Trivia / Halloween III: Season of the Witch

• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: The Adelphia (before merging with Comcast) guide information for this movie stated that the Silver Shamrock masks explode rather than conjure insects and snakes to devour the wearer.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Nigel Kneale was the original writer of the film. When producer Dino De Laurentiis demanded that the movie become darker and gorier, Kneale began to object, but went unheard. When he saw the final product, he asked Carpenter to take his name off the project, left, and never worked on another major movie again (aside from some British TV horror films). He later commented on the film, saying that Carpenter had 'carpentered' the script into saw dust, and wondered if Carpenter's Prince of Darkness, which had many homages to Kneale's work, was a riposte to his indignation or an apologetic homage.
  • Executive Producer Irwin Yablans was against not having Michael Myers in the film and as a result had as little to do with it as possible.
  • Dan O'Herlihy admitted in an interview with Starlog magazine that he was not particularly impressed with the finished film. When asked what he thought of working in the horror film, O'Herlihy responded:
    Whenever I use a Cork accent, I'm having a good time, and I used a Cork accent in [Halloween III]. I thoroughly enjoyed the role, but I didn't think it was much of a picture, no.
• Creator Couple: Nancy Loomis, who plays the ex-wife, was Tommy Lee Wallace's wife. John Carpenter and Debra Hill were also still a couple at the time.
• Darkhorse Casting: The cast consisted mostly of character actors whose previous acting credits included cameo appearances on various television series. The exceptions were Tom Atkins and veteran actor Dan O'Herlihy.
• Defictionalization: The Silver Shamrock masks would be released by the original creator Don Post and his company as a tie-in for the movie, with eventual replicas made in the 2010s. Ironically, the Skeleton and Witch masks were already altered from pre-existing molds.
• Fake Irish: Averted. Conal Cochran is played by Dan O'Herlihy, who was born and raised in Ireland.
• Hey, It's That Place!: The gas station was previously seen in The Fog (1980).
• Real-Life Relative: Garn Stephens, who plays Marge Guttman, was Tom Atkins' wife at the time.
• Serendipity Writes the Plot:
  • The Silver Shamrock jingle is set to the tune of 'London Bridge Is Falling Down' because it was in the public domain.
  • The film's genesis apparently came from one critic who had panned the second film saying he'd turn in his press card if they made a third.
• Stillborn Franchise: This film was intended to turn the film series into a horror anthology; when it failed with critics, every other movie returned to the Michael Myers plotline and stuck to it like glue. The Silver Shamrock masks would later appear as a Mythology Gag in the 2018 Halloween film and Halloween Kills. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers also has a tentative link, the villain in this film receives a call from "Mrs Blankenship" and she is one of the murderous pagan group in Halloween 6, suggesting Cochrane may be part of the same cult.
• What Could Have Been:
  • If the reception for this one hadn't been so negative, Carpenter might have been able to continue with his original idea of making Halloween an anthology series with a fresh plot and characters for each movie. The only unifying thread would have been that they all take place on Halloween — the possibilities would have been endless.
  • The original script was apparently more of a tongue-in-cheek mystery film that seemed to be aware of the ludicrous concept, Executive Meddling killed it before filming.
  • Conal Cochran was originally a three thousand year old demon.
  • Carpenter wanted Joe Dante to direct. Tommy Lee Wallace ended up taking the helm.
  • Tommy Lee Wallace wanted to cast all redheads to play Conal Cochran's flunkies as an early idea.
  • Tom Atkins revealed in a press interview that he didn't know how the film would end, as they shot a couple of different possible endings. One possibility was that the fade to black would have the sounds of children screaming. Word of God is that they wanted a more Ambiguous Ending to suggest that the children could have survived.
• Word of Saint Paul: Tom Atkins is on record boasting that "of course" his character succeeds at the end of the film and stops Cochran's commercial, but it comes off more like prideful self-aggrandizing of his role/character than canonical confirmation.
• You Look Familiar: Nancy Loomis (Annie from the first film) plays Challis's ex-wife.
• You Sound Familiar: Jamie Lee Curtis voices the operator and the person announcing the curfew.

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