MovieChat Forums > Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) Discussion > Plot Hole I noticed

Plot Hole I noticed

posted 9 years ago by HarryShaft
10 replies | jump to latest

Huge fan of the movie, but one thing really stuck out to me as being odd towards the end of the film.
So, Cochrane uses one of the massive stones from Stonehenge to break off little pieces of it to plant in the Silver Shamrock buttons etc etc, BUT--I have a hard time believing that the stone, while it is indeed enormous, would be big enough to supply tens of millions of those little pieces to place in all of the masks sold, AND when we actually see the giant stone, it's the day before Halloween and it's almost entirely intact!!!!! If it WERE big enough to provide pieces of it into every mask sold, wouldn't it be almost down to nothing at that point in time?

[–] dave626 9 years ago

No. One tiny little particle was all they needed. And I wouldn't say they sold tens of millions. Think about it. 1982, America only (because that's the only area they showed) children. Plus this all started maybe a month or 2 in advance? Nobody sells Halloween masks until July/August at the earliest. Sure it got to the big cities, as seen, but little areas probably not so much. The stone itself had a lot of particles. The size of a pebble, not much bigger than that.

So given the timing, the limited amount made and the amount of people, we're talking 2 million kids, tops. Not 10.

"He came home." - Dr. Sam Loomis from the original HalloweeN

[–] YippeeKiYay_MF 9 years ago

you wouldn't believe how they brought it to Santa Mira...

I'll be good I swear... I'll never see a movie ever again.

[–] dave626 9 years ago

That part's easy. By boat. The androids killed anyone who got in their way. Hell, in 1982, they could've called it a nuke and people would've believed it.

"He came home." - Dr. Sam Loomis from the original HalloweeN

[–] HarryShaft 9 years ago

I'd say it's a good bet that there were probably at least several million of those masks in distribution. It's hinted throughout the film (and maybe even said at one point?) that the silver shamrock masks are THE most popular Halloween mask in the country. And yes, the masks contained small pieces about the size of a domino (as shown in the Marge Guttman scene) but I'm still not sold that the Stonehenge piece would be big enough to accommodate that many of the chips.
And the Stonehenge piece should have been much more worn down than shown.

[–] dave626 9 years ago

There's a huge difference between several and tens of millions. Good idea to pair it down. Second, where did it say actual numbers? And again, in the US in 1982 how many kids were there? And not all got them. Dan got his kids generic masks that didn't have the Silver Shamrock tag. Their mother did that. A domino? Are you nuts? Cochran himself said size of a pebble, devastating. Finally, we only saw the front, not the back. The whole point was to show it was a Stonehenge piece, had it been worn down it would've looked awful and not like it at all. That's like saying he had an Easter Island head without the face. You'd have to take his word for it.

As it was, intact, it served it's purpose, had the look and made the point. You are trying to wrap logic into a horror movie. Good luck. Suspension of disbelief. Let it go. There are bigger plot holes. Like how they got an android with Ellie's face made so quickly when they only knew what she looked like a few days earlier. Body's easy, face a lot tougher, a form of mask making, but needs a model. She was there less than a day.

"He came home." - Dr. Sam Loomis from the original HalloweeN

[–] HarryShaft 9 years ago

Uh actually there's a clear closeup of Marge Guttman tampering with it and it's the size of a domino. And you make it seem like the population in 1982 was unimaginably smaller than it is now, and that the possibility of several million masks sold is unfathomable haha.
Oh and your point about Ellie is not a plot hole whatsoever. That's like watching Back to the Future and saying "Well that's a plot hole because time travel isn't possible!" It's part of the story. The thing I pointed out is completely different.

[–] BigRich 9 years ago

Uh actually there's a clear closeup of Marge Guttman tampering with it and it's the size of a domino.

No, that was a PCB board. See here: http://i.imgur.com/NoB0UP8.jpg
If anything, the Stonehenge piece was the little BB next to it.

_
Every person that served can be called a veteran, but not every veteran can be called a Marine.

[–] ZombieSquad1986 9 years ago

I believe the object that looks roughly the size of a domino is the circuit board. The actual size of the piece of Stonehenge is much smaller. When Cochran picks up a piece to show to Dr. Dan and says something about only needing a particle, the piece he's holding is so small that it's hardly detectable to my eyes.

As far as how much Stonehenge is left, yeah, that's kinda weird. I mean, why did they bring that whole pillar when all they needed was a fraction of that amount? Better safe than sorry, I guess. But it would've been an F of a lot easier just to go to Stonehenge and chisel off a chunk than to abscond with the whole damn pillar!

Sorry to ramble, but also, you never see the backside of the pillar (that I can recall), so maybe that's much more worn away from chiseling.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (23570958) 9 years ago

That's correct. The circuit board is about the size of a domino and the Stonehenge fragments themselves are much smaller, barely detectable. As Cochran himself points out, only a particle is needed. As for the entire pillar being there, it could be for supernatural reasons. Cochran refers to himself as a magician. He's using magic. So maybe just a chunk of the stone isn't powerful enough for him to use for the purposes of witchcraft. He needs the entire stone from the ancient, mysterious structure if he wants to fully realize his 'craft'.

I don't know if all of these things really count as plot holes because they aren't really explored in the movie. I think it's much spookier that the idea of how the Stonehenge 'magic' works is left open to the imagination. Also: maybe Cochran has the entire stone because he intends to use it for other purposes! Who knows what his plans were for after that Halloween night.

[–] 9 years ago

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