This is not the first time I’ve elected to watch a Halloween film on Halloween itself; indeed, the last review I posted on my old film blog was Halloween II on October 31, 2021. This is also not the first time I’ve regretted that decision, too… at least there’s no “Sam Hain” nonsense in this one, someone clearly got handed a note this time round. Anyway, John Carpenter and Debra Hill hadn’t wanted to do a Halloween sequel in the first place, and they were even less excited by the prospect of another one, so they insisted it not actually be a sequel at all… which was a really interesting idea, potentially opening the series up to being more of an anthology thing telling different stories around the Halloween theme. Alas, however, this wasn’t what audiences wanted from the series; they wanted a big goon in a William Shatner mask getting stabby, not these androids in suits ripping people’s heads off, and so number four in the series wouldn’t happen for several years. It didn’t help that the film itself wasn’t much good, either; Nigel Kneale was drafted to write the script, which was then so reworked he demanded his name be taken off it, and the end result was not the most coherent film ever made. What exactly was the point of the androids, for one thing, what was Cochrane’s broader plan there? How do the chips in the mask medallions have… you know, that effect? And I’ll allow some credit for the mass murder of children as a plot device, that’s darker than most horror usually goes, but what was it for? Ropey dialogue, ropey pacing, ropey acting… that fucking ad jingle… the film’s IMDB entry has a good selection of plot holes, too. There is a school of thought that says, with hindsight and now that we know what Carpenter wanted to do with the series, that HIII was actually much better than its early critics said it was. I am not part of this school, and really didn’t like this at all. Also, I rather doubt I’ll be watching any future installments of the series on future Halloweens…
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