Film review - Halloween III: Season Of The Witch (1982)


I'm not a fan of sequels, as previous reviews on this page will show.  However every so often a film comes along that you know you have to see at least once, regardless of the title, subtitle or numerical figure in the name.

What becomes evident in 'H3: SOTW' is that producer John Carpenter envisioned a Halloween franchise without usual focal character Michael Myers - a welcome departure in collective storytelling.  However despite making a profit at the box office, with some help from the obvious low budget, it apparently drew less than the first two saga instalments.  Maybe cinema-goers were intrigued but not intrigued enough by the premise of only one very brief citing of the masked man coming from a fourth wall-breaking telly ad of the original film actually shown within the fictional context.

But to summarise, we get a hero in the form of a Magnum PI lookalike with the rounded backstory of popular medic, not-so-good family man landed with a poor sap brought in to the hospital who cites that "they're coming for him" - they turning out to be some literal eye-wrenching, suites and booted hitmen with one facial expression. 

Upon the patient's murder, his killer sets himself ablaze in the car park (why not), leading to more questions than answers through his ashes.  Meanwhile the initially distraught daughter asks our moustached hero to help track down the last steps of her father, with a view to uncover what led to his abrupt passing.

Of course he ditches his already rescheduled plans with his estranged kids so he can help out his new female friend, his junior by at least ten years, as they drive across California in to an apparent Irish community where a sinister factory owner, who stocks Halloween merchandise.  The girl's dad being a store owner appears to have visited said area to obtain seasonal items for his shop but had been pursued since.

Following the predictable extracurricular activities of our protagonists in a hotel, where she just happened to have a lingerie one-piece handy, the adventures begin which feature special effects that range from bizarre (next door's tenant having her entire face becoming a damaged Spitting Image puppet), to the insulting (the android-like henchmen spewing orange juice), to the tragi-comic (kids dying when their masks melt, only for snakes and creepy-crawlies to leave their faces).

Sold yet?  If not, you may be tempted by the intentionally horrific artwork featured across posters and video covers which would have been scary for the time but today border on crude.  Not that long ago, this film was being sold in Poundland around October time and didn't look out of place.  But this really isn't a Halloween sequel.  Look at the credits, listen to the soundtrack, check out the year it came out:  if anything it's more of a follow-up to Escape From New York (1981); and ironically a more faithful offering than its actual sequel that came 15 years later.

The story itself actually isn't that bad.  Themes of personality cults and anti-capitalism become prevalent, at a time where the Cold War was still ongoing, but the acting and direction are painful.  Surely to goodness the studio could have coughed up more cash to at least give the polished illusion that this was a worthy inclusion to the Halloween series.

I would agree with the IMDB's rating of 5 out of 10, because its neither that good or bad - just worryingly slap-bang in the middle, and unfortunately isn't good enough to warrant being a classic. 

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