Folks, can you believe that I -- yours truly -- was once called a "prude" simply because I had the audacity to say that I'm not as big a fan of traditional slasher movies as the next writer?
Again: for clarity's sake, this is in no way, shape, or form meant to say that I don't like this unique sub-genre of Horror. It's just that because I've seen so many of them -- because there are big budget and low budget attempts in this field -- that I rarely see anything fresh, vibrant, and different about them. (Well, except maybe the way they sever a head here and there, which really isn't all that clever any more.) I'm all for the flicks that do try to inventively reshape the bloodletting into a variation that's untried; I'm just saying that I don't see that happen often enough to give the films wider coverage in this space. But when I do see something that might be unique or some new releases are pointed out to me by friends, foes, and distributors I'm willing to share the news as a kinda/sorta Public Service Announcement for like-minded knuckleheads.
Is that so wrong?
So, no, I've yet to see these forthcoming Horror/Comedies -- The Third Saturday In October (2022) and The Third Saturday In October Part V (2022) -- but the titles alone piqued my interest. At my age, I'll take as many piques as I can get! A distributor friend of mine in the business passed along word of their forthcoming release in the marketplace; I've looked over the supplemental materials -- will be copying and pasting quite a bit of them below -- and I encourage interested readers to check this out.
Dare I say? This looks kinda fun?
Clearly, the producers are trying to both satirize as well as affectionately honor the Golden Days of home video. It was a time when anyone with a camera, some friends, and a reasonable budget could try to craft their own frightening carnival attraction for the masses-at-large. While there was a good number of releases that have understandably fallen into the trash bins of film history, I can say as -- having lived through that era -- there were some releases that rose to the top of the barrel as well. Like this film, I think those older features deserve to be discovered and re-discovered, so take all of this in the spirit of -- erm -- "discovery" for which it was intended.
Details are below. Read 'em and weep. You know what to do.
Again: for clarity's sake, this is in no way, shape, or form meant to say that I don't like this unique sub-genre of Horror. It's just that because I've seen so many of them -- because there are big budget and low budget attempts in this field -- that I rarely see anything fresh, vibrant, and different about them. (Well, except maybe the way they sever a head here and there, which really isn't all that clever any more.) I'm all for the flicks that do try to inventively reshape the bloodletting into a variation that's untried; I'm just saying that I don't see that happen often enough to give the films wider coverage in this space. But when I do see something that might be unique or some new releases are pointed out to me by friends, foes, and distributors I'm willing to share the news as a kinda/sorta Public Service Announcement for like-minded knuckleheads.
Is that so wrong?
So, no, I've yet to see these forthcoming Horror/Comedies -- The Third Saturday In October (2022) and The Third Saturday In October Part V (2022) -- but the titles alone piqued my interest. At my age, I'll take as many piques as I can get! A distributor friend of mine in the business passed along word of their forthcoming release in the marketplace; I've looked over the supplemental materials -- will be copying and pasting quite a bit of them below -- and I encourage interested readers to check this out.
Dare I say? This looks kinda fun?
Clearly, the producers are trying to both satirize as well as affectionately honor the Golden Days of home video. It was a time when anyone with a camera, some friends, and a reasonable budget could try to craft their own frightening carnival attraction for the masses-at-large. While there was a good number of releases that have understandably fallen into the trash bins of film history, I can say as -- having lived through that era -- there were some releases that rose to the top of the barrel as well. Like this film, I think those older features deserve to be discovered and re-discovered, so take all of this in the spirit of -- erm -- "discovery" for which it was intended.
Details are below. Read 'em and weep. You know what to do.
What if a lost horror franchise made during the peak of the slasher genre was unearthed today, but only two of the films could be restored? Filmmaker Jay Burleson imagined just that with THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER: PART V and THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER: PART I coming to VOD + Digital Platforms May 5th from Dark Sky Films.
A double feature of terror, THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER Part V sees unstoppable killer Jakkariah Harding once again stalking and butchering the football-loving residents of a small Alabama town, this time finding a treasure trove of victims after he chances upon a football watch party. And then get ready to see how the horror began in THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER Part I, which tells the story of Harding's death row escape and ensuing slaughter as two survivors of his initial attack hunt him down.
Aiming to recreate the by-gone video store days when horror fans might have had to watch a franchise out of order, the filmmakers intended for viewers to start with Part V and then go back to Part 1.
Twice the scares, twice the laughs, and a world-building start of a franchise that’s as outlandishly clever in its deception as every gore set piece it throws on screen, THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER films are a red-blooded American slice of southern gothic infused with a deliciously twisted sense of humor.
A double feature of terror, THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER Part V sees unstoppable killer Jakkariah Harding once again stalking and butchering the football-loving residents of a small Alabama town, this time finding a treasure trove of victims after he chances upon a football watch party. And then get ready to see how the horror began in THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER Part I, which tells the story of Harding's death row escape and ensuing slaughter as two survivors of his initial attack hunt him down.
Aiming to recreate the by-gone video store days when horror fans might have had to watch a franchise out of order, the filmmakers intended for viewers to start with Part V and then go back to Part 1.
Twice the scares, twice the laughs, and a world-building start of a franchise that’s as outlandishly clever in its deception as every gore set piece it throws on screen, THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER films are a red-blooded American slice of southern gothic infused with a deliciously twisted sense of humor.
THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER: PART I
OFFICIAL FILM SYNOPSIS
A lost slasher film from the golden age of the slasher genre. October 1979. Ricky Dean is a man on a mission. Years ago, he lost a child at the hands of a psychopathic killer named Jakkariah Harding. When Harding escapes Death Row, Ricky Dean throws himself into the line of fire to stop him from killing again as Harding preys upon a group of friends gathered to watch a college football game.
THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER: PART I
Directed & Written by: Jay Burleson (The Nobodies)
Produced by: Frank Crafts, Lauren Musgrove & Ian J. Cunningham
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Genre: Horror/Thriller/Comedy
Distributor: Dark Sky Films
Run Time: 97 minutes
Cast: Darius Willis (Benched, The Dead Center), K.J. Baker (The Starling Girl), Allison Shrum (Ozark), Lew Temple (The Devil's Rejects, Unstoppable), Antonio Woodruff (He Got Away), Casey Aud (Love Incidental), Kate Edmonds (Root Letter), Veanna Black (Echoes, Single Drunk Female)
OFFICIAL FILM SYNOPSIS
A lost slasher film from the golden age of the slasher genre. October 1979. Ricky Dean is a man on a mission. Years ago, he lost a child at the hands of a psychopathic killer named Jakkariah Harding. When Harding escapes Death Row, Ricky Dean throws himself into the line of fire to stop him from killing again as Harding preys upon a group of friends gathered to watch a college football game.
THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER: PART I
Directed & Written by: Jay Burleson (The Nobodies)
Produced by: Frank Crafts, Lauren Musgrove & Ian J. Cunningham
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Genre: Horror/Thriller/Comedy
Distributor: Dark Sky Films
Run Time: 97 minutes
Cast: Darius Willis (Benched, The Dead Center), K.J. Baker (The Starling Girl), Allison Shrum (Ozark), Lew Temple (The Devil's Rejects, Unstoppable), Antonio Woodruff (He Got Away), Casey Aud (Love Incidental), Kate Edmonds (Root Letter), Veanna Black (Echoes, Single Drunk Female)
THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER: PART V
OFFICIAL FILM SYNOPSIS:
It's Part V. Unstoppable killer Jakkariah "Jack" Harding is back in town after seven years, as he stalks and kills at random before chancing upon a football watch party. The game is, of course, between longstanding rivals the Alabama-Mobile Seahawks and Tennessee A&M Commonwealth. Chaos ensues, in increasingly ridiculous fashion, with inventive murders and multiple love triangles. Hearts are broken and appendages are torn.
THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER: PART V
Directed & Written by: Jay Burleson (The Nobodies)
Produced by: Frank Crafts & Ian J. Cunningham
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Genre: Horror/Thriller/Comedy
Distributor: Dark Sky Films
Run Time: 89 minutes
Cast: Kansas Bowling (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Christmas Bloody Christmas), Poppy Cunningham (The Death of Dick Long), Taylor Smith (Angels on Earth the Light of Faith), Bart Hyatt (The Nobodies), Autumnn Jaide (Deathless), Tom Hagale (Dormant), Parker Love Bowling (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)
The long lost slasher franchise THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER is back!
Red Corpses LLC and Sleep Creature LLC are proud to announce they have partnered with Dark Sky Films to restore and release two entries in the long running slasher saga.
The series began in 1979 as a quick cash-in on John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN. Series producer Frank Crafts, an Alabama native, believed he had a great idea for a horror film with Southern roots - what if HALLOWEEN were set in the South, and instead of a traditional holiday, it centered around a Southern institution: college football. Thus, THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER was born, a small-town slasher film revolving around a group of friends watching an annual football match between the Alabama-Mobile Seahawks and the Tennessee A&M Commonwealth. Unfortunately for them, an unstoppable killer named Jakkariah Harding shows up to murder them one by one.
The original film garnered little national attention but birthed multiple low-rent sequels throughout the 1980s before the franchise flamed out when the trashy fourth installment ran the series completely off the rails. Borrowing a page from the HALLOWEEN playbook, Crafts doubled down and attempted to resurrect the saga with an unrelated spin-off in 1990, but the series returned to the Jakkariah Harding storyline in 1994, utilizing a comedic approach to hopefully win back its audience. The series officially ended in 2000 with PART VI: THE LAST THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER, but the series ultimately fell victim to what producer Ian Cunningham refers to as "The Third Saturday Curse", as the films slowly vanished off the face of the earth after a series of unfortunate events, including internal feuding, bankruptcy, a warehouse fire, and cheap VHS manufacturing leading to unplayable tapes.
With the assistance of Dark Sky Films, the creators of the saga have unearthed two of their lost films: the original offering from 1979, and the 1994 sequel THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER PART V.
OFFICIAL FILM SYNOPSIS:
It's Part V. Unstoppable killer Jakkariah "Jack" Harding is back in town after seven years, as he stalks and kills at random before chancing upon a football watch party. The game is, of course, between longstanding rivals the Alabama-Mobile Seahawks and Tennessee A&M Commonwealth. Chaos ensues, in increasingly ridiculous fashion, with inventive murders and multiple love triangles. Hearts are broken and appendages are torn.
THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER: PART V
Directed & Written by: Jay Burleson (The Nobodies)
Produced by: Frank Crafts & Ian J. Cunningham
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Genre: Horror/Thriller/Comedy
Distributor: Dark Sky Films
Run Time: 89 minutes
Cast: Kansas Bowling (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Christmas Bloody Christmas), Poppy Cunningham (The Death of Dick Long), Taylor Smith (Angels on Earth the Light of Faith), Bart Hyatt (The Nobodies), Autumnn Jaide (Deathless), Tom Hagale (Dormant), Parker Love Bowling (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)
The long lost slasher franchise THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER is back!
Red Corpses LLC and Sleep Creature LLC are proud to announce they have partnered with Dark Sky Films to restore and release two entries in the long running slasher saga.
The series began in 1979 as a quick cash-in on John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN. Series producer Frank Crafts, an Alabama native, believed he had a great idea for a horror film with Southern roots - what if HALLOWEEN were set in the South, and instead of a traditional holiday, it centered around a Southern institution: college football. Thus, THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER was born, a small-town slasher film revolving around a group of friends watching an annual football match between the Alabama-Mobile Seahawks and the Tennessee A&M Commonwealth. Unfortunately for them, an unstoppable killer named Jakkariah Harding shows up to murder them one by one.
The original film garnered little national attention but birthed multiple low-rent sequels throughout the 1980s before the franchise flamed out when the trashy fourth installment ran the series completely off the rails. Borrowing a page from the HALLOWEEN playbook, Crafts doubled down and attempted to resurrect the saga with an unrelated spin-off in 1990, but the series returned to the Jakkariah Harding storyline in 1994, utilizing a comedic approach to hopefully win back its audience. The series officially ended in 2000 with PART VI: THE LAST THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER, but the series ultimately fell victim to what producer Ian Cunningham refers to as "The Third Saturday Curse", as the films slowly vanished off the face of the earth after a series of unfortunate events, including internal feuding, bankruptcy, a warehouse fire, and cheap VHS manufacturing leading to unplayable tapes.
With the assistance of Dark Sky Films, the creators of the saga have unearthed two of their lost films: the original offering from 1979, and the 1994 sequel THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER PART V.
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