HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1982)

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"Halloween... the festival of Samhain! The last great one took place three thousand years ago, when the hills ran red... with the blood of animals and children."

Alright so this one I was able to catch, the full thing that is, on the AMC(American Movie Classics) channel, and the first time I saw it, I will admit, my first thought was, "What a piece of shit! Where the fuck is Michael Myers?!" but after I got over that, and watched it a second time, after getting the DVD, which is another story. I came to realize, that if you got over the fact that Michael Myers was not in this, it was actually a very good movie! Anyway, the DVD story! This DVD took me AGES to find! I tried every store I could, and everytime I ordered it from Columbia House, or something like that, it wouldn't come. Finally we went to Best Buy, and ordered it, and it finally came! You weren't there, but I spent the better part of three and a half months trying to find this DVD, and like I said. After watching it again, I realized it actually wasn't a bad movie at all. It was sort of a twilight zone effect, which is what the director wanted I think.

The director of this movie was Tommy Lee Wallace, who also wrote the storyline of it. Now I'm not going to sit here and praise EVERYTHING he did, but I will be sort of seeing this as a non-Halloween movie. It's hard to explain. Anyhow, Tommy Lee Wallace actually did a decent job with this movie, and gives us quite a thrilling movie because this movie was actually quite creepy, just the entire premise. Everything he did was done great actually because he knew what it was he was doing, even if he was tampering with something. It could have worked, but because people were so used to having Michael Myers in the series, even after only two movies, it wasn't accepted. It was truly a good movie! Believe me. I thought the same thing as everyone else did, "What shit! Where's Michael!" By the way, Michael is in this one! Just look at the TV when the doctor is in the bar! HA! Anyway, it was a relatively good movie, and it should've gotten more credit than it did, and does.

The visuals of this movie were actually one of the best things about this movie! These are played out nicely, and this is most likely the most gorey Halloween of the whole series, and that's not counting the Rob Zombie remake! Anyhow there are many things visually that are cool. Like just the overall look and feel of the film, it's really dark and depressing, which is always something I enjoy in a movie. Another thing that was neat about this movie is that it had some sort of futuristic technology, in and old time setting, and this all gave us entirely new ways of killing people, and as I keep saying, that's an interesting thing because it seems that the directors and writers in all of these movies can come up with new ways for EVERY movie! It's kind of funny, if it wasn't so serious. lol. Anyway, this movie's visuals were pretty good, and offered us some interesting new ways of taking the Halloween series, even if it didn't work.

The storyline of this movie is DEFINITELY original, and DEFINITELY new to the series. It's a good storyline, I'll give it that, yet I still feel like I'm watching something that has nothing to do with Halloween in the slightest. It's hard to describe, it's good, but it has nothing to do with Halloween, and that can be confusing. However, the way I think the director wanted to take this series was to take in a direction much like the Twilight Zone, which is what others have said, not me, but I think I agree. Also, they might've been aiming for different stories of terror in a series, that all happened on Halloween. Any matter, this was an alright movie, and it's one worth a watch, or if you're like me, a few watches. A doctor is called in when a man that is near death arrices. He is able to save the man, but the man whispers something about "They're coming!" and then passes out. Soon after, the man is killed by another man, and the killer blows himself up. Now, this doctor finds himself thrust into a conspiracy that is far greater than he could have ever imagined. The storyline is interesting enough to keep you interested throughout the entire movie, and has some great tense moments, and if you ask me this was the creepiest of the entire series.

Tom Atkins, whom I'm not too familiar with, stars in this movie as the main character as well as the protagonist, Doctor Daniel Challis. Dan is at home with his ex-wife visiting his kids one night when he gets a call from the office, and has to head back in. When he gets there he finds that a man has been brought in who had shown up nearly unconscious at a mans home at a gas station, and then passed out. When on the gurney, this man woke up and said that there were people who were coming who were going to kill everyone, then he blacked out again. Later that night, as Dan was snoozing on the couch in his office, the man was killed, and he was woken up, but he didn't catch the killer because the killer entered his car, poured gasoline over his head, and lit a match. Thus, causing the killers death. Soon however, he is met by the daughter of the killed man, and they begin to fall in love with eachother, while at the same time researching into her father. This leads them to a town called Santa Mira, and they uncover a most diabolical scheme, led by a seemingly innocent man named Conal Cochran. Tom Atkins does a decent job of portraying this character, and considering his script he did a great job of playing out the emotions and stress, and everything like that. He was a partially convincing and believable character, and was definitely an alright choice for this movie.

Stacy Nelkin, another actress whom I'm not too familiar with, stars in this movie as Ellie Grimbridge. Ellie's father was killed one night in a hospital, and when she flew out, she decided that she was going to figure out why. That's when she met Dan, a doctor at the clinic where her father was killed, and she asked him to come with her to her father's toy shop to help her look at some things, and they found out that her father had gone to a town called Santa Mira, a town where a toy factory, The Silver Shamrock Novelties Company, runs the city. Her father had gone here to get a new shipment of masks, and it was somewhere around here that he got sidetracked. When they arrive there they immediately begin to look for clues, and Ellie finds that she has fallen in love with Dan and they get a room together, posing as a married couple who own a toy store, and are there to get some more of The Silver Shamrock Masks. As they go along, they uncover a scheme, as I've said, that is headed by the man everyone in this town sees as all mighty and such a nice man. While getting a tour of the Silver Shamrock factory, they also locate her father's car, and she knows exactly whose behind her father's death. Stacey Nelkin, though I don't know her as an actress, does an alright job with her role too, and gives us a character whose emotions are played out pretty well and shows her anger at her fathers death. Stacey Nelkin delivers us a convincing and believable performance, and she was another good casting choice for this movie.

Starring in this movie as Conal Cochran, the crazy bad guy of the story, is another actor who(SURPRISE!) I don't know, and that would be Dan O'Herlihy. Conal Cochran is an entrepreneur of toys and joke items, and he is seemingly a wonderful man. He's been around for many years, and runs the little old town of Santa Mira with what could be called an iron fist. He has a six o'clock curfew set, and has many minions. He's a seemingly nice, generous and caring person, and all the townsfolk love him. His newest Silver Shamrock masks are at the top of the Halloween sellers list and make him loads of money, but we come to realize that money is the least of Conal Cochran's worries, or cares for that matter. He is truly a vile and cynical man, whose purpose in life is just to have mean hearted fun, sounds stupider than it really is so bear with me please. Anyway, his true purpose is all in the masks, he has stolen a piece of stone hinge and with it has used it's ancient magic to create devices of utter horror. He's programmed all these devices and put them into the masks and sold them to all the little kids. These devices will activate on Halloween night, killing all the kids wearing the masks and causing havoc. The only thing in his way is a very pesky doctor who thinks he can stop him, but that's taken care of easily. Dan O'Herlihy, whoever he is, does a pretty good job at playing a bad guy in this one, and can play a really good two-faced person. His actions are put together well, and the emotions and hatred are played out well in his gestures and movements. To sum it up his performance was pretty believable and pretty convincing.

All in all this was an alright movie, one of my favorites, actually, a guilty pleasure if you will. Anyhow, I know I usually have four main characters, but in this there are only three, but I have a few interesting facts here to relay to you. Nancy Kyes stars in this movie as Dan's ex-wife. Nancy Kyes starred in the first two Halloween movies as Annie Brackett, a part that was later picked up by Danielle Harris in the Halloween remake. Anyhow, that's a neat thing to know, and many of you know that the original Halloween was the one that jump started Jamie Lee Curtis's career, but did you know that Jamie Lee Curtis was in this movie?! You don't see her, but you hear her. She is the voice over the intercom announcing that the curfew has arrived, and informing people to go to their homes and confine activities to their homes, and she also plays the voice of the telephone operator that announces that Dan's and other's calls cannot be finished. That's a fact that surprised me a bit, but I still find VERY interesting. Anyway, all in all, this movie was pretty good, not as bad as everyone keeps saying it is, so you all can lay off it. It may not make sense but it was a pretty good movie, and it's in my all time favorite series, so naturally I enjoyed it. I'd say rent it before you decide to buy it. I bought it because I wanted to have the complete collection, and because I liked it. Anyhow, I liked this movie alot, and it's an alright addition in one of my favorite series of all time!!!!!

THIS CONCLUDES THE SEVENTH REVIEW IN MY NINE PART SERIES OF REVIEWS FOR THE HALLOWEEN MOVIES: STAY TUNED FOR MY REVIEW OF HALLOWEEN II, COMING SOON!!!!!