Halloween III: Season of the witch - ***

Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace. Starring Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O'Herlihy. Horror, USA, 92 mins, cert 15.

Re-released on DVD by Scanbox Entertainment on 10th October 2011

The HALLOWEEN movie that isn't: there's no Michael Myers, no Haddonfield, no Laurie Strode (although reality is slightly warped here since there is a Jamie Lee Curtis, as the original HALLOWEEN is seen playing on a TV set, so presumably this reality also includes THE FOG and therefore Tom Atkins). An unrelated non-sequel originally written by Nigel Kneale, who had his name taken off the film, it's closer to a suspense thriller with gory murders than an outright horror film. Though it still has the Carpenter feel: he's one of the producers, he's co-written the throbbing synth score and, according to the IMDb, he gave the script an uncredited rewrite.

Eight days before Halloween, a man arrives in hospital clutching a Halloween pumpkin mask and babbling "they're all going to kill us", and before long a mute assassin shows up, bloodily kills him and then self-immolates in his car. Doctor Dan Challis (Tom Atkins) teams up with the victim's daughter (Stacey Nelkin) to investigate. The trail leads to the factory town of Santa Mira, home of the Silver Shamrock Masks factory, owned and run by sinister Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy). But how are they involved? What's Cochran's master plan? And could it have anything to do with the disappearance of one of the stones of Stonehenge?

In the context of Conal Cochran's diabolical scheme, it's akin to the mid-period Bond movies where the villain intends to kill millions with nuclear bombs or nerve gas, and even contrives a scene where he explains his fiendish plans to the hero before inefficiently tying him up and leaving him in a room from which he can easily escape. As a horror movie, it's an ambitious and inventive story, especially when viewed thirty years on, in an era where the bulk of genre movies are painfully generic and repetitive. Sadly, some of the dialogue is pretty clunky and even though you're not expecting the finest writing with something called HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH, it's difficult to hear some of those lines and not wince. (Though, pleasingly, it manages to sidestep a plot hole with the simple line: "You wouldn't believe how we did it").

It's not helped by this DVD issue being the worst of both worlds: not only is it still cut (the re-edited version that still misses out on some of the gore shots - and the BBFC have passed it uncut before so this really shouldn't be a problem) but it's still in the wrong ratio! Granted the crop from the full 2.35 widescreen to 16:9 isn't as horrendous as it would be if hacked down to 4:3 (as the original video releases were) but given that there's a Region 1 anamorphic widescreen DVD out there which is also completely uncut, it does feel like we're being fobbed off with a second-rate version of the film. It would warrant an extra star if they'd released it properly.

Despite the presentation and the iffy dialogue, HALLOWEEN III is still a reasonably entertaining throwback to a better era of mainstream genre films: blessed with a rich cinematic look even in the night shoots (compare with today's penchant for night scenes to take place in pitch darkness) and gloopy prosthetic gore rather than empty CGI. Occasional moments aside, it's rather fun.

Richard Street.