Basically obligated to make another Halloween sequel but hoping to leave Michael Myers behind, producers John Carpenter and Debra Hill decided to try to turn the franchise into an anthology series, where each film would tell a different story set on Halloween. Nigel Kneale was hired to write the initial script for what became Halloween III: Season of the Witch (watch it HERE), and Carpenter and Hill’s pal Tommy Lee Wallace was hired to direct the film. After watching his movie get rejected by viewers when it was released in 1982 and then gain cult classic status over the decades, Wallace has taken it upon himself to write a tell-all book about the production of his Halloween sequel. The book is titled Halloween 3: Where the Hell is Michael Myers? – The Definitive History of Horror’s Most Misunderstood Film, and is going to be available from Bear Manor Media this November.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch star Tom Atkins has written a foreword for the book.
Speaking with Syfy Wire, Wallace said, “I really wanted this to be a kind of truth-telling. There are various myths and stories attendant to this project, especially regarding Nigel Kneale and the original script [he wrote] for the movie. I wanted to give all that a good airing out and tell the truth, as I know it, about what went on and how we changed Nigel’s script to the degree that he felt he needed to take his name off of it. ‘We’ being [producer/composer] John Carpenter and I doing two separate rewrites on it. But since John didn’t ever put his name on it, I wound up with a sole writing credit, which is a ridiculous credit because it’s just so inaccurate.“
Halloween III: Season of the Witch has the following synopsis:
Hospital emergency room Dr. Daniel “Dan” Challis and Ellie Grimbridge, the daughter of a murder victim, uncover a terrible plot by small-town mask maker Conal Cochran, a madman who’s planning a Halloween mass murder utilizing an ancient Celtic ritual. The ritual involves a boulder stolen from Stonehenge, the use of Silver Shamrock masks and a triggering device contained in a television commercial — all designed to kill millions of children.
Tom Atkins is joined in the cast by Stacey Nelkin, Dan O’Herlihy, Michael Currie, Ralph Strait, Jadeen Barbor, Brad Schacter, Garn Stephens, Nancy Kyes, Jonathan Terry, Al Berry, Wendy Wessberg, Essex Smith, Maidie Norman, and Dick Warlock.
I would have assumed that the existing making-of books and documentaries had already covered the story Halloween III pretty well, so I’m very interested to see what Wallace feels has never been told and needs to be known. Will you be picking up a copy of his Halloween 3: Where the Hell Is Michael Myers book? Let us know by leaving a comment below.