Halloween 3 - Season Of The Witch (DVD)

...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

HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH IS NOT

Scary
High on quality
A true horror film

Written for the HALLOWEEN SEASON 2002.
 

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