Frightening Fridays - Halloween III: Season of the Witch

My second book, 10-31: A Halloween Movie Trivia Book, covers the entire Halloween movie franchise; yes, even part three. Initially I was surprised when people I met at comic cons would ask me if my Friday the 13th trivia book included part five, and then if the Halloween book included part three. I was thinking to myself, "well yeah, it is part of the franchise." I have now come to the realization that most fans either REALLY hate those installments of their respective franchises, or they REALLY love them.

This is because Jason Voorhees is technically not doing the killing in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, and Michael Myers is nowhere to be seen in Halloween III: Season of the Witch -- other than on a television set. Since this post is about Halloween III, though, we will focus on it.

I do love talking to fans about Halloween III, especially the ones that like it. When someone says they hate it, I tell them that I hear that a lot, and ask if they know why they moved away from Michael Myers for the film. Many of them have no clue about the reasoning behind it, so I get to explain to them how John Carpenter and Debra Hill wanted to take the franchise in a totally different direction. They wanted to make the Halloween franchise an anthology: They would periodically release a new Halloween movie with a totally different story and little relation to the other films in the franchise. Perhaps if those "haters" looked at Halloween III as a standalone film, they might like it. I absolutely love that at the end of some of the conversations they say "Huh, I will have to go back and watch it again and give it another chance." Being able to influence even a couple of people in the horror and Halloween fanbase brings me great joy.

My personal opinion of the film is that I really like it, even though the storyline is rather outlandish and there is no Michael Myers. Some of the characters are also a bit out there, but they draw you into their story at the same time. I think the best thing about the film is, of course, the Silver Shamrock Novelties masks. Even the people who truly hate the film for one reason or another still generally appreciate the masks.

TIME FOR SOME THIRTY-SIX YEAR OLD SPOILERS

The film's villain is a maniacal old man, Conal Cochran, who is plotting to kill millions of children. He is the owner of the family company Silver Shamrock Novelties, whose number one product at the moment is a set of three masks: a skull, a jack-o-lantern, and a witch. Included on each mask is the Silver Shamrock medallion which will play a vital role in his evil plan.

Drawn into the mix are Dr. Daniel Challis and Ellie Grimbridge, who are brought together when Ellie's father was murdered under mysterious circumstances in the hospital where Challis worked. They team up to figure out what happened. This leads them to Santa Mira, where Silver Shamrock is based. Once Cochran discovers who they really are and what they are doing there, he decides they both must die. To that end, he replaces Ellie with a robot set to kill Challis if given the chance.

Cochran's entire plan involves a free giveaway on Halloween night when all the children are supposed to put on his masks and tune in. During the giveaway there will be a signal sent out to activate the medallion on the masks, which will essentially melt the heads of all the children and release all sorts of other carnage on the families around them. What is

even a bit more far-fetched than that is the fact that Cochran is using the power of one of the huge stones from Stonehenge, which he managed to steal and transport from England to California with no one noticing.

In the end Challis manages to escape, but does he succeed in stopping millions of people from being killed during the giveaway? We will never know.

SPOILERS OVER

As I said, the story is a bit out there, but all in all I actually do like the film. Oddly, it is a film that I might actually like to see them try to remake. I think it would be interesting to see how they'd adjust the story and effects.

Since I wrote my books, I have begun working with some of the cast members to sell their signed merchandise to fans for them. Even so, I haven't really built up my own personal collection of items. At some point I definitely plan to, but it has been something that is secondary when dealing with the cast members I work with.

Two years ago when I attended the Hot Springs International Horror Film Festival in Arkansas, I got to meet not only Tamara Glynn (Halloween 5), who co-founded and co-runs the Festival, but Alan Howarth was also a special guest. Howarth co-wrote the musical score for Halloween III and went on to do many other films, including many with John Carpenter. He had a concert that melded pieces of each of the scores he had done with Carpenter into one monumental musical piece. The whole time on the movie screen in the theater were corresponding film clips. It was amazing to watch him bounce from keyboard to guitar and from score to score seamlessly.

I also got to meet him and talk to him about working on the films and how important the musical score can be to a film. Included here are some pics of me with him, and of the Part III musical score I purchased and had him sign. It was truly my first real collection piece that I got just for myself. It has sort of led me to purchase similar items, such as the "A Clockwork Orange" script signed by the film's star, Malcolm McDowell. I think I like the idea of collecting things like scores and scripts, just something in print that is signed.

This October we got to participate in the Halloween Festival at The Castle of Muskogee, which is one of the biggest events here in the Tulsa area. It runs for five weekends and has a number of haunted experiences: a hayride, a maze in the woods, a zombie battle, and of course two haunted houses. They also have vendors throughout the many acres where the event is held. One unusual thing in the vendor/guest application is that everyone working in the booths must be in some sort of costume. I chose to wear the Halloween III Skull mask and a Rob Zombie Halloween remake Escape mask. I liked adding in the steampunk hat to both masks. It is hard trying to talk to people with the mask on, so more often than not I had it off. Perhaps next year I will go the smarter router and just wear a full costume with no mask. Usually for me at normal comic cons, my "cosplay" is a variety of t-shirts that I wear with everything from Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger to more classic horror icons like Vincent Price.

I would like to hear everyone else's thoughts on Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Do you love it or hate it? (I am confident there really is no in-between.)

If you'd like to purchase signed copies of any of my books or some great merchandise signed by some of the cast members of the movies please visit my web site.

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Halloween III: Season of the Witch film

Frightening Fridays - Halloween III: Season of the Witch - Love it or Hate it?

TIME FOR SOME THIRTY-SIX YEAR OLD SPOILERS

SPOILERS OVER

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