Review: One Night in October

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2019

Images from the Internet

One Night in October

Directed by Christopher M. Carter

Carter Ink Films / Laughing Dog Productions / Come About Productions / 
Cyfuno Ventures / Wild Eye Releasing / MVD Entertainment

104 minutes, 2017 / 2019

www.facebook.com/onenightinoctobermovie/

www.wildeyereleasing.com

www.mvdb2b.com

While this film does not take place on Halloween, it is about the Halloween season, so this is the appropriate time for this review. This is also fitting because the consistency within this story is masks, both literal and figurative. But more on that later.

There are actually three stories here, but unlike a compilation, they all take place on the same night in the same town, and there is even a small amount of overlap. This is a clever feature not often employed in anthology films. Also, rather than giving three complete stories one at a time, they are edited together nicely over the night, breaking up the suspense in a way that is effective as it keeps rebuilding. It also successfully works as a jump scare.

Kaitlan Renee and Casehy Norman

In no particular order, the first story I’ll discuss focuses on two couples, including a lesbian one (Casey Norman and Kaitlan Renee; the other pair is attractive Sara Jackson and Andrew Kincaid) that I’m happy to say actually looks like they could be a pair rather than a stereotype or a male fantasy (I’m not one of those guys who gets off on that, if you’re wondering). This foursome is playing around in a cornfield on private property, but of course it’s the wrong one to be muckin’ around in, as the title “The Witch and the Scarecrow” will tell you. They are warned to get off the land by the woman (Erin Colleen Marshall) who runs the place, but with a classic dead car and no phone service trope, you know things are going to go into the red as the scarecrow comes a-callin’. Happily, his first victim is the most annoying character.

Rachel Netherton

In another tale, Emma (Rachel Netherton) is permitted to see the man she loves for five minutes every three months. I kept thinking, “Is he a ghost?” “Is she the ghost?” Well, I’m not going to tell you the reason, of course, but there is a man in a mask on their trail. This is the slowest of the three stories, but when it gets to its “Oh, that’s-what-it’s-about moment, it’s easy to be absorbed into the goings on.

The third story – and my favorite of the three – is about Michelle (Jessica Morgan), a woman on her own who has just moved into the neighborhood and is really into Halloween. She meets some locals who are not what they appear to be presenting (again, figurative masks that turn literal); and there are powers around her trying to take advantage of that, It’s reminiscent of one of the stories from television’s “Trilogy of Terror” (1975), also with three tales.

The film takes a while to rev up, but the slow build benefits the storylines because it gives us a chance to be curious about the characters. The first, with the two couples, starts off running a bit faster than the others with the one with Emma taking the longest.

Jessica Morgan

All three stories were pretty satisfying, which is rare for an anthology. But the one I would like to see in a sequel is easily the one with Michelle, which is also the most action-packed. In all the stories there is lots of blood, but very little gore (though the occasional separated body part), and most of the action occurs onscreen (one of which seeming to be a nice nod to a prominent death in the original Night of the Living Dead, that is also playing on Michelle’s television in some shots… gotta love public domain).

The stories are quite well done, the action is strong, the dialogue definitely has its moments (though here and there a bit too much time is spent on explanations, such as the witch giving the back story of the scarecrow), and the acting is occasionally newbie-style (first IMDB credit for many here), but it all works together when you factor in the indie level. In other words, it works, and I would enjoy watching a sequel, say, A Second Night in October?

As I write this, Halloween is just around the corner. This is good fare to be watching on that night. It’s violent (much of it just off-screen) and bloody, but not very gory. There’s a bit of human and inhuman, demons and a witch, and natural and supernatural.

The DVD has extras, giving up chapters, Wild Eye trailers, English captions, and the coming attraction for this film. My one complaint is that while the titles of the three stories are listed at the end credits, it does not identify which is which (though one is quite obvious).

This is a good mid-range horror film with just enough going on to keep the blood-hound at bay, but mild enough that it may be deem playable for those with limited tolerance for this kind of action. That’s a good thing.