"Watch the magic pumpkin!"

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Stars: Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O'Herlihy
Plot: Conal Cochran uses his Silver Shamrock mask making company to try to kill children by the masses on Halloween.


The Silver Shamrock Novelties company mass-produces three Halloween masks--a witch, skull, and pumpkin--for children to wear as they watch a special Silver Shamrock show on Halloween. The idea is that, as the show flashes an image of a pumpkin to extremely annoying music, the children are suddenly killed by bugs and snakes coming out of the mask. Here's an example:

This is possible thanks to a piece of rock from Stonehenge that the company has inserted into the mask.

You may be wondering, "Why isn't Michael Myers mentioned here? What does Michael have to do with this story?" Luckily, I can answer these questions. Michael Myers isn't in this film whatsoever. Halloween III was an attempt to spawn a series of movies centered around Halloween--without Michael Myers. The first two Halloween movies were slashers, this one deals with witchcraft, and apparently the fourth one would have involved ghosts. I've heard about many Halloween fans being pretty upset with this, which is understandable; however, if this movie is viewed as its own entity, separate from the famous franchise, it really is a good Halloween movie. Personally, I would have preferred the series take that route over beating the Michael Myers story to death. But, if you're going to miss Michael, good news! I found him for you in this tree:

Hooray!

"Chill out, hun. It's your party, you ain't goin' anywhere."

Night of the Demons (1988)
Director: Kevin Tenney
Stars: Cathy Podewell, Alvin Alexis, Hal Havins, Amelia Kinkade
Plot: Angela throws a small Halloween party at Hull House. Judy and her other friends try to make it out alive.

No one is entirely sure what's wrong with Hull House. All they know is that it was built on "unclean land," surrounded by an underground stream, and those who used to live there were brutally killed. In other words, it's a perfect place to party on Halloween, right? Angela thought so. Everything is fine until they try to do a séance, afterwards they spend the rest of the movie fighting for their lives.

This is a great Halloween movie. Night of the Demons is campy, funny, weird, and it was made in the 80's. It's one of those movies you'd want to watch with a bunch of friends while eating pizza and drinking, you know? It has a The Evil Dead (1981) feel to it, though not quite as exciting. There's also a dance scene to Bauhaus' "Stigmata Martyr," which is a little odd but I suppose it represents the demon's possession.

I almost forgot to mention that this movie was remade in 2009. As far as remakes go, it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Edward Furlong (Terminator 2, American History X) plays a small role and, while it was nice to him in something other than Syfy movies like Arachnoquake, I would still rather watch the first Night of the Demons.