There's really nothing new about modern filmmakers trying to recreate the feel of the horror films of the past. However, I haven't seen anything done quite the same way as The Third Saturday in October. Many people who grew up in the 80s or 90s, and rented a lot of horror movies, or watched them on TV, probably originally saw a lot of the big franchises out of order. Maybe the video store didn't carry the all of them, or a sequel was just what was playing on TV that night. The filmmakers here have recreated that experience by releasing part I and part V simultaneously, with the intention that you watch part V first.

Yeah, it's pretty gimmicky, but I'm a sucker for a good gimmick. Part I is supposed to be from 1980, while part V is from 1994. They got the feeling of those time periods down pretty damn good, if you ask me. Unfortunately, you do see a drop of CGI here and there, but the effects are mostly practical, and look pretty good, considering the obviously very low budgets.

After his execution, unstoppable killer Jakkariah Harding goes on a killing rampage in a small Alabama town, but only ever strikes on the third Saturday of October, which also happens to be the same day the local college football team always play against their main rival. In my research I found that this annual rivalry is very real. As such, in both movies, the plot kind of revolves around the main characters getting together to watch football. A somewhat inordinate amount of time is spent showing people watch football on TV. That's something I would have definitely shortened from the movies. However, I still did enjoy them quite a bit. They were faithful to the time period, and didn't stray too far into parody. They were mostly pretty earnest. If this was a real series of movies from the time period, it would probably be considered a c-tier slasher series. Nothing that remarkable, but still fun and collectable nonetheless.