Now let's get this out of the way right up front; this isn't a really good movie. It's got issues. A lot of them. But if you can overlook them, what you've got in the plus column is a lot of goofy, silly, 80's horror movie fun that would make for a good watch with a group of friends (maybe not so much on your own).
"Halloween III: Season of the Witch" was conceived as a new direction for the "Halloween" films. Instead of continuing the exploits of that wacky kid with a weird penchant for killing babysitters, "Halloween" would become something of an anthology series of feature films. Each October would bring a new entry in the series, but rather than sequels, they'd all be original, standalone stories.
Not a bad idea. Except of course they'd already made one "Halloween" sequel that picked up the original story at exactly the point where the first film ended thereby setting up audience expectations that future sequels would continue the story of Michael Myers. Perhaps a new story could have overcome those expectations had the film been at least tonally similar to the first two films, another killer stalking teens picking up where Michael left off or something, then maybe audiences would have bought in. But comparatively, this film feels completely alien. Add to that the marketing for the film really did nothing to dissuade expectations of Michael Myers or at least a new killer and you end up with a completely pissed off audience.
Too bad, really, because had it been sold as a standalone film, or maybe just moved the "Halloween" to a subtitle - "Season of the Witch: A Halloween Film" - then it certainly might have fared better at the box office, especially during the cheesy-horror loving 80's. As it stands, "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" is seen as kind of a footnote/misstep in the "Halloween" franchise.
But like I mentioned, this wasn't the best movie from the get go, so honestly, nothing may have saved it. The story is beyond silly with it's attempt to marry science fiction with Gothic witchcraft, and a villain's sinister plot that makes absolutely no sense. Really, I don't expect movies - horror movies especially - to make logical sense in the real world, but come on, at least make sense within the world you create.
So why would I recommend this to you? What's it got going for it? Come on! It's "Halloween III." It's just plain dumb, Halloween fun. And it's got Tom Atkins running and screaming, plus big, squishy, wormy, snakey kid-head scene!
Oh, and that cheesy, yet creepy-ass commercial jingle is worth the price of admission alone.
Plus, it's a lot more fun than those god-awful Rob Zombie "Halloween" remakes. Ugh!
"Halloween III: Season of the Witch" is available on Amazon's OnDemand service for a $2.99 rental or you can probably pick up an older DVD from the $5 bin at Walmart (where I got mine) or there's even a special edition Blu-ray if you're feeling all collectory.
No comments:
Post a Comment