10 Movies That Subverted Expectations (And Fans Hated It)

2. Halloween III: Season Of The Witch

The movie that continued to follow Michael Myers’ “night he came home”, right? Well, that’s what so many audiences were expecting back in 1982’s Halloween III. The problem was, there wasn’t a single sighting of the infamous Shape.

Subtitled Season of the Witch, this is the one Halloween offering to date that takes the franchise away from Michael Myers’ Haddonfield killing spree. Instead, Tommy Lee Wallace’s picture sees Tom Atkins and Stacey Nelkin looking to stop the Silver Shamrock company’s plans to have kids heads melt to mush on Halloween night.

You have to remember, back in 1982 the marketing of a movie was extremely different to what we see today. Back then, the marketing for the film was based around the Halloween name. As such, people rightly expecting Michael. With so many audiences going in cold and expecting to see Laurie Strode and Doc Loomis fighting the good fight, these expectations were hugely misplaced.

At the time, Halloween III completely bombed and was slated. In more recent years, the movie has amassed a cult following and is appreciated as solid horror effort. It’s just that upon its release, the Michael Myers-shaped hole in the tale was a huge let-down for audiences.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 30th Jun 2019

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