We gather here today to celebrate one of my favorite guilty pleasures, 1982’s “Halloween III: Season of the Witch.”
Mention its name and it’ll be neigh impossible for any fan to get its signature “London Bridges” jingle out of their head. “Eight more days ’til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. Eight more days ’til Halloween, Silver Shamrock!”
Repeat ad infinitum.
Long considered the bastard child of the “Halloween” series, “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” arrived shortly after 1981’s limp yet lucrative “Halloween II” but—surprise!—has absolutely nothing to do with the plot or characters of the previous installments.
Though sequel-mongering wasn’t yet the current-day modus operandi of Hollywood, the studio begged for another chapter. John Carpenter and Debra Hill—the brain trust behind the first two films—were once again on board to produce.
To their credit, they weren’t interested in further belaboring the twice-told tale of homicidal stalker Michael Myers and instead they sought to explore fertile ground. As such, the stand-alone “Season of the Witch” was intended to be the inauguration of a yearly horror anthology of unrelated individual stories loosely based on the idea of All Hallows’ Eve.
Since “Halloween III”, other horror-themed franchises of stand-alone stories such as “Tales from the Crypt” (two movies so far) and the fright-spoof “Scary Movie” saga (number five is in the works) seem like smart business, but in 1982 the notion of an anthology of unrelated movies proved to be an idea ahead of its time.
Unprepared by a vague marketing campaign but teased by the misleading moniker “Halloween” in the title, audiences expecting the knife-wielding Michael Myers petulantly shunned the film, critics mercilessly eviscerated it and the movie died a quick death in theaters.
Were it not for the burgeoning phenomenon of home video, “Halloween III” would very likely have remained buried, forever designated a peculiar cinematic footnote. It took six years for Michael Myers to be resurrected (without Carpenter or Hill) for “Halloween 4,” but by that time “Season of the Witch” had already become a staple on VHS and cable TV, well on its way to establishing a devoted fan base and becoming a veritable cult classic. Michael Myers would eventually reappear in no less than seven additional installments (including Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake and its 2009 sequel), yet the aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes ranks “Season of the Witch” higher than all of ’em except for 1998’s “H20.”
Take that, Shape.
The film’s “witchcraft meets the computer age” plot details the diabolical scheme of novelty purveyor Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy) to offer a global human sacrifice, utilizing mass marketing and his specialty Halloween masks designed to harness the supernatural power of a stolen slab of rock from Stonehenge. (Don’t ask. Just go with it.)
Obviously, we’re not talking Shakespeare or even Stephen King here, and the dialogue and acting are B-grade all the way. Yet there’s a certain eerie charm to the film, an earnestness by the filmmakers to spook and shock the audience that more than compensates for the movie’s low-budget exploitation limitations.
“Season of the Witch” is stylishly shot in widescreen by famed cinematographer Dean Cundey (his work includes “The Thing,” “Back to the Future” and “Jurassic Park”) and the soundtrack boasts a creepy synthesizer score by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth. The “R” rating is well earned with some surprisingly gory deaths (the bit when the wino gets his head tugged off is particularly gruesome) and there’s an extremely high “ick” factor (Snakes! Insects! Gross!!).
Most memorably, the chilling final scene ranks among moviedom’s most disturbingly bleak climaxes. Hollywood wouldn’t DARE go anywhere near an ending like this today.
Fans can rejoice, as “Halloween III” has just been issued on Blu-ray and DVD as a Special Edition, supplemented with two audio commentary tracks, a retrospective feature, theatrical trailers, TV commercials and a few other random tidbits. Props to Shout! Factory for unearthing this title and doing it justice. They’ve even included the original poster campaign (one of the coolest one-sheets produced for ANY film in the ’80s), and commissioned a fetching new cover design that would have done wonders in prepping uninitiated audiences for the non-Myers plot.
So forget Michael Myers and his sibling issues, and disregard intractable critics. Do yourself a favor and catch up on this endearingly cheesy ’80s cult classic. Before the big giveaway at nine o’clock.
“And…Happy Halloween.”
