Hey even if you don’t like the experiment that Jay Burleson has concocted, you have to give “The Third Saturday in October” its credit for being so ambitious. The movies seem to have been made on a very modest budget, but director Burleson has an obvious adoration for slasher movies of all kinds. “Part I” of the series is a love letter to John Carpenter’s “Halloween” and seventies slasher films in general, and while embracing slasher tropes, he does a rare thing and gives us an African American movie maniac. Not just that, but a horrifying African American movie maniac.
Tag Archives: Slasher
The Third Saturday in October: Part V (2023)
There’s a ton of creativity and fun to be had behind writer and director Jay Burleson’s pair of slasher films. With the pair of movies you have what is an admirably constructed mythology, along with a cast of performers that are the absolute highlight of the movie. Even the more irritating characters eventually won me over, and that’s saying a lot. In spite of the warts and all, Burleson gets creative from the outset with a pair of films that have to be appreciated and experienced backward.
So, you have to watch “Part V” before you can even watch “Part I.”
House of 1000 Corpses (2003): 20th Anniversary Edition [SteelBook] [Blu-ray/Digital]
Rob Zombie making his own horror films was only a matter of time. The rocker turned filmmaker has always implemented horror movies in to his music and general content, so “House of 1,000 Corpses” is a culmination of all that creativity. Suffice to say I wouldn’t particularly call “House of 1,000 Corpses” a masterpiece. It’s rough around the edges, and often times feels like a film school project more than a feature film. But there’s no denying Zombie has a real love for horror. Even more he has a real love for the characters he’s created, all of whom are a beautiful hodgepodge of various pop culture facets.
Screaming (2023)
If you love “Scream” and you loved “Scream VI” then you have to see “Screaming.” I mean you have to see it. I mean yes it is a fan film, but it’s such a wonderfully developed short slice of the “Scream” universe that is as meta as all get out and celebrates the inherent dissection of the horror genre from beginning to end.
Scream VI (2023)
Wes Craven’s “Scream” series has always been first a slasher series, and second a movie series that comments on the horror fandom. Thankfully while Craven’s loss is still sorely felt in the overall franchise, “Scream VI” has kept much of the spirit alive. The next logical step in the franchise is pulling it out of Woodsboro and giving it a wider scope, and it does this by changing the backdrop to the big city of New York. While this would otherwise hinder the series’ development, the massive scale of New York gives “Scream” something of an automatic reset that I welcome.
Hunt Her, Kill Her (2023)
Directors Ryan Thiessen and Greg Swinson’s “Hunt Her, Kill Her” has a paper thin premise to work with and—well, not much is done with it, sadly. I love a good survival horror movie, but “Hunt Her, Kill Her” has a great opportunity that it sadly squanders. Despite original motivations for its central villains, Thiessen and Swinson’s film is a middle of the road woman in peril invasion thriller. It’s not a bad movie, but it never really re-invents the wheel when all is said and done. It’s not to say that a movie of this sub-genre can’t tread new ground (look at “You’re Next” and “Hush”), but the movie always seems to settle for the minimum. This keeps the movie from hitting highs.
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)
One of the things I hate worse than a bad horror movie is a boring one. I can take that the producers of the film took the IP of “Winnie the Pooh” and turned it in to a slasher flick. People have been doing that for decades, and now with “Winnie the Pooh” in the public domain, we’re going to get so much more Winnie the Pooh iterations. The problem with “Blood and Honey” is that it’s boring. It’s so woefully boring and uncreative. How do you have a chance like this and blow it on such a dull run of the mill slasher flick?