Evil Eye interrupts its summer holidays to take in the horror film horror fans love to hate: Halloween III: Season of the Witch

I try to stay out of gossip and arguments. I do my own thing. But one dialogue keeps coming up: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (furthermore referred to as “H3”). Some say it’s a legitimate part of the Halloween series and that future films should have followed in its footsteps. Others say you can’t have Halloween without Michael Myers.

I was aware coming into H3 that Michael Myers sits this one out and that was OK with me. 

I rate the original Halloween movie as one of the greatest horrors of all time. The first sequel is alright but from there I didn’t pay too much attention (although 2018’s reboot was pretty decent). 

From the get go I felt a great affinity with H3. We were born in the same year – 1983. The intro is cool AF and I really wanted to love this film. I really wanted this film to be loved. But in the end it didn’t live up to most people’s expectations. As I said, I felt a great affinity with this film. 

By the midway point I was rooting for the plot more than the characters. Half of me expected the movie to drink itself to death or throw itself off a tall building or drown in a river. When the male lead spent the night with the leading actress I felt happy for the movie. When I imagine that shortly after watching this movie I’ll forget all about it, a euphoric feeling washes over my washed up body. 

Still, despite its flaws and imperfections, I’m glad this film was made and I’m glad I got to experience it. 

Imagine a world where H4 (The Return of Michael Myers) was another off-kilter adventure, built on imagination alone; not a timid reboot designed to milk filmgoers of their filmgoing dollars. 

Imagine if that inspired other writers, directors, producers, movie houses to keep running originals, not endless franchises and remakes. 

Imagine sitting down to a movie or a meal or a football game and not knowing what you were about to experience. Not like now, where you know everything: you know the names and the faces; you know it’s going to be tired; you know it’s going to be expensive; you know there’s nothing you can do about it. 

If my words sound harsh, let me end on this: if H3 fails it is only for being too ambitious, too experimental, taking too many risks. And for these reasons this film is a masterpiece and I fucking love it. The end.

Simon Alderwick is a poet and songwriter from the UK. His work is featured or forthcoming in Whatever Keeps The Light On, Re-side and the Squiffy Gnu anthology, among others. Follow him on Twitter @SimonAlderwick.