The Third Saturday in October

I gave this movie two stars for trying. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to try. The movie does not deliver and scares.

The entire movie has a retro look -- like those grindhouse films from the 70's. In fact everything from the sets to the clothing, the cars...everything is 70's.

Additionally, they put some sort of grainy overlay on this to make it appear as if it was shot on film.

So they put effort in the movie, which has one huge fatal flaw -- the killer.

The guy can't act to save his life and isnt meanacing at all.

All of the death scenes fall flat because of him.

What a disappointment. After all that work, they couldnt have gotten a better killer?

Refreshing to take a break from big budget blockbusters and appreciate the art of movie making by creative and resourceful talented people who put together this 80s/90s homage to classic slasher films. The effects were surprisingly good and included some essential "look away" moments (no spoilers . .you need to watch the film . . and your toes!). Threesome action scene is a must see! Some favorite moments were the Beetlejuice-esque retro TV Ads. A brilliant Sunday afternoon spent with friends laughing (and looking away) watching Third Saturday in October after first (very important sequencing) watching Part V. The child actor was especially natural and talented . . . A star in the making!

On the eve of a massive football rivalry, residents of a small town gather to celebrate the execution of a mass serial killer before going about their lives, but when they come to believe that the supposedly dead killer is still rampaging through the community band together to stop him.

Overall, this was a rather fun and enjoyable slasher throwback. One of the better aspects here is the rather fun atmosphere this conjures up playing into the old-school aesthetic that it's trying to ape. The small-town atmosphere here, with the amount of effort spent on the rivalry between everyone here while also trying to deal with the details of the serial killer's execution taking place, serves this quite well with the interlocking storylines expanding onward once the execution is thought to have taken place. With the focus after that part shifting to the rest of the teens in the community who are hanging out and going about their lives unaware of everything but the next chance to get laid, high, or the upcoming game, this all comes off rather fun at building an effective small-town life. When this is all completed with the technical prowess and grain featured here with the look and feel of everything from the time period, it all gets an effective atmosphere. This all serves the film incredibly well in generating the kind of effective short shock slasher-style ambush sequences that generate a lot of fun. The initial resurrection sequence in the cemetery where the fog-enshrouded land and secretive nature of the burial mission makes for a somewhat chilling first encounter, while the later scenes of the killer running rampant through the community including him scalping victims, breaking their necks, or just showing up unexpectedly at the scene leaving a clue as to what's going to happen next. This all gets the finale ready with a stellar and generally effective series of stalking that manages to highlight the indestructible nature of the killer who's come back from the dead to be quite fun with how these scenes take place which also serves this nicely with a series of wholly effective practical effects for the kills. These are enough to hold this one up overall even though there are some minor drawbacks with this one that brings it down. One of the bigger detriments is the rather sluggish pacing that takes up a lot of the running time running through setup instead of dealing with the slasher running amok. Despite being out and loose from the very start, the detailing of the residents' lives hanging out smoking drugs, worrying about the game, or whatever else is going on in their lives which makes for a very long time before this one goes for a more overt genre attitude. With almost all of the action relegated to the finale, this can take quite a while before it gets interesting for some regardless of the way this one manages to interject kills along the way to keep it moving. As well, there's also the problem here with the killer who's just not that threatening with a lackluster physical presence and just not that much about his motivation for the rampage which can make this somewhat of a struggle to get into and are what holds this back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, and drug use.

For Third Saturday in October

"For a movie with a micro budget like this one, I was totally unprepared for the visual extravaganza I was witness to with this film. I don't know that I've ever seen more authentic sets and locations with any slasher set in the past, and I have no idea how they were able to pull it off. Pay attention to the Halloween decorations: those are real period decorations from the 1960's & 1970's. The movie not only looks like it was set in the 70's it feels like it came out of the 70's. Shrum makes an amazing final girl, and Darius Willis and KJ Baker's on screen chemistry is magical. This movie is destined to become a Halloween Classic and I'd put Antonio Woodroof's Harding right up there beside Freddy, Jason, and Michael!"

This is a weird one to rate, because it's not really even a horror movie. As another reviewer noted - it seems like the script forgot it's a scary movie for LARGE chunks of time. The acting seems to be bad on purpose and certain lines are delivered very accurately to the style of movie it's recreating. But the writing is just bad and downright boring for large chunks of time. It's most just people talking in various locations.

The visuals however do honestly make the movie worth watching if you can find it and like to see a time period media be accurately recreated. I can't say enough good things about the sets and decorations and costumes. They nailed it! Especially for a low budget indie movie - they def put a ton of work into that aspect.

However just about everything else is lacking. The deaths aren't that gory, the comedy isn't funny, the characters aren't interesting, etc. So overall it's not great but if it's free on a streaming app and you wanna see the 70s intruder and camo slasher be retold pretty well - including all their shortcomings - this may be the meh flick for you.