Halloween: Being The Adventures Of Michael Myers | Halloween: The Night He Came Home | Halloween II
Halloween III: The Season Of The Witch | Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers
Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers | Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers | Halloween: H20 | Halloween: Resurrection

Setting: Northern California, 23-31 October

Halloween III opens with the owner of a costume shop, Harry Grimbridge, carrying only a mask as he runs from unemotional pursuers. He is unable to escape and is attacked at a petrol station. He is taken to the local hospital (shouting 'They're gonna kill all of us!'), where he meets divorced father Dr Dan Challis.

Grimbridge is later strangled by a strange man who invades the hospital and is killed when his car explodes. This prompts the doctor to investigate, especially after meeting Harry's attractive daughter Ellie.

They discover that her father had disappeared on a visit to pick up more masks in remote town Santa Mira, home of the Silver Shamrock mask-making company. The town is spookily strange, as is Cochran, the owner of Silver Shamrock, a company which is advertising that night's Halloween television special for children.

They soon learn that Cochrane is behind a plan to use a stolen part of Stonehenge to kill all the children watching his broadcast. They are transformed into snakes and bugs that kill anything in their path. Although Dr Dan kills Cochrane and escapes, the broadcast is to go ahead. He succeeds in getting it taken off two of the three channels showing it...

Deaths:

Cast

Review

Halloween III, made in 1983, was, without doubt, a very brave departure for the series. It has nothing to do with the other Halloween films - indeed, in Halloween III, the film Halloween is twice shown - once as an advert, and once during the Night of Horror.

The film is very atmospheric. Unlike all the other films in the series, it does not say what year it is set in, implying that this could happen at any time. Some parts are dated, however. One of the devices used to create the impression that things aren't quite right in the town of Santa Mira is the use of CCTV cameras. Although these cameras were rare, if not unheard of, in 1983, they are becoming almost as common on our streets nowadays as lampposts. Other plot-points, such as the theft of Stonehenge and the alignment of the planets, are unnecessary.

All the characters are more naturalistic than in the other films in the series, and they all have more at stake. Instead of being a group of unconnected teens, they are families - with Ellie's father and Buddy's family killed. The hero, the divorced doctor, has his children's lives at stake as he knows they plan to watch the Silver Shamrock broadcast.

Written by Nigel Kneale¹ (creator of Quatermass, the scientist whose exploits terrorised viewers in the 1950s), Halloween III owes more to films like Invasion Of The Body Snatchers than Halloween, and the hotel scene is lifted direct from Psycho. Although the least successful (in terms of cinema audiences) of the Halloween films, it remains the most intelligent of the stories and a brave experiment.

Further Reading

Halloween: Being The Adventures Of Michael Myers
• Halloween: The Night He Came Home
• Halloween II
• Halloween III: The Season Of The Witch
• Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers
• Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers
• Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers
• Halloween: H20
• Halloween: Resurrection

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¹ Unhappy with the changes made to his script, Kneale later had his name removed from the film.