10 Horror Movies That Dared To Kill Kids

This much maligned sequel is like the red-headed step child of the Halloween film franchise. John Carpenter, who directed the original film, had originally intended to create an anthology series of films. This would have made each individual movie a self-contained story.

Since Halloween was such a smash success, raking in $47 million on a $325,000 budget, producers were eager to bring back Michael Myers, much to the dismay of Carpenter. Carpenter agreed to write the script for the sequel, with the intention of killing off Michael Myers for good and moving on with the anthology concept.

The result was 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch, a delightful oddity about an evil Irish toy company, named Silver Shamrock. The company uses a combination of witchcraft and technology to create killer Halloween masks that are activated on Halloween night via an annoying television commercial. The purpose of this is vague, but apparently it has something to do with old Sumerian Gods. Like the humanoid robots prowling around, there is never a satisfactory explanation, adding to the film’s mystique.

Anywho, the masks dissolve children’s heads, causing snakes and other creepy crawlies to emanate from the sunken cranium for reasons that aren’t entirely clear. While we only see the onscreen death of one child, the ending implies that there are many other victims, making Halloween III a particular exercise in cruelty.