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Post by stefancrosscoe on Mar 1, 2017 12:02:44 GMT
"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." In the late midnight hours of October the 23th, Dr. Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) and his fellow co-workers suddenly find themselves involved in some rather strange incidents at a local hospital, as one of their patients is brutally murdered, and who earlier had arrived in a rather bizarre state where he was rambling on about the worlds end and evil Halloween masks. But the already weird situation doesn't stop there, as Dr. Challis decides to go after the apparent killer, but can only look on in horror as a well dressed gentleman, steps calmly into a car only to seconds later put himself on fire. With no help from the police, Dr. Challis along with the daughter of his former patient, decides to set course for the small town of Santa Mira, the home of the toy factory Silver Shamrock, in hope of some kind of explanation.Season of the Witch is without a doubt the odd one out in the whole Halloween franchise, but it was not just some weird idea suddenly coming out of the blue, John Carpenter never wanted the series to just be about Michael Myers going around killing off horny teenagers. Instead he wanted to make a new Halloween related film every year, but I guess those plans got put down the moment the producers understood the fans wanted Myers back, and it probably did not help much that the film were being torn appart by both fans and critics alike. When I first saw the film, I went in with very little expectations, as everybody had told me it "sucked" and was the absolute "worst movie ever!", and yeah I knew that it did not come with either Jamie Lee Curtis or the character Michael Myers, which was a bit funny as the scandinavian DVD artwork looked like this: And if I remember correctly, there was this huge picture of Jamie Lee Curtis on the backside, and I guess they did not think anybody would care, as it was the one film that most of my friends never had in their horror collection. They seemed to try and erease it by not including the title alongside the other Halloween films. Anyway, I love the film, and it was absolute not what I at first had expected, but when those heavy, chilling, synths of Carpenter and Alan Howarth began to set in only to be followed by the creepy/brutal hospital scene, I was sucked right in. Now this was my kind of a 80s horror movie, with a great doomsday atmosphere going, a chilling, cold synth soundtrack, Tom Atknins, Stacey Nelkin and a by far more evil bastard than Myers ever tried to be. As Conal Cochran did not run around chasing teenage girls with a oversized knife, no, he wanted to get rid off as many kids as possible, and in such a brutal and sadistic way by making their own parents take on the part as the executioners. Sadly the producers chickened out, and instead of having a brand new Halloween related story being released every year, we ended up with the Michael Myers show and a series of godawful films that would soon follow.
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Mar 1, 2017 17:26:56 GMT
7/10 Its a good film.
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TheSowIsMine
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Post by TheSowIsMine on Mar 1, 2017 17:45:39 GMT
So much better that the Meyers sequels. I wish Carpenter could have continued with his original plan to have a new story every movie. ...and now that song is stuck in my head...
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Mar 1, 2017 17:56:23 GMT
So much better that the Meyers sequels. I wish Carpenter could have continued with his original plan to have a new story every movie. ...and now that song is stuck in my head... I guess the money men wanted their share of the cake and was scared that by not having Myers in, meant bad business, but by looking at Wikipedia and the later Halloween films such as the 4th and 5th ones, they didn't seem that too superiour on the box office numbers compared to Season of the Witch, but I guess the fans wanted Myers back, and that killed off Carpenter's original plans. Always glad to hear. It really is a well made film, maybe not a Halloween as in your "ordinary" 80s slasher title, but as a stand alone horror movie it really is quite something else.
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yearspew
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Post by yearspew on Mar 1, 2017 19:07:58 GMT
I've only seen this movie once (I have it on DVD paired with Halloween II) but I've been wanting to revisit it for some time. I do remember some things:
. The Silver Shamrock song which nobody could forget ever, no matter how much you try haha . Tom Atkins being as awesome as ever . Weird robot zombies? . The scene where some kid watches the commercial and his head melts or something
I remember enjoying this movie, as it is also exactly the kind of 80s horror stuff I dig.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Mar 1, 2017 22:54:38 GMT
I've only seen this movie once (I have it on DVD paired with Halloween II) but I've been wanting to revisit it for some time. I do remember some things: . The Silver Shamrock song which nobody could forget ever, no matter how much you try haha . Tom Atkins being as awesome as ever . Weird robot zombies? . The scene where some kid watches the commercial and his head melts or something I remember enjoying this movie, as it is also exactly the kind of 80s horror stuff I dig. Yeah that Silver Shamrock thing is probably more scary than any of the latter sequels with Myers. I have actually managed to forget it for a while, until now that is. Weird robot zombies, oh man these things were really something, they creeped me out, 80s robots usually does that to me, well expect maybe for Rachel in Blade Runner or Kirsty Swanson in Deadly Friend (1986), now those were my kind of robots. I kind of like the surprise/twist later on in the film, silly but still I think it worked, certainly took Dr. Challis by surprise.
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Post by novastar6 on Mar 1, 2017 23:17:04 GMT
It's a weird thing to say for a horror movie but I did not like the kill scenes, those were just too gross for me when I saw it.
And I never really got why an evil magic Druid needs a factory to make his masks...who mass produces evil?
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northernlad
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Post by northernlad on Mar 2, 2017 0:21:48 GMT
It's an okay movie as a stand alone film. I understand what Carpenter wanted to do and I think it's a great idea...I almost wish someone would come along and do what he was trying to do back then.
The problem is that it is named Halloween after there had already been two films about Michael Myers. At that point it was really too late to try the anthology idea. It should have simply been called "Season of The Witch." If Carpenter wanted this type of thing to work, then Halloween II should have never been about Michael Myers.
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Post by cryptoflovecraft on Mar 2, 2017 1:51:21 GMT
Good film. I suppose it was just too dark and disturbing for general movie goers including the highfalutin movie critics who seemed to hate it more than any other Halloween film. And horror fans at the time were turned off by it because it wasn't a slasher film. It's a damn shame that it was so disliked and misunderstood because it's a unique film. I agree with you totally about all the godawful Halloween sequels that followed, they should have never been made. Halloween and Halloween III are the only films in the series that I like.
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Reynard
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Post by Reynard on Mar 2, 2017 2:38:06 GMT
Halloween III has my favorite Carpenter score - good listening before going to sleep. The movie is great, easily the best Halloween after the original. Wallace's directing style is really Carpenter-like, probably couldn't tell that this is not a Carpenter film if it were for the opening credits. Very sombre in every way, with events often following weird nightmare logic. I remember renting this on video and, knowing about the abysmal reputation, being really surprised. No one else seemed to like Halloween III back then, pretty much everything I read was just "it doesn't have Myers in it" whining. Witnessing this film's rise from "the most hated sequel ever" to a considerable cult movie has been a delight. 9/10
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Post by profondorosso on Mar 2, 2017 7:32:10 GMT
Anyway, I love the film, and it was absolute not what I at first had expected, but when those heavy, chilling, synths of Carpenter and Alan Howarth began to set in only to be followed by the creepy/brutal hospital scene, I was sucked right in. I'm glad I'm not the only one who loves this score. Season of the Witch has this weird vibe that I really like. This music, Silver Shammock song, those masks, disgusting bugs and snakes coming out of the kid's head, those creepy guys in suits... While it's not perfect, I'm glad it was made before they made Myers alive again (although I like H4). I agree with you stefancrosscoe, I wish they made more of these stand alone movies.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Mar 2, 2017 14:06:10 GMT
It's a weird thing to say for a horror movie but I did not like the kill scenes, those were just too gross for me when I saw it. The kill scenes were really gross and quite brutal compared to the other Halloween titles. The one I always were creeped out by was when Conal puts the family inside one of his "testing" chambers, and this movie does something very rarely done in horror films, it kills off a kid, even though a rather unlikable one, but still it was a very cruel way of going out. Yeah, for me its all about the vibe/tone or atmosphere, and sometimes a poor script/plot can be saved by including a great score/soundtrack, (not that Season of the Witch was poor in that way) and very few guys back then did it so well as Carpenter did in the late 70s and throughout most of the 80s. I am glad more horror films and even newer thrillers/action titles are bringing back the minimalistic synth-dominated approach of the 80s, which show how much influence legends like Carpenter had not only through his films but the love for his music/sounds are still very relevant.
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Post by profondorosso on Mar 2, 2017 17:16:51 GMT
I am glad more horror films and even newer thrillers/action titles are bringing back the minimalistic synth-dominated approach of the 80s, which show how much influence legends like Carpenter had not only through his films but the love for his music/sounds are still very relevant. Yes! You inspired me to make a whole tread about horror movie scores.
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