Halloween III: Season of the Witch

With the damage inflicted on the franchise by the likes of Blumhouse, David Gordon Green, etc, one can’t help but wonder if John Carpenter’s anthology-centric vision for the Halloween series would’ve been a preferred outcome.

This reviewer (like others), claims Halloween, Halloween II and III as the best series entries, after which the quality decline was so steep, Alex Honnold would probably try to freestyle climb it.

What’s striking about Halloween III, especially vis-à-vis Halloween, Kills, and Ends, is how how fun and spirited it is in comparison.

The tone is great. The opening credits are super creative. The soundtrack is dynamite. Director Tommy Lee Wallace captures the dark Carpenteresque sensibilities brilliantly. And what’s more, Tom Atkins cuts a pretty incredible figure as an ER doc with a Sherlock Holmes bent and a penchant for boozing. That the plot makes not a lick of sense, doesn’t really matter.

The insider/outsider dynamics are among the best I’ve seen, not quite on par with a stone cold classic like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but compelling nonetheless.

The only strike against Halloween III is a bit of a muddled middle, which you can all but forgive/forget given the bang up finale.

***1/2 (out of 5)

The Black Phone

A delicious period piece, The Black Phone gives us atmosphere aplenty before veering into a somewhat unsatisfying middle act and later reclaiming its place among the better Blumhouse offerings with a compelling conclusion.

Siblings Finney and Gwen are navigating a dangerous home life – thanks to an abusive, alcoholic dad – and stranger danger too: youngsters and classmates are mysteriously disappearing in late 70s suburban Denver.

The only lead cops have to go on is the presence of black balloons at the scene of the abductions. And Gwen’s premonitory dreams when her bro is kidnapped by a perp who’s become known as The Grabber (this film would almost make for a great double bill with Irish pub-horror, Grabbers).

The Black Phone shows us Finney’s gumption, guile and resourcefulness in the Grabber’s basement, but bogs down the proceedings with too many phonecalls from The Great Beyond and delving too deeply into the supernatural, at least to this reviewer’s tastes. But it should come as no surprise: the source material is a short story courtesy of Stephen King’s son, Joe Hill. So you could call this film his nepo baby.

Still, The Black Phone has enough character development for a horror trilogy. The performances are fantastic, particularly Mason Thames as Finney and Madeleine McGraw as Gwen. There’s gobs of atmosphere, and dare we say a “Sinister” tone (director Scott Derrickson did that fellow Ethan Hawke-starrer too)

Mostly dynamite, so don’t hang up on this one.

***3/4 (out of 5)