31 Days of Horror Recommendations: Halloween III Season of the Witch (1982)

 

Year: 1982

Country: U.S.

Subgenre: Witches/Pagan Horror/Halloween

Runtime: 98 minutes

Director: Tommy Lee Wallace

Aside from the obvious status as "horror royalty" that John Carpenter's Halloween now enjoys, I have to admit that I really, really LOVE Halloween III: Season of the Witch (Silver Shamrocks and all).  I always loved the idea of having a series of Halloween movies that focused on different subjects--not just a continuation of the Michael Myers saga. Alas, only this film came of that idea; and it stars one of my all time favorite actors: Tom Atkins. He is a hospital doctor that stumbles into a mystery of epic proportions when a man he is treating dies under strange circumstances. Drawing the doctor further in is the man's daughter (Stacey Nelkin), who shows up asking questions. Together the two embark on a fact finding mission that takes them into a the heart of a sinister plot by some Halloween mask makers to turn the upcoming Halloween into far more than trick or treating and eating candy! It's just a lot of fun; an essential part of our household samhain.  Also look for Nancy Kyes in a small role of the doctor's estranged wife. Also making a cameo appearance in the film is John Carpenter's Halloween itself, look for it in the bar scene. 🎃🎃🎃🎃

31 Days of Horror Recommedations: The Wicker Man (1973)

 

Year: 1973

Country: UK

Subgenre: Folk/Pagan Horror

Runtime: 88 min. (theatrical)/99 min. (extended)/94 min (final edit)

Director: Robin Hardy

The last decade has seen the release of a large number of folk horror films (especially if you factor in films with folk themes/traditional monsters from Asia), but the genre as arguably been around since the 1950's (longer if you consider Benjamin Christensen's Häxan, which was released in 1922, a folk horror film).  As good as many of them are (and films like The Ritual and The Witch are pretty dang good), none of them have surpassed The Wicker Man in my opinion. I won't go into the film, as it's really impossible to describe it in any way without including spoilers (for anyone who hasn't seen it yet). Let's just say that for a film that mostly takes place is bright sunlight, it's one of most horrifying films out there, and scary as hell! In fact, I would say that this is, hands down, the scariest film that Christopher Lee ever acted in. Recent films Midsommar (Ari Aster) and Apostle (Gareth Evans) are basically remakes of this one. 

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