People don't like change, even when it's positive change. I can tell you that I work for an agency which helps people better themselves and the fear of change makes them hesitant to go through with someone that will help them in the long run. Change is scary and anything different is often seen as suspect. People know what they like and like what they like and no one can tell them differently. This only partially explains the hatred towards Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

At the conclusion of Halloween II, Michael Myers is clearly dead and producers John Carpenter and Debra Hill were glad to be done with that series. Carpenter suggested that the "Halloween" name should carry on and he wanted to create an extended anthology of sorts where a different Halloween-themed movie would be released every year. These movies would leave the world of Michael Myers behind and have completely separate stories. Despite the fact that the trailers made no mention of, nor did they show, Michael Myers, audiences were still outraged that the familiar killer didn't appear in the film. Thus, since its initial release in 1982, Halloween III has had a reputation as a terrible movie which misled the filmgoing public. But, is it really that bad?

Halloween III opens with an old man (Al Berry) wandering into a gas station. He's delirious and clutching a Halloween mask. The man is taken to the hospital, where he is murdered by a man in business suit, who then promptly kills himself. Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins), the attending physician is very distraught by this. The old man's daughter, Ellie Grimbridge (Stacey Nelkin), approaches Dan, asking questions about her father's death. They learn that her father had traveled to a toy factory in Santa Mira in order to get more Halloween masks. Dan and Ellie travel to the town and find that everything revolves around Silver Shamrock, the novelty company run by Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy). Posing as interested customers, Dan and Ellie tour the mask factory and immediately suspect that something odd is going on. But, they have no idea what Cochran has planned for the world.

Viewing this DVD was my first time seeing Halloween III in its entirety in a long time, and I have to say that I don't like it as much now as I did when I was a teenager. John Carpenter's fingerprints are all over this movie, and you can really feel his influence. Carpenter's films often display an odd pace and first-time director Tommy Lee Wallace has taken this style and made it even more awkward at times. Just look at the finale -- action is taking place and it should be exciting, but it simply isn't. It feels very stilted and stagy and in no way organic. The movie often relies on jump scares accompanied by the familiar "sting" of Carpenter's musical score. However, by the time that Halloween III was released, these moments felt old hat.

And having seen the movie before, I was able to devote more attention to the story and I found that most of it doesn't make any sense. The opening works perfectly fine as far as introducing a mystery -- an old man clutching a mask has his skull broken by an emotionless assassin who then kills himself -- this is undoubtedly intriguing. But, things begin to go off the rails not long after that. Dr. Challis as an estranged husband and father who likes to drink and suddenly he's agreed to go on this adventure with a total stranger. If you can buy that, then you must contend with the third act where Cochran reveals his plan. What he wants to do is clear -- why he wants to do it or how it works exactly is decidedly vague. When Cochran says "a good magician never reveals his secrets", he's not just being clever, he's sweeping over the murky nature of the story.

While Halloween III obviously has its problems, it gets at least a B+ for effort. It took guts (or brash stupidity) to abandon the Michael Myers series and start with something new. Compared to the copycat nature of the film business today, the early 80s had a bit more originality and it was brave of Carpenter and company to try and do something novel. In retrospect, slapping the "Halloween" name on it was most likely a mistake. The movie has a great, slick look and some clever ideas, but the whole thing simply never gels. I would have loved to have seen what Halloween movies would have come after this, but as it is, we're left with this botched experiment.

Halloween III apparently thinks that animals live inside of us on DVD courtesy of Shout! Factory. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the transfer has been enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing only a smidge of grain and no defects from the source materials. The movie has a dark look, but it's never overly dark. The colors look nice, most notably those from the Halloween masks. The image actually has some depth to it, which is unusual for an older film on DVD. The image is soft in a few spots, but otherwise the level of detail is good. The DVD carries a Dolby Digital mono audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The track is well-balanced and the music, while assertive, is never dominant. Although this is a mono track, it never feels narrow and there is no hissing or popping here.

The Halloween III: Season of the Witch DVD contains several extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Writer/Director Tommy Lee Wallace, who is joined by Sean Clark and Rob G.. This is followed by a second COMMENTARY from Tom Atkins and "making of" guru Michael Felsher. "Stand Alone: The Making of Halloween III: Season of the Witch" (33 minutes) is similar to the featurette found on the Halloween II DVD, as there is no on-set or behind-the-scenes footage here. We get comments from Wallace, Atkins, Nelkin, Director of Photography Dean Cundey, Stunt Coordinator Dick Warlock, Composer Alan Howarth, and some others. There is a discussion of the story, the characters, the locations, and the music. As one would hope, there is a fairly honest, but unfortunately short, talk about the reaction to and backlash against the movie. We also get to see a modern screening of the film. "Horror's Hallowed Grounds" (20 minutes) again has host Sean Clark visiting the key locations from the film. (Again, kudos to Clark for his research.) The STILL GALLERY has over 40 images of production stills, lobby cards, and posters. We get 3 TV SPOTS, one of which is for a television airing of the film, which run about 90 seconds. The final extra is a TRAILER for the film.