Review: Halloween III: Season of the Witch


A man enters a hospital and kills a patient. He then douses himself in petrol and lights himself on fire. When the police chalks things up to drug-fuelled lunacy, doctor Tom Atkins says ‘Drugs, my fat arse’ (well OK, not those exact words) and along with the murdered patient’s daughter (Stacey Nelkin), conducts his own investigation. The end up in a rather suspicious small town that seems to be overseen by a local toy company currently running annoying ads for Silver Shamrock Halloween masks. Just what are they up to? Joshua Miller can be seen early on as one of Atkins’ kids, whilst Dan O’Herlihy is the Silver Shamrock owner Conal Cochran.

 

Although not as bad as “A Nightmare on Elm St. 2: Freddy’s Revenge” or “Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan”, this 1982 film from writer/director Tommy Lee Wallace (who directed the underrated miniseries “IT”) is crass, stupid, and not scary. The film comes from the same producers (though this time John Carpenter and Debra Hill are among them) and cinematographer (Dean Cundey) as “Halloween”, whilst the writer-director is also a Carpenter crony, and the synth score is by Carpenter and Alan Howarth (who frequently collaborated with Carpenter), presumably more of the latter on show than the former. However, make no mistake, this is a rip-off, a cheap stain on the original “Halloween” film.

 

The real problem here is that it’s all so incredibly boring. Although the basic premise has a kernel of promise, it’s still very basic and unenjoyable in execution. Not much really happens in the film, certainly nothing of interest. “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” it ain’t (though the ending certainly suggests that it wants to be a 50s ‘Red scare’ film. In 1982. Wow). I enjoyed “IT”, but Wallace shows no real aptitude for making a scary or thrilling film here. It’s pretty dreary stuff, and although the evil plan has a nasty and shocking element to it, the screenplay doesn’t really make much sense of it, at the end of the day. What was the end game here? (Apparently writer Nigel Kneale of “Quatermass” fame wrote the original script before leaving over creative differences and having his script re-written by Wallace and refusing credit. Perhaps there was more explanation in his script than what we’re left with). It’s also a cynical attempt at continuing the series without its villain, nor having Carpenter at the helm. Nice try, but no. Apparently it was Carpenter’s own idea to continue the series with an anthology series of films under the “Halloween” name, but I bet Carpenter himself could’ve come up with something more inventive and interesting than what Wallace has churned out, albeit with Carpenter’s name attached as producer (Along with Dino De Laurentiis, I might add. His attachment to this says it all, really).

 

Cundey’s lighting is expert as always, and the synth score is actually the best thing in the whole film. Tom Atkins (who was also featured in Carpenter’s “The Fog”) is a decent enough leading man, but the only truly accomplished performance here is by Dan O’Herlihy as the avuncular villain, and neither of them can save the film. Probably the most violent of the series, but it’s the silly type of gore, you can’t take it terribly seriously.

 

Of all the films about sleeper agents/assassins (and that’s really what this is), this is by far the dumbest and certainly the most boring. Good-looking, but terrible. Meanwhile, after ten minutes, you’ll never want to hear that fucking shamrock jingle ever again. Kill. Fuck. Die.

 

Rating: D-

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