Only now does it occur to me... BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, "HALLOWEEN" (2x06)

Only now does it occur to me... that the second season BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER episode "Halloween" is essentially an hour-long homage to underrated horror classic HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH! 

Malevolent sorcerer and costume shop owner Ethan Rayne (Robin Sachs)

 casts a spell that turns the children of Sunnydale into their Halloween costumes


whereupon children wearing ghoul masks become actual ghouls


and attack kindly old ladies.

This is remarkably similar to Conal Cochran's (Dan O'Herlihy) plan in HALLOWEEN III to turn children into piles of killer snakes and spiders via his Stonehenge-powered mask factory.

In BUFFY, this also means that Xander (Nicholas Brendon) becomes a soldier,

Willow (Alyson Hannigan) becomes a ghost,

and Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) becomes a helpless duchess from the 1700s.

This is all pretty absurd, but no more absurd than the glory that is HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH.  Happy Halloween, everybody!

2015 HALLOWEEN COUNTDOWN

1.  SCANNERS (1981, David Cronenberg)

2.  MICHAEL IRONSIDE: MENTAL SABOTEUR (2014, Karen Stetler)

3.  NOMADS (1986, John McTiernan)

4.  THE STUFF (1985, Larry Cohen)

5.  THE BEACH (2000, Danny Boyle)

6.  CHILD'S PLAY 2 (1990, John Lafia)

7.  NIGHT OF THE DEMONS (1988, Kevin S. Tenney)
8. VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1995, John Carpenter)

9. BLACK ROSES (1988, John Fasano)

10. ...