Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Jayson Kennedy

Review by Jayson Kennedy Pro

Halloween III: Season of the Witch 1982

★★★½

Rewatched 16 Feb 2021

Unfairly maligned effort at turning Halloween into episodic tales removed from Haddonfield's Shape. Years of "But No Michael!?" would be justified if half-assed, but many from John Carpenter's cadre, including the mystical keyboardist/filmmaker himself, rise to this spookshow in good faith. Like The Fog (1980), Tom Atkins strolls in with more game than Casanova. Dan O'Herlihy embraces his inner shamrock as a celtic-crazed toymaker pining for mass child sacrifice. Jamie Lee Curtis doesn't appear yet you'll swear her voice does as a phone operator despite official assertions.

Negligible issues linger, like Dean Cundey's photographic magic compensating for Tommy Lee Wallace being stronger behind the pen (granted, his first feature). Or a fawning local of O'Herlihy's Cochran lulled into a horrifying "test" handled with too much nuclear family hokum. No matter, Carpenter and Debra Hill should be commended for the boldest shift any established horror franchise has ever attempted. And if one still has trouble accepting its Halloween association, just call it Season of the Witch. Watched via Universal's DVD.

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