Halloween III: Season of the Witch *** (1983, Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O’Herlihy) – Classic Movie Review 4,232

Series creators John Carpenter and Debra Hill return as producers for the unrelated 1982 horror film Halloween III: Season of the Witch, the only entry that does not feature Michael Myers. Dan O’Herlihy stars as the evil genius maniacal toymaker.

Something nasty is going on at America’s Silver Shamrock Halloween Masks factory, where all the staff are Irish, and it’s all due to erupt on pumpkin numpkin night.

Dan O’Herlihy stars in the 1982  horror film Halloween III: Season of the Witch as Silver Shamrock owner Conal Cochran, the evil genius maniacal toymaker who is plotting something foul – to restore Halloween to its witch cult origins by providing children with devilish masks – and it all degenerates into standard grisly horror. You may simply be wondering why O’Herlihy wasn’t content with just making a fortune from his factory.

Tom Atkins also stars as Doctor Daniel Challis, who seeks to uncover Cochran’s plot. Stacey Nelkin plays Ellie Grimbridge.

Nigel (Quatermass) Kneale’s promising story bears no relation to Halloween (1978) or Halloween II but takes its inspiration from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. We’ve entered the worlds of witchcraft and science fiction, Alas, tampering with the script turned the toymaker into a conventional madman and Kneale removed his name from the credits.

Writer / director Tommy Lee Wallace’s 1983 film is tacky and just a little bit gory, but it is also entertaining and slickly professional, with enough suspense and tension, thanks partly to producer John Carpenter, who also scores. It also features Ralph Strait as Buddy Kupfer, Michael Currie as Rafferty and Jadeen Barber as Betty Kupfer, but alas, though, there is no series star Jamie Lee Curtis, or Donald Pleasence, from the original two films.

On a budget of $4.6 million, Halloween III grossed $14.4 million at the US box office, and was profitable but financially disappointing. So there was a six year gap before John Carpenter’s idea that the Halloween franchise could be a series of films centring on Halloween night was abandoned and Michael Myers was brought back in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988).

By 2025, 12 films have followed the 1978 original. Michael Myers is the villain in all of them exception of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, whose story has no direct connection with any other film in the series. 

Next up: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, directed by Dwight H Little in 1988 with Donald Pleasence and Ellie Cornell.

It was announced in 2016 that Carpenter was returning to the franchise for the first time in over 30 years to executive produce a new instalment. It is his first involvement in the franchise since Halloween III. He said: ‘I decided, after bitching for years and years about Halloween sequels, I would come aboard and shepherd this thing.’ It is co-produced by Malek Akkad, whose father financed and produced the first eight Halloween films.

Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills (2021) and Halloween Ends (2022) followed.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4,232

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