Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Halloween III: Season of the Witch is something special. Whether or not you can call this a "good" movie is most certainly up for debate. The story centers on Dr. Daniel Challis (played by Tom Atkins) and Ellie Grimbridge (played by Stacey Nelkin) as they try to uncover a coverup involving Stonehenge and killing people using Halloween masks.

The movie opens on a man running, raving about how "we're all doomed." It doesn't say that exactly, but the idea is there. The man we'll soon find out is Harry Grimbridge. He runs into a gas station attendant who drives him to the hospital. Right around now, we meet the main hero of the movie, Challis. He leaves the hospital to go home to his family. His wife and family kind of matter, but not really. To be fair, this is the scene where we meet the real star of the movie

Back at the hospital, Harry is killed by a mysterious stranger in black. What I love about this is, when you watch the movie, nobody really pays attention to the guy. Challis is called back to the hospital by a distraught nurse. Naturally, he automatically agrees. He tries to chase the man in black, but the car he's in blows up. Well, I think that's what happens anyways. Harry's daughter Ellie soon comes into play in the movie.

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Because she is suspicious, Ellie and Challis take a road trip to the town where the Silver Shamrock factory is located. We meet an unassuming family, the patriarch being a salesman. We also meet a
woman staying in the next room over from the motel, who dies suspiciously one night.

 The creepy owner of Silver Shamrock, Conal Cochran, chalks it up to a tragic accident. Truth be told, it makes more sense than what the dean from Urban Legend says.

When Challis and Ellie start getting too close, some of Cochran's employees kidnap Ellie.

One of the nurses Challis has been in contact with is murdered by one of those mysterious men in black. Challis, meanwhile goes to the factory intent on finding Ellie and helping her. Unfortunately, things don't go the way he expects. The men in black kidnap him and bring him to Cochran, who explains his plans (sort of). He does explain that a little bit about the old ways. But the explanation doesn't really go beyond that, Oh, and Stonehenge is involved for some reason.

Cochran shows Challis that he is holding Ellie, and he's holding the family hostage (even though they don't know they're being held hostage). It's here we learn the importance of the commercial and the masks.

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Challis escapes and blows up the factory. He even manages to rescue Ellie. Cochran and his robot henchmen (something I forgot to mention earlier and I apologize) are destroyed in the explosion. But then, we learn the terrible truth. Ellie is a killer robot now, and Challis must destroy her.

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Challis makes it back to his hometown, and runs into that gas station attendant from the beginning of the movie. Challis desperately tries to prevent the oncoming apocalypse that was never explained. The movie ends with Challis pretty much failing.

Yay?

I won't lie, I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. It was bizarre, but a ton of fun. Definitely worth watching as a guilty pleasure every Halloween. 

6 / 10