Halloween III: Season of the Witch

1982 Universal Pictures
Written and Directed by: Tommy Lee Wallace
Starring: Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, and Dan O'Herlihy
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 98 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 4/10

Weird stuff is going on in North California, and divorced, womanizing, possibly alcoholic doctor, Daniel Challis, has hit his limit. One of Challis' patients, rambling that someone or something is going to kill everyone, is himself murdered in his hospital bed by a man who then immediately self-immolates. Challis, seemingly doing anything to avoid spending time with his children, is ready for action. It looks like the weirdness is emanating from a small town called Santa Mira, California, home of Silver Shamrock Novelties. Along with Ellie Grimbridge, the murdered man's adult daughter, Dr. Challis is off to Santa Mira to investigate Silver Shamrock's strange mask-making factory, and also to maybe hook up with Ellie Grimbridge. Meanwhile, Halloween is fast-approaching, and Silver Shamrock's constant commercials seem insistent: Children, at 9 pm on October 31, put on your Shamrock mask, and watch our big giveaway on your television. 

Hmm...sounds suspicious.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch takes some bold risks. The first is benching the series' central antagonist, Michael Myers. The second is eliminating the series' slasher elements altogether. 

Season of the Witch switches out a villainous masked killer for a villainous mask-making company. This bravery works early on. The film is heavy on atmosphere, courtesy of some great imagery by writer/director, Tommy Lee Wallace, as well a great general sense of mystery in the plot. However, about halfway into the film, what's actually going on becomes clear, and without any sense of mystery, Season of the Witch falters and becomes uninteresting. The film also doesn't fulfill some of its more intriguing early promises. 

For instance, Dr. Challis is a very flawed protagonist in ways that seem quite intentional by the filmmakers. However, none of his personal issues really ever pay off, either as a cautionary tale, thematically, or to the plot in general. Furthermore, while the plot seems like it would be ripe to issue out some excellent cultural commentary, nothing much comes of it . The most I can parse out is a general "corporations act so negatively toward children, their intentions might as well be malicious" and "too much TV is bad," but this is all very surface level and barely there.
Overall, I admire that Season of the Witch tries to do something different here, but outside of the early fun (and a few gnarly death scenes just past the mid-point), it does little well. That's too bad, as a good flick here may have led to even more idiosyncratic Halloween pictures, instead of the return of Michael Myers to almost ever-diminishing returns.