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In Defense Of: “Halloween III: Season Of The Witch” (1982)

It's no secret that the death of Michael Myers at the end of 1981's Halloween II was meant to be permanent, allowing the Halloween franchise to spread its wings, leaving behind its iconic masked killer to head out into new territory and become an anthology series that could tell all sorts of new tales wrapped up in the spirit of the season. For John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the Myers story was done, and thus Halloween III: Season of the Witch was born, hitting theaters just a year after Halloween II with the two series creators stepping back purely into producer roles so that Tommy Lee Wallace – a frequent Carpenter collaborator at the time – could take on writing and directing duties.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

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I mentioned in my coverage of Halloween II that if Halloween is about unexpected evil taking advantage of complacency, Halloween II is about the paranoia that said evil is everywhere. Going even further, then, Halloween III is about the evil that we willingly invite into our homes and bring upon ourselves. Michael invades against our will by any means necessary. Cochran and Silver Shamrock are welcomed in through the front door.

Throughout the film, the Silver Shamrock ad serves as a daily reminder for kids to not miss the giveaway. The masks fly off the shelves, everyone wanting in on the action without a second thought, conforming to what’s popular. Vans drive around Halloween night, using loudspeakers to tell everyone to get home in time. We see kids from California to New York, Washington to Louisiana, Ohio to Arizona all dropping their trick-or-treating to make it back.

All across the country, people have gladly given up their holiday to corporate influence, Cochran’s brand of malevolence in homes all over the nation without the man himself ever having to step foot out of Santa Mira, resulting in a great new wrinkle in the franchise’s exploration of evil that would’ve been lost had Michael simply been resurrected for a third go-round.

Even better, Season of the Witch doesn’t undermine its ideas by sugarcoating its characters. We rooted for Laurie Strode to survive Michael’s attacks because she was, at heart, innocent, the type of decent person who gladly sacrifices her Halloween to babysit children. In contrast, Dan – who is, admittedly, portrayed admirably by Atkins – is a guy who willingly blows off his duty to his kids, who want to spend time with him, and his ex-wife, who wants him to actually do his job as a father, in order to run off with Ellie, a woman half his age that he just met and wastes no time sleeping with. Even further, his overly flirty interactions with other women, including a nurse at the hospital and a forensic expert he calls several times, suggest an explanation for his marital issues.

He’s a flawed guy, and one that’s kind of gross; after sleeping with Ellie, he even asks her how old she is, and though he posits the question as though it’s a joke, the film plays it somewhat sincerely, leaving us to make up our mind about his real priorities. And once Cochran’s plan has been laid out, Dan calls his ex-wife to beg her to keep the kids from watching the giveaway only to be told to “go to hell.” Suddenly, we see that karma has pulled a Cochran-esque practical joke on our “hero,” whose dismissal of his own family throughout the film may have resulted in their deaths, as we’re left with the image of Dan desperately screaming into a phone to have the “giveaway” taken off the air and watching mere inches away as kids gather to watch it before the credits roll.