[Event Review] Popcorn Frights Film Festival: The Third Saturday in October & The Third Saturday in October Part V (2022)

Popcorn Frights film festival showcased Jay Burleson’s throwback slasher double-feature The Third Saturday in October Part V (2022), and The Third Saturday in October (2022). Meant to be watched in that order, they are love letters to the classic ‘80’s slashers. Supposedly cult classics lost to time, the stories follow a small southern US town distracted by college football, and the murders that always take place on the day of the films’ titles. Part V is set in 1994, the original in 1979, and each film absolutely nails the aesthetic of its respective era and includes references for slasher lovers to remind them of their favorite classics.

Part V follows a group of friends in their early 20s, complete with love triangles and messy relationships, getting together to watch the big game. Maggie (Kansas Bowling), the pink-haired final girl, is babysitting the adorable PJ (Poppy Cunningham) for the weekend—her 8-or-10-year- old friend— while PJ’s parents go to the game. It’s been years since the last string of murders on the third Saturday in October, and the town has its guard down. This leaves room for the killer, a man once known as Jack Harding (Antonio Woodruff), to start a killing spree nearly unnoticed. He drives a stolen hearse and wears the suit he was supposed to be buried in and a truly spooky Halloween mask that looks like a decorative skull. 

The film has the feeling of a later sequel in a franchise, when the story often goes off the rails and things turn progressively weird. There are loving nods to every slasher a horror fan could think of, including an awkward dance scene that evokes memories of Crispin Glover in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), and the killer’s weapon of choice being giant shears a la The Burning (1981). There is no shortage of shots with the killer emerging in the background, barely visible at first and suddenly impossible to ignore, giving Michael Myers a run for his money. The dialogue between the friends feels real and humorous, though there were jokes and words I was surprised to hear in 2022, even in a movie aping 1994, particularly surrounding a character based on Franklin in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). The film makes for an appropriate watch to start the Halloween season, as there are Halloween decorations visible in almost every frame.

---

HAVE YOU LISTENED TO OUR PODCAST YET?

---

The original film opens in the style of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), with a text crawl and a matching voice over, explaining the events leading up to the film. It also shows love to Halloween (1974) by using the exact same font and a piano-centered theme tune. Immediately, this film has a more serious tone than Part V, and that remains true throughout, which makes sense for the first film in a slasher franchise. Focusing on the families of the victims murdered by the man Jack Harding, the film opens with his execution, and two parents watching as they seek closure on behalf of their murdered children. When the parents realize Jack’s not dead, they go on the hunt, trying to stop him before he can kill again. Of course, no one immediately believes them about the electrocuted man who is walking around, which leads to some incredible Dr. Loomis-inspired “pure evil” style dialogue. By the end of the film, audiences are treated to the killer’s POV on a woman changing clothes, face-peeling, and a chainsaw death, practically filling up a Bingo card of important slasher bullet points of the time. 

This film follows a slightly older group of characters than Part V. Ricky Dean Logan (Darius Willis) and Vicki Newton (K.J. Baker) are parents of Harding’s murder victims, and they are leading the charge to stop the monster. There is a group of younger friends, partying and watching the big football game, but they are a little older than the cast in Part V. This also feels true to classic slashers, which became more geared toward younger audiences as the cash-in sequels were churned out. 

While taking a more serious tone, it’s also darkly humorous. There is a self-aware scene where a racist person is confronted directly but is too much of a coward to state plainly that he’s a racist and has to retreat with his tail between his legs. That kind of humor is what takes the vibe of a classic slasher into the 21st century, and that’s how this film shines. The central hub of the film is a local burger joint, which leads to some funny moments of very serious conversation being interrupted by waitresses saying, “I’ll be your cowpoke today” and introducing the daily specials. There is an obsession with cats that’s never explained, and stoned hippie characters meowing at one another and melting into peals of laughter. This is carried through to Part V, which still offers no explanation. It’s a nod to the weird inside jokes that belong to franchise fans and show a viewer’s membership in the in-group. 

Both films take the opportunity to criticize America’s obsessions with football, and rightly so, since the murders always take place on the day of the biggest football game for the locals, and they are completely distracted. The news of brutal killings is drowned out by sports news, and the town moves on with its day. Using a faux slasher franchise to deconstruct Americans’ obsession with an unsafe and frankly uncaring sports association is a genius move. 

Slasher fans and fans of meta-horror comedy should seek out The Third Saturday in October Part V and The Third Saturday in October, in that order.

The Third Saturday in October Part V rating:

The Third Saturday in October rating:

RELATED ARTICLES

---

EXPLORE

---

MORE ARTICLES

---

---