Halloween III: Season of the Witch Reviews

Though the name's the same (as are some of the production credits), this film has nothing to do with HALLOWEEN or HALLOWEEN II. Coproducer John Carpenter tried something completely different here. The mad slasher has been replaced by Dan O'Herlihy, an Irish mad scientist/mask maker who abhors the commercialization of Halloween and wants to return the holiday to its satanic origins. To do this he cleverly markets a series of rubber Halloween masks that all the kiddies throughout America will be clamoring for, and implants each one with a microchip that will be activated by a television commercial broadcast on Halloween night--thus killing the children. The script was originally penned by respected British science-fiction writer Nigel Kneale (a personal favorite of Carpenter and the author of the excellent "Quatermass" series), but dismayed by director Tommy Lee Wallace's haphazard realization of his work, he sued to have his name removed from the credits. Though the film certainly isn't awful, the filmmakers couldn't decide on their focus. Did they want the picture to be be a fun little piece full of black humor, or did they want to go the usual blood-and-gore route? The result was the alienation of the loyal public, who went in expecting to see another Michael Myers movie and got Dan O'Herlihy instead. Though the film made money, the producers waited a few years and then returned to the familiar formula.