Halloween III - Season of the Witch (1982)
Average Rating: 4.5/10
Reviews Counted: 17
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 11
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 1
liked it
Average Rating: 2.3/5
User Ratings: 50,848
Movie Info
The only installment of the Halloween series to abandon the Michael Myers story line, Halloween III: Season of the Witch is an intricate sci-fi horror hybrid. A week before Halloween, an older man named Harry Grimbridge (Al Berry) is wounded by a mysteriously dispassionate group of assailants in an industrial parking lot. After receiving treatment at a local hospital from Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins) -- a hard-drinking divorced father of two -- Grimbridge is killed by an assassin who later sets
Oct 22, 1982 Wide
Aug 31, 2004
MCA Universal Home Video
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Tom Atkins
Dr. Daniel Challis -
Stacey Nelkin
Ellie Grimbridge -
Dan O'Herlihy
Conal Cochran -
Ralph Strait
Buddy Kupfer -
Michael Currie
Rafferty -
Jadeen Barbor
Betty Kupfer -
Bradley Schachter
Little Buddy -
Garn Stephens
Marge -
Al Berry
Harry Grimbridge -
Loyd Catlett
Charlie -
Paddi Edwards
Secretary -
Michael Greene
Technician -
Joshua John Miller
Willie Challis -
Maide Norman
Nurse Agnes -
Patrick Pankhurst
Technician -
Essex Smith
Walter Jones -
-
-
Dick Warlock
Assassin
ADVERTISEMENT
All Critics (18) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (6) | Rotten (11) | DVD (8)
The end result is a bit of a mess but hugely enjoyable, and often (thanks to Dean Cundey's camerawork and John Carpenter's close supervision as producer) as striking visually as its predecessors.
Top CriticThis is one of those Identikit movies, assembled out of familiar parts from other, better movies.
Mr. Wallace clearly has a fondness for the cliches he is parodying and he does it with style.
Halloween III, while not a complete success, at least offers something different from the norm.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch might have been hated back in the day, but it simply doesn't deserve the anger and animosity nowadays.
It is high time for viewers with a hang-up to reevaluate the pleasures that Halloween III: Season of the Witch has to offer.
There are more than enough giant logic holes, stilted characters and idiotic developments to make sure that it is bad for reasons transcending its simple poorness as a sequel
Has little connection with first two "Halloweens," including true terror.
Though the film certainly isn't awful, the filmmakers couldn't decide on their focus.
Something stinks!
Were it not for the middle 30 minutes, which take approximately 73,000 hours to watch, forgetting it would be easy.
Oh boy, this is a howler, justly ranked as one of the worst films in history and shocking in that it didn't kill Carpenter's career outright.
Very peculiar variant on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Connected to the Halloween series in name only.
Points for trying something new, but the results are more laughable than terrifying.
Audience Reviews for Halloween III - Season of the Witch
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
-
- Conal Cochran: Oh and, Happy Halloween.
-
- Conal Cochran: I do love a good joke and this is the best ever: a joke on the children.
-
- Conal Cochran: You know what you really need to see is a demonstration and there's one coming right up.
-
- Dr. Daniel Challis: You haven't know, is there a vacancy here in this motel? My wife and I need a place to stay.
- Rafferty: You've come to the right place. It's cozy, it's quiet, and the price is right.
-
- Betty Kupfer: I think this whole thing is a big joke. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
-
- Dr. Daniel Challis: (on the phone) The third channel, it's still on. Please, take off the third channel. The third channel, it's still running. Stop it, please, for God's sake, please stop it. There's no more time! Please stop it. Stop it now. Turn it off! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for Halloween III - Season of the Witch yet.
What's Hot On RT
Jack the Giant Slayer and...
War Rages in 300: Rise of an Empire
See the Desolation of Smaug trailer!
Where does This Is the End rank?
Latest News on Halloween III - Season of the Witch
October 24, 2011:
Halloween Costume Guide 2011Halloween is upon us! Like, really really upon us... With just a few scant days until this most...
June 5, 2006:
Get Ready for a Very Zombie "Halloween"If you love the original "Halloween," but have grown a little weary with the endless...
November 11, 2005:
In Other News..."Halloween" Producer Dies in Bomb AttackMoustapha Akkad, producer of the cult "Halloween" slasher series and the director of three...
Fresh Links
Featured
Movie: ID: 14976 Title: Halloween III - Season of the Witch Release Date: 1982-10-22 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
The Looks of Johnny Depp
To celebrate the star's birthday, BuzzSugar looks at the many faces of Johnny Depp.
10 Egregious Product Placements
Rolling Stone wonders if The Internship goes too far... then provides 10 examples of movies that did.
Horror Movie Mistakes
Moviefone offers up 8 of the most obvious glaring errors in popular fright flicks.
10 Bad Movies That Look Great
Sometimes even terrible movies can be beautiful; here are 10 of them, from HitFix.
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Jack the Giant Slayer and Quartet 6
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Man of Steel Sets June Record 96
- Weekly Ketchup: Man of Steel Sequel In the Works 162
- Five Favorite Films with Joss Whedon 110
- Bonus Footage of the Cast & Crew of Man of Steel 1
- Critics Consensus: Man of Steel Is Up, Up, and Okay 277
- Total Recall: Superman Movies 143
Top Headlines
-
Sony Sets Dates for Amazing Spider-Man 3 and 4
3
-
Man of Steel 2 Rumored for 2014
3
-
No Loki in The Avengers 2
1
-
Watch Natalie Portman's The Professional Audition
0
-
John C. Reilly's Guardians of the Galaxy Role Revealed
5
-
Arnold Schwarzenegger Confirms His Expendables 3 Return
1
-
The Muppets...Again! Is Now Muppets Most Wanted
0
Unfortunately most people didn't seem to get that, weren't happy about it, confused as to why this one deviated, and eventually forced the rest of the films to bring back Michael and stick to formula. That kind of thinking is rather unfortunate, and I feel bad for being so narrow minded, especially when I learned about Carpenter's intentions.
Okay, enough with the backstory.
Our plot concerns a doctor who, along with the daughter of a recently deceased patient, get caught up in a malevolent conspiracy involving the founder of a Halloween mask manufacturer who wants to return the holiday to its ancient, sacrificial origins. It sounds nuts, I know, and the specifics are even weirder, but this actually shows a bit of thought and uniqueness, despite not making a lot of sense.
Tom Atkins is okay as the doc, and Stacey Nelkin is passable as the daughter, but the one who steals the show is Dan O'Herlihy as the head of the mask company. He's creepy, unnerving, and absolutely nuts. It made me even happier when I soon realized that he's also the same guy who played the CEO of OCP in Robocop. Sweet.
The film's got a dark, moody tone that's really comparable to the previous two films, and a lot of that is thanks in part to Alan Howarth and John Carpenter's score, which is really eerie, atmospheric, and unsettling, establishing the perfect mood and tone. The cinematography by Dean Cundey is also quite good. The plot is off the wall, but there's some decent effects, and the fact that the filmmakers wanted to be risky and make the primary intended victims is commendable. I don't condone violence towards kids, but I do applaud balsiness.
The film does have a lot of issues with story and some of the acting, and it does start to fall apart towards the end, but I do give it credit for having some neat ideas and doing something different.
This really isn't THAT terrible of a film, and it's unfortunate that it's so underrated. If you have an open mind, you might want to give it a chance.