Though Carpenter and Hill wrote and produced this third instalment, Halloween III is the only entry in the series that does not feature Michael Myers or any plot elements from the first two films. This movie instead follows Dr. Dan Challis (played by Tom Atkins) as he attempts to solve the murder of a patient in his hospital with the help of the patient's daughter.
Carpenter and Hill hoped this third movie might be the start of an anthology series, with each new chapter centred on a different Halloween-themed plot (at one point, a character can even be seen watching a trailer for the first Halloween film), but after the bad reviews and even poorer box office returns, the idea was abandoned and Michael Myers was brought back.