If there’s one film that seriously needs your reevaluation this Halloween season, it’s Tommy Lee Wallace’s Halloween 3: Season of the Witch.  The title is a bit misleading as the knife-wielding Michael Myers does not appear in the film at all, but this horror film is John Carpenter’s brainchild all the way.  It’s humorous and twisted and almost as every bit as scary as the original Halloween thanks to the magnificent camera work of Dean Cundey.  The people have been replaced by robots and Halloween masks are killing kids.

Terrifying, right?  Right.  Then why did audiences not get or appreciate this gem as the stand alone film that is?

Carpenter’s idea was simple: Myers might be dead (after being laid to rest in the second film) but the Halloween namesake can and should carry on with a new horror story idea every year.  For 1982, the idea for the film revolved around three Halloween masks that, when kids wear them and watch television, their faces melt into food for bugs.  It was spit on at the time by critics and most of the fans expecting Myers to return were disappointed by its promised namesake.  But now that we know Myers did return for a 4th, 5th, 6th, and on and on and on, fans of Carpenter’s work should revisit this one.

And Shout! Factory has made it all the more easier with a stellar release of Halloween 3: Season of the Witch in a Limited Edition SteelBook blu-ray this week.

Written and directed by the man who helmed 1990's first-rate Stephen King miniseries It, the movie spins Invasion of the Body Snatchers-like themes and couples them with some good old trick or treating nightmare scenarios all at the hands of an Irish mad scientist who wants to see the holiday return to its dark roots.  Dr. Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) and Ellie (Stacey Nelkin), not wanting to see millions of kids’ brains turn to insects and snakes, travel to the Northern California town of Santa Mira, where these masks are made, to get to the bottom of factory owner Conal Cochran’s (Dan O'Herlihy) Halloween night plan.

The idea of a practical joke played on the children in cities across America is a rich one for the holiday to take on.  Powered by an upbeat radio and television jingle that gets stuck in your head upon the first listen, the movie's anti-capitalism and anti-television themes are handled well.  Paranoia runs supreme as Mr. Cochran mounts his annihilation of the holiday through the television.  Try not to tense up as the clock ticks down to Halloween night and Challis, after being brutally attacked by a robot, begs the television stations (there were only three, remember?) to stop playing the Silver Shamrock commercial.

Only he has seen it in action.  Only he knows what triggers the masks to start melting.

In what goes down as one of the movie’s most terrifying set pieces, your typical annoying American family - Buddy Kupfer (Ralph Strait), Betty (Jadeen Barbor), and son Buddy Jr. (Bradley Schachter) – are invited to the mask making factory (as reward for selling the most masks) and, unsuspectingly, put in a testing room.  The commercial kicks on and Buddy, wearing one of the Silver Shamrock masks, sits in front of the television set.  Suddenly, he falls to the floor and collapses.  All manner of insects and reptiles crawl from his mask as his face melts away.  Then, the bugs and insects go after the rest of the family.  And Cundey’s striking cinematography mines it for every bit of terror.

Director Tommy Lee Wallace uses his locations well to create an atmosphere that is so alien to comfort that no one, not even the robots, feel safe.  Only here have I seen a coastal farming town feel so eerie and weird that I actually believe that it could, in fact, have an announced curfew for all its citizens.  The electronic score by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth is a hypnotic classic that is just as memorable as the original score to the first film in the series.

There’s little sense in carrying a grudge against this film any longer.  We can argue to the death about the stupid idea to call it a Halloween film and not include Michael Myers.  It was silly, yes, but Carpenter, Hill, and Wallace were trying to create an anthology.  Think of it!  We could have had years of anthology films had this sucker been successful.

The film is a real and royal treat for fans of the horror genre.  From beginning to its sudden cliffhanger ending, Halloween 3: Season of the Witch deserves the chance to live and die by its own merits and not by Michael Myers.

It’s time for you to discover the Season of the Witch.

Amazon Exclusive SteelBook / Collector's Edition / 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Home Video Distributor: Shout Factory
Available on Blu-ray - October 28, 2025
Screen Formats: 2.35:1
Subtitles: English
Video: Dolby Vision; HDR10
Audio: Dolby Atmos; English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
Discs: 4K Ultra HD; Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set
Region Encoding: 4K region-free; blu-ray locked to Region A

John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing) presents the third chilling film in the Halloween franchise!  When a terrified toy salesman is mysteriously attacked and brought to the hospital babbling and clutching the year's most popular Halloween costume, an eerie pumpkin mask, Dr. Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins, The Fog, Night Of The Creeps) is thrust into a terrifying Halloween nightmare. Working with the salesman's daughter, Ellie (Stacey Nelkin), Daniel traces the mask to the Silver Shamrock Novelties company and its founder, Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy, RoboCop).  Ellie and Daniel uncover Cochran's shocking Halloween plan and must stop him before trick-or-treaters across the country are kept from ever coming home in this terrifying thriller from writer/director Tommy Lee Wallace (Stephen King's It).

VIDEO

The included (and remastered) 4K transfer certainly looks better than its previous release.  Colors are crisp and the film’s detail is loaded with meat AND gristle.  It’s amazing how sharper focus and a more detailed image can really bring an older movie to life.  This might not have been the biggest budgeted movie at the time but you wouldn’t be able to guess its limitations from the crispness of the 4K transfer.

AUDIO

The soundtrack is presented in a new Dolby Atmos Audio track that adds a solid amount of crunch to the action.  Dialogue is relatively clear and free of distortion.

Supplements:

Commentary:

There are two wonderfully detailed commentaries.  Director Tommy Lee Wallace, Robert V. Galluzzo from Icons of Fright, and Sean Clark of Horror Hound magazine supply one of the commentaries.  Framed as mostly Q&A commentary, Galluzzo and Clark grill Wallace on the cast, the origins of several ideas and the film’s locations.  Documentary filmmaker Michael Felsher sits down with actor Tom Atkins for the second one.  Both are enjoyable and will serve fans of the film well.

Special Features:

While the release, outside of newly designed cover art, looks unsuspecting enough, there’s actually quite a bit of really good supplemental material included for its blu-ray debut.  A newly produced retrospective takes viewers on a relatively frank discussion of the film and its resulting flop at the box office.  It includes cast and crew and features a lot of cool anecdotes that makes it worth watching.  The locations of the film are highlighted in another newly made featurette.  There’s a large collection of promotional pictures and production stills in another and two TV spots round out the collection.

• Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Tommy Lee Wallace
• Audio Commentary With Actor Tom Atkins
• Stand Alone: The Making Of Halloween III: Season Of The Witch Featuring Interviews With Writer/Director Tommy Lee Wallace, Actors Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Brad Schacter, Stunt Coordinator Dick Warlock, Executive Producer Irwin Yablans And More!
• Horror's Hallowed Grounds: The Locations Of Halloween III Host Sean Clark And Writer/Director Tommy Lee Wallace Revisit The Original Shooting Locations Of The Film
• Teaser Trailer
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV & Radio Spots
• Still Gallery

	Movie
	Video
	Audio
	Extras
Composite Blu-ray Grade

MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 98 mins
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Writer: Tommy Lee Wallace; John Carpenter
Cast: Tom Atkins; Stacey Nelkin; Dan O'Herlihy
Genre: Horror
Tagline: The Night No One Comes Home.
Memorable Movie Quote: "I do love a good joke and this is the best ever: a joke on the children."
Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date: October 22, 1982
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: October 28, 2025.
Synopsis: Kids all over America want Silver Shamrock masks for Halloween. Doctor Daniel Challis seeks to uncover a plot by Silver Shamrock owner Conal Cochran.