30 NIGHTS OF NIGHT, Night 8: HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1982)

Halloween III: Season of the Witch, an unexpectedly brutal but satisfyingly outrageous film, sits perpendicular to the rest of the Halloween series. It’s the only entry not to feature the ubiquitous Michael Myers, save for a few glimpses of the original film on a TV screen. That’s because John Carpenter, who reportedly disliked the traditional sequel Halloween II, said he’d only be involved in a third film if it were a completely different story. The idea was that Carpenter and crew would make Halloween into an anthology series, with a new story centered on Halloween each sequel.

The idea didn’t last long. Halloween III premiered to general distaste, and with the fourth entry a few years later, Michael was back and stabbing away. But although it certainly isn’t in line with what a Halloween audience would expect, Halloween III is actually pretty good, and unjustly overlooked.

Still, attaching it to the Halloween franchise may have been a mistake. Though Carpenter succeeds in doing something different from the two previous films, his and writer/director Tommy Lee Wallace’s approach is extremely different. Far from the spare, stark, quiet terror of the original, Halloween III is big, loud, and downright loopy, with a plot that is brazenly ridiculous. Yet it still works, because Wallace and crew play it straight, and don’t balk even when the movie is at its most ludicrous.

An old man (Al Berry) turns up in a California town, afraid for his life, apparently being chased. He’s found catatonic, clutching a Halloween mask in his hand. When a commercial for the mask company, Silver Shamrock, comes on the hospital TV, he shouts, “They’re gonna kill us all!” This prompts his doctor, Dan Chaliss (Tom Atkins), and his daughter Ellie (Stacey Nelkin) to travel to the Silver Shamrock factory to investigate just what he means.

What they discover I will leave for you to see, but I’ll just say that I was surprised. Most horror movies don’t work when they’re this plotty, but Halloween III has the courage of its convictions. Like many of Dario Argento’s ridiculous but spellbinding films, it takes itself seriously and still manages to build true suspense. Wallace takes a cue from Carpenter and builds tension from atmosphere. The film actually works in a bit of capitalist satire as the town of Santa Mira, home to the Silver Shamrock factory, is a believably barren hamlet whose laws are determined by the only company that brings it business.

Silver Shamrock’s owner, Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy, who went on to play a similar role in the Robocop series), is just the right kind of heavy: ruthless, amoral, and just silly enough to explain his diabolical plan like a Bond villain before he sends the hero to be killed (he even slow-claps at one point).

I just plain like the stonefaced goofiness of this movie. I like the mask company’s loyal army of henchmen in cheap suits. The simple, retro image of a computer-generated pumpkin, and how Wallace and Carpenter use it to build tension. The eventual emergence of snakes, bugs, and all sorts of creepy-crawlies. The involvement of Stonehenge, somehow. The ambient Carpenter synth score, which is legitimately one of the director/composer’s best.

The ending doesn’t quite work, as if Wallace and crew didn’t have a conclusion and just decided to stop, but, well, how was it supposed to end anyway? Movies like this can only be viewed on their own terms. The plot of Halloween III may be a bit out there, but if you accept it on its own logic, it works.

*** out of ****