that if you have an aversion to snakes, insects and genuinely big creepy things then be prepared for your stomach to do somersaults, you cant help but think the only reason why you seem intent on watching it is to finally shut the bratty kid up. Indeed you are almost willing for Cochran to get away with it if only to silence such kids up. The finale itself reminds me a lot of Friday 13th (Part 1) in the fact that is too drawn out and becomes pretty silly not that it would matter if this was a spoof or a comedy but this is trying to be a serious horror film and the end battle just doesn’t cut it. To its credit, however, the very end of Season of the Witch is fairly pleasing in that it tries to add a final shock to the process, though it is a shame that the film up till then failed to do so.
Apart from O’Herlihy the cast of characters don’t really shine through. Playing the villain always allows for a bit of fun to be had and it shows when O’Herlihy is on screen. He plays the mix of caring Grandfather and pure and twisted nemesis spot on and, like all good villains, always remains calm no matter what turn of events may happen. The two other leads fair less well. Atkins just seems to breeze through the role, thinking of the pay check it will get him, his performance is good but not wholly believable and. The role of the female heroin, so brilliantly played by Jamie Lee Curtis in the previous Halloweens, must have spoilt us. Nelkins lead female character is devoid of such things that made Laurie’s character so great, the way she can play helpless victim and steadfast survivor for example, while the script is to blame for some of Nelkins performance it cannot solely be the main cause. She just acts like a silly little woman most of the time and her wide-eyed expression and always-open mouth (in the gawping sense just in case you were wondering) gets tiresome quickly. The other notable characters are the test subjects Buddy (Ralph Strait) Betty (Jadeen Barbor) and ‘Little’ Buddy Kupfer Jr. (Bradley Schachter) who do little than add a bit of comedy to the film, some of which is intentional some not. While they do a decent job you cant help but think the casting of Bradley Schacheter as a typical bratty American child misses the mark if you are supposed to feel empathy towards all the other children in line for what he has to go through.
It seems that there a little plus points for the film but it isn’t a total disaster. The directing from Tommy Lee Wallace is pretty well done and he does manage to carry the film pretty well. However despite it being good it cant save the film from the problems the film already has. Carpenter once again is responsible for the music from the film. While not as instantly memorable as the Halloween theme he devised for the previous parts it does remain a plus point to the film. Also the aforementioned scene with the mask and snakes really does stand out and something that will stick in your mind for a quite a while after watching it even if the rest of the film doesn’t.
Many fans of the Halloween series disregard Halloween III and choose to ignore it whether they think it has no place because of its lack of Myers or because its just not that good is up to them. No matter which you do have to commend Carpenter and Hill for taking a risk with the well-known franchise. They chose to do something different and I would have been happy to have an odd Halloween theme film from them now and again it is just a shame that Season of the Witch was a good idea but poorly crafted. Nevertheless Halloween III does stand as the weakest of the Halloween films in terms of quality and entertainment value. It isn’t a total loss and there are a few good moments to be had from this but, ultimately, it isn’t good as a film whether it has the Halloween name above it or not.
HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH IS
Different from the others A good idea That is poorly executed
...of plot. The only thing Halloween 3 has in common with its two predecessors is that it is a horror movie...everything else is all change...and its all the worse for that.
Halloween III: Season Of The Witch is a rather odd movie based once again around the time of Halloween. The plot is simple but rather stupid to say the least and the movie rests solely upon the level and inventiveness of the gore it displays. We have a mad business mad who gets ... ...the world back using Halloween as an excuse. He makes Halloween masks, but inserts a 'chip' of some kind inside them made from bits of Stonehenge which will have an 'adverse' effect on the wearer. You see, when these are worn and a particular television show comes on, the masks will kill the wearer in the most horrific of ways. Only two outsiders know this and try to stop it happening...
There really isn't much to say about his movie, it literally ...
wampyrii 09.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Halloween 3 - Season Of The Witch (DVD)
Advantages: Silver shamrock tune Disadvantages: all the rest, i mean its sooo boring, no main characters are in it, not gory enough either!
...with any of the other halloween films, which depresses me because MICHEAL MYERS ROCKS!!!! No reletives of Laurie are in it (the main character of the other halloweens) and dr loonis (micheals doc). Nothing interesting happens, to be honest the most intresting thing in it is the tune that goes with the silver shamrock advert, which counts down to halloween! I'd much rather watch any of the other halloween movies. Its not very gory at all, they should ...
emmab1985 23.09.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Halloween 3 - Season Of The Witch (DVD)
Advantages: you don't have to buy it Disadvantages: read the review
...the third film in the halloween series. Lets deal with that first. Well it has absoloutely no connection at all too halloween 1 or 2 both being identical almost, but both being scare classics of the genre. next point, its directed by John Carpenter, who is famous for classic horror films like the thing, but you wouldn't tell to look at it. It may well have suffered on conversion to dvd but the film is grainy and looks like something from the 70's ... ...to kill every child on halloween by submitting a signal through the television screen to any child wearing the masks. this is done by harnessing the power of one of the stones from stonehenge. Well i live near stonehenge, and i can't see anyone just popping in and borrowing a stone for a milisecond. this film is total and utter rubbish, a complete waste of money time and effort. As for the dvd itself, the film is grainy, the sound is ok, the special ...
mcpoeman 08.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Halloween 3 - Season Of The Witch (DVD)
Advantages: A great movie to watch on halloween. Original story Disadvantages: Unrelated to the halloween series
Halloween 3, hated by many loved by, erm… one or two, and that one or two just so happens to be me, well when I say love, I don’t "love" it, I think of it more like a pet. Anyway, the reason this movie is disliked by Halloween fans is that it has absolutely nothing to do with Michael Myers, totally ignoring the previous films, although Michael does feature briefly on a TV commercial.
A patient has his head popped by an unidentified man in a hospital. ... ...of Conal Cochran, who makes Halloween masks. Not content with making Halloween masks alone, Cochran is also intent on reviving the rites of All Hallows Eve, a night of ancient sacrifice when, long ago the hills ran red with the blood of animals and children. Put these two things together and what do you get? Halloween masks which melt your face, and cause snakes to pour out of your skull! Woohoo!
For Halloween 3, John Carpenter handed the job of ...
pizzacat 11.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Halloween 3 - Season Of The Witch (DVD)
Advantages: Having the word 'Halloween' in it's title Disadvantages: Bad acting, bad plot, poor continuity......
...I particuarly have enjoyed the Halloween films... Well, I rented this out thinking it was going to be great.... And, it wasn't. There is NO mention whatsoever of the guy who started the Halloween movies (Michael Myers), it is badly acted and has a terrible plot. At one point, a bunch of pumpkins start singing!!! If you are a 'fan' of Michael Myers and just haven't gotten around to seeing this one yet, don't. It is a prime example of poor continuity ...
cjezra 24.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Halloween 3 - Season Of The Witch (DVD)
Audio Commentary From Horror Expert Stephen Jones And Film Critic Kim Newman, Production Background, Biographies, Play Movie, Scene Selections
Aspect Ratio
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 Stereo, Dolby Digital
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 Stereo English, Dolby Digital English
Professional reviews
Review
"...Probably as good as any cheerful ghoul could ask for..." (New York Times, p.C28, 22/10/1982)
DVD Description
In the third HALLOWEEN installment (which has nothing to do with the first two films), a mad warlock hatches an evil plot to enact bloody mass murder. He creates creepy masks which force the wearer to commit violent acts of assassination on the night of Halloween.
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