History Film / HalloweenIIISeasonOfTheWitch

* JerkassWoobie: The entire Kupfer family qualifies: the dad is a boisterous oaf, the mom is a shrill ditz, and the kid is a little creep. Even so, their deaths are horrific, and they certainly were not deserving of such a hideous fate.

* DeathOfAChild: Conal cochran plans to murder children on Halloween night. [[spoiler: A kid dies onscreen when Conal activates the curse on the mask]].

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:This film subverts it, averts it, rips it up, throws the pieces on the ground, and stomps on them.]]

* AffablyEvil: Conal Cochoran. He is always jovial and genteel, even at his most evil. Even his [[spoiler: hideous plot to massacre thousands of innocent children]] is a ''mischievous prank'' to him.

* OffWithHisHead: What happens to one poor sod on the streets [[spoiler: and a robotic Ellie herself at the end, via tire iron.]]

* DownerEnding[=/=]DiabolusExMachina[=/=]CruelTwistEnding: [[spoiler:Challis succeeds in getting the commercial pulled from two channels, but it plays on a third. Thus, [[TheBadGuyWins Cochran's plan ultimately succeeds,]] resulting in the probable deaths of millions of children. Worse, he was in the Pacific Time Zone (see FridgeLogic) so the commercial likely already had played in three other time zones while he was still battling Cochran in his factory.]]

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Averted and inverted. Cochran - played by an Irish actor - doesn't have a strong Irish accent for most of the movie, but his pronunciation of ''Samhain'' in Irish Gaelic is exactly correct.

* AffabyEvil: Conal Cochoran. He is always jovial and genteel, even at his most evil. Even his [[spoiler: hideous plot to massacre thousands of innocent children]] is a ''mischievous prank'' to him.

* DeceptivelyHumanRobots: Possibly even RidiculouslyHumanRobots, in the case of [[spoiler:Ellie]].
** Cochran's mooks were {{Magitek}} clockwork robots and obedient factory workers, but unlike [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz past]] [[Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory examples]], there wasn't anything the LEAST bit funny about them - they were designed as low-tech Franchise/{{Terminator}}s.

* GracefulLoser: [[spoiler:Conal -- he appears genuinely impressed with Challis' panache at trashing the place, giving him a little golf clap. That could be because [[DiabolusExMachina he still has one more ace...]].]]

* AirVentPassageway
* AllHallowsEve

* BondVillainStupidity: When Dan gets caught in the factory, Conal lets him live long enough to explain his entire evil plot and then places Dan in a DeathTrap. This makes no sense since Dan is of no importance and serves no purpose to Conal. Logically he should have been killed instantly like every other victim in the movie.

* {{Doppelganger}}

* FauxAffablyEvil: Conal Cochran.

--> '''Challis:''' Why, Cochran...why?
--> '''Cochran:''' Mr. Kupfer was right, you know. I do love a good joke, and this is the best ever, [[spoiler:a joke on the ''children'']]. But there's a better reason! ... It was the start of the year in our old Celtic lands and we'd be waiting...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 was three thousand years ago and the hills ran ''red'' with the blood of animals [[spoiler:and children]].

* GoOutWithASmile: Cochran.
* GracefulLoser: [[spoiler: Conal -- he appears genuinely impressed with Challis' panache at trashing the place, giving him a little golf clap. That could be because [[DiabolusExMachina he still has one more ace...]].]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Cochran.

* HumanSacrifice: Make that sacrifice'''''s'''''. [[spoiler:''Millions'' of them...almost all children.]]

* {{Jingle}}

-->'''Conal Cochran:''' Ha ha! We had a ''time'' getting it here. You wouldn't believe how we did it!"

* OddballInTheSeries
* OffWithHisHead: What happens to one poor sod on the streets [[spoiler: and Ellie herself at the end, via tire iron and RoboticReveal.]]

* PursuedProtagonist
* RoboticReveal

** Santa Mira is the name of the town in ''InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers''. Fitting, no?

-->'''Commercial jingle:''' X more days to Halloween!

** [[spoiler:The real robots weren't very talkative, but Ellie early on was quite animated, and was bound to go to the factory. Probably Ellie was real until she saw her father's car, and was seen being forced into the factory by other robots shortly thereafter. Notice how Ellie never spoke from the moment that she was "rescued"? The ''ad hoc'' robot Ellie was Cochran's last little joke - and assurance that Challis would die no matter what happened in the factory. Ellie was most likely... [[FridgeHorror disposed of]].]]
* WhenThePlanetsAlign
--> '''Challis:''' Sacrifices...
--> '''Cochran:''' A part of our world. Our craft.
--> '''Challis:''' Witchcraft!
--> '''Cochran:''' To us, it was a way of controlling our environment. It's not so different now! ... 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...

CutPhoneLines: Conal does this to long distance service so nobody can call out of town.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler: When Challis destroys the Silver Shamorck factory, Cochran simply smiles and claps before being consumed by the explosion. However it's not certain if he's really dead given his supernatural nature.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Conal Cochran. [[spoiler:Challis triggers the block of Stonehenge; Cochran is caught in the middle of the detonation and disappears; the factory burns down around him. His ultimate fate is uncertain, but even if the Stonehenge blast vaporizes him, his plan still goes off and his fate was far kinder then those of his victims.]]

* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday

** Cochran's mooks were {{Magitek}} clockwork robots and obedient factory workers, but unlike [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz past]] [[Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory examples]], there wasn't anything the LEAST bit funny about them - they were designed as low-tech [[TheTerminator Terminators]].

A week before Halloween, Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins) gets called in to treat Harry Grimbridge, a horribly beaten toy salesman with a Halloween mask in a death grip who mumbles ominous warnings in Challis' presence. It gets stranger from there -- one of the salesman's assailants breaks in, murders Harry, then sets himself on fire. Challis teams up with the man's daughter, Ellie (Stacey Nelkin), to unravel the mystery; the trail leads them to the town of Santa Mira, which serves as the home of the Silver Shamrock Novelty Company. Ellie's father had recently visited the company to pick up a shipment of their popular Halloween masks -- masks like the one Harry had in his hands the night he died. While investigating the town, Dan and Ellie discover that Silver Shamrock has nefarious plans in the works... and that Harry's death served as a warning of things to come this Halloween season.

While the film has become something of a cult classic in the years since its release, it performed poorly at the box office, and fans and critics [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks were very harsh on the film for not involving Michael Myers]]. As a result, John Carpenter walked away from the franchise, which would be given a reboot with ''Film/Halloween4TheReturnOfMichaelMyers'' continuing the story from the original two films.

[[quoteright:315:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Halloween_III__Season_of_the_Witch_6349.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:315: ''Don't forget to wear your masks...'']]