Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

Kids all over America want Silver Shamrock masks for Halloween. Doctor Daniel Challis seeks to uncover a plot by Silver Shamrock owner Conal Cochran.

Director:

Tommy Lee Wallace

Writer:

Tommy Lee Wallace

Stars:

Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O'Herlihy

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Atkins	...	Daniel Challis
Stacey Nelkin	...	Ellie Grimbridge
Dan O'Herlihy	...	Conal Cochran
Michael Currie	...	Rafferty
Ralph Strait	...	Buddy Kupfer
Jadeen Barbor	...	Betty Kupfer
Brad Schacter	...	Little Buddy (as Bradley Schachter)
Garn Stephens	...	Marge
Nancy Kyes	...	Linda Challis
Jonathan Terry	...	Starker (as Jon Terry)
Al Berry	...	Harry Grimbridge
Wendy Wessberg	...	Teddy
Essex Smith	...	Walter Jones
Maidie Norman	...	Nurse Agnes
John MacBride	...	Sheriff

Storyline

An apparent murder-suicide in a hospital emergency room leads to an investigation by the on-call doctor, which reveals a plot by an insane toymaker to kill as many people as possible during Halloween through an ancient Celtic ritual involving a stolen boulder from Stonehenge and Halloween masks.

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Plot Keywords:

halloween | stonehenge | factory | northern california | curfew | 

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Taglines:

The Halloween horror continues.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

"London Bridge Is Falling Down" was chosen as the Silver Shamrock jingle because it was in the public domain.

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Goofs

(at around 34 mins) After being startled by Starker and complying to his request to have a drink from his bottle of alcohol Challis wipes the opening using his handkerchief with one hand, takes a swig himself with the other hand, and winces from the liquor. As Starker talks about Conal Cochran you can suddenly see the silhouette of a cigarette in Challis' mouth then shortly thereafter hear the flick of a lighter and see him light the cigarette.

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Quotes

Daniel Challis: I saw something that night... I don't know, your father came into the hospital. He- I thought he was crazy, out of his mind. He's hanging onto a Halloween mask, he wouldn't let it go... And what he said was, "They're gonna kill us all". And in a little while he was dead. And I don't know what the hell is going on!

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Alternate Versions

AMC TV version makes the following changes: Walter Jones' line of "I swear to God" is changed to "I swear to you" when he brought Harry to Dan Chaliss's hospital; When Buddy Kupfer tells Dan about Conal Cochran, his line of "sticky toilet paper" is changed to "sticky dwarf toys"; The murders of Harry Grimbridge, Starker and Marge aren't as graphic; Marge's line of "screwed up" is changed to "messed up"; other obscenities are cut as well as the scene where Dan calls Teddy on the morning of the 30th.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: New Year's Evil (2011)

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Soundtracks

Time Goes By
Written by Alan Parker
Performed by Madeline Bell
c/o Themes International Music

User Reviews

Film-makers can't win

Film-makers can't seem to be able to do anything right. Instead of churning out the same old tired sequels, which they get criticised for, they have tried to be creative here and get abused for that.

Most comments I have read have said that this is a bad film because it doesn't include the old 'favourites', but then they call the rest of the series for being very similar to each other.

I will concede that this film, with the exception of the first ten minutes, is NOT scary; but it's still an ok film. It's different than any other film I can recall seeing, and does have a few surprises and a good ending.

I would say that if you were going to watch with an open mind you may well enjoy this

Details

Official Sites:

HalloweenMovies.com Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 October 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Season of the Witch

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,333,259, 24 October 1982

Gross USA:

$14,400,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$14,400,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dino De Laurentiis Company, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1