Movie 63: Halloween III Season Of The Witch

Starring: Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O'Herlihy, Michael Curry, Ralph Strait, Jadeen Barbor.

Director: Tommy Lee Wallace.

The infamous Halloween III...I honestly don't know if it deserves the infamy or if it's literally just a reaction to the fact that it doesn't have Michael Myers in it(which seems to be pretty much the only thing anyone on the internet says about this film).  Originally the thought process was for Halloween to a series of loosely connected horror films that took place on the titular holiday, and it made a bunch of fans angry that there wasn't a masked serial killer in it or what have you.  I don't think that was a terrible idea, considering how the franchise suffered over time.  Unique visions for each film probably would have been pretty great.  I saw this once, I think, a long time ago and I have no real substantial memories, so this might as well be a first watch for me.  

So far, the opening credits sequence (which is absurdly long because, well, it was 1982 and they all had super long credits sequences) seems to be invoking a feel like Videodrome or The Running Man...which is fine, I suppose.  

Carpenter, while not the director of this film for some reason, has a knack for very interesting musical scores.  The film is directed by long-time Carpenter collaborator Tommy Lee Wallace, whose filmography reads like "the guy you get to direct when you can't get John Carpenter," who has a decent enough resume.  He did the half-great, half-terrible TV adaptation of Stephen King's IT and Fright Night Part 2.  

I get that Silver Shamrock has a catchy, jaunty jingle but I find it difficult to believe that two children are glued to a TV screen during a commercial.  I mean, it's a commercial.  When I was a kid, you couldn't get me to sit still during a commercial break, except maybe long enough for me to bitch, moan and whine about my show being interrupted.  But, okay, Silver Shamrock commercials are totally in vogue. 

This movie can't seem to go five minutes without reminding me of a Cronenberg movie.  These weird suit wearing murder mooks  are very reminiscent of the serial killer in The Dead Zone,complete with calm and casual suicide.  This is particularly interesting because it PRE-DATES those films by at least a year.  So, I guess we could say Wallace was a bit ahead of his time.  I mean, Cronenberg had made several films before now but his big mainstream hits hadn't come up yet.

Doctor Daniel Challis is an engaging enough lead.  The half-neglectful, half-put upon nature of his fatherhood is a little jarring and doesn't seem to have any equilibrium, but he seems like a good man.  His casual attempt to lie and comfort a man's grieving Daughter-

"Did my Father say anything to you before he died?" She asks.
"Yeah, he said tell Ellie I love her." He replies as he downs a shot of whiskey.
"You're a terrible liar, but thanks."

-is very likable.  We get the impression he's a good man, maybe even at the expense of his Family, which is odd.  And he totally wants to bang Ellie...although maybe he's divorced?  That doesn't seem super clear.

Well, this movie kinda went off the rails a little with this weird town. I much preferred the strange mysterious murder mystery story to goofy town with a slight sense of menace.  Curfews and murdered bums and stuff.  The scene with the murdered bum actually had some effects, though.  Then the neighbor gets her face melted by some weird gizmo.  It all feels very random but has some cool effects.

Oh, I think I remember how this ends now.  

It never quite reads right to me when you deal with bizarre scenarios that literally only the main characters are skeptical of.  Nobody else, in the entire world, finds anything suspicious about any of this?  Nobody ever goes home and talks about the weird little town with a curfew run entirely by a corporation?  One toy salesman from northern california is the only one whatsoever to get out and tell anyone before he dies?  I know it's supposed to be both paranoia fuel and satire all at the same time, and it IS that and does okay with it, but it's just so difficult for me to swallow.  But I guess I'll focus on the positive: there is a nice, albeit obvious, statement about corporate power, small town economics (the bum points out that the villain hired all outside contractors while allowing the local laborers to lose their jobs), and even social conformity issues.  It's actually MORE relevant today in it's points.  

Really?  Every kid is wearing silver shamrock masks?  They make three friggin variations.  You're telling me nobody said "I wanna be Spider-Man" this year?  Also, when I was a kid...even if the TV was like "Big giveaway at 9, wear your masks" I still wouldn't wear the mask because how would they know I was wearing it or not?

Also, why are we melting children's faces again? What are we gaining from this?  Oh, wait, evil old dude is about the explain...

Oh, sacrifice to old pagan samhain gods or whatever.  So, basically, for the evulz. 

Two different appearances of the original film on TV sets.  I guess that's cute.

Doctor Challis is way too capable.  Destroying the TV and getting out of his bonds I sort of buy-particularly the destroying of the TV was incredibly smart, considering how the bad guy literally told him exactly how the TV was going to kill him-but his incredible throw with the mask, somehow navigating the fortress-like factory and finding Ellie in a random room is a bit much.  I realize it was necessary to drive the plot, it just seems like way more than a lucky break.  Especially considering he forgot that the bad guy had the ability to make robot dupes...which, why does he have the ability to make robot dupes?  You'd think that those would make a long time to make...not only that, but why are they here?  They seem really out of place in this film.

Yay, the world is doomed!  Again!

Final Thoughts: It has a really solid first act that just slowly but surely degenerates into a sloppy, disjointed mess.  It's one of the worst offenders of early-eighties kitchen sink film making: pagan ritual, killer masks, robot duplicates, evil corporate conspiracies...could have picked one or two to utilize and made a stronger film.  The characterization is awkward and jumbled, with even our lead hero's motivations and personality being murky and shaky.  That being said, there is still a creative sense of fun to some of the proceedings, and that kind of makes up for a lot of the weaknesses throughout.

Final Rating: Two and a Half Stars.