Kids all over America want Silver Shamrock masks for Halloween. Doctor Daniel Challis seeks to uncover a plot by Silver Shamrock owner Conal Cochran.Kids all over America want Silver Shamrock masks for Halloween. Doctor Daniel Challis seeks to uncover a plot by Silver Shamrock owner Conal Cochran.Kids all over America want Silver Shamrock masks for Halloween. Doctor Daniel Challis seeks to uncover a plot by Silver Shamrock owner Conal Cochran.
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
- Little Buddy
- (as Bradley Schachter)
- Starker
- (as Jon Terry)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe movie's novelization was published in 1982 by science-fiction writer Dennis Etchison under the pseudonym Jack Martin. Despite the movie's critical failure, the book became a best-seller and was even reissued two years after the movie's release, in 1984.
- GoofsThe technicians at the Shamrock factory are still making the deadly computer chips and masks and working on the Blue stone an hour before the Big Giveaway at 9. These chips and the thousands of others in boxes around the factory will never be used as Cohran's goal will have been achieved after 9 pm.
- Quotes
Conal Cochran: Enjoy the horror-thon, Doctor, and don't forget to watch the big giveaway afterwards.
Daniel Challis: Why, Cochran, why?
Conal Cochran: Do I need a reason? Mr. Kupfer was right, you know. I do love a good joke, and this is the best ever: a joke on the children. But there's a better reason. You don't really know much about Halloween. You thought no further than the strange custom of having your children wear masks and go out begging for candy.
[pauses]
Conal Cochran: It was the start of the year in our old Celtic lands, and we'd be waiting in our houses of wattles and clay. The barriers would be down, you see, between the real and the unreal, and the dead might be looking in to sit by our fires of turf.
[pauses]
Conal Cochran: Halloween... the festival of Samhain! The last great one took place three thousand years ago, when the hills ran red with the blood of animals and children.
Daniel Challis: Sacrifices.
Conal Cochran: It was part of our world... our craft.
Daniel Challis: Witchcraft.
Conal Cochran: To us, it was a way of controlling our environment. It's not so different now... it's time again. In the end, we don't decide these things, you know; the planets do. They're in alignment, and it's time again. The world's going to change tonight, Doctor, I'm glad you'll be able to watch it. And... Happy Halloween.
- Alternate versionsThe UK MIA DVD is completely uncut. The UK version was uncut during its theatrical exhibition. The video release in 1986 was cut by 2 minutes 6 secs before the video was submitted for a certificate and has all the violent scenes cut out. For instance: When Harry Grimbridge is killed, the gruesome killing of him is cut out. We see the fingers poised and the feet and Halloween mask moving, and then immediately it shows the assassin wiping his blood covered gloves on the curtain. When Starker gets decapitated, this scene including the fountain of blood is cut out. When Marge Guttman's face explodes, the gruesome insect scene is cut and it just shows her quivering hands move slowly down her face then it fades out. The drill murder of lab assistant Teddy ends as the drill starts turning and no footage is shown of her kicking legs. The 2000 MIA DVD featured the full uncut version though the 2002 widescreen release from Sanctuary featured a re-edited print which was missing footage of the two face mutilations.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Coming Soon (1982)
- SoundtracksDo the Boogaloo
Written by Gerhard Narholz and Jean-Claude Madonne (as Jean Claude Madone)
Performed by Quango and Sparky
c/o Sonoton Music Inc
The storyline, centred around a toy factory manufacturing murderous masks designed to bring nationwide doom at 9pm on October 31st, is built up very intriguingly. We have a 'Simon Van Gelder'-like madman trying to warn the world of the impending slaughter, chillingly-ruthless killers in business suits silencing anyone who tries to get the word out, and strikingly memorable death scenes - one of which might be described as 'facial origami', and that's only the first 15 minutes. Soon, our story's heroes are embroiled in the factory's strange machinations, where nothing and no-one is exactly what they seem. The script builds up a tense atmosphere, leading to a truly compelling end that will keep viewers guessing long after.
Yet 'Season Of The Witch' (a title not to be taken too literally) comes across as an intriguing second draft - full of good ideas, but lacking the kind of logic and key exposition that would have really brought the audience on board. Writer Tommy Lee Wallace's America, for example, seems to occupy one single time zone, in which it's possible to have the nation's children watching their televisions at the appointed hour. Likewise, we are expected to believe that the illegal appropriation of one of the world's largest and heaviest artificial landmarks - a key plot point at the climax - seems to be no more difficult than stealing a mattress from a bedding store and spiriting it away on a car's roof. Dr Challis, the lead character, is an obvious graduate of 'Action Hero Medical College', stitching up wounds one day and tackling the undead like Indiana Jones the next. The film's other two leads are also something of a puzzle, with their identities and ultimate fate never being satisfactorily explored. All of which leaves 'Halloween III' as a series of entertaining sequences that anyone attempting the most basic of critical analysis will be punished instantly with crushing bafflement. The lack of audience enthusiasm cannot be solely attributed to the absence of Michael Myers (who ironically, does enjoy a few seconds of screen time).
Nonetheless, it would have been interesting if 'Halloween' had become an anthology series of horror, and with 'Halloween III' not short on ideas, it's only a shame more care and attention wasn't put into the effort. All involved clearly failed to understand what they had set in motion with the first two outings, unable to see that any change in direction for the franchise would have to be very well-executed to win the fans over. However, it wasn't and Michael Myers would go on to make a respectable return five years later. For what it offers, I think 'Season Of The Witch' is definitely worth a look - arguably more creative than most of the 'Halloween' sequels, but seriously lacking polish.
- How long is Halloween III: Season of the Witch?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Halloween III: El imperio de las brujas
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $2,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $14,400,000
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $6,333,259
- Oct 24, 1982
- Gross worldwide
- $14,400,000
- Runtime1 hour 38 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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