Halloween 3: Season Of The Witch
I know, all the diehard horror nuts love to give their battle cry, “wahh Michael Myers isn’t in this one!”, but the truth is, there have been few horror films in the last 25 years that are as adept at serving up equal doses of creepiness and cheesiness as this one. Tom Atkins turns out to be adequate as the paunchy hero (gotta feel for the guy when he brings his kids “normal” Halloween masks only to find his ex-wife has picked up the Silver Shamrock brand), and while you don’t quite “root” for him, he gets you involved in the story quite well. Stacy Nelkin as the heroine is Beautiful with a capital B (you can see why Atkins blows off his kids so he can play detective with her and fuck), but the chemistry between her and Atkins is laughable to say the least. Acting-wise though, this movie BELONGS to Dan O’Herlihy as the evil maskmaker Conal Cochran. Relishing in his wickedness and making the most out of every line or even closeup, Cochran’s sinister nature and genius at bullshitting people are a joy to watch. The film also has some VERY nasty gore and makeup FX, particularly a head being ripped off and the “misfire”. Moreso, the film ranks high in the balls department for gruesomely portraying the death of a little boy onscreen as well as his mom and dad (not really a bad thing since the dad is annoying as fuck). Then there is that fucking song. Repeated over and over again throughout the film ad nauseum, it is probably singlehandedly responsible for the film’s cheese reputation, along with some of the more intricate details of Cochran’s master plan (Stonehenge??). Finally, it is worth mentioning the film’s VERY effective and creepy electronic score, excellently maintaining the tension and some seriousness. Overall, a fun film that is underrated and a nice change of pace from Michael Myers going thru the motions…
8/10