I absolutely love Halloween III: Season of the Witch. But, much to my chagrin, there was never a proper Blu-ray release of the film available anywhere. Well...Scream Factory, once again, comes to the rescue of millions of fans worldwide!
Back in late 1981/early 1982...due to the success of Halloween II, John Carpenter was approached to make another Halloween film. Both Debra Hill and Carpenter were a little apprehensive to revisit the world of Michael Myers, so they agreed, only if the studio would allow them to write a completely different story that did not involve The Shape in any way. They wanted to create an anthology series of films that would take place during the season of Halloween in some way. Producers Irwin Yablans and Moustapha Akkad placed their trust in the young filmmakers and gave them a modest budget of $2.5 million (the same budget for the second film). So, as legend goes...Carpenter and Hill ran with their new take on Halloween and Season of the Witch was born.
Halloween III is one of those films where you seriously have to love 80's horror to appreciate. It's chockful of plot holes and shit that just doesn't make any goddamn sense. Like...for instance, the villain of the film...Conal Cochran (a fun turn by the late Dan O'Herlihy). The essence of the man's evil plan is to harness the power of Stonehenge (he actually smuggles one of the rock formations back to the Silver Shamrock factory in Santa Mira, California) in which to place fragments into a chip embedded onto Halloween masks engineered in his factory. So, while all the kids of America wear these masks (which come in glow-in-the-dark skull, jack-o-lantern and scary witch form) on Halloween while watching a "magic pumpkin" during a Silver Shamrock commercial on TV...snakes and insects melt all the childrens' faces and whatnot. So, then...wouldn't the West Coast be ok once they found out what happened to all the East Coast kids? And to that point...why the hell does Cochran want to kill off all the kids?? I get that he's evil and he's trying to restore the season of Halloween back to its Druid witchcraft beginnings. But, why not kill off the adults somehow and brainwash the children to do his bidding?
Who knows? What I do know is that the film is an underrated relic of 80's horror badassedness. Carpenter went and put Tom Atkins in the film as a chain-smoking drunken surgeon who doesn't have any problems with the ladies. He also has impeccable mask-tossing aim while strapped up in a chair.
It's the kind of stuff that would never make sense in today's landscape of horror. It's almost as if Carpenter and Hill were doing some serious peyote while thinking this stuff up. But, somehow...it all manages to entertain and come across much more competent then most horror films released today. Unfortunately, at the time of the film's release, audiences didn't take too kindly to a Myers-less Halloween film and this installment kinda bombed. Well...it didn't really bomb. But, it underperformed severely in comparison to its predecessors, as well as the other genre releases of that year. Still, the film went on to attain cult status throughout the years...which begs the question: How come there's never been a proper home release of the film?? Well...that question has just been answered, folks!
Scream Factory recently released a Collector's Edition Blu-ray and DVD complete with reversible covers that depict the original artwork. And this thing is awesome! They also managed to jam-pack the disc with some nice extras and commentaries. And the film really looks amazing in all its high definition glory. Sounds great, too! Seriously, if Scream Factory keeps doing stuff like this...I'm gonna go broke! I've already watched my Blu-ray like 5 times!
So, while Michael Myers only shows up in a commercial within the film and Carpenter decided to move away from the legend of Haddonfield, Season of the Witch will forever be a vital piece of classic genre greatness. Only enjoyable to those that love this kind of stuff. Pick it up HERE today!
Halloween III is one of those films where you seriously have to love 80's horror to appreciate. It's chockful of plot holes and shit that just doesn't make any goddamn sense. Like...for instance, the villain of the film...Conal Cochran (a fun turn by the late Dan O'Herlihy). The essence of the man's evil plan is to harness the power of Stonehenge (he actually smuggles one of the rock formations back to the Silver Shamrock factory in Santa Mira, California) in which to place fragments into a chip embedded onto Halloween masks engineered in his factory. So, while all the kids of America wear these masks (which come in glow-in-the-dark skull, jack-o-lantern and scary witch form) on Halloween while watching a "magic pumpkin" during a Silver Shamrock commercial on TV...snakes and insects melt all the childrens' faces and whatnot. So, then...wouldn't the West Coast be ok once they found out what happened to all the East Coast kids? And to that point...why the hell does Cochran want to kill off all the kids?? I get that he's evil and he's trying to restore the season of Halloween back to its Druid witchcraft beginnings. But, why not kill off the adults somehow and brainwash the children to do his bidding?
Who knows? What I do know is that the film is an underrated relic of 80's horror badassedness. Carpenter went and put Tom Atkins in the film as a chain-smoking drunken surgeon who doesn't have any problems with the ladies. He also has impeccable mask-tossing aim while strapped up in a chair.
Scream Factory recently released a Collector's Edition Blu-ray and DVD complete with reversible covers that depict the original artwork. And this thing is awesome! They also managed to jam-pack the disc with some nice extras and commentaries. And the film really looks amazing in all its high definition glory. Sounds great, too! Seriously, if Scream Factory keeps doing stuff like this...I'm gonna go broke! I've already watched my Blu-ray like 5 times!
So, while Michael Myers only shows up in a commercial within the film and Carpenter decided to move away from the legend of Haddonfield, Season of the Witch will forever be a vital piece of classic genre greatness. Only enjoyable to those that love this kind of stuff. Pick it up HERE today!
SEE YOU TOMORROW!
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