A
scared man named Harry Grimbridge (Al
Berry) runs away from two FBI types in a
car.
He is sent to a hospital and when he sees
a Halloween horrorthon Silver Shamrock
mask commercial advertising to tune into
it on Halloween night at 9:00pm and to
put on the Halloween masks their company
was producing for a big giveaway.
Harry warns the people at the hospital
that everyone is going to die. He has a
mask from the Silver Shamrock factory
with him.
Later on Harry is killed by one of the
men dressed as an FBI and then he takes
his own life by blowing himself up in his
vehicle.
Harry's
daughter named Ellie (Stacy Nelkin) tries
to find out who killed his father so with
the aid of the head doctor Dan Challis
(Tom Atkins) to go to the factory that
made the mask her father was holding on
to.
They
find out the factory is in the middle of
nowhere in a strange town with strange
people.
Not only that, the masks were Irish
Halloween masks and the factory is set in
California.
Also, the people there behave strangely
and a 6:00pm curfew is announced with
camera's making sure that no one is
outside.
Ellie
spots her father's car at the factory and
then later on the two of them are
kidnapped separately.
Dan discovers that the people dressed as
FBI agents are androids and the toymaker
named Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy) uses
the masks for a deadly weapon as when the
kids put on the mask during the
commercial when an image of a jack o
lantern appears on the TV screen, they
die of horrible deaths causing bugs and
rattlesnakes to form out of the masks
which is caused by a microchip button
attached on the mask as he uses his
witchcraft to create these deadly events
with the masks.
A nice start off with Harry running away from a car with two mysterious men after him along with good shots on him finding a way to escape from them giving it a great mysterious feel to everything along with him acting crazy to a person at a counter of a gas station on what will happen which definetely has a terrific horror start to this along with him ending up in a hospital and spotting the Silver Shamrock commercial on a TV screen there getting hysterical. What looked really good and dark is when another mysterious person enters the hospital and comes into Harry's room and kills him in a shocking and painful fashion in which this makes you squirm a little bit as well as later on this man entering his vehicle and setting it to explode which adds even more unsolved mysteries as to why he would take his life after this. So more good scene's while spotting this happening which were good pointers.
The scenery looked great when a paramedic named
Dr. Dan Challis drives to a far away land with a supposed estranged daughter of Harry's named Ellie to where there's a factory that makes these Silver Shamrock masks in which there's great weird surroundings of locals who watch carefully on the two driving adding more strange and mysterious flavor to the plot in which I was thinking that the story was really going great for what we might expect for creepy moments to happen later on while we keep watching this. The settings in this town looked neat and very still along with a railroad track cuttung through as this seemed to make everything mysterious about this place and making out that not many people know about this community too.
There's some good humor added to the story when these two find their hotel with suddenly an oddball type of family quickly parks in and are acting rambunctious about stuff as well as spotting a griping woman named Marge about having to stay at the hotel again due to an unorganised schedule the town had which also leaves a bit of a chill down your spine wondering if the locals force these people from out of town to stay in the area for good.
It becomes even more creepy with the small
neighborhood having a
curfew at 6:00pm with anyone still
outside after that having a surveillance camera watching everything and the sun is nearly setting in which we discover anyone skipping this curfew is being killed by
other myasterious and powerful men in a shocking gruesome fashion too which should please some gorehounds.
Meanwhile things seem to look peaceful and relaxing with marge lying on her bed reading a book with music playing which the settings on all of this really brought it to life as well as her spotting a Silver Shamrock button that fell off those masks with her picking at a microchip in it which later on really makes you jump on what happens to when she does this which is another great horror feel to the film and my favourite scene too which is another great shocker here after the results to all of this.
There's some interesting suspense when Dan discovers more mysterious men are trying to grab a hold of him and finds some way of escaping in which it definetely brings a great creepiness to the story discovering that the town is evil.
What really looks intense is when that family he ran into on the driveway is in a room watching a clip of the commercial while a spoiled child is watching it on the screen while wearing his Halloween mask in which the comedy is here with the dialogues but then it turns into a good serious horror event after something happens to this child which looked shocking revealing all sorts of creepy events as well as all of them trapped inside the room making this moment a bit disturbing too. This will definetely please horror fans like myself with all the surroundings here.
It looks suspenseful when Dan tries to find a way to call his ex-wife to warn the kids about the masks by Silver Shamrock in which she doesn't believe him making you cringe wondering if we will escape that town in time to save them as well as another good shocking moment when he discovers that Ellie isn't who he thinks she is on that quote won't give it away but fun to watch having almost that Twilight Zone type of appeal to all of this.
Close to the ending makes you cringe big time when he arrives to that same gas station that Harry once did to try and call the TV stations to cancel all the commercials leaving you in terror and suspense wondering if he has succeeded leaving an impression that the apocalypse is going to happen after spotting what will happen to these children around the world that will tune in to find out on how these masks work when that commercial finally airs on Halloween night. It almost makes you want a sequel since it has a sort of to be continued feel to it all.
Bottom line is that this film has no
relationship to the Michael Myers series
at all so I don't understand why they
titled this one Halloween 3. Later on though I found out that the makers planned to make it a series of different stories all taking place on Halloween so I thought that it was a cool ides since the previous sequel made out that Michael was killed off so now make different stoires. Too bad they didn't stick to it though but yet the fans asked to have Michael still carry on so moviemakers will make what the fans want.
It seems to be more of a sci-fi than a
horror flick to top it off. It is a horror fof course due to hit's creepy story.
An extremely weird flick but it is
interesting but not a classic by any
means. Yet, it's not as bad as the Halloween fans made it out to be and a fun one to
watch. It's also incredibly mysterious as
every moment you wonder what will unravel
as we have an eccentric family who stays
at the hotel due to their popular masks
as well as an unsatisfied tourist which
leads nice moments on the whole plot by
finding out on what will happen to all of
them too.
The film borrows alot from those other
strange sci-fi flicks of androids or
aliens looking human only to take over
the world type of plot.
The acting is very
well done as we have a great performance
by Tom Atkins (Dr. Dan Challis) as the head doctor
who tries to find sonme evidence of the
murder of the strange man mentioned in
the film. He brought off terrific
emotions and a nice charming attitude too
along with moments where he is almost
losing his mind to try to save everyone
on Halloween night from a death incident
with the masks. He also does well trying to speak
silent on the phone to warn his ex-wife
about the Halloween masks and not to let
their kids wear them as he does well in
an anxious tone almost losing his mind
too which looked was well done.
Stacy Nelkin (Ellie Grimbridge) does her job as an
estranged one in the flick and knew how
to act romantic as well as mysterious
being all her characteristics together.
She certainly knew how to portray one of
those female types in a sci-fi/horror
flick along with the perfect looks too.
Dan
O'Herlihy (Conal Cochran) was very smooth with his words bringing
on a nice evil charm to his role playing
the perfect horror villain. His accent
was perfect to top it all off almost like
an Igor type of appeal. He certainly
brought alot of spunk to the story. He also had the perfect clean cut older style looks too which was another bonus to his character.
Ralph
Strait (Buddy Kupfer) brought attention to the
screen as an eccentric family man in the
film acting hyper, loud and annoying. He really
reminds you as one of
those types if you know what I mean. He
can really do well in comedy shows
judging from what he did with this film.
Jadeen
Barbor (Betty Kupfer) who played the wife really
knew how to act goofy too as well as
portraying a typical fruitcake too. She
was just too much but really showed some good characteristics onto the screen with her hyped up speaking and proves to be quite a ham as well throughout her whole performance in her supporting role.
Next we have young actor Brad
Schacter
(Little Buddy Kupfter
Jr.) as the son who really knew how to act
spoiled and too eager for having a
Halloween mask. He really knew how to
portray someone whom was under
disciplined with his wild and rambunctious type of behavior as well as being believeably pushy too.
The actors playing the androids seem to
pull off their characters well too as
they show no facial expressions.
We also get a surprising cameo by Nancy
Loomis (Linda Challis) who played everyone's
favourite bitch Annie in the original Halloween.
In this one she plays a nagging ex-wife in which she does well acting closed minded along with having a strict speaking type of behavior. Seeing her in this flick was a real treat even if her performance was under 5 minutes long.
There is a butt
shot by Tom Atkins when he gets
out of bed after fornicationg with
Stacy Nelkin (Who almost exposes her
nudity but she doesn't) in a hotel room.
Androids dressed
as FBI types prodded a patients eyes and
then cracking his skull
Then in a small town rips a hobo's head
off.
A hotel resident's mouth is shot off by
as laser when she picks at one of the Silver Shamrock's
chip which was from a mask she found on
her hotel room floor.
John Carpenter and
Alan Howarth's composing I
didn't like in the beginning as it
sounded very cheesy but it did have at
times some interesting moments and was
used in the motion picture Christine
too but of course the music suited it
more with the effective light synthesizer
music and the screeching sounds too. We
do spot some booming sounds with a
struggling moment on the main character
trying to escape the factory while being
tied up with a mask on his head in front
of a television set. The ending song had
a nice dark thumping synthesizer to it
with the high pitched playing too. So
they do deserve credit for what they had
to do for the story around it since
during the certain times it worked well.
Walter
Jones: He just walked up out of the rain!
I swear to God that's all there was to
it!
Walter
Jones: I was always taught that when
someone needs help, you help them. Unless
there's trouble. There isn't going to be
any trouble is there?
Commercial
voices: [singing to the tune of
"London Bridge is Falling
Down"] Eight more days 'til
Halloween/ Halloween/ Halloween/ Eight
more days 'til Halloween/ Silver
Shamrock. Eight more days 'til Halloween/
Halloween/ Halloween/ Eight more days
'til Halloween/ Silver Shamrock.
Commercial Announcer: Yes kids, you too
can own one of the big Halloween three.
That's right, THREE horrific masks to
chose from. They're fun, they're
frightening, and they GLOW in the dark.
Harry
Grimbridge: They're coming... They're
coming!
Harry
Grimbridge: They're going to kill us. All
of us! All of us!
Daniel
Challis: How you been?
Teddy: Okay. You?
Daniel Challis: Okay.
Teddy: Sierra Mesa still making you drink
your ass off?
Daniel Challis: Oh yeah!
[about
Grimbridge's attacker]
Daniel Challis: I've seen lots of people
on drugs. The man was in complete
control. He looked like a businessman!
Teddy: Well, he had to be one strong
businessman, I can tell you that. You
don't just pull someone's skull apart
without a little lower-arm strength, know
what I mean?
Daniel
Challis: So, how have you been?
[pager goes off]
Daniel Challis: I gotta take this.
Linda Challis: Drinking and doctoring.
Great combination.
Linda
Challis: Children, we leave our food AT
the table.
Daniel Challis: I'm sorry, it's bad
timing.
Linda Challis: I'm used to it. Remember?
[as the
Silver Shamrock commercial plays on TV]
Daniel Challis: Come on, come on, come
on!
Charlie: [Changing the channel] What's
the matter? Don't you have any Halloween
spirit?
Daniel Challis: No!
Daniel
Challis: I saw something that night... I
don't know, your father came into the
hospital. He- I thought he was crazy, out
of his mind. He's hanging onto a
Halloween mask, he wouldn't let it go...
And what he said was, "They're gonna
kill us all". And in a little while
he was dead. And I don't know what the
hell is going on!
Ellie
Grimbridge: Irish Halloween masks?
Daniel Challis: In California, you never
know.
Ellie
Grimbridge: I feel like a goldfish.
Daniel Challis: Company town.
[Rafferty
lifts up Ellie's overnight bag]
Rafferty: Light packers, aren't you?
Ellie Grimbridge: We've had a lot of
practice.
Marge
Guttman: Damn factory! Got their orders
all SCREWED up, and now I have to stay in
this dump again!
[about
the motel]
Daniel Challis: This place is a zoo!
Daniel
Challis: [walking through an alley, he
bumps into Starker] Whoa, Jesus!
Starker: Mister-Mister, didn't mean to
scare you. I saw that bottle, I thought
it looked pretty heavy. I ain't got no
diseases, you mind if I have a drink?
[Dan hands him the bottle; Starker takes
a huge swig]
Starker: Mmm, aw damn. Thank you.
Starker:
[about Cochran] He's probably listening.
And if he is, I got one thing to say:
it's the last Halloween for that lousy
factory of his. Some pretty wild shit
going on in there. I heard rumors.
Daniel Challis: Like what? What did you
hear?
Starker: This year I'm gonna get me a
case and a half of molitov cocktails and
burn that son of a bitch right down!
[Staggers away]
Starker: Last Halloween for him. Last
Halloween...
Starker:
Hey Cochran, fuck you!
Daniel
Challis: Teddy, do me another favor, will
you? Find out everything you can about
Conal Cochran. He runs Silver Shamrock,
the Halloween mask people.
Teddy: Conal Cochran. Okay, but this is
gonna cost you some serious dinners when
you get back.
Daniel Challis: I'm always ready for
dinner with you.
Teddy: Liar. Bye.
Commercial
voices: [repeated line; singing] Two more
days 'til Halloween/ Halloween/
Halloween/ Two more days 'til Halloween/
Silver Shamrock.
Daniel
Challis: It's getting late. I could use a
drink.
Daniel
Challis: I don't believe this commercial!
It never stops!
Daniel
Challis: Maybe I ought to get another
room.
Ellie Grimbridge: That would look sort of
suspicious, wouldn't it?
Daniel Challis: What I mean is, if it'd
make you more comfortable... I can sleep
in the car - be a lot better than this
floor, anyway.
Ellie Grimbridge: Where do you want to
sleep, Dr. Challis?
Daniel Challis: [Staring at her] That's a
dumb question, Miss Grimbridge.
Daniel
Challis: [during sex] Aren't you just the
least bit tired?
Ellie Grimbridge: No.
Daniel Challis: Wait - Wait a minute.
[smiling]
Daniel Challis: How old are you?
Ellie Grimbridge: Relax. I'm older than I
look.
Ellie
Grimbridge: [During sex, upon hearing
Marge Guttman die] What was that?
Daniel Challis: Who cares?
Teddy:
I'll see what I can do. No promises. I
was always good at moonlighting, wasn't
I?
Daniel Challis: Oh, the best. Hey do you
still have that...?
Teddy: [laughs] Yes.
Buddy
Kupfer: Hey Mr. Cochran, just what is the
final processing?
Conal Cochran: Oh I assure you it's just
a little bit of this and a little bit of
that. Quality inspection, the seal of
approval. You know, the usual. And of
course, there's a lot of trade secrets.
Buddy Kupfer: Oh I'd sure like to take a
look.
Conal Cochran: Aw sorry.
Daniel Challis: Not even a peek for your
best salesman?
Buddy Kupfer: Just one little look?
Conal Cochran: Well you see, part of the
final processing involves volatile
chemicals. They're very dangerous. I
wouldn't want to put anybody in any
danger.
Buddy Kupfer: Oh sure, I understand.
Betty
Kupfer: [about Mr. Cochran] Do you know
he's one of the richest men in the
country? And he got that way selling
cheap gags and Halloween masks. Oh God,
there's hope for us yet.
Buddy
Kupfer: Conal Cochran, the all time
genius in the practical jokes. He
invented sticky toilet paper.
Daniel Challis: Ah!
Buddy Kupfer: Oh you must know. The dead
dwarf gag, the soft chainsaw, all his.
Commercial
voices: [singing] One more day 'til
Halloween/ Halloween/ Halloween/ One more
day 'til Halloween/ Silver Shamrock.
Conal
Cochran: [a bunch of androids have just
barred Ellie from seeing inside of a
storage shed; to Buddy Kupfer] Trade
secrets.
Conal
Cochran: Clumsy.
[looks at the head from his grandmother
robot]
Conal Cochran: This was a rare piece.
German. Made in Munich, 1785. I must try
and get a replacement.
Conal
Cochran: [turns to see Dan] Aw, Mr.
Chaliss.
Daniel Challis: Where's Ellie?
Conal Cochran: Mrs. "Smith"?
I'm sure she's resting just now.
[Looks at his watch]
Conal Cochran: Didn't take you long to
get here, Mr. Chaliss. DOCTOR Chaliss, I
should say.
Conal
Cochran: [upon entering Cochran's
underground laboratory] Those who went
before me, you know they-they never
dreamed of anything like this.
Daniel Challis: What is this place?
Conal Cochran: Can't you tell? A vast...
Ancient techology. Ha ha ha, a good
magician never explains. Come on, then,
you've still got time to figure it out
all by yourself.
Conal
Cochran: The surprising thing is that the
internal components were quite simple to
produce. The outer features took much
longer to perfect but of course in the
end it's just another form of mask
making.
[Android sneezes]
Conal Cochran: Bless you. Convincing,
aren't they? Loyal, obedient. Unlike most
human beings.
Conal
Cochran: [Shows Dan a body beneath a
sheet] Your friend Ms Guttman...
Daniel Challis: You killed her!
Conal Cochran: Oh no, no, no! Ms Guttman
was the victim of a misfire. The
others...
[Checks his watch]
Conal Cochran: You know what you really
need to see is a demonstration and
there's one coming right up.
Buddy
Kupfer: [the Kupfers have been locked in
a room called TEST ROOM A] Relax a
minute, will you? Mr. Cochran will be
here and everything will be fine. He just
wants my opinion about some television
commercials or something. You know, I
still don't understand why they won't
take my orders for next year. You know
how I like to work ahead and well they're
just not interestwed at all.
Betty Kupfer: Maybe they're not going to
have Halloween next year.
[Laughs]
Buddy Kupfer: [sarcastically] Ha ha ha!
Conal
Cochran: You don't really know much about
Halloween. You thought no further than
the strange custom of having your
children wear masks and go out begging
for candy.
Conal
Cochran: It will be morning soon.
Halloween morning. A very busy day for
me.
Conal
Cochran: I do love a good joke and this
is the best ever: a joke on the children.
Daniel
Challis: Why Cochran? Why?
Conal Cochran: Do I need a reason?
Conal
Cochran: From an ancient, sacrificial
circle... Stonehenge.
[Shows Chaliss the rock]
Conal Cochran: Ha ha. We had a TIME
getting it here. You wouldn't believe how
we did it.
[Laughs; Shows him a small stone from
Stonehenge]
Conal Cochran: It has a power in it.
Conal
Cochran: It was the start of the year in
our old Celtic lands where we'd be
waiting... In our houses of wattles and
clay... The barriers would be down, you
see. Between the real and the unreal. And
the dead might be looking in, to sit by
our fires of turf... Halloween. The
festival of Samhain. The last great one
took place 3,000 years ago and the hills
ran red... With the blood of animals and
children.
Daniel Challis: Sacrifices.
Conal Cochran: Part of our world. Our
craft.
Daniel Challis: Witchcraft.
Conal Cochran: To us it was a way of
controlling our environment. It's not so
different now. It's time again.
Conal
Cochran: Enjoy the horror-thon, doctor
... and don't forget to watch the big
giveaway afterwards.
Daniel Challis: Why, Cochran, why?
Conal Cochran: Do I need a reason? Mr.
Kupfer was right, you know ... I do love
a good joke and this is the best ever, a
joke on the children. But there's a
better reason ... you don't really know
much about Halloween ... you thought no
further than the strange custom of having
your children wear masks and go out
begging for candy.
[pauses]
Conal Cochran: It was the start of the
year in our old Celtic lands, and we'd be
waiting ... in our houses of wattles and
clay. The barriers would be down, you
see, between the real and the unreal, and
the dead might be looking in ... to sit
by our fires of turf.
[pauses]
Conal Cochran: Halloween ... the festival
of Samhain! The last great one took place
three thousand years ago, when the hills
ran red ... with the blood of animals and
children.
Daniel Challis: Sacrifices.
Conal Cochran: It was part of our world
... our craft.
Daniel Challis: Witchcraft.
Conal Cochran: To us, it was a way of
controlling our environment. It's not so
different now ... it's time again. In the
end ... we don't decide these things, you
know ... the planets do. They're in
alignment, and it's time again. The
world's going to change tonight, doctor,
I'm glad you'll be able to watch it. And
... happy Halloween.
Commercial
Announcer: It's almost time, kids. The
clock is ticking. Be in front of your TV
sets for the Horrorthon, followed by the
Big Giveaway. Don't miss it. And don't
forget to wear your masks. The clock is
ticking. It's almost time.
Commercial
Announcer: It's time. It's time. Time for
the big giveaway. Halloween has come. All
you lucky kids with Silver Shamrock
masks, gather 'round your TV set, put on
your masks and watch. All witches, all
skeletons, all Jack-O-Lanterns, gather
'round and watch. Watch the magic
pumpkin. Watch.
Daniel
Challis: [on the phone with network; the
Silver Shamrock commercial begins] The
third channel, it's still on. Please,
take off the third channel. The third
channel, it's still running. Stop it,
please, for God's sake, please stop it.
There's no more time. Please stop it.
Stop it now. Turn it off! Stop it! Stop
it! Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT! |