Halloween III: Season The Witch (Alternate Cut)

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (Alternate Cut) is a 1982 American Supernatural Slasher Horror film written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace starring Tom Atkins, June Harris, Dan O'Herlihy, Ally Sheedy, Kate Vernon, Michael Shoeffling, Janet Hubert, Kerri Green and Jamie Foxx.

The Alternate Cut was released theatrically to greater critical reception and box office success after Wallace and Carpenter's original cut released that October was a critical and box office failure.

The alternate cut still contains the Silver Shamrock Company though changes their modus operandi utilising various unstoppable male killing machines throughout the plot, maintaining the classic Skull, Jack O'Lantern and Witch mask mind control formula and including the franchise's iconic masked killer Michael Myers.

Omitted are various actors and actresses from the original cut including Stacey Belkin who portrayed the lead female role in the previous version.

Popular Hollywood star Jamie Foxx is prominently featured in an introducing role, playing a victim teenage character of Michael and in being an actual adolescent himself at the time of shooting.

The original cut would in the turn of the century become a cult film classic and garner a large following.

Praise was given to the alternate cut's atmosphere, depiction of violence and memorable sequences.

Plot
Dr. Dan Challis on a graveyard shift at Omaha Memorial watches an advertisement for the Silver Shamrocks' Halloween Masks on October 28th, he switches channels coming across two news reports of the immolation of a family man Dennis Crawford and drowning of a wealthy mother of three Wendy Bannon. Later that night while only he and his close friend and colleague Dr. Winnfield are finishing their shift a woman suffering from a stab wound collapses into the hospital. The woman Greta Turnall utters of a mask and a knife.

In her room Greta is stabbed three times by a concealed assailant, Winnfield is killed as he is immolated by the still concealed assailant, dying before a horrified Challis.

In the days following this Dan fixates on discovering what transpired, much to his wife and teenage daughter's chagrin. Upon stopping by Greta's house he discovers she was a single mother of a son who is missing. Dan spots Greta's Skull masked son Hanley fleeing from the house and follows him to the Silver Shamrocks Factory. He returns at night and is abducted by the CEO Cochrane who demonstrates the force of their mask mind control, turning children into perfect, unstoppable killers of invulnerability and extreme strength. Cochrane a man who had murdered his abusive single father as a child reveals his further incentive was from Haddonfield, Illinois masked murderer Michael Myers, who perished in a Hospital fire in 1978.

Cochrane unveils his clone and demonstrates he had aided Michael in his Smith's Grove Sanitarium escape and secretly followed and recorded his 1978 murders and attack of Laurie Strode. He gathering Michael's DNA and the mystical force surrounding the Shamrock Idol has cloned Michael, who is stronger and invulnerable. He shows secret cameras set up around Dan's daughter Rita's school, the Challis house and the homes of their neighbors, neighborhood and houses of Rita's various friends.

On October 30th day, the clone Michael enters the Challis' neighbors: elderly couple The Wilder's home and murders both Harvey and Lucille Wilder. Harvey is stabbed numerous times in the head, then decapitated with his head making an candle eyed jack o'lantern. Lucille is clubbed with her iron which propels her through the glass patio doors.

At Lucille's Costume & Auxiliary Store that night Lucille's colleague Penny is terrorised and stabbed, bleeding out trying to gather help from outside the store pedestrians who initially believe it to be a Halloween stunt. At the high school later that night Rita's friend Marianne and Chemistry teacher Mr. Gaimes are killed. Gaimes in the chemistry classroom with sulphuric acid to the face and a television brought down upon his head, Marianne disabled at the leg and pursued to the football field and impaled with a gymnastics pole through the chest.

Halloween night Rita's friend and across the street neighbor hosts a halloween party while she is stuck babysitting her younger brother and sister while Mrs. Challis makes a police report on Dan being missing. Prankster friend Gabe at the party is hung from Holly's back porch. Rita's boyfriend Derek trying to cross over to the Challis' is pursued by Michael in Gabe's car. He is run down in a nearby lane-way. Holly is killed while drunk and having made a mess on herself in the basement laundry where she has her head scalded in the broken washing machine.

Remaining friends and bickering cousins Trina and Denny are killed coming over to the Challis' as Rita ducks out. Trina at the house is suddenly stabbed the Silver Shamrocks' mask controlled siblings Will and Bella, before Michael appears breaking her back and slitting her throat. Denny upstairs in the bathroom discovers a tub full of water, after the lights go out and after being knocked into the tub is stabbed to death by Michael, until bloody water floods part of upstairs and downstairs from the collapsing tub.

Rita is rendered unconscious by Will and Bella as May Challis makes her way to the Silver Shamrocks' Plant, saving her husband and the two destroying the idol, resulting in Cochrane and his subbordinates' deaths. Their children and the other mind controlled children are released though Michael, while now vulnerable to harm is still at the house attacking Rita who has returned and their other children. After May rushes an injured Rita and her other children out of the house Dan immolates and kills Michael, escaping their flaming house with wearing the skull Shamrock Mask he was fitted with earlier.

Cast

 * Tom Atkins as Dr. Daniel Challis
 * June Harris as May Challis
 * Dan O'Herlihy as Conal Cochrane
 * Ally Sheedy as Rita Challis
 * Kate Vernon as Holly Solange
 * Michael Schoeffling as Derek Barandy
 * Janet Hubert as Trina Davis
 * Jamie Foxx as Denny Montero
 * D.W. Brown as Gabe Jacoby
 * Kerri Green as Marianne Milden
 * Jay Tarses as Professor Lance Gaimes
 * Jennifer Saunders as Penny Tilman
 * Peter O'Toole as Harvey Wilder
 * Cloris Leachman as Lucille Wilder