Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

Starring: Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O'Herlihy, Ralph Strait (II), Michael Currie

HALLOWEEN III Season of the Witch takes a break from the Michael Myers storyline and concentrates on a small California town called Santa Mira. There, a large mask-making company called Silver Shamrock has opened up, selling popular Halloween masks to the entire country's children. Their advertising covers the media with rhymes, set to the tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down," which chant "Two more days 'til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween..."

Dr. Dan Challis, a local doctor, stumbles on a plot to bring about the end of human kind. He, along with Ellie, a young woman who's father was recently killed, travel inside the factory, where they meet Cochran, an old irish goon who has stolen a rock from Stonehenge, which causes mutations in the person who wears a Silver Shamrock mask! So tonight, on the most deadly Halloween ever, children across the nation will be watching Silver Shamrock commercials, which cause the mutations - their only hope is Dr. Challis and Ellie!

However, Cochran captures both Ellie and Challis. The doctor is well aware of the devestation of Cochran's plot...so he escapes and with the help of Ellie, he leaves the control center exploding in bursts of flames. He races to get help and to stop the commercials from airing. But, Cochran will have the final Halloween trick of the night.

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Fangoria magazine reported that Debra Hill almost fainted when approached with the idea for a third HALLOWEEN film. The only circumstance under which Carpenter and Hill would create a third entry is if it were not a direct sequel. "This is a 'pod' movie, not a 'knife' movie," she said. Tommy Lee Wallace, who served as director on the film, can be heard during the Silver Shamrock commercials, as an announcer. "It is our [Carpenter, Hill, Wallace] intention to create an anthology out of the series, sort of along the lines of NIGHT GALLERY, or THE TWILIGHT ZONE, only on a much larger scale, of course," he said.
The movie was written originally by Nigel Kneale, but he requested to have his name dropped from the credits. The budget for the film was set at $2.5 million. Producer Debra Hill, associate producer Barry Bernardi, and Wallace settled on a remote California costal town, Lolita, to film the movie. The mask factory was actually a milk factory. Due to health standards, no explosions or smoke could take place inside the factory, so the crew moved to Don Post's studio, the legendary mask maker who created the masks for the film. "The effects in this aren't bloody. They're more bizarre than gross," said star Tom Atkins. Also in the cast was actor Dan O'Herlihy, who Debra Hill referred to as "Mr. Halloween."

Tom Atkins Dr. Dan Challis
Stacey Nelkin Ellie Grimbridge
Dan O'Herlihy Conal Cochran
Michael Currie Rafferty
Ralph Strait Buddy Kupfer

Tommy Lee Wallace Director, Writer
John Carpenter Music, Co-Producer
Debra Hill Co-Producer
Alan Howarth Music
Irwin Yablans
Moustapha Akkad
Joe Wolf Executive

This non-Michael Myers sequel was released to theaters in October, 1982 in the US. Universal
Pictures distributed this, just the same as HALLOWEEN II. Like its predecessors, HALLOWEEN III was filmed at 2.35:1 widescreen ratio. The film spawned a set of Don Post masks, which can be seen on the Merchandise page. The film made just under $15 million.