Being from “the old country,” Cochran still remembers Samhain as it was intended to be celebrated. Turns out that wasn’t by “having your children wear masks and go out begging for candy.” The warlock is disgusted by the modern idea of Halloween, our Americanized bastardization of his ancient holiday. Samhain was originally about making sacrifices to appease the gods so that people and livestock might survive the difficult winter. Given his disgust, it’s fitting that Cochran has chosen to infiltrate that which he hates in order to destroy it. By using his position at Silver Shamrock to kill untold millions of children, he is ensuring that this will indeed be both the last Halloween and a return to the roots of Samhain.
Halloween III is brimming with ominous social commentary. The story functions as an allegory on the dangers of unchecked corporate power. There is clearly no oversight to Silver Shamrock’s operation as the world’s biggest maker of masks and novelty items. Locally, they have destroyed Santa Mira’s communal identity by transforming it into a soulless factory town. Nationally, thet aim to murder an entire generation of unsuspecting children. While the plot of an evil corporation with a secret agenda feels extremely Carpenter-esque, this idea actually originated in Nigel Kneale’s initial screenplay. Carpenter would explore this to greater extent in 1988’s They Live, which feels like a spiritual follow-up to this film. Halloween III’s anti-corporate commentary also extends to Cochran’s private army of robot assassins. Like the company itself, these android henchmen appear normal enough – clean and well-dressed – but that’s only to hide their true nature. They’re quite deadly and out to permanently silence anyone who threatens Silver Shamrock’s mission. These are anything but your typical corporate stooges.
Halloween III’s story also comments on brainwashing and media consumption. In the film, the nation’s children are unwittingly indoctrinated to Cochran’s plan through an infectiously catchy commercial jingle. In this way, the company has weaponized the television just as an unscrupulous government or political party might with propaganda. Millions tune into Silver Shamrock’s “Big Giveaway” on Halloween night, oblivious to the deadly effects of the broadcast. Not unlike the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Conal Cochran doesn’t have to chase down his victims. They come to him by way of the broadcast, seduced by his deadly ad campaign.
At its most clever, Halloween III subverts the iconography of Carpenter’s original movie and even of the holiday itself. In Halloween, Michael Myers is the threat, his instrument of death being a large kitchen knife. His expressionless white mask is an icon to strike fear into all who gaze upon it. The three Silver Shamrock masks of Halloween III are nothing like the Shape’s mask – they are innocent and playful. They dance around in commercials to a children’s song. Yet they are the true threat of the story, each one an instrument of death. Like the television, Halloween III weaponizes what was previously thought to be innocent – simple rubber masks.
As previously discussed, Halloween possessed a winning kind of simplicity. The film established its full premise early on with no twists or surprises to be had. It was about a masked killer stalking babysitters on Halloween night. Halloween III is structured quite differently. Shrouded in mystery, Season of the Witch plays out not as a straight horror film, but as a tightly scripted thriller. Challis may be a doctor, but his function in the story is that of a detective. The filmmakers do well to hide the ludicrousness of their plot by slowly unfurling it one revelation at a time. The audience seldom knows more than the main characters, which keeps us hanging on as we desperately hope to glean more information about Santa Mira and Silver Shamrock. The film is scripted so that each new revelation raises the stakes, putting our heroes in greater danger. In this way, Wallace builds tension and establishes a brooding atmosphere throughout.
As the film’s hero, Challis makes for a flawed leading man. He is an undeniable womanizer, which may be why his wife left him. This quality calls into question his decision to investigate Grimbridge’s death in the first place. In doing so, he neglects his children, his ex-wife, and his job. That he grabs a six-pack of Miller High Life before setting off with Grimbridge’s young daughter may speak to ulterior motives. Not that he doesn’t later take up the cause to stop an impending genocide – he does. In fact, this mission becomes highly personal to him. Recall that Challis last saw his young children wearing Silver Shamrock masks. His efforts to stop Cochran are as much about saving millions of kids as they are about saving his own.
Halloween III bears more than a passing resemblance to 1956’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers of which Wallace is an admitted fan. The two films share the generalized trope of people being abducted and replaced by lookalike imposters (clones in Invasion, androids in Halloween III). Wallace sets his film in the fictional town of Santa Mira, which was also the backdrop used in Invasion. The films also contain remarkably similar endings. In Invasion, Kevin McCarthy’s Dr. Bennell hysterically yells into the camera that the body snatchers are coming. In Halloween III, Tom Atkins’ Dr. Challis similarly shouts into a phone for broadcasters to pull the Silver Shamrock commercial lest untold millions die a horrible death.
It’s worth noting that Allied Artists were quite uncomfortable with Invasion’s originally planned ending for its ambiguity. Audiences would be left wondering whether humanity survived or perished. The studio would force director Don Siegel to tack on an additional scene suggesting the government had uncovered the body snatching plot and would fight to stop the invasion. Universal was similarly uncomfortable with Halloween III’s ambiguous finish. The sequel left audiences wondering whether or not Challis had managed to stop Cochran’s plan. The studio approached Carpenter to request a scene be added showing that good had triumphed over evil, though Carpenter left this decision to the film’s director. Wallace ultimately chose to preserve the ambiguity of the original ending, a decision Carpenter stood behind.
One fun detail included in the script was for Halloween to be playing on television within the story. This is most evident near film’s end when Challis is being held prisoner. The script even specifies which part of the original should be playing as Cochran bids his guest a “Happy Halloween.” This would signify that, within the world of Halloween III, Carpenter’s original is but a movie. This meta contextualization represents a passing of the torch from one storyline to the next. Imagine if the series had continued in the anthology tradition. Might Halloween IV have featured Halloween III on television and so on?
Halloween III was tightly scripted as the filmmakers sought to make the most of their limited budget. There are no real deleted scenes to speak or, nor any alternate cuts with added footage. The film does have an interesting novelization that expands on the story, but the greatest insight into Halloween III’s development comes from screenwriter Nigel Kneale’s original draft.
THE NIGEL KNEALE SCRIPT
The Halloween III that made it to the big screen was quite different than the one originally envisioned by screenwriter Nigel Kneale. His initial draft contained the same basic story as the 1982 film, but with numerous differences and details that were lost across rewrites by John Carpenter and Tommy Lee Wallace. Notably absent from Kneale’s original script are android henchmen, Stonehenge, and children’s heads decomposing into creepy critters. The opening credit sequence of a digital pumpkin went largely unchanged, though Kneale planned to feature pixelated images of a witch and skull as well.
Not entirely unlike the film, Kneale’s Halloween III began with a disheveled-looking Harry Grimbridge stumbling through the desert at midday. Badly disoriented, he is unable to talk or answer questions, instead only mumbling the word “Samhain.” A trucker mistakenly assumes this to be his name (“Sam Hain”) and takes him to a nearby hospital for treatment. In the film, Grimbridge is immediately murdered by a kamikaze robot assassin whom Dr. Challis chases after. In the original script, Grimbridge remains hospitalized as Sam Hain for five months. While his body heals during this time, his mind does not.
It’s curious that
the characters in Kneale’s script are clearly mispronouncing the Celtic word Samhain, which is how they come to assume Grimbridge’s name is Samuel Hain. Donald Pleasence similarly misspoke the word in Halloween II. This gaffe is all the stranger when you consider that Kneale hailed from Isle of Man, one of the original Celtic nations. If anyone would’ve known how to say it, it ought have been him. The actual pronunciation is “sow-in,” which Irish-born actor Dan O’Herlihy gets right in Cochran’s monologue near film’s end.
The Challis character went relatively unchanged from Kneale’s original draft to the eventual film, though his hospital is alternately described as old, deprived, and dirty. “People who get brought here are unlucky.” Challis was originally going to have several more scenes with his children including one early on where they pick out their Silver Shamrock masks from a novelty shop. Per the script, he has a considerably more toxic relationship with his ex-wife.
With a still mute Grimbridge facing discharge onto the street, Challis reluctantly agrees to a last-ditch suggestion by an intern – hypnotism. To his astonishment, this actually works for a brief moment. His patient utters only a few words before a psychic explosion hits the room. Windows shatter, tiles fly off walls, and bed sheets float around as a whirlwind of dust and plaster fill the air. When the chaos ends, Grimbridge is dead and Challis is suspended pending a formal inquiry. Unsettled by his inability to explain the supernatural occurrence, he launches his own investigation into Grimbridge and meets his patient’s daughter, Ellie. Unlike in the film, the two are initially antagonistic toward each other with Ellie accusing Challis of murdering her father. They get a lead on the Silver Shamrock company and team up to investigate further.
Their sleuthing leads them to the factory town of Sun Hills (Santa Mira in the film), home of the Silver Shamrock corporation. The company is led by the charming and hospitable Conal Cochran (spelled Corcoran here), who assumes Challis and Ellie are business owners arriving for a last minute purchasing blitz before the holiday. Like the heroes, Cochran is much the same character in these early drafts, though somehow even more evil. Kneale spends a little more time setting up Cochran as a practical joker than the final film does. In their first encounter, he pranks Challis with a joy buzzer gag as they shake hands. As for the company itself, Shamrock still advertises their countdown to Halloween with catchy jingles as in the film, albeit with different lyrics and melody. Their slogan reads, “Our trick is your treat!”
One scene that went largely unchanged from Kneale’s original draft to the final film involved purchaser Marge Guttman’s accident with the mask. The tag’s microchip still melts her face with a laser beam, but she doesn’t die. The Kneale draft instead branches off into a sub-plot entirely absent from the film. Challis accompanies Guttman to the Sun Hills Clinic where he reunites with an old colleague, Dr. Brickman. The two travel to said colleague’s home where they agree that something secret and nefarious is happening in town. Challis returns to the hospital, but is unable to find any trace of Marge or anyone that knows Dr. Brickman. Confused, he heads back to his friend’s home to find it vanished, only an empty plot of undeveloped land. Challis is then picked up by Conal Cochran and together they head to the Cochran estate.
Challis and Cochran next have several exchanges that appear in the film, only here they happen at Cochran’s home and not inside the factory. The mask maker delivers his iconic “You don’t really know much about Halloween, do you?” speech. Challis angrily confronts his host about all the suspicious happenings in town. Cochran feigns both ignorance and innocence, claiming to know nothing about deadly microchips or Ellie’s late father. He accidentally gives himself away, however, by addressing his guest as “Dr. Challis,” rather than “Mr. Challis.” Cochran then abducts the doctor and they head to the factory.
Another huge difference between Kneale’s original vision and the final film involves businessman Buddy Kupfer. In the film, he arrives in town with his wife and child. They are then killed by the venomous snakes that emerge from their son’s dematerialized head. Yet in the original script, Buddy travels to the factory alone. He grows increasingly frustrated that Silver Shamrock refuses to accept his purchase orders for the following year (foreshadowing!) and sneaks into the restricted “Final Processing” area. Here he witnesses ghastly horrors such as people trapped in life-draining wicker pods. Overwhelmed, he becomes suicidal and threatens to jump off the factory roof. Sobbing, he yells down to a crowd, “I’m going to jump! I mean it! I won’t let them do it to me. You won’t do it to me, I saw! I saw!” Cochran actually encourages him to jump, which he does. A stunned Challis shuts his eyes to the scene, though he still “hears the smash of Buddy’s three-hundred pounds onto the concrete nearby.”
Upon arrival at the factory, Challis sees that Cochran has also taken Ellie hostage, though something isn’t right about her. We soon learn that Ellie has been hypnotized to believe she is a six-year-old girl. Her speech is childlike and she views Cochran as her father. At this point, Challis is entombed in a wicker cocoon, the kind that Buddy saw in “Final Processing.” The pods are not designed to kill their occupant, at least not right away. Cochran explains their purpose as such: “Slow death is curiously productive. There’s a kind of concentration of the life forces. The ancient Kelts studied it in just this way. We couldn’t make use of it, though. We lacked the technology. (He smiles) Now we have it.” The helpless doctor is cocooned and stored away. In a detail exclusive to the script, the Silver Shamrock factory has been built overtop a cemetery – literally. The flattened headstones comprise the factory floor.
Some weeks later, Cochran retrieves the pod containing Challis from storage. Revealing this to be Halloween night, he wants the doctor to witness Silver Shamrock’s master plan unfold. Challis is weak, his body badly compressed in the cramped space. Cochran wishes to demonstrate his plan for Challis in advance of the evening’s big broadcast. He chooses Ellie as his test subject, who still believes she is six-years-old. Yet Ellie manages to break free of his control just long enough to toss a box of microchips into a computer monitor, unleashing hell in the factory as per the film. Unfortunately, she dies in the chaos of this act. In the film, Cochran perishes in a flash of white light, though his fate in the script was much different.
Corcoran is undergoing the most appalling change of all. He seems to be swelling to monstrous size, towering above his companions. From his ragged mouth comes a bellow of laughter – like the mechanical laugh heard so often but now the product of huge, torn lungs. And above, Challis finds the scarlet, distended thing that was Corcoran rising past him like a rocket taking off. No longer human.
The Kneale draft ends just as the theatrical film does with Challis escaping to a nearby gas station in order to call for the networks to pull the “Big Giveaway” broadcast. The difference here is that, per the film, Challis runs to the same gas station Harry Grimbridge ran to in the opening. But Grimbridge never visits that gas station in the Kneale script, which means this isn’t a return to a previous location.
“Between [Carpenter and Wallace], they chopped all my best material out. Mine had been a jolly good script, very creepy indeed, without any slashing of eyeballs. It was more expensive, being longer, so we didn’t make it.”
– Nigel Kneale, Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale
THE ETCHISON NOVEL
Like Halloween II before it, Halloween III received a novelization by Dennis Etchison under his Jack Martin pseudonym. The novel is a strange crossbreed of Nigel Kneale’s original draft, the shooting script, and Etchison’s own touches. Unlike the source material, this adaptation is told exclusively from Dr. Challis’ point of view. While the film occasionally breaks away from Tom Atkins’ leading man, the novel never does. For example, the book begins not with Grimbridge wandering into a gas station but with Challis napping during a night shift at the hospital. The story only kicks into gear once Grimbridge is brought in for treatment.
The Etchison novel is ri
fe with references to the first two Halloween movies. The hospital where Challis works employs a security guard named Mr. Garrett, an obvious nod to the character from Halloween II. At one point, Challis finds a matchbook from the Rabbit in Red Lounge. Later on, Challis notices a news broadcast from reporter Robert Mundy, who appeared throughout Halloween II. Etchison’s funniest reference comes when the original Halloween plays on television, specifically the scene where Laurie, Annie, and Lynda walk home from school. Challis reflects on how Annie reminds him of his ex-wife, an appropriate comparison considering both characters were played by Nancy Loomis. The author also makes multiple references to John Carpenter’s The Fog, which he also provided the novelization for.
Challis attending Grimbridge’s funeral is but one of several scenes exclusive to the novel. This is referenced in the film, but never shown. Another such scene occurs as Challis and Ellie arrive in Santa Mira. They’re nearly killed by two Silver Shamrock trucks driven by android henchmen. Since the novel never breaks from Challis’ perspective, it’s he rather than Ellie who first speaks with Marge Guttman at the motel. She reveals that Conal Cochran’s actual name is Dan Smith, which isn’t nearly as spooky. Another casualty of the novel’s first-person narrative involves the death of Starker, the town drunk. Theatrically, Cochran’s robot assassins rip off his head after Challis walks away. In the book, we only learn of Starker’s death when Challis spots his severed head in the same ambulance that Marge Guttman is loaded into.
The death of the Kupfer family is far more graphic as presented in the novel. Little Buddy’s pumpkin mask actually melts onto his face and his eyeballs turn into “blood red orbs.” His mother is killed by the first creature that emerges from the mask – a large spider. Buddy Senior is killed by a snake that slithers out soon after. As they lay dying, he screams into the surveillance camera: “Damn you, Cochran! Liar! Murderer! Damn you to Hell! Damn you!”
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