History Film / HalloweenIIISeasonOfTheWitch

* {{Novelization}}: Contains lots of PurpleProse.

* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler: The kid at the end who keeps changing the channel every time the Silver Shamrock commercial gets taken down. He must ''really'' want to watch that commercial.]]

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's CEO, Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy), has nefarious plans in the works... and that Harry's death served as a warning of things to come this Halloween season.

** Tom Aktins [[WordOfGod said years later that all the adverts were indeed pulled off the air, so at least the west coast's children survived.]]
*** Tommy Lee Wallace [[WordOfGod told Tom Atkins that they got the commercials off the air and saved all the kids. He dismissed the alternative of "the screaming, agonizing, painful death of millions of children" with "we can't do that."]]
*** [[HappyEndingOverride There are more than three television stations on the West Coast.]]

* BookEnds: Film opens ends the same way, man with a warning arriving at a gas station (the same gas station, as matter of fact).

[[caption-width-right:300: ''It’s almost time kids. The clock is ticking. Be in front of your TV sets for the Horror-Thon. And do remember the big giveaway at 9. Don't miss it, and don’t forget to wear your masks. The clock is ticking. It’s almost time...'']]

*** There are more than three television stations on the West Coast.

*** [[There are more than three television stations on the West Coast.]]

** ''Halloween'' is playing on the TV in the bar, and again during the Horror-thon (an odd choice considering Conal's target audience, but whatever). It's announced dramatically as "the ''immortal'' classic!"

* FieryCoverup: Cochran's agent, [[spoiler:an android]], kills Harry Grimbridge and then strolls into the parking lot, douses himself in gasloline in his car, and explodes. That brings in a lot of police attention beyond the single murder and sets Harry's daughter Ellie and Dr. Challis on the case to follow up on the Silver Shamrock mask harry was clutching when he came into the hospital.

[[caption-width-right:300: ''It’s almost time kids. The clock is ticking. Be in front of your TV sets for the Horror-Thon. And do remember the big giveaway at 9. Don't forget to wear your masks. The clock is ticking. It’s almost time...'']]

[[caption-width-right:300: ''Don't forget to wear your masks. The clock is ticking. It’s almost time...'']]

[[caption-width-right:300: ''Don't forget to wear your masks...'']]

''Halloween III: Season of the Witch'' -- the red-headed stepchild of the ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' franchise -- came about when producer Creator/JohnCarpenter decided to transform the series into a yearly {{anthology}} of films centered around various aspects of [[AllHallowsEve Halloween]]. This installment, released in 1982, attempted to accomplish the task, but ended up meeting with a massive backlash from a fanbase hungry for more Michael Myers following the success of ''Film/{{Halloween II|1981}}''.

* AllHallowsEve: Although the entire movie doesn't take place on the holiday, it revolves around it.

!! ''Halloween III: Season of the Witch'' contains examples of the following tropes:

''Halloween III: Season of the Witch'' -- the red-headed stepchild of the ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' franchise -- came about when producer Creator/JohnCarpenter decided to transform the series into a yearly {{anthology}} of films centered around various aspects of [[AllHallowsEve Halloween]]. This installment, released in 1982, attempted to accomplish the task, but ended up meeting with a massive backlash from a fanbase hungry for more Michael following the success of ''Film/{{Halloween II|1981}}''.

''Halloween III: Season of the Witch'' -- the red-headed stepchild of the ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' franchise -- came about when producer Creator/JohnCarpenter decided to transform the series into a yearly {{anthology}} of films centered around various aspects of [[AllHallowsEve Halloween]]. This installment, released in 1982, attempted to accomplish the task, but ended up meeting with a massive backlash from a fanbase hungry for more Michael following the success of ''Film/HalloweenII1981''.

''Halloween III: Season of the Witch'' -- the red-headed stepchild of the ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' franchise -- came about when producer Creator/JohnCarpenter decided to transform the series into a yearly {{anthology}} of films centered around various aspects of [[AllHallowsEve Halloween]]. This installment, released in 1982, [[InNameOnly attempted to accomplish the task]], but ended up meeting with a massive backlash from a fanbase hungry for more Michael following the success of ''Film/HalloweenII1981''.

* ArtifactTitle: From the beginning, Carpenter had planned for all of the ''Halloween'' movies to be [[ThematicSeries stand-alone stories taking place on Halloween]]. With that in mind, the title isn't really so baffling. Then Michael Myers wound up becoming so popular that the ''Halloween'' series became the ''Michael Myers'' series, and...