Review of Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) by Steve B — 21 Oct 2014

Probably the most unfairly criticized horror movie of all time.

Sure, if this movie didn't carry the "Halloween" title, it would probably be remembered more along the lines of movies like Night of the Creeps and The Burning. Since it is a "Halloween" movie though, it has to be compared to all of the other movies in the franchise that include Michael Myers.

And if that's how we were to critique this movie, then it fails completely. As a Michael Myers movie, this movie is a failure because there is no Michael Myers.

As a standard horror movie though, this one is pretty good. It's more in the vein of movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Nothing is too original here, except for maybe the gruesome scheme with the masks. The plot to kill many children across the country is pretty dark, and one child's death in this movie is pretty shocking. You rarely see children come to harm in movies, yet this movie shows a child get it pretty badly.

This movie has it's goofier moments still. I found it pretty funny how, after knowing each other for barely any time at all while trying to investigate the murder of her father, Stacey Nelkin sleeps with an older Tom Atkins. They're likable characters (for the most part), but I find things like that to be completely unreal.

Tom Atkins is likable in the lead role, but he does have his faults as a character. He drinks a lot and he cheats on his wife. He actually has a pretty good character arc, going from a drunk who cares more about himself and probably doesn't spend enough time with his kids to someone who has to save thousands of children. In fact, now that I think about it, this character may have the biggest arc of any character in the entire Halloween series.

Dan O'Herlihy (the other guy from The Last Starfighter) plays a charismatic, creepy villain. His performance is very good and he's one of the highlights of the movie.

Like I said before, the movie can be a bit goofy at times. The androids are a bit silly, the family that stays at the motel is annoying, and the stonehenge aspect is kind of "out there". Still, it's a unique movie that tries to be different, and succeeds at that. It has some good gore effects, some fun action, and a really good soundtrack to boot. This may not be a very good "Halloween" movie, but this is far better than most of the other movies in the franchise. Keep an open mind with this one and you're more likely to enjoy it.