THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER (2022)

Studio:     Dark Sky Films
Director:    Jay Burleson
Writer:     Jay Burleson
Producer:  Frank Crafts, Lauren Musgrove, Ian J. Cunningham, Jay Burleson
Stars:     Darius Willis, K.J. Baker, Allison Shrum, Lew Temple, Casey Aud, Veanna Black, Kate Edmonds, Dre Bravo, Richard Garner, Libby Blake, Onur Tukel, Antonio Woodruff

Review Score:

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Summary:

After inexplicably surviving his execution, an unstoppable serial killer embarks on a rampage on the day when a small town celebrates an annual college football tradition.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

On October 19th, 1979, Bowling Prison in Mobile, Alabama prepares for the electrocution of serial killer Jakkariah “Jack” Harding, who went on a murder spree in 1968 before being imprisoned on Death Row. Ricky Dean Logan and Vicki Newton, parents whose respective children were slaughtered during that spree in nearby Hackleburg, arrive to personally witness Harding’s execution.

After being electrocuted in a chair nicknamed “Yellow Mama,” Warden Haskins declares Harding dead. Vicki joins Ricky Dean in his car to follow the prison’s hearse to a cemetery for Harding’s immediate burial. When they get there, however, Vicki and Ricky Dean discover that Harding inexplicably resurrected and killed all three of his escorts. Harding also attacks Ricky Dean, but Ricky Dean escapes in his car with Vicki while Harding escapes in the stolen hearse.

On October 20th, John Paul and his friends Denver, Ned, and Pam, all of whom are from out of town, party at John Paul’s uncle Milton Deeter’s house in advance of watching the annual college football game between the Alabama-Mobile Seahawks and Tennessee A&M Commonwealth, which is a tradition for Hackleburg residents on the third Saturday of every October. John Paul and his friends leave his elderly uncle to skinny-dip and then nap with Milton’s much younger girlfriend Bobbi Jo while the four of them go to a Bronco Burger diner for food.

Molly and Diane, two girl scouts selling cookies, knock on the door of the Crenshaw Family’s house, unaware that Harding slaughtered everyone inside. The two girls run away screaming after Harding rips off part of one girl’s scalp.

Ricky Dean and Vicki return to Bowling Prison to report Harding’s survival, but Assistant Warden Hilleke insists that Harding died. Ricky Dean and Vicki decide to search for Harding themselves in Hackleburg. Along the way, Ricky Dean tells Vicki how he definitively shot Harding back in 1968, and he believes authorities know that Harding somehow cannot be killed.

At Bronco Burger, John Paul takes an interest in waitress Heather Hill. John Paul invites Heather to join his friends at his uncle’s house to watch the game later and Heather accepts.

Following an awkward encounter with gas station attendant Eugene, Ricky Dean and Vicki find Sheriff Tolivar Shanks dining at Bronco Burger. The duo warns the sheriff that Harding killed three people at the cemetery, stole the hearse, and is likely headed toward Hackleburg to commit more murders. They also warn Heather to look out for Harding’s hearse.

After John Paul and his friends return to Milton’s house, Harding breaks Denver’s neck while she is alone. Harding then cuts off her face and poses her on a basement rocking chair.

Heather arrives at Milton’s house to watch the game with John Paul, Pam, Ned, Milton, and Bobbi Jo. Milton and Bobbi Jo soon go to Milton’s bedroom. Ned then searches the basement for Denver and has his throat slashed by Harding’s garden shears.

Taking a break from their search for the hearse, Ricky Dean and Vicki return to Bronco Burger. Vicki realizes they have a lead on Harding’s whereabouts after overhearing a disbelieving mother chastising the traumatized girl scouts over their encounter.

Harding strangles Milton in his bed and slashes Bobbi Jo’s throat. After John Paul and Heather go for a walk outside together, Harding then beats Pam to death with a hammer.

John Paul and Heather find Harding’s hearse parked nearby. Remembering Ricky Dean and Vicki’s warning, Heather becomes suddenly spooked and insists on returning to the house.

John Paul and Heather find all of the dead bodies laid out in Milton’s living room. Harding suddenly carves John Paul’s head with a chainsaw. Before Harding can attack Heather, Ricky Dean arrives in time to shoot Harding to the ground. Vicki brings in chains that Ricky Dean uses to bind Harding’s body. Ricky Dean then shoots Harding one more time before joining Heather and Vicki outside to catch their breath.

Heather leaves in her car to return home to her father Barry. Vicki goes back inside Milton’s house to call the police only to discover that Harding escaped his chains. Ricky Dean realizes Harding stowed away in Heather’s car.

Vicki and Ricky Dean call Heather’s co-worker Amy at Bronco Burger to find out where Amy lives. Despite Vicki’s insistence that Heather’s life is in danger, no one at the diner knows Heather’s address. Ricky Dean finally finds Heather’s phone number by identifying her father Barry.

Heather returns home to discover her father left on a date. Upon arriving at Bronco Burger and learning his daughter may be in danger, Barry rushes back to the house.

Ricky Dean calls Heather with a warning, but Harding still attacks her. Barry returns home and wrestles Harding off of his daughter so Heather can recover a gun. Barry then shoots Harding several times. Heather and Barry exit the house presuming Harding is dead.

Ricky Dean and Vicki arrive at the scene. Heather introduces them to her father as the people who saved her life. Sheriff Shanks also arrives only to find Harding isn’t in the house.

On Sunday morning the 21st, Harding is seen driving away in a car stolen from another murdered woman. Harding starts stalking three joggers running along a country road.

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Review:

If you arrived at this review of “The Third Saturday in October” before watching or reading about “The Third Saturday in October Part V,” you’re technically going backwards, even though it shouldn’t seem that way.  For the benefit of those who may have viewed the movies out of their intended order without realizing it, let me explain, or re-explain in the event you’re already aware of how these two retro horror/comedies are supposed to tie together.

The meta story surrounding “The Third Saturday in October” and “The Third Saturday in October Part V” is that they belong to a fictional slasher film franchise that enjoyed cult popularity during its heyday, but the series was eventually forgotten by everyone except its most ardent fans and essentially vanished.  The first and fifth films have since been restored, and audiences can now finally relive these throwback thrillers that have rarely been seen outside of their respective release years of 1980 and 1994.

That’s the “in universe” idea behind the movies.  In our world, writer/director Jay Burleson’s idea was to recreate a conundrum often confronted in video stores in the ‘80s and ‘90s.  Namely, having rental options limited by whatever the store happened to have on hand.  Maybe the shelves stocked four “Puppet Master” movies.  Maybe they only had two.  In any case, you were at someone else’s mercy, which made watching a series out of order or even completely skipping some sequels a common occurrence.

To imitate that sort of circumstance, the filmmakers want viewers to watch “The Third Saturday in October Part V” before watching “The Third Saturday in October” so they get a similar feeling of missing some background and having to play catch-up.  As noted in my review of “Part V” though (review here), I don’t see how an average person is supposed to know this since it isn’t spelled out by the movies themselves, but by a press release they maybe never laid eyes on.

Then again, as also noted in that review, I don’t see much difference in the overall experience no matter which movie comes first.  The two stories are completely separate, with the killer, town, and titular local holiday as the only things they share in common.  And since parts two through four don’t actually exist, you’re going to get some kind of slightly jarring jump even if you do screen Part I prior to Part V.

I would still suggest watching Part V before Part I, mainly because the “sequel” is a notch above the “original” on just about every level where they can be compared, e.g. acting, plotting, execution, etc.  After having a decent amount of fun with Part V, I was looking forward to how the first film would continue building on that foundation only to be underwhelmed by the duller direction it takes.  It’s hard to say for certain since it didn’t happen that way, but I believe if I had watched the movies in numerical order, I wouldn’t have been as eager to check out Part V after seeing Part I first.

Part I’s setup is similar to Part V’s, and just as thin.  In 1968, serial killer Jakkariah “Jack” Harding went on a murder spree in the small Alabama border town of Hackleburg before being captured.  11 years later, he’s set for electrocution.  Somehow, Harding survives his execution, escapes, and heads back to Hackleburg in a stolen hearse on the third Saturday in October.  That’s when residents traditionally party together during an annual college football rivalry, giving Harding a fresh crop of throats to slash while they unsuspectingly rah-rah around their TVs.

As with Part V, “The Third Saturday in October’s” period details are terrific, and the film recreates 1980 without swinging a sledgehammer in your face about it, like many retro efforts are prone to do.  The diner decorated with wax-coated Coke cups and a lettered menu board looks great.  Ditto the green-carpeted rumpus room with wood-paneled walls.  Either the production team did an outstanding job with set dressing, or copious kudos should go to whoever found locations that look like immaculately preserved exhibits from a pop culture museum.

Burleson has an equally careful eye for his film’s horror references too.  Many homages are obvious, but not insult-your-intelligence obvious, except for nods to names like Craven or Gunnar Hansen.  Burleson understands his “Third Saturday in October” movies appeal chiefly to longtime horror hounds, so he doesn’t have to turn them into full-blown “Scary Movie” spoofs for viewers to recognize a character’s similarity to “Halloween’s” Nurse Chambers, a “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” hammer murder, or a makeup job that mirrors a distinct “Dawn of the Dead” zombie.

Keen attention doesn’t apply to all of the movie’s essential ingredients, however.  A couple of issues from Part V carry over here, specifically the look of the killer, somehow made worse by not having his crude Halloween mask, making him even more lackluster as an anemic enemy with no distinguishing personality whatsoever.

Not only that, the story’s sequencing feels more unfocused than Part V’s comparatively tighter pacing.  A number of bizarre bits are inexplicably inserted without any rational payoff.  Some of these head-scratching scenes include an awkward encounter with a presumably racist gas station attendant, a truly annoying tic where characters suddenly meow at each other, and another weird sequence where Harding slashes a sleeping man’s arm for no discernible reason, then the man barely makes a quick mention of his mutilation when he wakes up.  If I didn’t know better from Part V’s stronger structure, I’d have suspected “The Third Saturday in October” was making up stuff as it went along to stretch itself out to feature length.

It could simply be that the overarching gimmick is only good for 90 minutes of entertainment, not necessarily 180.  Perhaps having watched Part V almost immediately prior might have made “The Third Saturday in October” more disappointingly tiresome than it would have been on its own.  Even with different eras and tropes being lampooned, the similar gags get a little long in the tooth.  Unless you were absolutely miserable, if you see one, you might as well see the other.  Just be aware that you might have a different experience depending on which one you watch first, and it might not be the experience intended.

Review Score: 55

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