Tommy Lee Wallace Talks About "Halloween III: Season Of The Witch" (reported by Ben Kenber)

Tommy Lee Wallace dropped by the New Beverly Cinema on October 30^th, 2010 to talk about his directorial debut, “Halloween III: Season of the Witch.” This is the Michael Meyers-less sequel of the long running franchise, and it played as a double feature with “Trick ‘r Treat.” Those who are disappointed by the bare bones DVD of this movie (Tommy is campaigning for a special edition of it) were in for a treat as he gave us plenty of information about what went on behind the scenes.

When Tommy was brought up after the movie ended, his reaction to watching it so many years later was that it resembled “one of the strangest and most bizarre movies he had ever seen.” You’d almost think that he had forgotten that he had directed it let alone be credited for its screenplay.

The original plan for “Halloween III” was to work with an original screenplay by Nigel Kneale, best known for his work on the “Quatermass” series. What Nigel ended up writing was as Tommy put it “brilliant and deeply, darkly grim,” and that it was more of a cerebral, intellectual horror movie than your typical slasher fare. But it turned out that everyone thought that the overall story needed more work, and Tommy said that he and John wanted to make it more commercial and scary for audiences. As a result, Nigel took his name off of the movie feeling that the filmmakers would simply “butcher” what he came up with. Many of the gory killings featured in the movie were added after Nigel left.

Tommy did go on to say that he really liked Nigel’s script, and that he hopes to put it online in its entirety for all to see someday.

While making the movie, Tommy described himself and the crew as being “under the gun” as it was a low budget affair like all other horror movies. Understanding how to do wok on the cheap, Tommy said that all the “el cheapo” special effects taught him a lot about simplicity which turned out to be a great virtue. John Carpenter has had a great career because of this simplicity he said.

As for John Carpenter’s participation, Tommy said that Carpenter gave him “full autonomy” on the project as he always expected to have it on all his movies. Originally, Joe Dante (director of “Gremlins” and “Innerspace”) was set to helm “Halloween III” but later turned it down when something else came up. Having worked on many of Carpenter’s previous movies behind the scenes, Tommy was originally offered the gig of directing “Halloween II,” but he turned it down as he saw no way to top the original. But upon being offered “Halloween III,” John and Debra Hill told him that neither wanted to do a sequel as John hated “Halloween II.” With that in mind, Tommy jumped at the chance to direct it, and this would serve as his feature film directorial debut.

The only barrier Tommy had to deal with before he could accept the job was getting the blessing of Dino De Laurentis. Previously, Tommy wrote the script for a movie Dino produced called “Amityville: Possession,” and he said that the one rule he told everyone to remember is that “you do not fuck with Dino.” In response to Tommy’s request, Dino begged him not do the film, but Tommy said he was determined to get his blessing because he would have directed the movie otherwise. Clearly, we know that he got it.

With “Halloween III: Season of the Witch,” John Carpenter and Debra Hill wanted to turn the franchise into an anthology of movies about the season of Halloween. Looking back, the original was really not about Halloween at all (the original title was “The Babysitter Murders”). But when it came to releasing this particular “Halloween” movie, Tommy said Universal Pictures did not do enough to prepare audiences for it. Audiences sadly did not want something new; they wanted Michael Meyers back and breathing heavy while slashing over stimulated teenagers.

One of the biggest influences on “Halloween III” turned out to be the original version of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” directed by Don Siegel. Like that one, this sequel was meant to be a “pod movie” and could not be mistaken as something nice. Tommy even wanted to shoot it in Sierra Madre where that classic was filmed, but it didn’t look good enough. The production team had driven all over Northern California looking for the perfect small town to film in, and it took them forever to find it. Tommy said they were never as lucky as they were with John Carpenter’s “The Fog.” Also, the town’s name, Santa Mira, is the same as the one in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”

The big difference between “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “Halloween III” was in the way it ended. Don Siegel wanted his film to close on a highway with Kevin McCarthy screaming frantically:

“THEY’RE ALREADY HERE! YOU’RE NEXT! YOU’RE NEXT!

Instead, that movie ended the same way it began, in a police station. All this did was indicate to the audience that every little thing was going to be alright. Tommy Lee Wallace said the ending of “Halloween III” was dedicated to Don Siegel for what he tried to pull off, and it leaves the fate of the world up in the air, making it far scarier as you mind was forced to think about what actually happened. Universal Pictures however put pressure on John Carpenter to change it to something more upbeat. When John asked Tommy if he wanted to change the film’s ambiguous climax, Tommy refused to do so, and John defended his decision to the studio.

Tom Atkins name in the credits as well as his first appearance onscreen generated a huge applause from the audience at the New Beverly that evening. When it came to casting “Halloween III,” Tommy said that Tom Atkins was already a part of the John Carpenter company of actors, and that Atkins’ performance in “The Fog” was served as his audition for the role. Tommy went on to explain that in casting horror movies, they cane easily get ruined by “pretty boy casting,” and he felt that it didn’t need to be the case here. Atkins naturalistic performance is commendable considering that much of what he has to deal with is utterly ridiculous. You also have to give him credit for wasting no time in bedding the main female character played by Stacey Nelkin.

Another actor who got applause was the late Dan O'Herlihy who portrayed the movie’s chief villain, Conal Cochran. Tommy described Dan as being perfect for the part and said that he was always prepared. He went on to describe Dan as a man from the British Isle, Irish, and as someone who was never afraid of getting sentimental. Dan’s performance was a fiendish mix of a friendly persona which is a cover for his grisly nature. RIP Dan.

As for Stacey Nelkin, the first question from the audience was whether or not her character was a robot throughout the entire movie. Tommy said that he honestly didn’t know and figured that Cochran’s company was really good at making robots in the first place. Stacey was a very appealing presence in “Halloween III,” and perhaps Roget Ebert put it best in his one and a half star review of the movie:

“Too bad she plays her last scene without a head.”

Then there’s the movie’s commercial for the Silver Shamrock masks which features a song that is annoying as hell and impossible to get out of your head. Alan Howarth, who composed the score along with John Carpenter, was given credit for doing the jingle and putting it to the tune of “London Bridge” from “My Fair Lady,” but Tommy said that it was his idea more than anyone else’s. The rest of the score is excellent and very hard to find on CD.

As for the voice on that Halloween jingle, it is Tommy Lee Wallace’s. They were originally going to hire someone else to do it, but when they found that the guy they wanted cost $550, it was determined that they couldn’t afford him. Tommy got the job soon after, and he said he got into the mood by doing the smooth tone of a “stupid radio voice from the 50’s.”

One audience member asked Tommy if there were any product placements in “Halloween III,” and he said there were not. The moderator of the Q&A said this wasn’t really the kind of movie that would allow for that. It was also clarified that no one ever asked to move that can of Miller Lite beer closer to the camera.

“Halloween III: Season of the Witch” was designed to be a diatribe against consumerism, and it didn’t turn out to be a very elegant one at that. The movie cost $2.5 million to make, and it ended up grossing about $14 million at the box office. While it did make a tiny profit, the sequel was considered a major commercial and critical disappointment. Tommy said he fell into an abject depression for months as he felt he did a shitty job on the sequel and would be consigned to “movie hell.”

But after all these years, Tommy discovered that “Halloween III” had developed a cult following and an increased number of fans. It turns that a lot of people watch it every single year. He was stunned to hear that this was the case, and people continue to invite him to speak at annual horror conventions about his movie. Having been originally released back in 1982, we have had more than enough time to reflect on the kind of movie it was. While still not a great film by any stretch, it was entertaining to watch “Halloween III” with an audience. It made it all the easier to tolerate that Silver Shamrock song that annoyingly sticks in our heads long after the end credits have rolled.

Certainly, there are other “Halloween” sequels that are far worse (“The Curse of Michael Meyers” is the pits), and the moderator put it best when comparing the third movie to “Halloween: Resurrection”:

“Do you prefer this or Busta Rhymes?”