Horror movie people... Halloween III: Season of the Witch - yay or nay?

8
The most underrated in the series. Totally beats Rob Zombie’s movies

I agree, its an under appreciated, all be it a touch cheesy, wee gem of a movie. I’d rate it at about 7 maybe, because it has a pretty good idea behind it, with the masks changing people, it would have fared better if it hadn’t been tied to the micheal myers saga and seen as a stand alone story.
hugs all xx

Oh, this makes me happy! You are two of my new bestest friends! lol

I was beginning to think I was the only one.

And can we just talk about the music for a second? It’s an amazing horror score. I have the song from the beginning… not the credits, but when Ellie’s father is running away… as my main ringtone.

The score really is excellent,(especially love the mask company’s jingle) also for me its the level of care throughout. This is not just another horror movie. None of the actors are “phoning it in”, I especially loved Tom Atkins character, he was real, 3 dimensional. I actually watched this movie because I’d loved him in “The Fog”. As I said honey, its a very underappreciated wee gem.
hugs xx
ps: there is a pretty cool page at wiki, you can find it here

As the great Frankie Howerd would have said, “Nay nay & thrice nay.” Not my cup of tea at all, whether it was a stand alone movie or not. As for the music, well let’s just say i’m also not a fan.Marks out of ten, a resounding zero i’m afraid. Ho hum moving on.

Yay, for actress Stacey Nelkin, who was supposed to be the 5th replicant in Blade Runner, and was Woody Allen’s inspiration for Stacey in the movie Manhattan.
But as I recall, it really isn’t Michael Myers related. So, nay for that.

Now I’m going to have to re-watch this. I haven’t seen it for so long, all I remember was being disappointed that it was such a departure from the Michael Myers stuff. (The original Halloween is still my all-time favorite horror movie.)

@augustlan: Right. You just need to watch it and not think of it as the third in the series. Watch it for what it is.

Poor Carpenter…aah, the shackles of having signed a contract. Season of the Witch or Night of the Masks would have saved this movie, maybe…I’m sure it woulda done so much better if people weren’t expecting it to be dealing with Mikey, however the people can’t be blamed either.

That said, it’s fine for what it is, but it does suffer from long, drawn out parts that are just boring, but it most certainly makes up for it with very good suspense scenes, fucking awesome special effects (Whatever the intent behind those were.) and the wickedest goddamn soundtrack ever. (Chariots of Pumpkins was even used by Stephen King for the Maximum Overdrive trailer.) I bloody hate that Silver Shamrock mask comercial though lol.

And yall right, it’s totally lame and cheesy, but at least it tries. That’s what makes it awesome. Also the ending makes me feel like I just threw up, that’s how you know it’s good.

For the Halloween fans such as I, you’ll also be delighted to see Michael Myers make a ’‘cameo’’ appearance. At least I thought it was neat.

But now for the serious part…in the Halloween series, in number two we vaguely learn about the festival of Samhain, and the rituals of All Hallow’s Eve to appwase the wrath of the undead and all, and this idea furthers itself all the way to number six… an old Celtic practice which is being kept alive no pun intended lulz by Myers and who, or what, ever controls him…in Halloween III, we learn that they used a stone from Stonehenge to draw out the power demonstrated in the film…I believe that both the druidism practices and Pagan myth ideas were related to the two ideas in both the Halloween series and Halloween III, and that they all lead back to the same source.

So, you see, Halloween III does belong in the series if only because both events can be linked back to ancient rituals which draw their essence from the very same source. At least, it could be a spin off, or out of series.

Or maybe I just think about it too much haha.

@Symbeline: I don’t think they’re really tied together at all, except the mentioning of samhain. Proof of that is that Halloween III is the only one to use the correct pronunciation of “samhain” lol. Michael Myers has nothing to do with Conal Cochran at all… I see the samhain thing as more like two isolated instances. And, the only place it actually makes SENSE is in Season of the Witch. Samhain fits in with Conal Cochran and Santa Mira being an Irish community. In the other Halloweens, they kind of just slapped it on as a label, whereas Season of the Witch actually gives it some depth and body. It’s the sole focus, the sole reason. Samhain doesn’t fit in with Mikey’s need to slay everyone connected to his sister.

That said, Season of the Witch has a PLOT. A real, live PLOT. And the fact that it’s not a slasher film just gives it that much more credit. The parts that actually have gore aren’t gratuitous, corn syrup filled bloodbaths! The thing that drives the movie is the IDEA. The horror of what Conal Cochran was able to carry out. [shivers].

THAT, my friends, is a freaking horror movie.

Horrible.
Horrible.
Horrible.

@poofandmook They’re not supposed to tie in together; Halloween III was one of Carpenter’s original ideas, one that has nothing to do with Halloween. (That was his next project after the oriignal, but…) I just like making the relation, because it gives this otherwise hated movie a little love. :D But yeah I’m not saying said relation was official, it most certainly ain’t beyond inside my own head.

Slasher movies are a little different though…I don’t feel right condemning them for having lame plots; in fact, cheesy and broken plots are a big part of the fun when it comes to Jaosn and Michael. So you gotta give credit to Halloween for at least tyring something.

Something I forgot to mention…I have no idea why, but Halloween III reminds me of Invasion of the Body Snatchers…maybe it’s the style, the suspense, or what, I don’t know, but yeah, it ruled.

@Symbeline: Oh I know they weren’t tied together, I was just saying that I didn’t think the uses of samhain were related at all.

I certainly don’t condemn slashers for lame plots. You know my love of slashers. But what kills me is that people complain about lame plots in slashers, and people stomp all over this movie, which is neither a slasher or without a plot. It has a full, fleshed out plot. Yet people hate it. Why? Because it bears the name “Halloween III”. Ridiculous.

@Symbeline How can you not like the Silver Shamrock commercial?!

“Eight more days to Halloween…”

love, love, love this movie :D

@jonsblond: It’s easy to hate it after it’s been stuck in your head for a week straight ;)

@poofandmook haha, so true. I’ve got it stuck in my head just thinking about it now, but at least it is better than having that Justin Bieber song that my daughter keeps singing stuck in my head. ;)

@poofandmook I don’t actually get, other than them mentioning it and making stuff up, how the actual Samhain stuff, as it is/was in real life, applies to either movie, (Hence my relation.) but maybe that’s why it was named Halloween, if it wasn’t a contract issue…I guess people were pissed because it wasn’t Michael Myers. Well fuck them I say, a real horror fan will look beyond labels as you said earlier.
With that said, Maximum Overdrive rules, even if Stephen King shamelessly pilfered Halloween III’s soundtrack for his trailer. XD

@Symbeline: As far as I’m concerned, if I was John Carpenter, I would thank my lucky stars that a horror genius stole my music.

Conal Cochran explains it. “The hills ran red with the blood of children and animals.” There you have it. That’s exactly what he was doing… making the hills run red with the blood of children. It was a sacrifice. He’s sacrificing the world’s children.