After seeing The Barn and its sequel for the first time last year, I couldn’t wait to see the third installment. So, as any fan would, I donated to their crowdfunder for a physical copy and waited — now we’re here at Panic Fest, and I can enjoy the fruits of my labor.
Years after the events of “The Barn Part II”, the group still fears that the three evil ones will return to finish the harvest once and for all.
The Barn Part III
The Barn Part III ends the trilogy with the return of some old favorites in a practical spectacle of Halloween night horrors plaguing the town of Helen’s Valley. With the sorority haunted maze debacle behind her, Michelle is visited by Charlie, a reunion that would soon turn into a bloodbath when the monsters of Halloween are summoned once again. 40 years later, a now-senior Josh battles these demons and the cult keeping them alive when his nephew discovers the ancient powers for himself.
Of course, you can’t go wrong with horror based on or around Halloween. All three films take place on Halloween Night, and Part III is no different. Though this time, the town gathers at the local fall festival, so there are plenty of fall-tastic settings for us to enjoy. The hayride has heads rolling, the 3D movie is filled with guts, and of course there’s the titular Barn that’s hiding a secret cult. All of the monsters — The Boogeyman, Hollow Jack, and the Candy Corn Scarecrow — are joined by other favorites like Swine and Screecher… and wait, is that an undead Sam?! Just when I thought we were replacing old characters with new blood, we have a surprise appearance by the one who started it all.
I expected Part III to bring the blood, and it did. The practical effects work was on par with the first two parts; the gore looked realistic and there was certainly no lack of it. Costuming was great as well, with nearly every character dressed to the nines in some sort of costume, whether it be store-bought like the trick-or-treaters, or full-bodied prosthetics like the Hallow-demons. But the movie would be nothing without a proper story, and Part III managed to have a plot that didn’t feel forced and fit in well with the previous movies.
I don’t know if this will be a hot take or not, but as much as I love the concept of Halloween-based movies, The Barn Part III wasn’t as great as I had hoped. Don’t get me wrong, Part III was fantastic, but when comparing it to the first two entries in the series, this was just slightly short. I don’t know if it was because I had built up too much anticipation, or that we were dealing with older characters (and, if I’m honest, the same “put as many horror personalities in it as possible” idea) or what, but if The Barn Parts 1-2 were at 100%, this was probably a 95. I have an inkling that the stories are very similar, so that was probably what I was experiencing.
Regardless, I still had a great time watching Part III and will likely watch it again come October. If you’re looking for something to take that Half-o-ween edge off, definitely tune in for this. But I do recommend watching the first two parts, well… first!
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