Halloween III: Season of the Witch has a semi-open ending that, depending on the viewer, could be very tragic or hopeful – and here’s what truly happened after the movie ended. The Halloween franchise tells the story of Michael Myers and his targets Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her daughter Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris), except for one movie: Halloween III: Season of the Witch. The third entry in the franchise is the only one separate from the different Michael Myers timelines, and though it was initially met with negative reviews, it has developed a cult following over the years.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch follows Dr. Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) and Ellie Grimbridge (Stacey Nelkin), the daughter of a murder victim, who uncover a dangerous plot by Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy), owner of the company Silver Shamrock Novelties, which produces Halloween masks targeted at children and with a very catchy yet annoying jingle. Through them, he plans on sacrificing all those children wearing his masks, which have a microchip that once triggered by a TV commercial, kills the wearers. Challis and Ellie go through a lot to stop Cochran’s plans, and by the end of the film, Challis is all by himself desperately trying to stop TV stations from airing the commercial. Halloween 3 ends with Challis screaming at the final station to turn off the commercial, and it’s left unknown if they listened to him or not.
Director Tommy Lee Wallace originally planned for Halloween III: Season of the Witch to end with the screams of all those children wearing the masks as they were murdered, but ultimately decided to go with the theme and have it play over the credits. This decision was made to give Challis a bit of hope and the possibility of saving the kids in town. Like many other movies, Halloween 3 got a novelization by writer Dennis Etchison under the pseudonym Jack Martin, who also wrote the novelization to Halloween II. The book reveals that Cochran survived, but also that Challis’ efforts (and Ellie’s death too) were in vain, and he couldn’t stop the broadcasting of the commercial. According to it, the screams of dying children could be heard “throughout the station, the town, and the land beyond”.
One of the reasons Halloween III: Season of the Witch wasn’t well-received when it was released (aside from the absence of Michael Myers) is because many found Cochran’s plan to be absurd. Through the murder of hundreds of children (and any adults who wore the masks at the right time), Cochran intended to resurrect the ancient aspects of the Celtic festival of Samhain, which many feel was a pointless and flawed plan, as the murders could be easily traced back to him. With that in mind, having Challis fail after everything he and Ellie went through, including her dying and being replaced by an android, would have made Halloween 3 an even bigger disappointment to the eyes of the initial audience – however, now that many years have passed since the film’s release, the ending offered by the novelization actually elevates the film and makes it truly scary.
The good thing about Halloween III: Season of the Witch leaving the ending ambiguous and the novelization giving it proper closure is that fans will decide which ending they accept: those who want it to be a bit more hopeful after seeing a kid die due to Cochran’s masks can stick to the film’s ending, and those who want it to have a creepier, unsettling vibe can go with Challis failing and a massive murder taking place in town, all to resurrect the ancient age of witchcraft.