Halloween III is a good film. Not a great film. In terms of Halloween franchise films, it's great. It shares technical and aesthetic qualities of the original, and the mediocre retread that is Halloween II, that are as good now as they were then. I don't think genuine critiques of the movie(s) have changed all that much. However there have been changing factors that have influenced the "things to be said" about the franchise.
Halloween III performed modestly at the box office. Nowhere near as well as the original, of course. But it did not match the trend of Friday 13th's box office (by that time, the Pepsi to Halloween's Coke), which saw the third instalment make double what Season Of The Witch would. But it did ok. Just not well enough for Moustapha Akkad
Background : F13th part III was the second Jason film, though some might say it's the first movie for the hockey masked killer, and it was boosted by the 3D gimmick and the raising of Jason's stature, both physically and cinematically.
Halloween financier Moustapha Akkad said that Halloween III was a disaster, which inspired HAlloween 4's Return Of Michael Myeres and return of box office success. The facts are. HIII made about $15M from a $3M budget. H4 made $17M from a $4.5M budget. It's barely a million of a difference. Buuuuuuuuuuttttt - Halloween 4 was #1 at the movies for opening weekend. Akkad was not just one of three participants in the profits the way he was with HII and HIII so he himself would still have done better if H4 had performed worse than HIII. Plus Friday Part 7 did about the same box office in that same year. So Akkad wasn't left with egg on his face.
So you can see already the revisionist narratives ("disaster..... the fans hated it" etc) beginning to form in 1988. Thanks to Akkad.
The next wave of "things to be said" arrived soon after the advent of DVD. When everyone became a collector. And people who weren't around at the time becoming confused when they find HIII isn't a mediocre retread the way ALL franchise sequels are.
reply
share
Martoto (5200)
a year ago
If HIII was so hated by thousands of people who were oblivious to the non-Michael nature of HIII and blindsided by his absence when they went to see the movie (a myth) , or ignored out of spite by fans demanding Michael, then why was the much hyped Return Of Michael Myers attended just as poorly?
Another thing. Michael burned away to ashes at the end of Halloween II. The idea that it was a no brainer that he should appear in another movie the following year is complete nonsense. They might have done it, and the critics and audiences ,might have groaned and the movies would have got worse and worse because of it like Friday 13th, which they did anyway. . But it was by no means an intuitive thing in 1982.
reply
share