Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Directed by: Tommy Lee Wallace

Release Date: 1982

"Happy, happy Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, happy, happy Halloween, Silver Shamrock!" (played to the same tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down").

The Halloween jingle to the Halloween store Silver Shamrock is played repeatedly throughout the movie. The repetition foreshadows the horror the Silver Shamrock company embodies.

Our protagonist, Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins),encounters a homicide in his hospital. The daughter of the victim, Ellie Grimbridge decides to investigate the murder of her father by herself (?) and Dan accompanies her to the town of Santa Mira. Somehow, they hook up (yeah, like that makes a lot of sense) and learn exactly what Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy) has in mind for the children who love Halloween so much.

Honestly, the best thing about this movie is the Halloween jingle that I'm humming as I write this entry! This installment in the franchise should be titled Season of the Witch without Halloween attached. There wasn't even a Michael Myers cameo! The closest to a "cameo" in this movie was the clips of Halloween as part of a "horror-thon" taking place on Halloween.

The actors weren't familiar to me (but I know Tom Atkins is well-known for other horror pictures), the story was quite forgettable, and the scare factor was non-existent. I almost fell asleep through the whole third act! Tommy Lee Wallace doesn't necessarily have a great track record with gems like, It and Fright Night 2. It's not surprising how much this movie was panned during its release. What could have helped this movie was if there was some level of campyness or B-level characteristics; instead the film took itself seriously that makes this movie not "so bad it's good" but just plain bad.

This was a soporific installment in the franchise. I hope the next ones are much better than this wanna-be creepy picture.

Below, the trailer for the Silver Shamrock commercial for your pleasure. I'm still singing it and you will be too!

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