the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Darren Mooney and Joey Keogh, this week with special guests Ciara Moloney and Dean Buckley, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT.

This year, we are running a season looking at the films in the Halloween franchise. So this week, Tommy Lee Wallace’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

With just a week to go before Halloween, Doctor Daniel Challis finds his routine upset by the arrival of a mysterious patient. Raving mad and clutching a mask, the man is murdered later that night and his assailant imolates himself in a car bomb. Working with the patient’s daughter, Ellie, Daniel decides to investigate the case, which leads him to the gigantic Silver Shamrock corporation headed by the mysterious Conal Cochran. Daniel and Ellie soon discover that Cochran has a particularly malicious trick lined up for Halloween night.

At time of recording, it was not ranked on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show Notes:

• Recorded 14th September 2023.
• Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
• Halloween III at The Internet Movie Database.
• Follow Joey on Twitter.
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• Joey interviews Tom Atkins for Wicked Horror, October 2019.
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• Buy Taking Shape by Dustin McNeill and Travis Mullins at Amazon.com.
• On Cinema considers what has been a diappointing summer for franchise movies, September 2023.
• Jim Knipfel at Den of Geek considers the production and development of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, October 2019.
• Ryan Larson at Diabolique discusses the aborted pitch for Jaws 3 People 0, March 2017.
• Devin Faraci at birth.movies.death considers the initial plan for Jaws 3 People 0, June 2013.
• Simon Brew at Film Stories looks back on how Steven Spielberg saved Joe Dante’s Piranha, July 2022.
• The Associated Press offers an overview of the aftermath of the horrific accident on the set of The Twilight Zone, May 1987.
• John Ezard at The Guardian reflects on the life and career of Nigel Kneale, November 2006.
• Andy Murray writes at We Are Cult about Nigel Kneale’s involvement with Halloween III: Season of the Witch, October 2019.
• Joe Dante talks to Electric Sheep Magazine about working with Nigel Kneale on Halloween III: Season of the Witch, June 2017.
• Adam Tyner reviews Halloween III: Season of the Witch for DVD Talk, September 2012.
• Chuck Bowen reviews Halloween III: Season of the Witch for Slant, September 2012.
• RL Shaffer reviews Halloween III: Season of the Witch for IGN, September 2012.
• Robert Saucedo argues for the strengths of Halloween III: Season of the Witch at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, October 2014.
• Sean Hutchinson tries to place Halloween III: Season of the Witch in its proper cultural context at Inverse, October 2015.
• IGN ranks Halloween III: Season of the Witch among the 100 best horror movies, October 2017.
• Benjamin H. Smith at Decider argues for Halloween III: Season of the Witch as a “horror classic hiding in plain sight”, October 2017.
• Ollie Kew at Top Gear argues that Tokyo Drift is the best Fast & Furious movie, April 2020.
• John Carpenter talks to The Hollywood Reporter about his involvement with the Halloween franchise, October 2015.
• John Carpenter talks to Vulture about his abiding fondness for Halloween III: Season of the Witch, October 2022.
• Robert Simonson writes about the life and career of Dan O’Herlihy for Playbill, February 2005.
• Ronald Bergan writes about the life and career of Dan O’Herlihy for The Guardian, February 2005.
• Valerie Caine writes at Transceltic about Nigel Kneale as a writer from the Isle of Man, March 2019.
• John Leonetti confirms to The Independent that Poltergeist was ghost-directed by Steven Spielberg, July 2017.
• Ned Booth at The Playlist reports on the denial by various Poltergeist cast members that Steven Spielberg directed the movie, September 2022.
• Tommy Lee Wallace talks to Horror Bid about his involvement with Halloween III: Season the Witch, February 2011.
• Tommy Lee Wallace talks to The Movie Waffler about his relationship with John Carpenter, March 2016.
• Tommy Lee Wallace talks to SyFy about his plans to write an oral history of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, October 2022.
• Kyle Anderson at The Nerdist celebrates horror character actor Tommy Lee Wallace, October 2019.
• Ed Power at The Irish Times writes about Azealia Banks’ comments about the Irish, January 2019.
• Rushworth M. Kidder at The Christian Science Monitor writes about Irish American support for the Irish Republican Army during the Troubles, August 1981.
• Liam Kennedy at the UCD Clinton Institute considers the evolving nature of the Irish American identity, April 2022.
• Liam Kennedy writes in The Irish Times about the pervasive influence of Irish Americans on American culture and politics, March 2022.
• Peter S. Canellos at Politico considers the unique influence of Irish American identity, April 2023.
• The Economist ponders why American leaders tend to play up their Irishness, April 2023.
• Anna Lappé at Earth Island Journal considers the deregulation of marketting aimed at children during the eighties, September 2013.
• Jamie Logie at Better Marketting considers “the great marketting deregulation”, July 2020.
• Owen Hatherley at New Socialist considers how Ronald Reagan’s deregulation of children’s television profoundly altered American culture, September 2023.
• Daniel Lucks at Literary Hub considers how Ronald Reagan’s time at General Electric shaped his political outlook, August 2020.
• Tommy Lee Wallace talks to Den of Geek about how the ending to Halloween III: Season of the Witch was influenced by Invasion of the Body Snatchers, October 2022.
• Brian Keiper at Bloody Disgusting reflects back on Halloween III: Season of the Witch, October 2022.
• The New York Times reports on the popularity of Halloween as a holiday in the United States, October 1994.
• Mark Edmundson at The Washington Post reflects on America’s obsession with Halloween, October 1997.
• The New York Daily News describes Halloween as “the six billion dollar holiday”, October 2000.
• Austin Vaughn at Boardwalk Times considers the history of Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights, April 2021.
• The New York Daily News considers the long-standing rumours about tainted Halloween treats, October 1998.
• Russell W. Belk considers Halloween as “an evolving American consumption ritual” in Advances in Consumer Research, 1990.
• John Walsh talks to The Art of the Title about designing the opening credits of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, October 2012.
• Don Post and Debra Hill talk to The New York Times about the mask designs for Halloween III: Season of the Witch, October 1982.
• Gino Sorcinelli at Micro-Chop considers the influence of the soundtrack of Halloween III: Season of the Witch on Stranger Things, August 2016.
• Vincent Canby reviews Halloween III: Season of the Witch for The New York Times, October 2022.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: advertising, canon, children, ciara moloney, continuity, cult, dan o'herlihy, dean buckley, eighties, ftc, halloween, imdb, irish americans, joey keogh, John Carpenter, materialism, nigel kneale, podcast, Ronald Reagan, silver shamrock, The 250, the sundae, the sundae presents, tom atkins |