Halloween III: Season Of The Witch (1982)
After Halloween II killed off Michael Myers, the decision was made to turn the franchise into an anthology series of different horror stories taking place on Halloween. The first of these was Halloween III: Season of the Witch – involving cursed kids Halloween masks. Unfortunately, its mixed reception ended plans for further films in this style, leaving this one as a weird outlier in the Halloween series.
There are a couple of nods to the previous movies hidden in the film, though. Jamie Lee Curtis can be heard in a few minor voiceover roles as a curfew announcer and a telephone operator. Meanwhile, in a continuity-smashing move, the trailer for the 1978 original film is played on TV at one point.
Due to its lack of slasher elements and Michael Myers himself, fans were not kind to Season of the Witch at the time. In the wake of the endless Halloween sequels since then, however, the film has been retroactively praised for trying something different.