Product: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Rating: 2.0
Kind of sort of not really but almost...
Well, it has nothing to do with the rest of the Halloween films, and there's no witch involved, but if you can overlook those rather large failings, this is an almost adequate film. The creators of Halloween tried to take the series in a different direction with this film, and it almost sort of kind of doesn't work. Though the protagonists, an aging "Joe 6-pack" divorcee doctor and his jail bait girlfriend (on the side from his real girlfriend on the side from his ex wife) who is only having crazy sex escapades with him because he's helping her solve the death of her father whom she forgets to morn after roughly five minutes of film, are anything but likable, the film almost holds together for a while. It's not of the same genre as the previous films, indulging in only one brief slasher scene, but its far out and mysterious premise is actually quite engaging for a time. The plot, involving a conspiracy of robots and ancient druid wizardry, actually works decently for much of the film, almost like an unnecessarily long but intriguing Twilight Zone episode, only glued together with a healthy suspension of disbelief. Heck, it even manages to explore the significance of Halloween in a way that nearly earns it a place in the franchise, but the ending falls apart badly. As soon as we hit the climax, nothing makes sense anymore and, quite soon after, everything just gets plain silly. Dr. 6-Pack's battle with the annihilated robot's severed limbs would have worked much better with Bruce Campbell playing the role. So, all in all, it was kind of sort of not really but almost a decent film. Oh well.