10 Things You Learn Rewatching Halloween III: Season Of The Witch (1982)
4. The Knitting Woman Is Horrifying
Halloween III's score has a whole lot of what Howarth came to refer to as 'false startles' or in other words, jump scare sound effects.
Pretty much any time something shocking happens or a horrifying discovery is made, Howarth and Carpenter can be heard laying on the deep thuds and high strings. It is this consistent reliance on this technique that makes the film's scariest scene so terrifying.
In the third act, as Challis sneaks into Silver Shamrock, he pushes a door open, revealing a ghostly-white woman dressed in formal wear knitting in the dark.
This is a deeply unnerving visual and the fact that Carpenter and Howarth's score specifically does not use a 'false startle' but instead opts to simply have some soft synth keys chiming soothingly as the camera moves towards her makes it all the more horrifying.
Disarming the audience through this technique and putting them in a vulnerable spot then makes the succeeding jump scare, when Challis touches her and her head falls off, all the more powerful.
Halloween III is full of moments that truly shock, but none quite as effective as this one.