The Third Saturday in October Part V (2022) is an independent low budget slasher film written, produced and directed by Jay Burleson. It’s part of a two-part film project along with The Third Saturday in October Part I (2022) called the “Third Saturday in October” series that’s meant to play out like a lost slasher franchise. They’re filmed on location in the state of Alabama, particularly the Athens/Elkmont area as well as Mobile. These movies are not that well known yet, but I think they’re slowly finding their cult audience. I watched both of these movies last year the day they became available on digital, and I really enjoyed them.
The Third Saturday in October Part V (2022) is set in the fictional town of Hackleburg, Alabama and is centered on a group of young teenagers/adults handing out to watch a big football game. The game is a rivalry game between two fictional college football teams: The Alabama Mobile Seahawks and the Tennessee A&M Commonwealth. This takes place during the Third Saturday in October, which coincidentally is the day in which a psycho pathic serial killer named Jack Harding emerges and slaughters his victims in gruesome manners. He uses a set of pliers as his signature weapon, though he's also seen using different items. Jack Harding is seen wearing a black tux, a red tie, black gloves and a skull mask. He also jams to his favorite songs while murdering his victims, so he's a pretty entertaining villain/killer.
Our main characters are PJ, a little girl whose parents are Tennessee A&M fans and Maggie, the teenage babysitter entrusted to look after PJ (I call Maggie a "teenager", but I think she's supposed to be a 20-something). Maggie brings PJ along to watch the game with her friends. PJ is dying to eat at a local diner called Catfish Cabin (a real restaurant located in Athens, Alabama), and this is a subplot that gets brought up throughout the movie and eventually has a payoff ("kind of" a spoiler but you could already see it coming). We've got some other entertaining characters. There's Peter, a jock bully whose kind of full of himself and is also the one hosting the party at his house. He also attempts a threesome with a couple of the girls and let's just say it goes horribly wrong.
There's Lester, an overweight and handicapped guy on a wheelchair who is currently undergoing physical therapy. He's a diehard Alabama Mobile fan and is convinced that his team can't win unless he watches them. Lester and Peter appear to be "frenemies" as they're seen bickering. Peter makes fun of Lester and Lester gets triggered to the point that he goes so far as to pulling out his pocketknife at him (the knife is seen again later on as one of Jack Harding's weapons). There's Neil, Lester's physical therapist whom Lester invited to the party and who shows up dressed as a coach. There's Holcomb, Maggie's best friend, and George, Maggie's ex-boyfriend who is friends with Lester and Peter. There's also Sharon, Angela, Amy and Betsy. There's a little thing where Sharon is craving a pizza. So, she asks Peter and his girlfriend to order a pizza, but they ignore her, so she does it herself (this leads to one of the "kills"). After the kill count at Peter's place, Maggie and PJ have an encounter with the killer, so the two work together to take him down. I'm not going to directly spoil the ending, but it does sort of end on an anticlimactic/ambiguous note (in typical horror fashion). That's about the gist of it.
I love this movie. It's a brilliant take off on old school slasher flicks like the original Halloween (1978) and the original Friday the 13th (1980). It's very entertaining, unsettling, funny and has a really neat vintage aesthetic. For B movie horror standards, it's very well done. It's well directed well-acted (for the most part), has great cinematography, a great soundtrack, great kills, and likable characters. I really liked Maggie and PJ's dynamic. The actress Kansas Bowling did a great job with the role of Maggie. I think even the girl who played PJ, Poppy Cunningham did a great job considering her age. What really stood out for me about this movie is that it was filmed on location in Athens, Alabama and Catfish Cabin was involved. I grew up in Athens, Alabama and Catfish Cabin was my favorite place to eat as a kid, so for me that was pure nostalgia (the Catfish Cabin thing may have been local product placement, but I don't care). I don't know what the budget was for this, movie but I want to say it's a bout less that $1 million.
Interestingly, Part V is the movie in this series that you're supposed to watch first as it's meant to capture the feel of watching a horror franchise out of order. Part I acts as a prequel to this. I may get to reviewing Part I some other time, but I wanted to focus on Part V here. Anyway, for what it is, and for low budget indie horror standard, I think The Third Saturday in October Part V (2022) was impressive. Some people on the internet say it's a "failed experiment on nostalgia", but I beg to differ. I think it's a successful experiment on nostalgia in my eyes. Anyway, I love this movie, and I highly recommend it if you're a fan of low budget slasher movies with a vintage aesthetic.
I give The Third Saturday in October Part V (2022) a solid 10/10.
Now with that out of the way, I'd like to comment on a minor inconsistency. We know that Lester is handicapped and undergoing physical therapy. A couple times throughout the movie, some of the guys at the party try to get Lest upstairs, and they really struggle and eventually give up. However, at the part when a couple of the girls tie Peter up to his bed, they get Lester up there to spite him. The girls were somehow able to get him upstairs with ease, with the wheelchair and all. It's not explained how they managed that, and it was a little weird. It's not a nitpick. Just a strange inconsistency.
So, have you seen The Third Saturday in October Part V (2022)? What did you think? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Did you think it was okay? Let me know in the comments.
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As I post this, The Third Saturday in October Part V (2022) is currently streaming on Tubi, Plex, AMC+ and Shudder.
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