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"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."
Conal Cochran
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Halloween III - Season of the Witch (1982)
Credits
Title: Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Directed by: Tommy Lee Wallace
Written by: Tommy Lee Wallace
Produced by: Moustapha Akkad
Barry Bernardi
Joseph Wolf
Irwin Yablans
John Carpenter
Debra Hill
Dino De Laurentiis
Music by: John Carpenter
Alan Howarth
Cinematography: Dean Cundey
Production
Distributors: Universal Pictures
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
Released: October 22nd, 1982
Rating: R
Running time: 98 min.
Country: USA
Language: English
Budget: $2,500,000 (estimated)
Gross: $14,400,000 [1]
Navigation
Previous: Halloween II (1981)
Next: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a 1982 horror film written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace. It was produced by Universal Pictures and the Dino De Laurentiis Company and opened theatrically in the United States on October 22nd, 1982. It is the third installment in the Halloween franchise, though it has no connection in terms of story or continuity to the films that either preceded it or followed it. The premise behind the Halloween film concept was to create an anthology series focusing on spooky events that take place on Halloween. The plot of this film involves an evil industrialist named Conal Cohran who uses Halloween masks as part of an ambitious plot to cull victims for a sacrifice to an ancient Celtic god.

Plot[]

Conal Cochran 001

The evil Conal Cochran.

An evil industrialist named Conal Cochran steals one of the stone slabs of Stonehenge of Salisbury Plain England and uses mineral deposits from the slab towards his own dastardly ends. Cochran is also the president and CEO of Silver Shamrock Novelties, the largest toy manufacturer in the world specializing in Halloween masks and based in the town of Santa Mira in Northern California. Cochran uses his knowledge of Druidic lore and the Stonehenge minerals to craft masks that turn people into grotesque piles of bugs and snakes. It is his intention to have all of the trick or treaters across the globe don his special masks at a pre-planned time and place. According to Cochran, it represents not only his life's work but the greatest "trick" of all time. Enforcing Cochran's goals is an army of human looking robots.

Craziness in the ER

Craziness in the ER.

One of Cochran's buyers begins to get wind of the nefarious plot and tries to warn others. Shop owner Harry Grimbridge finds his way into a county hospital where he meets Doctor Dan Challis (Tom Atkins). Before passing out on a hospital table, Harry utters a chilling warning. "They'll kill us all!" But before he can clarify his prophecy, he is murdered by a well dressed man (robot) who crushes Harry's skull. The agent then douses himself in gasoline and sets himself on fire. The only evidence left at the crime scene is a Silver Shamrock Halloween mask.

Ellie and Dan

Ellie & Dan Challis investigate her father's death.

Harry Grimbridge's daughter, Ellie, comes to the hospital to identify her father's body. She meets Doctor Challis and Dan tries to console Ellie over her loss.

Dan and Ellie begin to suspect a connection between Harry's death and Silver Shamrock Novelties. The two decide to investigate, and they travel to the company town of Santa Mira. The entire city is under the authoritative thumb of Conal Cochran and just about everyone works for Silver Shamrock in some capacity. Dan and Ellie operate under the guise of a married couple and rent a hotel room.

Stonehenge extreme

Stonehenge... EXTREME!

They meet Conal Cochran who invites them on a tour of the Silver Shamrock Facility. Ellie is kidnapped and Dan discovers the villain's nefarious plot. He is captured and tied to a wooden chair at a special office in the facility. Cochran explains how he plans on using subliminal messaging via his masks to make all of the children in the nation tune in to a special give-away being aired at 9:00 pm October 31st on all local television channels. At which point, they will transform into the afore-mentioned bugs and snakes. It is Cochran's design to use the death of such a massive amount of children as a sacrifice to the old Celtic god Samhain.

Mask madness

F**k this kid.

Dan manages to escape, but unfortunately Ellie is killed (off screen) and replaced with a robot duplicate. Challis succeeds in destroying many of Cochran's laboratory systems, but it proves to be too little too late. The Silver Shamrock give-away commercial airs promptly at 9:00 pm Halloween night. It is assumed that all children wearing Silver Shamrock masks who are watching the commercial at the time then die. Though Challis is successful at getting two television stations to pull the commercial, he fails to get the third one to remove theirs as his pleads turn to screams of horror to take it off the air as the flashing pumpkin screen shows up that triggers the microchips in the masks.

Cast[]

Notes & Trivia[]

External Links[]

References[]


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Film Series
This article relates to the films within the Halloween franchise. This template will categorize articles that include it into the Halloween Films category.
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