47 comments on “Exploring Halloween 3: Season of the Witch – Episode 145”

1. Cristiona on November 1, 2013 at 3:34 am said:

   Great opening and a great episode.

   I never had any great attachment to the franchise, so when I saw Halloween 3, I was blown away. It’s a really good movie that deserves a lot more love than it’s gotten. And that ending… uf. Chilling.

   Reply
   • Cecil on November 3, 2013 at 2:50 am said:

     Thanks! Eric did it again. Its like he pulls the stuff right out of my head.

     Its been said a million times but if they just would have called the film Season of the Witch it would have been liked from the start. Kind of like how Devil May Cry was originally Resident Evil 3.

     Reply
2. john on November 1, 2013 at 4:45 am said:

   Trick or treat mother fucker 🙂

   I actually liked Halloween Resurrection although I don’t follow or are a fan of the franchise. I haven’t seen Rob Zombies Halloween 2 but the 1st Zombie Halloween film sucked that was just boring.

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   • Cecil on November 3, 2013 at 2:51 am said:

     Resurrection was so bad. Not the worst thing but definitely the nail in the coffin for the franchise.

     Rob Zombie’s version…I need to watch again.

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     • john on November 3, 2013 at 7:33 am said:

       As a Halloween film it is a bad movie but as a stand alone movie it is enjoyable enough with Buster Rhymes talking jive to Michael Myers although you wanted Myers to stab him in the head.

       I still liked it better than Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D that turned Leatherface into Kane Hodders Jason Vohees

       Reply
3. Lady T on November 1, 2013 at 12:08 pm said:

   You make a lot of good points regarding H3,Cecil(great Handsome Eric intro,btw) and I do give it points for creativity but it’s still a tad goofy. I probably would’ve bought the whole thing better if it hadn’t thrown in both Druids and robot henchmen and while the anthology idea was a decent concept,sticking one into an already established series was not a great plan.

   It is fun to watch for the theme song alone and I completely agree that H20 is the final Halloween. A friend explained to me how they managed to wrangle yet another film after that ,which I immediately reacted to as natural BS! Come on, you chop someone’s head, they’re done,man seriously!

   Happy belated Halloween,Silver Shamrock:)

   Reply
   • Cecil on November 3, 2013 at 2:55 am said:

     Thanks! I’m lucky to have Eric on board for the intros. He has been upping my production value weekly!

     I have a soft spot for H3. Yes it is silly but it is so darn creative. With horror films just keeping with the same tired cliches of old, it is refreshing to go back and look at a movie like this.

     H2O had one of the best endings in a horror franchise. Then they retconned the hell out of it.

     Thanks again!

     Reply
4. Mike on November 1, 2013 at 12:11 pm said:

   This is just a solid batshit horror movie that time has now allowed to be a cult hit. Tom Adkins was the perfect choice for the lead as doctor/detective/drunk/sex hound. Being the early 80’s the writing had free range on the magic of computers and they went for it big time.

   The only thing I would have done differently is make Cochran’s evil plan regional rather than national. I think the idea of wiping out the West Coast is still pretty large and you don’t have the whole time zone debate about young kids being up at midnight to watch the commercial. And also it being 1982 I’m not sure the Silver Shamrock would have been able to penetrate the East Coast novelty market with the mob and all.

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   • Cecil on November 3, 2013 at 2:58 am said:

     Atkins was the heart and soul of the film. He is just great, love the guy. Always gives it his all.

     There are some issues with Cochran’s plan but I don’t think he was trying to kill everyone. Just trying to kill a ton of kids in a horrifying way to strike fear in the hearts of many.

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5. Erik Johnson on November 1, 2013 at 12:48 pm said:

   Its interesting to hear this “damned if you do damned if you don’t” discussion when it comes to including the “Halloween” title. Maybe it might have done better if they had just dropped the “III” and gone with “Halloween: Season of the Witch” to dissolve any notion of continuity with the previous films. Then again, its easy for me to say something like that with modern sensibilities. Back then, movies wore sequel numbers like a badge of honor, flashing those classy roman numerals to let you know that this series had life and longevity and was totally worth investing your money in! Now sequels are more in vogue than ever, but they don’t like to show their age. After you hit the third movie you’re considered to be over the hill and either get rebooted or a title that just has a colon and no number.

   Its also fascinating to see how certain criticism can alter the course of a series or artist. Halloween went on to milk Michael Meyers long past his prime by continuing to stick to the formula because thats what people wanted. Would fans have been so harsh if they knew the sequels would have so much backwash to them?

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   • Cecil on November 3, 2013 at 3:03 am said:

     Wallace struggled to have them drop the Halloween name but the studio wasn’t budging. Like he said, the name was the curse.

     Naming sequels used to be so easy. Now its such a jumbled mess with the colon and mixed up title.

     I think at the time fans wanted The Shape and they didn’t care beyond that. I will say, I’m glad 4 and 7 were made but 5-6 and 8 are touchy. Ok, 5-6 are watchable, 8 is just awful.

     Reply
6. Viewer on November 1, 2013 at 1:49 pm said:

   Another sad thing about the audience’s poor reception is that Atkins’ chance to finally expand his career pretty much ended with this film. Sure, he was in Lethal Weapon, but he was given the most uninteresting out of all the characters in that film to play. And he did go out with a bang in Night of the Creeps, but he could’ve had a major and much more successful leading man career.

   If the movie had been a success we wouldn’t have had the garbage sequels, but then again if Carpenter had stuck around the franchise maybe then he wouldn’t have made some of his kick ass 80’s stuff. So, this movie’s lack of initial success is a glass-half-full/half-empty kind of thing.

   Oh and, is it just me, or did Carpenter love to cast people who not only (as you said) not look like a typical action heroes, but also do look very much like him. Atkins as well as the lead from Prince of Darkness kind of look like Carpenter back in the day, don’t they?

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   • Cecil on November 3, 2013 at 3:06 am said:

     Atkins is the man. True, this screwed him out of becoming a potential leading man but he has had continuous work and is always great.

     Definitely. Carpenter could have been pigeonholed and trapped in the Halloween franchise and we never have had all those awesome classics he made after that.

     Reply
7. Viewer on November 1, 2013 at 4:15 pm said:

   As a tribute (and thanks) to Cecil’s 31 days of horror, I’ll just put this here:
   http://www.timeout.com/london/film/the-100-best-horror-films-the-list
   If you think you like horror and don’t know about these 100 movies (some mentioned on Cecil’s show, some parts of pop culture), you need to update your Netflix watch list now (or torrents, or whatever you use to provide for the movie nights).

   Reply
   • Cecil on November 3, 2013 at 3:11 am said:

     I’ve seen 64 of these. I need to get moving!

     Reply
8. Jr. on November 1, 2013 at 6:04 pm said:

   I literally finished watching this movie for the third time a few minutes ago and after watching your video, I love it even more. I have to admit that I was one of those people who didnt wanna watch this movie because Michael Myers wasnt in it, but now that Im older and had time to appreciated movies more, Its one of my favorites because its so fresh and that ending is so classic and memorable. Oh and the ending to your video…when I was watching the movie and saw that scene, i thought to myself “Im pretty sure that scene is going to be in the video somehow.”

   Danielle Harris = HOT

   Reply
   • Cecil on November 3, 2013 at 3:11 am said:

     Excellent thanks 🙂

     Yeah, Danielle Harris grew up to be quite stunning. She’s tiny thought!

     Reply
9. Steve on November 1, 2013 at 9:14 pm said:

   I’ve re-watched this a few times the past few days (thanks AMC) and I like it more and more. Really want to get the new Shout Factory/Scream Factory blu-ray (got Halloween II, The Fog, and Swamp Thing and they are great). I remember when this first came out (I was in middle school) and all you heard was “man, Michael Myers isn’t even in it”. It really is a rare combination of sci-fi and horror (without aliens) that works. I also watched Five Million Years to Earth/Quatermass and the Pit not too long ago (thanks TCM). Nigel Neale wrote that one too and the stories have a similar feel. Not overt supernatural horror but something else with more of a sci-fi feel. It’s kind of hard to pin down, but there are not a lot of movies with a similar feel. Halloween 3 has that feel.

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   • Cecil on November 3, 2013 at 3:13 am said:

     The Shout Factory Blu is great. The picture is beautiful and the extras are great.

     Reply
10. Greg on November 2, 2013 at 5:13 am said:

    Ok, Cecil, you presented a good argument for Halloween III: Season of the Witch and I do appreciate the idea of them wanting to create an anthology series based on the actual Halloween holiday ( a concept that wouldn’t become successful until American Horror Story), I still say it’s just a horrible movie versus being a “Good Bad Flick,” but I do understand while it’s here.

    Reply
    • Cecil on November 3, 2013 at 3:14 am said:

      There is a big cult fanbase for this though! Not everyone’s cup to tea but it has grown in popularity over the years.

      Reply
      • Greg on November 4, 2013 at 4:05 pm said:

        Thing is I typically like cult films. I hadn’t seen Halloween III: Season of the Witch in over 20 years until last year when I tried to see it in a different light. It just didn’t work. Tried the same thing with Howard the Duck, but I couldn’t even watch too much of that one before turning it off.

        Reply
        • Cecil on November 7, 2013 at 1:20 pm said:

          To each their own. Sometimes, for whatever reason, things just don’t gel. There are some cult movies that I thought would be a home run for me but I just couldn’t get into them.

          Reply
11. Matt on November 2, 2013 at 4:16 pm said:

    Wow, what a fantastic episode! As a kid, I was one of those people that simply skipped over it because I knew the Shape wasn’t in it, but I decided to give it a chance a few years ago and thought it was great. The Halloween series is all over the place, quite frankly, so I don’t know why some fans still act like it’s the black sheep!

    Reply
    • Cecil on November 3, 2013 at 3:18 am said:

      Thanks! I think too many people are just either holding old grudges or are continuing the hate even if they never saw the film

      Reply
12. Sarcinelli on November 2, 2013 at 9:53 pm said:

    So, where’s that Netflix recommendation video?

    Reply
    • Cecil on November 3, 2013 at 3:22 am said:

      I got called in for Jury Duty so I didn’t have time to record one. However, if you want some films to check out, watch these.

      Carrie (the original), Salvage, Shopping, The Grey, V/H/S, and Roadhouse. 🙂

      Reply
      • Sarcinelli on November 3, 2013 at 4:52 pm said:

        Thanks, watched VHS yesterday.

        Loved “Amateur Night” and liked “Second Honeymoon”, the rest was bad especially the wrap segments.

        Reply
        • Cecil on November 7, 2013 at 1:04 pm said:

          V/H/S started off rough with the annoying idiots but once the shorts started I really liked it.

          Reply
13. mogens on November 3, 2013 at 1:07 am said:

    you want a bad movie cecil well tom and jerry the movie now that is a bad movie

    Reply
14. Sychodemus on November 3, 2013 at 1:39 am said:

    Halloween, you poor, poor franchise.

    Anyway…

    Season of the Witch really isn’t that bad of a movie. Not great, but it has enough positives that it is at least watchable every once in awhile and it can stand on its own if need be. I don’t know what it is about this movie but it has this very distinctive visual sense about it. I am not sure if it is the director, crew or just the time it was made, but it has always stood out to me. 70/80s transition era, I guess. So weird.

    Great review. Thanks for your quality work.

    Reply
    • Cecil on November 3, 2013 at 3:23 am said:

      It does have a very distinct feel to it. Could be Wallace’s first time directing giving it that.

      Thanks!

      Reply
15. john on November 3, 2013 at 7:38 am said:

    What horror film did you watch on Halloween?

    I watched Freddy’s Dead that I don’t remember it being as goofy as it was and a new film called Haunter that was pretty good.

    Reply
    • Cristiona on November 3, 2013 at 9:32 pm said:

      I watched Glitter.

      I’m still having nightmares ;_;

      Reply
      • Cecil on November 7, 2013 at 1:09 pm said:

        You know, I’ve never actually watched it. I have the Riffrtax but just haven’t. I have seen Crossroads though…oh dear.

        Reply
    • Cecil on November 7, 2013 at 1:03 pm said:

      Evil Dead 2 and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. (the original)

      I heard Haunter was cool, I’ve been wanting to check it out.

      Reply
16. Allison on November 3, 2013 at 6:27 pm said:

    CECIL!!!!!

    I’m actually glad you looked at this film, since it does tend to get a bad wrap, and like me, you’re open-minded about the good-bad movies you watch. I always try to find something redeeming about movies, despite how terrible they are. This movie is cursed by it’s association with the Halloween series, which makes it unjust, as it really is a decent horror movie with a great concept behind it. Sure, that Silver Shamrock jingle is trying (My ex-boyfriend from 10 years ago had a friend who loved singing it), but just the idea of a company having the chutzpah to create an item that would kill young consumers is just…wow. I can see why there was so much uproar about this movie in 1982, since it wasn’t a direct sequel, but now, it’s easy to look past it. The actual series wound up redeeming itself big time with the 4th and 5th movies (my two personal favorite from the series). I actually went to a screening of the 4th and 5th movies on October 30, 2007 with a former friend of mine.

    I know it’s after Halloween, and I probably missed AMC showing it as they always do on Halloween during the day, but after seeing your look at it, I’m thinking about watching it again, it’s been 6 years since the last time I watched this movie.

    Great video, as always! ::-)

    Reply
    • Cecil on November 7, 2013 at 1:07 pm said:

      Thanks!

      I’m happy to see this movie getting some positive attention. It has been so bashed over the years by people that I’m almost positive never even saw it.

      I haven’t seen 5 in so long, I really need to watch it again. I may just do a full run of the MM Halloweens and skip 8.

      Reply
17. Dar on November 4, 2013 at 8:25 pm said:

    Another superb choice.

    “Goodbadflicks” can just as easily be called “Underratedflicks”.

    A very good film, with Atkins really making the movie. I liked that it was a Irish/gaelic legend, but without any leprechauns.

    The villain’s plan is sort of iffy, but then it’s still better than the one from “Hollyween 6”, which seems to have been “get killed by Michael Myers”.

    Is some ways, the biggest villain of the Hollyween movies was Akkad, who just had to squeeze every last drop from them (God rest his soul, anyway).

    Thank you for all the work you put in the videos.

    Reply
    • Cecil on November 7, 2013 at 1:26 pm said:

      Thanks!

      Well for better or worse I am kind of married to the name. In general I feel a good chunk of the films I cover are underrated. The rest are just fun entertainment.

      Atkins is the man. He’s had a solid career and he should be better known.

      No problem. I appreciate hearing the videos are being enjoyed. (its a nice counter to the trolls who tell me I suck)

      Reply
18. Steve on November 6, 2013 at 10:26 am said:

    Got the blu-ray and watched this again last night. Something struck me for the first time. Halloween 3 might just be the weirdest James Bond movie ever made.

    Challis likes the ladies and booze……a lot. Evil plot, villain, henchmen, lair. Check, check, check, and check. Tour of evil lair and explanation of evil plot by villain to the hero. Check. Hero captured, escapes, and blows up evil lair. Check. There is no denying, Tom Atkins is James Bond.

    Reply
    • Cecil on November 7, 2013 at 1:30 pm said:

      Holy crap…I think you are on to something! 🙂

      Reply
19. misterX on November 15, 2013 at 12:45 pm said:

    knew this would be the yin to my vid’s yang and was not disappointed sir…but a few jokes only WE will get:

    -tommy lee wallace images from the 80s are hard to come by

    -if ya talking bout masks u really only got 8 shots to choose from in this flick

    -its really HARD not to score the whole vid to CHARIOTS OF PUMPKINS…but if we could, we would

    awesome vid, buddy!

    Reply
    • Cecil on November 16, 2013 at 2:21 am said:

      Why thank you! I was glad that even though we covered the same material, it was done in a way that was unique. So folks can watch both videos and glean different takes on the same stuff.

      Sometimes that is one of the hardest things when covering old or obscure movies. Trying to find the right pictures.

      I tried not to recycle footage too much and even slowed some of it down to fill my dialog.

      Hell yeah!

      Thanks, yours was grand too! Let me know if you ever need me for another in the future. 🙂

      Reply
20. Bill W on October 28, 2014 at 12:59 am said:

    I just stumbled across this while looking up the possibility for a new Halloween film not centered around Michael Myers. I enjoyed the commentary and didn’t know many of the facts presented! Although I wasn’t alive when most of these films released, I did see the original Halloween and the sequel at a young age. I liked them, but they weren’t much different from Friday the 13th. However, during one October night several years ago I saw this film featuring a fascinating story with crazy murder scenes that I just loved! I saw that AMC had flashed “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” at the bottom of the screen and thought that it must have been a mistake since Michael Myers was missing. Upon further inspection I found out that this film that was so incredibly bonkers was indeed a Halloween film in the lineage of the Michael Myers ones. I couldn’t believe it…and still can’t. In my mind and originally unknowing of the Halloween “anthology” stuff, this is my favorite. I really wish that they would have stuck with the anthology thing and maybe brought back Michael Myers later (as they could have had more characters to bring back if they did keep the anthology thing going). I think that would have been more effective than having Halloween 4 then a bunch of shitty sequels. Just my 2 cents. Either way, cool commentary.

    Reply
21. mogens on May 23, 2015 at 10:55 am said:

    .good sequels star trek 2 the wrath of khan and terminator 2 so he lies and besides nod all sequls are garbage

    Reply
    • Cecil on May 23, 2015 at 5:33 pm said:

      There are plenty of good/great sequels

      Reply