Cast

 

Tom Atkins ... Daniel Challis

 

Stacey Nelkin ... Ellie Grimbridge

 

Dan O'Herlihy ... Conal Cochran

 

Michael Currie ... Rafferty

 

Ralph Strait ... Buddy Kupfer

 

Jadeen Barbor ... Betty Kupfer

 

Brad Schacter ... Little Buddy

 

Garn Stephens ... Marge

 

Nancy Kyes ... Linda Challis

 

Jonathan Terry ... Starker

 

Al Berry ... Harry Grimbridge

 

Wendy Wessberg ... Teddy

 

Essex Smith ... Walter Jones

 

Maidie Norman ... Nurse Agnes

 

John MacBride ... Sheriff

Directed by :

Tommy Lee Wallace

Written by:

Tommy Lee Wallace

Daniel Challis, a doctor in a northern California hospital, treats a scared old man named Harry Grimbridge who screams "They are going to kill us!" while clutching a Halloween mask from the number-one best-selling Silver Shamrock mask company. But later Daniel is shocked when later that night Harry is murdered in his hospital bed and the killer walks calmly to a car and blows himself up. His curiosity is piqued when Harry's daughter Ellie arrives and tells Daniel that Harry was scared ever since he tried looking into the origins of the masks, since no orders for them are being taken for the following year. Daniel and Ellie go to Santa Mira, the home of Silver Shamrock, to uncover what happened and are horrified to find out that the owner of the mask company, Conal Cochran, is planning to use the masks and some black magic as one great Halloween trick on the children who are wearing his masks that coming Halloween. As time draws near on Halloween night, Daniel must stop Cochran from sending the signal out to activate the masks, and he can only do that if he can get out of Cochran's huge mask factory alive....

 

Halloween III: Season of the Witch was the producers attempt at continuing the franchise, without Michael Myers. They wanted to make a new one each year, with a different Halloween story behind it. I think it is an amazing idea to play around with, but for the time, and for the fans, it was not a good idea to go that route with this franchise. Now, don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean I think this is a bad movie...I just don't think it should have had the Halloween title in front of it.

 

I am probably one of the few loyal Halloween fans that actually enjoys this movie. The film has been getting ripped apart for years, and that isn't surprising. The concept of a toy maker “witch” who's sole mission in life is the sacrifice all the children, in the whole world...well at least the United States, was a little far fetched. But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.

 

Tom Atkins does an amazing job as the lead in this film. Even though he is a womanizing, alcoholic doctor...he gives this unique character the performance it deserves. He needs to make the character believable, and that isn't always an easy thing to do.

 

Stacy Nelkin plays his female counterpart, and love interest in the film...even though he is 24 years her senior. She is another one of those performances in this film that really impressed me on my first watch of this film. And in all honesty, that is where I'm going to leave this on the acting. All the performances in this movie are really damn good...by genre standards. So please, if you are a Nazi film critic, and want to fight with me about how can these performances be anything other than terrible...go out and kill yourself. Because you can't judge every movie by the same criteria. Horror, and horror sequels have their own criteria by which they should be judged.

 

The biggest issue I can see with this movie, is what I mentioned earlier...how the story unfolds. I can buy into almost anything you throw at me with a horror movie, but at least have some validity to the material. First off, this Celtic witch want to make an offering to Sammhain, or Sawan...depending on which lore you wish to follow; by killing all the children on Halloween. And how do you do this...Halloween masks.

 

Ok...here is issue one. If he wants to kill all the kids at the same time, in the whole world. Well, let's say we narrow that down to just the United State. Which time zone does this “death message” commercial play that all the kids will be watching it at the same time. Some kids might be in bed...some most likely would still be out trick-or-treating. It isn't discussed very well in the film, and I know I'm stretching for an explanation on this, but hey...I'm just saying.

 

And the key to kill all these kids is by a piece of stone that is put into the product tag on every mask. And when this tag is in the presence of this TV signal, it melts the kids heads and produces snakes, bugs, and an assortment of other creepy, crawly things. And the special piece of stone that is in the masks...comes from Stonehenge. Which is nicely alluded to early on in the film, when a news broadcast boasts that one of the stones from stonehenge, has been stolen. And I've heard a lot of complaints, that this is a Celtic group of witches, and Stonehenge isn't even in Ireland, they are stupid. Well, idiots, if you know your lore, it was a Celtic queen Boudicca, in which whom the Stonehenge was a monument for. That isn't my complain. Mine falls in the form of the product tag. I know as a kid on Halloween, I always tore those things the fuck off. They just got in the way, and took away from the look of the mask. I know, small issues...but those are my only complaints.

 

All in all, yes I say I have few complaints...when I was younger, of course I hd the complaint of, THIS MOVIE DIDN'T HAVE MICHAEL MYERS IN IT...WELL FUCK YOU!!! But, Michael Myers was dead when this film came out. But by the time I saw it...I already knew that there was two more Halloween films already made that had Michael Myers in them...so I wasn't happy. But now, I really enjoy this movie for what it is. A great genre film for the Halloween holiday. And that is what they set out to do...so mission accomplished.

 

I highly recommend this movie for all to watch. It is original, and actually holds up well over time...and that is something to be proud of in my opinion. A lot of horror films I grew up watching do not hold up well today, so that is a testament to this film, and the franchise itself.

 

Till Next Time Kiddies...

 

-RJ