THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
We always know things are not always what they seem, but when we unfold the truth, it can be hard to decide if it was worth looking for.
PLOT
Halloween: Season of the Witch is an anthological film unrelated to the slasher Michael Myers and takes place in Northern California instead of Haddonfield. The story follows Doctor Daniel Chillis, a man whose alcoholism has strained his relationship with his ex-wife and kids. When called in at work, a shop owner named Harry Grimbridge (Al Berry) is taken in after being attacked by multiple men in suits. Shockingly, another suited man gets to him and suffocates him before he chooses to light himself on fire to prevent being captured. Because he saw the commotion firsthand, Daniel wants to figure out the why. He goes to Santa Mira with Harry’s daughter Ellie because he had on him a mask made by the Silver Shamrock Novelties factory which has a catchy commercial kids are obsessive over. They go there specifically because Harry was restocking masks before Halloween. At Santa Mira where the factory is located, they go to a motel and meet two different salespeople in the neighborhood, Marge Guttman (Garn Stephens) and Buddy Kupfer (Ralph Strait). When Daniel goes out at night, he meets a homeless man named Skarker (Jonathan Terry) who tells him the head of Silver Shamrock, Conal Cohran made the town from the ground up without any local labor. When they go their separate ways, he gets killed by similar suited men who were after Harry. When Daniel returns to the motel, he has an affair with Ellie and during this, Marge gets killed by one of the masks due to tampering with a microchip. The protagonists don’t know about her death until they see her body get taken away by men in lab coats. The following morning, Daniel calls his coworker Teddy (Wendy Wessberg) who reveals there were no human remains of the suited man that lit himself on fire after killing Harry. He later goes to the factory with Ellie, where they get to have a tour by Cohran himself, alongside Buddy’s family. Upon leaving the factory though, Ellie spots her dad’s car in one of the garages and is stopped from retrieving it. Going back to the motel, she and Daniel declare calling the police to confirm something wrong is going on. When the latter goes to the main office to make the call, he finds the phone lines to be severed and it is during this separation where the former gets taken away by more suited men. Daniel follows them to the factory in order to find her, only to first discover the henchmen to be androids. When Cohran catches him sneaking him, he shows him that the microchips on the masks contain fragments of the prehistoric structure Stonehenge that he stole. He then shows him the final process where once the chips are activated through the signature commercial, those wearing the masks will be killed via brain damage and a slew of insects & snakes will release after. He proves this when demonstrating on Buddy’s family, as his son Little Buddy (Brad Schacter) becomes a victim of the mask, his wife Betty (Jadeen Barbor) faints in disbelief and the patriarch himself gets bitten by a rattlesnake. Cohran further explains the reason to be part of an ancient Celtic tradition of ritual sacrifice. During this revelation, Teddy barely gets evidence of what Silver Shamrock is up to, but gets killed by another android before she can reach out to Daniel. The latter does escape with Ellie after destroying the headquarters that kills Cohran and everyone else involved, but ends up killing her too when she reveals to have been converted to be an android once she was captured. With the altercation causing a car crash, Daniel goes on foot and goes to the same gas station Harry was found. He then calls the television networks to stop the Silver Shamrock commercial broadcasts and are able to stop two, but fail with a third. The film ends in a cliffhanger with no certainty if it was done in time as Daniel pleads for it to stop.
THOUGHTS
I myself was quite surprised to know producers John Carpenter & Debra Hill originally approached the Halloween franchise as an anthological type like The Twilight Zone, but couldn’t go all the way due to how much of a cultural impact Michael Myers made that the first sequel was popular demand before things could get going. Although the continuing popularity of the boogeyman inevitably led to cancel anymore anthology ideas and focused more on the slasher, there is no doubt this was a gamble worth taking. Director/writer Tommy Lee Wallace is still able to make something that was a whole other batch of crazy that feels quite immersive in its own ways. It’s obviously not anywhere near canon to any timeline involving the Shape since the main reference is in two separate times, the original ‘78 film is playing on tv and Jamie Lee Curtis announcing curfew through the speakers. Like the Twilight Zone, it’s a story that knows what it is and doesn’t relent on being a surprise. Millie Moore’s editing and Dean Cundey’s cinematography is so impressive that you feel all the eeriness going into the unfolding mystery. It's quite compelling of a narrative where society's weakness is consumerism as displayed here. It sounds stupid at first, but it feel effective deep down because it's pretty true. I for one do not mind consuming various products of different qualities in entertainment, but I do not really treat it like it is the only thing that makes my life special. From that, I think that is what the movie is all about where you just have to stay true to yourself no matter how chaotic things are around you and there is more to life than a harmless distraction. Had it not been for two distinctive sides of the coin, I would've not caught onto it. Dan O'Herlihy was honestly quite frightening of a villain as Conal because he's someone who has this motive in wanting the holiday Halloween to be appreciated and sadistically believes mass murder via old tradition is the solution. The technology he achieved to master his weaponry is astonishing because you would've not expected weaponizing Stonehnege the way he does. Add this with an android army that can kill with ease and take their own lives should they think it to be necessary, it would be apparent to say that he was on the verge of success. Since we don't know if the third channel was stopped in time, we'll just to leave to wonder. Now it's a no brainer to point out Daniel is not an ideal protagonist since he basically doesn't try hard enough to be a family man. And it ain't a good excuse to say his intense of line of work as a doctor triggered his alcoholism. Looking past that though, Tom Atkins is able to spice it up still because he doesn't intend to hurt anybody. He's someone who was getting by and felt like he had to look into something the cops likely weren't gonna find on their own. The mystery called to him because it just didn't make sense to act like it was normal for the most absurd to occur as if it wasn't wrong. The fact he's the one who finds the truth proves that humanity is there in everyone and we just have to trust ourselves in how we prove so. Stacey Nelkin was good too as Ellie because she was a simple girl who wanted to avenge her dad and was flattered someone else cared. That alone is why she gives Daniel a chance, whereas he reciprocates because he sees whatever good in her she gets from her dad even though he didn't get to know him well enough before his murder. It was a bummer for her to die too because it felt like she didn't have a fighting chance compared to her dad. Again, I gotta praise the ending for all its uncertainty and Atkins nailed the inner fear anyone would feel when all hope is lost and all we could do while seeing his pleas is hope he saved the world in time. This movie is overall fine for what it is, but there are a lot of illogical things story-wise where I see why people couldn’t get onboard. The Android henchmen are scary at all, but the first one was pretty dumb to respond to a car about to crush him. Like I can’t stand how movie hospitals don’t have cameras half the time and this is a case where there wasn’t any as the android sneaks in to kill Harry. The cops would’ve followed some kind of trail from there if you think about it. Another thing, why wasn’t Skarker killed sooner if Cohran knew he was onto him? I mean it wasn’t like he was hiding compared to Daniel so I don’t see the point in keeping him around until then. I even scratch my head on why would Cohran not deliver the masks to distributors? It is one way to cover your tracks, but it’s asking someone to walk into your scheme. He then lets the suspicion go absolutely high when being present as Marge’s body got picked up which is asking the protagonists to connect whatever dots were visible to them which is worse than keeping them alive after showing them the dark truth. You’re instantly screwed when claiming your mask factory has a medical facility because those two things do not relate and can’t fool anyone otherwise. Also, if curfews are a thing in the town, why were the stores still open when Dan goes out? That’s like intentionally starting a ruckus. And the dumbest thing Daniel says is to call the marines before calling the police. That was so much of a leap to say, you just know the character was drunk. If that ain’t the dumbest, it would be from pitching to Ellie on being buying partners to tell people they’re a couple. He’s lucky she still chose to sleep with him after that sudden change. Lastly, how did Cohran even know Teddy was onto him too? If he was tuning to Daniel’s phone call, that should’ve been clarified for sure. I don’t even buy the fact he was able throw a mask onto a camera of an office he was held captive in while tied down before escaping. I shouted bullshit upon rewatching because I just couldn’t be fooled, I’m sorry. Other than that, this is still an effective horror thriller on its own. In short, Halloween: Season of the Witch is an interesting standalone film for letting loose on the creative of fears. If you want a shakeup of horror that feels ahead of its time, check this out.
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