By Jerry Roberts
October 15, 2002

I hang a lot on a villian's motives in any movie, particularly in a horror film. But for the life of me I could never figure out what Mr Cochran, the evil scientist in Halloween III: Season of the Witch, hoped to accomplish if his plan succeeded.

His plan, set in motion, seems effectively gruesome: He plans to mass produce hundreds of halloween masks and sell them to children who will watch his television commerical at the same time. At that time the badge on the back of the mask will cause their heads to rot and bugs and slugs begin crawling out of the masks.

Now, from a horror movie perspective that seems like an interesting idea. But there are some flies in his ointment that I can't help pointing out:

1.) His company only produces three styles of masks and apparently assumes that all kids will want to dress as a pumpkin, a witch or the grim reaper (produce Star Wars masks and you'll have your victims).

2.) What makes him think that kids want to put on their masks and stay home and watch his lousy commercial?

3.) Back to my original question: What does he hope to accomplish?

The answer to that question is more frustrating then the question. As later explained with some glib nonsense about a mass pagan sacrifice. Right, and so he is going to kill every child in the world, thereby wiping out his entire key market? Not exactly a sound business decision.

Getting into the thick of this questionable plot, is Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins) who gets curious about the mysterious death of Mr. Grimsbridge and takes the man's daughter on a little detective work which leads him to Cochran's plant where we find out why the masks cause the wearer's head to melt off:

Now get this: Cochran has a huge piece of stonehenge which, when the planets are aligned, will be in synch with the badges on the backs of the masks (made of pieces of the rock) and it causes, I guess, a death ray of some sort. I dunno, I wasn't listening because the movie lost me when I found out that the slick plant guards in the three piece suits are humanoid robot constructed at the plant. I guess it was cheaper then hiring the real thing.

As unbelievable and stupid as this script gets, it is a little bit of a letdown because the movie seems to have had potential. It creates a creepy atmosphere, especially in a town that is deserted except for Cochran's plant.

The performances aren't bad by Tom Atkins and Dan O'Herlihy who more or less hold thier dignity and act these questionable roles with gutsy determination. I also found myself drawn to Stacy Nelkin as Atkins sidekick who gives a better performance then the movie deserves (even if she does play her last scene without a head)

My favorite part of the movie is the commerical with the three masks bouncing onto the screen with eerie thumping organ music and a flashing pumpkin icon. That part gave me chills, unfortunatly so did this screenplay.