Day 30 - Halloween III: Season of the Witch - October Horror Movie Challenge

HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1982)

 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. 

It's October 23rd and a man is taken into emergency, Dr. Dan Challis looks over him but that night a mysterious man appears and kills the sick man. When the doctor runs outside to try and catch him, the madman sets himself on fire.

On October 24th, the dead guys' daughter Ellie arrives and speaks to Dan. The two of them agree something isn't right about the way her father died and set out to investigate. They track back the last few days of her father's life which leads them to a small town called Santa Mira. The company Silver Shamrock Novelties has a factory there where they create awesome Halloween masks that all the kids are buying up this year.

A woman staying in the room next to them is suspicious of the masks and finds a microchip in the one she's studying. It kills her and while Dan and Ellie are trying to help, they're pushed away by a strange group of men dressed in lab coats.

The two realize that the Silver Shamrock has something to do with all this and go on a tour of the factory. But what they find in the factory is shocking and may destroy the entire world on Halloween night.

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• The awesome music by John Carpenter that plays throughout the whole movie.
• Halloween plays twice on the TV in this film...SO META...
• The annoying Silver Shamrock tune is amazing and constantly stuck in my head. Remind me to play that over and over during the last week of Halloween next year.
• There's a fight scene and the fake punch noises are so bad that they are amazing.

What didn't I love?

• Mostly just the logic of this movie....
• How did the car explode? Homeboy lit himself on fire and then the car exploded. I mean...what kind of dramatic nonsense?
• Ellie and Dan start hooking up immediately? Like okay, let's track down your dead dads last days...so romantic?
• When Dan first sees what happens to the kids wearing the masks....how do the giant snakes happen? Like how does a mask create giant snakes?
• SO MANY QUESTIONS

 Overall?

Obviously this film is famous purely for not having Michael Myers in it at all but still being a part of the Halloween franchise. It's easier just to watch this one as a random Halloween plot to kill everyone movie and forget you're watching the third installment of a slasher franchise. In fact it takes another six years for Michael to even return, in the fourth movie - Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.

It's not even really horror - it's more of a sci-fi, folk lore type tale what with all the lasers and robots. It does have a decent amount of gore though. Particularly the scene at the beginning where the Shamrock robot dude thing just shoves his fingers through Ellie's Dad's eyes. Also...you know...violence against children which, if you read this blog, you know I'm always a big supporter of in horror movies.

When it was first released critics and fans alike hated this flick, but overtime we've all learned to appreciate it for what it is. Just your basic 80's horror/sci-fi movie trying to take a stand on large corporations and the mass consumerism of America.

This little nugget was directed by Tommy Lee Wallace and was his first film, previously he had worked on the Halloween series but as a production designer and art director. He then went on to direct the amazing miniseries It, released in 1990.

Really it's just a great little Halloween flick that does what it set out to do and is a fun watch.

7/10

Still at it over here in Kauai! I have one more review to post and then the October horror movie challenge is done and OVER WITH. I have a giant list of blog posts I need to write after that but I'll save those for when I get home. SO MANY THINGS TO TALK ABOUT YA'LL!

Yesterday I got to explore a creepy ass cave that reminded me of The Descent so much I freaked myself out.

Stay Spooky!

Murder Crows, Alien Covenants, and Michael Myers?

It's a very gloomy and rainy Saturday here in Vancouver and I'm up very early with tooth pain, because this is the bane of my existence. So let's talk about some horror news from the week!!

HORROR NEWS OF THE WEEK WRAP UP

Right now somewhere in the world (New Zealand I think?) Ridley Scott is filming Alien: Covenant. We've heard lots of gossip and chat about how this film will be and we've all seen some great concept art. But today we get our first officially released shot from set. The photo is of a production monitor and shows Katherine Waterston laying against the wall with a weapon against her leg:

Alien: Covenant if of course the sequel to Prometheus which was released in 2012. The new film will be the second in a trilogy and is set on a remote planet where the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is of course...not what it seems.

The cast will be made up of Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterson, Demian Bichir, Danny McBride, Alex England, Billy Crudup, Amy Seimetz, Jussie Smollett, Carmen Ejogo and Callie Hernandez. 
In a recent interview, Michael Fassbender who will be returning as David, mentioned that the sets have "an old school element where things look battered..." And when asked about David returning, Fassbender said "He is creepy. And he's back in a whole new way." 

Oh, and! Scott has mentioned that we will be seeing all the fan favorites; the egg, facehugger, and chestburster. SAY IT AINT SO THIS IS TOO BEAUTIFUL!


Rated a "hard R", look for Alien: Covenant next year on August 4th. 

If you've read this blog...you know I absolutely adore Stephen King. BUT...I cannot stand the obsession with making Stephen King stories into unnecessary TV shows. But low and behold, here comes the next one:

In 2014 King put out the first book in a new trilogy (the third coming out next month) called Mr. Mercedes about a psychopath who wants to blow up a concert filled with thousands of people, mostly young girls (it's a One Direction type band). Bill Hodges, a retired detective, is our lead who is sent mysterious mail from someone threatening a massive attack and must try and stop this from happening.

Now it's being turned into a TV series by the dude who created Ally McBeal and Boston Legal....David E. Kelley. His only toe into horror is that he wrote the Lake Placid movie. Attached as the stars are Brendan Gleeson from 28 Days Later and Anton Yelchin from Fright Night. It's going straight to series with a 10 episode order and will premier in 2018.

All I'm going to say is....WHY? WHAT IS THE POINT? The books are amazing and a thrill ride to read (now I really want to re-read this before the final book next month) and it will not work as a TV series.

ANGERRRRRRRRR

Also, something a little fun....
Here in Vancouver we have a famous crow called Canuck. He can be spotted by the red band that's around his ankle and he's known for being incredibly friendly but also a bit of a pain around here.

Canuck is constantly fucking with the police by flying into their police cars and trying to steal the keys off of the keyboards, he tears down police tape. Canuck has also gotten onto the sky train before and gone for a ride, attacked a cyclist, and tries to appear in news interviews by landing on reporter's shoulders. He's kind of the best.

Canuck is in the news again this week because after the VPD responded to a car fire in a parking lot, they were confronted by a man armed with a knife. The man came running at the officers who then shot him and took him into custody. Canuck decided to help out by grabbing the knife, which is an important piece of evidence, and tried to fly away with it. Oh, Canuck, you adorable murder crow.

(this is not the knife from the crime scene, this is another knife that Canuck found. He seems to really like them....)

AND NOW THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS OF ALL....

Michael Myers is coming home ya'll!!!!!!!!!! After launching in 1978, spawning 7 sequels, one remake with its own sequel....it's finally coming back.

Only this time it's in the safest hands - Jason Blum (founder of Blumhouse) working with franchise producer Malek Akkad and Miramax and Trancas International Films.

Oh yeah....and John Carpenter himself is signed on as an Executive Producer. Jason Blum describes him as the "Godfather" of the project. Carpenter, at the press conference, said "Halloween needs to return to its traditions, I feel like the movies have gotten away from that...Michael is not just a human being; he's a force of nature, like the wind. That's what makes him so scary."

Obviously this is all in its earliest stages but Blum mentioned that the film would be produced on a modest budget, which Carpenter prefers. "38 years later, I'm going to help to try to make the tenth sequel the scariest of them all." It's also rumored that Carpenter will be composing the music for the film which would just be the cherry on top of this perfect cake.

So yeah, that's pretty amazing. It's been a good week in horror! I'm going to venture out into the rain and go dive into the $5 bins at Best Buy to see if I can find any horror goodies, and also pick up The Witch.

Stay spooky!