Sunday, September 30, 2012
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 15 Vanity's Mirror Review
Vanity's Mirror originally aired on February 29, 1988. Whereas the previous episode was a clunker, this episode is outstanding. This is by far the most disturbing episode to date. The antique in this one was a gold compact mirror. If the light reflected onto another person's face, it made the person instantly fall in love with the owner. The owner in turn had to kill the person. What was disturbing was the second owner in the episode. She had a very attractive older sister who was nothing but nice to her younger sister. However, Helen, the younger sister hated the older sister and was constantly jealous. Not only does Helen steal the older sister's boyfriend on the night of the prom, she nearly kills her by hanging her in her bedroom, as well as kills herself and her sister's boyfriend. This all happens the night of the prom. Talk about the worst prom night EVER! Oddly enough, although the airdate is in 1988, the prom poster in this episode claims prom 1987. What was the worst thing however, and this is what I truly love about this episode is that the antique wasn't retrieved and placed in the vault. Our trio fails in this episode. A truly bold thing to do. It'd be like having Monk not solve the case at the end of the episode and the killer gets out scot-free. Not only do they not retrieve it, but the final shot is somebody else picking it up. The evil lives on and it's the creepiest episode in the series to date. Such bold choices and all of them paid off.
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 14 Bedazzled Review
Bedazzled originally aired on February 22, 1988. This is the second clunker episode for the season as well as the series. It's just really really dull until the final 5 minutes of the episode. The cursed antique is a lantern that helps one to find buried treasure, but the lantern in turn must be opened and burn someone (usually the diver who retrieved the buried treasure) for it to happen again. The lantern gets captured in the first 5 minutes and the rest of the episode is the previous owner doing everything he can to get it back from Mickey who is home away from Jack and Ryan babysitting a child. Jack and Ryan are in this episode; they capture the antique at the beginning of the episode. The biggest problem is that this is not the show to have a hostage situation. It just doesn't hold your interest for the full 45 minutes of the episode. The ending's really cool though. The previous owner gets burned by his own object, his own obsession. That's really clever execution and very satisfying, but it takes a solid 40 minutes of a 45 minute episode before anything of worth really happens. Overall, this is just a clunker episode that is easily forgotten in the entire run of the show.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 13 The Baron's Bride Review
The Baron's Bride originally aired on February 15, 1988. This is a wonderful episode. This is also an incredibly weird episode that attempts to rewrite history, has time travel, and has a majority of the episode in black and white. The object in this episode was a cape, one that had a diamond clasp that when two drops of blood mixed together sent the two souls back in time. The cape also made the man completely irresistible to women. Vampires are included. The episode says that Brahm Stoker got his idea for Dracula when Mickey and Ryan and a vampire visitor go back in time. Told you it was weird. The vampire kills Brahm's wife. It's incredibly sad. I balled my eyes out upon first viewing of this episode. Having the episode be primarily in black and white is also incredibly daring and gutsy. This has been by far, the most emotional episode to date and I LOVE it!
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 12 Faith Healer Review
Faith Healer originally aired on February 8, 1988. This was a pretty offensive episode if you ask me. I don't support televised faith healers by any stretch, but the episode seemed like an attack against Christianity in general. True Christians do not act the way that the faith healer does in this episode. The object in this episode was a white glove which could heal any sickness by getting the sickness onto the glove. The wearer then has to find someone else to put the sickness onto which amplifies the sickness ten-fold and automatically kills the person. If the glove is worn too long without getting rid of the illness, it kills the wearer instantly. It was great to have Jack back in this episode. Quite funny how one of his closest friends tried to murder him. It's deep stuff and Jack's line reading about how Lewis and his other friend both screwed him over is simply hilarious. The show is really deep, but it brought back the quirky moments in this episode. In all honesty, I would tell everyone to skip this episode.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 11 Scarecrow Review
Scarecrow originally aired on February 1, 1988. This is quite possibly the first very serious episode of the entire series. Again, Jack does not appear in the episode. The antique although completely ludicrous when written on paper, is taken so seriously, it amazes me. It is as you can guess by the episode title a scarecrow that once you attach a person's picture to it will behead said person. We get to learn more of Ryan's back story in this episode. Ryan had a younger brother Jimmy who got hit by a truck while playing baseball. Ryan acts like a brother figure to a boy who's lost his father in this episode. The way this episode ends is very fascinating. It's not on a joke. Mickey asks Ryan where the scarecrow put the heads of the missing people after he beheaded them. To end an episode on that note is gargantuan for this series. It is now completely creepy where not every question will be answered right away. Amazing turn for the series.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 10 Tales of the Undead Review
Tales of the Undead originally aired on January 25, 1988. This is the first episode that Jack is not a part of. The cursed object is actually very filmic in this episode. It's a comic book that upon getting angry can turn you into the invincible comic book hero. However, it's much more like Jason than Superman as Ferrus murders people left and right in this episode. Comic books are not my expertise. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a ton of in-joke references throughout the episodes, particularly pertaining to the names and the story of the comic book's creator, however, I can't be positive. I would love to watch this episode with a true comic book geek. Whenever the comic turns someone into Ferrus, like comic strips, it shows painted stills as it's transition. It's actually very cool. Ferrus is destroyed by a comic book award. It sounds so stupid to read and write out, but it's actually a very cool episode to watch. Jack was missed, but wasn't needed.
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 9 Root of All Evil Review
Root of All Evil originally aired on November 28, 1987. This is the first time Rob Heddon, who went on to direct Part VIII wrote for the franchise. I really enjoyed this episode. One annoying thing though: Mickey when showing her fiance the cursed objects, in an attempt to convince him that she needed to be there, makes reference to two cursed objects that were not given episodes. For the legacy of the series, we must assume that those happened earlier, but for lazy writing, it's incredibly annoying. The cursed object in this episode was a mulch chipper from 1937. Quite an evil device, if you feed people into it, the chipper is called the teeth of hell, money comes out. How much money a person is worth, not how good you are, literally how much money you have, will be given you if you feed people into the machine. The guy who is the majority of the episode who feeds people into it, gets fed into the machine at the end. No money comes out, only blood. At first view of this episode many years ago, I interpreted this to mean that he was so horrid he wasn't worth a dollar and that the money that came out was due to how good of a person you are, but that's not what the episode says. It's literally how much money you are worth in the bank. Mickey proposes leaving in this episode. It's very strange. Friday the 13th has never had a solid hero that you felt so attached to that you'd be heartbroken if they didn't reappear in the next entry, but with Jack, Ryan, and Mickey, it's that way. I was very upset of the prospect of Mickey leaving. Luckily she didn't. Another good episode for an extraordinary series.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 8 Shadow Boxer Review
Shadow Boxer originally aired on November 21, 1987. This was an ok episode. I'm just not a big fan of the antique. The cursed object is boxing gloves. They belonged to a famed boxer who when he won the title actually killed his opponent. He never boxed again. Killer is etched into the leather of the gloves and a shadow kills someone who mocked you earlier while you practice or actually beat up an opponent. The way to defeat it is quite simple, you shine a light at the shadow which blinds the real man and makes the shadow disappear. Having an ending after an ending however was clever. The owner of the gloves was so desperate to get them back that he was willing to kill to be something again. These are definitely self contained episodes, there's no doubt about that. This isn't a bad episode by any sense of the means, but it's not nearly as good as others have been.
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 7 Doctor Jack Review
Doctor Jack originally aired on November 9, 1987. This was another interesting episode for the series. The cursed antique in this one was a scalpel, which had been rumored to have belonged to Jack the Ripper, which could perform miracle surgeries, but only if the owner had hacked up someone else in the streets. The interesting thing is that the doctor in this episode was horrible in med school. He would never have been allowed to even perform one surgery. He, however, after finding the scalpel is able to save every single hopeless case and never lose a patient. He finds himself in the end having to save a life that he had just hours ago tried to end. This show is incredibly manipulative with your emotions, it's amazing. This is another one well worth seeing.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 6 The Great Montarro Review
The Great Montarro originally aired on November 2, 1987. This episode was a lot better than the previous episode. The antique in this one was a box that helped magicians do an impossible illusion. If someone was in the cursed box, magic would murder that person as opposed to the one in the box where stainless steel knives plunge through. All of this is quite twisted. It's great that the stakes keep getting higher with each episode putting a major character in a near death experience. Overall, this was a good episode well worth a watch.
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 5 Hellowe'en Review
Hellowe'en originally aired on October 26, 1987 and is the worst episode to date. I wouldn't call it a total wreck, it's just not as good as the previous episodes. The cursed antique in this episode was an amulet that was going to revive Uncle Lewis. A major problem is we don't learn hardly anything at all about the object, which is part of the fun of every episode. The ending one liners keep getting cornier and more annoying with each episode too. It's an all right episode, but not up to the standard that it could be.
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 4 A Cup of Time Review
A Cup of Time originally aired on October 19, 1987. This is the best episode since the first one. It's not as good as the first episode, but this episode with the makeup effects is really creepy. The antique is a tea cup that has swappers ivy panted on it. You get someone else to drink it, the ivy comes to life and chokes you. It gives you what you want. This woman Sara (or Lady Dye) wanted youth. She went around in the park killing homeless adults just so she could keep her youth. Once she looses the cup, her entire body starts to deteriorate and it is truly something to be seen. It amazes me how creepy the effects are on this show. They really took this show seriously. It's not a joke like Freddy's Nightmares was, this show deserves a lot of respect. This episode in particular dealt with temptation and how people treat it differently. Some people will do ANYTHING to get what they want, like Sara, who killed numbers of people in the park, just to stay young. While on the other hand, the old woman tries the same thing when she steals the cup, but she can't go through with it. It's an incredibly moral show. Watching people kill each other is never viewed as a good thing, a trap perhaps the movie series stepped into. I'm just always looking forward to the next episode, a great sign.
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 3 Cupid's Quiver Review
Cupid's Quiver originally aired on October 12, 1987. Yet another great episode for the series. Neither this episode nor the second episode were as creepy as the first episode, but that's ok. This episode's antique was a statue of cupid. The story goes that the ugliest man who ever lived made a statue of cupid in his own image so that all the women who denied him, he could take revenge on them. The cupid statue has the ability to control women's emotions. The women then willingly have sex with a man they clearly denied. Afterwards the woman will say 'I love you' and then the man has to kill the girl in order to please the statue. It's quite twisted and has had a history of being passed down. It amazes me how much the TV series got away with showing. Another one definitely worth viewing.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 2 The Poison Pen Review
The Poison Pen originally aired on October 5, 1987. Yet another great episode for the beginning of a wonderful television series. The antique on this episode was a quill pen that could predict the future. You could write your own future, but only if it was evil deeds. The owner of the pen wrote numerous monks deaths. It was definitely funny and interesting to see Ryan and Mickey posing as monks. The one liners at the end are incredibly cheesy though. It amazes me that this is the best the franchise has been since the original. What a wonderful TV series!
Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 1 The Inheritance Review
Jason Lives for the first time in the series did not premiere at number 1 at the box office. The disappointment led to a brief break from the movie series. Friday the 13th: The Series has no connection whatsoever to the movie series aside from the title and the producers. There is an occult theme to it with cursed antiques, which Jason Lives introduced the idea of occult to the franchise. You could consider this a continuation/variation of a theme. Many people consider Friday the 13th: The Series the original X-Files. It definitely is a strong series.
The Inheritance originally aired on September 28, 1987. We get introduced to our main trio and it takes a while as you see with many stories that have a trio. The Inheritance refers to the antique shop. Ryan and Mickey have inherited an antique shop from their Uncle Lewis, who they never met before. Uncle Lewis had made a pact with the devil that if he sold cursed antiques that would ruin peoples lives and potentially kill them that he would live forever. He dies trying to prevent that from happening again.
The cursed antique in the first episode is a doll and it's insanely creepy. The doll is pure evil with this intense little whisper. It's very different from Chucky. It's established in this episode that none of the antiques can ever be destroyed. I have a feeling that rule gets broken more than once over the course of the series. This was a wonderful episode and a great start to a very promising series.
The Inheritance originally aired on September 28, 1987. We get introduced to our main trio and it takes a while as you see with many stories that have a trio. The Inheritance refers to the antique shop. Ryan and Mickey have inherited an antique shop from their Uncle Lewis, who they never met before. Uncle Lewis had made a pact with the devil that if he sold cursed antiques that would ruin peoples lives and potentially kill them that he would live forever. He dies trying to prevent that from happening again.
The cursed antique in the first episode is a doll and it's insanely creepy. The doll is pure evil with this intense little whisper. It's very different from Chucky. It's established in this episode that none of the antiques can ever be destroyed. I have a feeling that rule gets broken more than once over the course of the series. This was a wonderful episode and a great start to a very promising series.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI Review
A New Beginning definitely was successful monetarily, but it upset a lot of fans. The producers had to move and move quickly which is exactly what they did. Jason would most definitely return in the sixth installment, but he would not be the same. Part VI marks a very interesting turn in the franchise.
As always we begin with the trailer. Actually the teaser this time. The teaser just zooms into the graveyard, goes to Jason's grave, has his tomb come up and open only to find that it's empty. The title isn't even given during the teaser. It's an odd way to advertise the film. Completely mysterious and the general public may have had no idea what was being advertised. The tagline: Kill or be killed, I just find that lame. It's an ok tagline, but it just doesn't fit the actual film.
As far as the film itself, well, it's ok. It's quite glossy and it looks nice, but it's got the weakest main characters to date and a sense of humor that feels incredibly out of place. The humor really doesn't need to be there. I'm just so indifferent about the film.
There's one cool death scene. Cort's girl gets one impressive kill in a motorhome. Also, after the motorhome is flipped over, we get an EPIC shot of Jason standing atop of the motorhome. The unfortunate reality is that by the sixth film, characters names just don't stick with you and you're kind of going through the motions just watching out of obligation as opposed to actual desire.
They made Jason stronger than he ever was before in this entry. Jason is resurrected by lightning. He becomes a member of the undead and seriously messes people up. Almost all of the deaths are impossible for a human to actually do. Zombie Jason, however, doesn't help matters much. I know the only way to make sense of Jason coming back to life was to make him a zombie, but he shouldn't even be alive in the first place according to the first movie. This franchise needs a severe logic check. Jason's no longer just a campfire story, he's practically an unstoppable monster in this film. No one can even harm him. They have to stop him by using occult means. What a weird thing to throw into this series!
Tommy's character I thought was completely ruined in this film. While it's interesting to have Tommy be the one who accidentally brings Jason back to life, after that Tommy becomes a complete bore as a character. There is no mention of his murder attempt against Pam. He's completely sane in the audience's eyes the whole film. It's just such a change from the fifth film. I know the fifth film wasn't received well by fans, but it's disrespectful to the series as a whole to ignore plot set ups in the previous film.
Megan, as a final girl, is the naughtiest girl to date. She's not really nice. She always goes against authority. We like her because she likes Tommy, but in reality there's not much to her. Her father is the sheriff, so that's new, but we've seen that before in Halloween.
The final battle is lame because the characters don't stand a chance against fighting back. Overall, this film just doesn't mesh with the other five. Whereas five had annoying characters, this film just doesn't fit in. It's different, I'll give it that, but when it comes to Friday change is never good and the audience agreed with me.
Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI was released on August 1, 1986. This film had the worst profit to that point in time. It opened up at number 2 in the box office, the first film to not open at number 1. On a budget of $3 million, the film made $19,472,057. A hefty profit to be sure, but not performing nearly as well as the previous entries. After the disappointing return of Part VI, the producers thought it was a good idea to take a break on the film series and let it rest for over a year. Where the franchise went next surprised everyone: television. How do you get Friday the 13th into a TV show...well, we'll discuss that next time.
As always we begin with the trailer. Actually the teaser this time. The teaser just zooms into the graveyard, goes to Jason's grave, has his tomb come up and open only to find that it's empty. The title isn't even given during the teaser. It's an odd way to advertise the film. Completely mysterious and the general public may have had no idea what was being advertised. The tagline: Kill or be killed, I just find that lame. It's an ok tagline, but it just doesn't fit the actual film.
As far as the film itself, well, it's ok. It's quite glossy and it looks nice, but it's got the weakest main characters to date and a sense of humor that feels incredibly out of place. The humor really doesn't need to be there. I'm just so indifferent about the film.
There's one cool death scene. Cort's girl gets one impressive kill in a motorhome. Also, after the motorhome is flipped over, we get an EPIC shot of Jason standing atop of the motorhome. The unfortunate reality is that by the sixth film, characters names just don't stick with you and you're kind of going through the motions just watching out of obligation as opposed to actual desire.
They made Jason stronger than he ever was before in this entry. Jason is resurrected by lightning. He becomes a member of the undead and seriously messes people up. Almost all of the deaths are impossible for a human to actually do. Zombie Jason, however, doesn't help matters much. I know the only way to make sense of Jason coming back to life was to make him a zombie, but he shouldn't even be alive in the first place according to the first movie. This franchise needs a severe logic check. Jason's no longer just a campfire story, he's practically an unstoppable monster in this film. No one can even harm him. They have to stop him by using occult means. What a weird thing to throw into this series!
Tommy's character I thought was completely ruined in this film. While it's interesting to have Tommy be the one who accidentally brings Jason back to life, after that Tommy becomes a complete bore as a character. There is no mention of his murder attempt against Pam. He's completely sane in the audience's eyes the whole film. It's just such a change from the fifth film. I know the fifth film wasn't received well by fans, but it's disrespectful to the series as a whole to ignore plot set ups in the previous film.
Megan, as a final girl, is the naughtiest girl to date. She's not really nice. She always goes against authority. We like her because she likes Tommy, but in reality there's not much to her. Her father is the sheriff, so that's new, but we've seen that before in Halloween.
The final battle is lame because the characters don't stand a chance against fighting back. Overall, this film just doesn't mesh with the other five. Whereas five had annoying characters, this film just doesn't fit in. It's different, I'll give it that, but when it comes to Friday change is never good and the audience agreed with me.
Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI was released on August 1, 1986. This film had the worst profit to that point in time. It opened up at number 2 in the box office, the first film to not open at number 1. On a budget of $3 million, the film made $19,472,057. A hefty profit to be sure, but not performing nearly as well as the previous entries. After the disappointing return of Part VI, the producers thought it was a good idea to take a break on the film series and let it rest for over a year. Where the franchise went next surprised everyone: television. How do you get Friday the 13th into a TV show...well, we'll discuss that next time.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning Review
Money...that's what kept this franchise alive even after a 'Final Chapter.' The producers couldn't ignore a huge profit...so they didn't. A year later they came up with a fresh take on the series. It's one of the most controversial films in the series. I think it in ways is the worst and in many ways is the best.
As always, we begin with the trailer. Again, the trailer is lackluster. However, the tagline is not: If the memory of Jason still haunts you...you're not alone. Fantastic advertising. It totally plays on the nostalgia factor to the fans, plus gains new interest.
As far as the movie itself...this is the first film in the series to have a character who survives two films. Tommy Jarvis is back and better than ever. This is the best the Tommy character will ever be: tortured, mental, quiet, aggressive, but ultimately heroic. If you're not familiar with the ending, you could possibly think that Tommy himself is the killer. The film hints the entire time that it could be Tommy who's completely delusional and doesn't even know he's killing people. That's, however, not the case.
Apart from the amazing Tommy character who seems like a character from a drama, not a Friday the 13th film, the film's characters suck. While Tommy is completely serious and troubled, the rest of the characters are jokey and over the top. If you thought the characters in the first four were over the top, wait till you see these characters! The characters in the previous sequels were bland, these are annoying!
Pam as a final girl is only impressive at the end. It's very surprising to me how little time we actually spend with our final girl, but hey, Tommy's the real star of the film. Pam is nice, older, and has a good heart. She runs the institute/halfway house that Tommy arrives at. She does everything she can to make Tommy feel at home. She encourages him to go out and escape when she takes Reggie to visit his brother. As far as the end chase. She runs a little, but she fights back with a chainsaw! This is definitely one of the most powerful final girls we've seen so far. It's really quite sad that overall her character and actress are so forgettable.
A New Beginning didn't stand a chance against the MPAA. The MPAA gave The Final Chapter a lot of leeway because they assumed it would be the final entry in the series and they'd never have to deal with Friday the 13th again. Well, a year later when a new Friday film was submitted, they butchered the edit. There is not a single death scene that remains in it's entirety in the whole film. I don't know how impressive those effects would have been, but I don't feel right about critiquing something I can't see in it's entirety. The two death scenes that are standouts are back to back. Tina and Eddie. They both have deaths to do with eyes. It's really gross to think about...it's unfortunately the only impressive kills in the whole film. That's REALLY saying something because this film has the highest death count thus far: 21.
We cannot finish this review without discussing the ending. Tommy's not the killer, but neither is Jason. It's Roy, the ambulance driver. Roy saw that his son was murdered at the hands of a fellow institutioner. He blamed the Institute and decided to kill everyone involved in it and in the surrounding areas. While I like this twist, the audience didn't. I think it goes back to the charm of the original. Who's the killer? What's the motive? It goes back to it, only this time you see a hockey masked killer and think it's Jason the entire time. Jason's never been the BIGGEST appeal to the franchise for me, so it doesn't really affect me. I like how Tommy thinks he's crazy. I like that the sheriff tries to blame it on Jason and nobody believes him. It was incredibly smart writing...possibly too smart for a Friday film? You need to give the audience what they want, a lesson that was taken from this film.
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning was released on March 22, 1985. On a budget of $2.2 million, it was number 1 at the box office on it's opening weekend. The film is a lot of fun, deep in parts, and unbelievably annoying at others. It's incredibly uneven. In total, the film made $21,930,418. The money came in for the film, but the ending really upset the fanbase. Wanting to erase that this film had a copycat killer, the producers had to think on their feet really quickly. They had to bring Jason back to life, but how...well, we'll discuss that next time.
As always, we begin with the trailer. Again, the trailer is lackluster. However, the tagline is not: If the memory of Jason still haunts you...you're not alone. Fantastic advertising. It totally plays on the nostalgia factor to the fans, plus gains new interest.
As far as the movie itself...this is the first film in the series to have a character who survives two films. Tommy Jarvis is back and better than ever. This is the best the Tommy character will ever be: tortured, mental, quiet, aggressive, but ultimately heroic. If you're not familiar with the ending, you could possibly think that Tommy himself is the killer. The film hints the entire time that it could be Tommy who's completely delusional and doesn't even know he's killing people. That's, however, not the case.
Apart from the amazing Tommy character who seems like a character from a drama, not a Friday the 13th film, the film's characters suck. While Tommy is completely serious and troubled, the rest of the characters are jokey and over the top. If you thought the characters in the first four were over the top, wait till you see these characters! The characters in the previous sequels were bland, these are annoying!
Pam as a final girl is only impressive at the end. It's very surprising to me how little time we actually spend with our final girl, but hey, Tommy's the real star of the film. Pam is nice, older, and has a good heart. She runs the institute/halfway house that Tommy arrives at. She does everything she can to make Tommy feel at home. She encourages him to go out and escape when she takes Reggie to visit his brother. As far as the end chase. She runs a little, but she fights back with a chainsaw! This is definitely one of the most powerful final girls we've seen so far. It's really quite sad that overall her character and actress are so forgettable.
A New Beginning didn't stand a chance against the MPAA. The MPAA gave The Final Chapter a lot of leeway because they assumed it would be the final entry in the series and they'd never have to deal with Friday the 13th again. Well, a year later when a new Friday film was submitted, they butchered the edit. There is not a single death scene that remains in it's entirety in the whole film. I don't know how impressive those effects would have been, but I don't feel right about critiquing something I can't see in it's entirety. The two death scenes that are standouts are back to back. Tina and Eddie. They both have deaths to do with eyes. It's really gross to think about...it's unfortunately the only impressive kills in the whole film. That's REALLY saying something because this film has the highest death count thus far: 21.
We cannot finish this review without discussing the ending. Tommy's not the killer, but neither is Jason. It's Roy, the ambulance driver. Roy saw that his son was murdered at the hands of a fellow institutioner. He blamed the Institute and decided to kill everyone involved in it and in the surrounding areas. While I like this twist, the audience didn't. I think it goes back to the charm of the original. Who's the killer? What's the motive? It goes back to it, only this time you see a hockey masked killer and think it's Jason the entire time. Jason's never been the BIGGEST appeal to the franchise for me, so it doesn't really affect me. I like how Tommy thinks he's crazy. I like that the sheriff tries to blame it on Jason and nobody believes him. It was incredibly smart writing...possibly too smart for a Friday film? You need to give the audience what they want, a lesson that was taken from this film.
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning was released on March 22, 1985. On a budget of $2.2 million, it was number 1 at the box office on it's opening weekend. The film is a lot of fun, deep in parts, and unbelievably annoying at others. It's incredibly uneven. In total, the film made $21,930,418. The money came in for the film, but the ending really upset the fanbase. Wanting to erase that this film had a copycat killer, the producers had to think on their feet really quickly. They had to bring Jason back to life, but how...well, we'll discuss that next time.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter Review
It took two years between entries, but the producers finally decided to lay Jason Voorhees to rest. The Friday the 13th series had been incredibly lucrative to Paramount pictures and they were happy with how profitable the films were, but ultimately they were embarrassed by the overtly negative critical response to them. Jason Voorhees was going to die NO MATTER WHAT!
As always we begin with the trailer. While better than Part III's trailer it is no where near as good as the trailer's for the first two films. It just kinda is a bland trailer, not bad, but definitely not good, just bland. The two taglines leave something to be desired as well: 1. Three times before you have felt the terror, known the madness, lived the horror, but this is the one you've been screaming for and 2. Friday April 13th is Jason's unlucky day. They sell the film enough, but long gone is the circus feel of the first two.
As far as the film itself, this is the best film since the original. Oh no, it's nowhere near as good as the original, but it's miles ahead of the second and third films. You can tell the producers were serious about this being the final entry because of the way the film opens. The film opens with a giant clip show recapping the first three movies. It's fantastic and definitely feels like the beginning of the end. This film reminds you in the first two minutes about everything you've loved about Friday the 13th. It's just extremely clever filmmaking.
One of the best things this film has that no other sequel had up to or since the that point is Tom Savini returning for the gore effects. The effects in this film blow the previous three films effects sky high. Savini did some fantastic work on this film. It's sad that it's nowhere near as engaging as the first film. A lot of the deaths are lackluster as well. There's more notable exceptions than the previous two sequels, however, that's not saying much. Jimmy's death (Crispin Glover) in particular is great. He gets hit twice, not usually something you see in these films. Also, Doug (the pretty boy's) death is again very clever. Jason DESTROYS his face with only using his hands. Jason's death himself is the most spectacular death in the movie as it should be. Jason gets killed with his own machete and it's over the top gory, by far the goriest death in the series up till this point. The suspense and surprise however is gone once again and almost seems like it'll never return to the series.
I have to discuss two surviving characters this time. I will always give special attention to each and every final girl, however, attention must also be given to Tommy Jarvis. Tommy's the only character to survive through multiple films. He's young and naive in this film. He's also unbelievably talented with mask making, a skill he uses to outsmart Jason in the end. He turns his head into a mask looking like Jason as a little boy. This undoubtedly confuses Jason. As far as that though, there's not much else to discuss about him in the first appearance. Trish, on the other hand, has the least amount of character to her of any final girl yet. I really liked the actress though. She, aside from Alice, suffers the most. She's protective, succumbs to peer pressure, but ultimately is self-sacrificial when fighting Jason to try to create a chance for Tommy to live. She falls out of a second story window and still has to get up and fight Jason. It's really quite impressive.
In order to end the franchise, the producers decided to begin the day after the events of Part III and then the final murder spree occurs the following day. Having Jason go on such a huge rampage in such a short amount of time is both smart and horrifying to think about. The final shot of the movie Tommy stares intensely into the camera and we are led to believe that Tommy could become the next Jason. Halloween stole these elements in later sequels in that series. Overall, this is a great sequel, but has no shock value like the first two.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter was released on April Friday the 13th, 1984. It was number 1 at the box office on it's opening weekend. On a budget of $2.6 million, the film made $32,980,000. A profit margin that large does not get easily overlooked by the studios and within a year a fifth film was in the works, but with Jason dead, how were the producers going to reinvent the franchise? Well...we'll discuss that next time.
As always we begin with the trailer. While better than Part III's trailer it is no where near as good as the trailer's for the first two films. It just kinda is a bland trailer, not bad, but definitely not good, just bland. The two taglines leave something to be desired as well: 1. Three times before you have felt the terror, known the madness, lived the horror, but this is the one you've been screaming for and 2. Friday April 13th is Jason's unlucky day. They sell the film enough, but long gone is the circus feel of the first two.
As far as the film itself, this is the best film since the original. Oh no, it's nowhere near as good as the original, but it's miles ahead of the second and third films. You can tell the producers were serious about this being the final entry because of the way the film opens. The film opens with a giant clip show recapping the first three movies. It's fantastic and definitely feels like the beginning of the end. This film reminds you in the first two minutes about everything you've loved about Friday the 13th. It's just extremely clever filmmaking.
One of the best things this film has that no other sequel had up to or since the that point is Tom Savini returning for the gore effects. The effects in this film blow the previous three films effects sky high. Savini did some fantastic work on this film. It's sad that it's nowhere near as engaging as the first film. A lot of the deaths are lackluster as well. There's more notable exceptions than the previous two sequels, however, that's not saying much. Jimmy's death (Crispin Glover) in particular is great. He gets hit twice, not usually something you see in these films. Also, Doug (the pretty boy's) death is again very clever. Jason DESTROYS his face with only using his hands. Jason's death himself is the most spectacular death in the movie as it should be. Jason gets killed with his own machete and it's over the top gory, by far the goriest death in the series up till this point. The suspense and surprise however is gone once again and almost seems like it'll never return to the series.
I have to discuss two surviving characters this time. I will always give special attention to each and every final girl, however, attention must also be given to Tommy Jarvis. Tommy's the only character to survive through multiple films. He's young and naive in this film. He's also unbelievably talented with mask making, a skill he uses to outsmart Jason in the end. He turns his head into a mask looking like Jason as a little boy. This undoubtedly confuses Jason. As far as that though, there's not much else to discuss about him in the first appearance. Trish, on the other hand, has the least amount of character to her of any final girl yet. I really liked the actress though. She, aside from Alice, suffers the most. She's protective, succumbs to peer pressure, but ultimately is self-sacrificial when fighting Jason to try to create a chance for Tommy to live. She falls out of a second story window and still has to get up and fight Jason. It's really quite impressive.
In order to end the franchise, the producers decided to begin the day after the events of Part III and then the final murder spree occurs the following day. Having Jason go on such a huge rampage in such a short amount of time is both smart and horrifying to think about. The final shot of the movie Tommy stares intensely into the camera and we are led to believe that Tommy could become the next Jason. Halloween stole these elements in later sequels in that series. Overall, this is a great sequel, but has no shock value like the first two.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter was released on April Friday the 13th, 1984. It was number 1 at the box office on it's opening weekend. On a budget of $2.6 million, the film made $32,980,000. A profit margin that large does not get easily overlooked by the studios and within a year a fifth film was in the works, but with Jason dead, how were the producers going to reinvent the franchise? Well...we'll discuss that next time.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Friday the 13th Part III Review
There were many different ideas about where to take Part III. One of the initial ideas was to follow Ginny and see how the first night with Jason had so deeply affected her, which would have made for a fantastic Part III (much better than what we have right here), however that is not the direction the producers chose because they felt it wouldn't give the fans what they wanted. A good assumption too. The producers were happy with the first two films and decided it might be time to close out the franchise as a trilogy. I don't know if Part III wasn't the way it is now if we would still be discussing Friday the 13th today. In many ways, apart from the original, this is the most important entry in the entire franchise. However, it is also one of the poorest films in the franchise as well.
Concerning the trailer...it just sucked. I'm sorry it was by far the worst trailer of the first three. They did count again...at the end and it was just so fast. The trailer also promised something that was impossible that the film would scare you, they even told us to count on it! Wow...the tagline for the film itself is also very weak: a new dimension in terror. Oddly enough, I think JAWS 3D stole this tagline...strange. The trailer focuses on the 3D element to Part III way too much and doesn't let the movie sell itself.
What is good about Part III, or at least what is interesting is that it shows us how Jason survived and is literally a day after the events of Part 2. If Part 2 took place on Friday the 13th, this film took place on Saturday the 14th. Having such a short time in the timeline between films with such different stories shows the depth and scope of the impact of the Jason character, but more on that in later entries.
Chris, as a heroine, is another fine entry for the series. Chris had a previous run in with Jason and she fought him off both times! She blacked out the first time, but the second time, she put an axe into his head! She's the first heroine to be haunted the entire film. She pays attention and is easily jumpy the whole time. This is much like the survivors in the Halloween series. This is quite new for Friday the 13th, I don't know if I like it or not, but it's different at least. I love Chris's back story with Jason. It's fantastic! It's one of the few events we hear about what Jason did between killing Alice and killing the second batch of campers at the counselor training center. The unfortunate reality is that Dana Kimmell, the lead in the film, is the weakest actress of the three so far. She did a lot of other stuff, however, she doesn't seem quite right for a horror film. She's got a great scream, but doesn't seem natural in a role like this.
As far as the 3D goes, I didn't watch the 3D version this time. I have watched the red/blue 3D before and it was great to see somewhat what it was supposed to look like. However, that's not the original 3D it had and I didn't feel like watching a desaturated version of the film this time. I hope to see it in a screening with the original 3D at some point in my life, but only time will tell.
The hockey mask. I know, I know this is HUGE for this series of films. The hockey mask was the smartest decision any of the crew members ever made on any of their previous films. It created a movie monster and is now irrevocably iconic. I love the fact that Jason steals it from a victim. I, however, do not like the way that Shelly dies. It seems too dull.
This is a major problem with this movie. Although, it's incredibly well paced, much more so than Part 2 was, the death scenes are immensely boring and predictable in this one. Far gone is the shock value to the deaths of the first film. What we have in its place is a bunch of nods to the first film that come across and cheap knock offs. Particularly the ending. The end 'jump' scare, if it's even worthy of being called that...sucks. There's no way around how horrible that jump scare scene is. Mrs. Voorhee's comes up way too slow and the slow mo doesn't work when it's not sudden and then slowed down, like the first two.
There are 4 good death scenes I can think of out of a total of 12 kills in the movie. The first one is Andy's death. Cutting him in half is more graphic than any of the other two films. It's a great scene and discovering his body works nicely too. Vera's death is iconic, solely for the fact that it's the first death where Jason wears the hockey mask. It works every time for me. It's just that cool. Chili's death with the poker, again great idea and execution. Finally, Rick's death, the ejecting eye, fantastic. I can't even imagine how audiences would have reacted in the theater initially to that scene.
Overall, Friday the 13th Part III is a very poor film without the original 3D element to view it in. Yes, it does add the hockey mask into the equation, but overall, it's not nearly as affective as the first two. The chase is ok, but nothing great. Just a disappointing film altogether.
Friday the 13th Part III was released on August, Friday the 13th, 1982. It was ranked number 1 at the box office it's opening weekend. The film was rereleased on May, Friday the 13th, 1983. On a budget of $2.5 million, the film made $36,690,067. With such a huge profit margin, the trilogy idea was tossed out the window. The producers wanted to put the final nail in the Friday the 13th coffin and kill Jason off for GOOD! How they went about it, well, we'll discuss that next time.
Concerning the trailer...it just sucked. I'm sorry it was by far the worst trailer of the first three. They did count again...at the end and it was just so fast. The trailer also promised something that was impossible that the film would scare you, they even told us to count on it! Wow...the tagline for the film itself is also very weak: a new dimension in terror. Oddly enough, I think JAWS 3D stole this tagline...strange. The trailer focuses on the 3D element to Part III way too much and doesn't let the movie sell itself.
What is good about Part III, or at least what is interesting is that it shows us how Jason survived and is literally a day after the events of Part 2. If Part 2 took place on Friday the 13th, this film took place on Saturday the 14th. Having such a short time in the timeline between films with such different stories shows the depth and scope of the impact of the Jason character, but more on that in later entries.
Chris, as a heroine, is another fine entry for the series. Chris had a previous run in with Jason and she fought him off both times! She blacked out the first time, but the second time, she put an axe into his head! She's the first heroine to be haunted the entire film. She pays attention and is easily jumpy the whole time. This is much like the survivors in the Halloween series. This is quite new for Friday the 13th, I don't know if I like it or not, but it's different at least. I love Chris's back story with Jason. It's fantastic! It's one of the few events we hear about what Jason did between killing Alice and killing the second batch of campers at the counselor training center. The unfortunate reality is that Dana Kimmell, the lead in the film, is the weakest actress of the three so far. She did a lot of other stuff, however, she doesn't seem quite right for a horror film. She's got a great scream, but doesn't seem natural in a role like this.
As far as the 3D goes, I didn't watch the 3D version this time. I have watched the red/blue 3D before and it was great to see somewhat what it was supposed to look like. However, that's not the original 3D it had and I didn't feel like watching a desaturated version of the film this time. I hope to see it in a screening with the original 3D at some point in my life, but only time will tell.
The hockey mask. I know, I know this is HUGE for this series of films. The hockey mask was the smartest decision any of the crew members ever made on any of their previous films. It created a movie monster and is now irrevocably iconic. I love the fact that Jason steals it from a victim. I, however, do not like the way that Shelly dies. It seems too dull.
This is a major problem with this movie. Although, it's incredibly well paced, much more so than Part 2 was, the death scenes are immensely boring and predictable in this one. Far gone is the shock value to the deaths of the first film. What we have in its place is a bunch of nods to the first film that come across and cheap knock offs. Particularly the ending. The end 'jump' scare, if it's even worthy of being called that...sucks. There's no way around how horrible that jump scare scene is. Mrs. Voorhee's comes up way too slow and the slow mo doesn't work when it's not sudden and then slowed down, like the first two.
There are 4 good death scenes I can think of out of a total of 12 kills in the movie. The first one is Andy's death. Cutting him in half is more graphic than any of the other two films. It's a great scene and discovering his body works nicely too. Vera's death is iconic, solely for the fact that it's the first death where Jason wears the hockey mask. It works every time for me. It's just that cool. Chili's death with the poker, again great idea and execution. Finally, Rick's death, the ejecting eye, fantastic. I can't even imagine how audiences would have reacted in the theater initially to that scene.
Overall, Friday the 13th Part III is a very poor film without the original 3D element to view it in. Yes, it does add the hockey mask into the equation, but overall, it's not nearly as affective as the first two. The chase is ok, but nothing great. Just a disappointing film altogether.
Friday the 13th Part III was released on August, Friday the 13th, 1982. It was ranked number 1 at the box office it's opening weekend. The film was rereleased on May, Friday the 13th, 1983. On a budget of $2.5 million, the film made $36,690,067. With such a huge profit margin, the trilogy idea was tossed out the window. The producers wanted to put the final nail in the Friday the 13th coffin and kill Jason off for GOOD! How they went about it, well, we'll discuss that next time.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Friday the 13th Part 2 Review
The sequel to Friday the 13th went through various development stages. The initial thought was to do a different horror story every year, an anthology of sorts of Friday the 13th. Sound familiar? It should. John Carpenter attempted the same thing with his Halloween series, only later on. However, that option got turned down and the studio decided to make a film where Jason, the little boy who drowned who was the cause of Mrs. Voorhees motive, the killer.
As always, let's begin with the marketing. Yet again, the marketing for Part 2 is phenomenal. It's another body count, but this time it picks up from 14-23. Ingenious yet again. The taglines for the movie are genius as well: 1. The body count continues... and 2. The day you count on for terror is NOT over. I prefer the first tagline again. It's unashamed of what type of movie it is, fully embracing that these are body count movies with little character development.
As for the film itself, well...let's start with the good. They set up Jason as a menacing and powerful villain very smartly. Alice, the soul survivor of the film gets killed off in the prologue. This instantly signifies that whoever killed her is more powerful and dangerous than Mrs. Voorhees ever was. This killer was able to outsmart Alice! Also killing off Crazy Ralph, the prophet of doom in the first film, is another clever move. He tells the new counselors they're in danger, they don't believe him. He goes to the camp to warn them yet again, just like he did in the first film, but only this time...he doesn't leave the campsite alive. Another symbolic moment that shows how powerful Jason truly is.
Ginny as a heroine is once again a fantastic heroine. She's by far the smartest heroine of the entire series. She's a grad student studying child psych. Ginny, unlike Alice, doesn't seem to fit in nearly as well with the other counselors. She attempts to make a joke, but nobody finds it funny. She's second in command and has Paul's undivided attention, but that doesn't mean she's chummy with the rest of the counselors. She uses child psychology in the end to ultimately escape Jason as well. Another brilliant move by the filmmakers. It shows again just how powerful Jason is, while Alice beheaded Mrs. Voorhees, Ginny just barely escapes. She gives a fantastic fight, and ultimately she's rewarded with her life by escaping, but she didn't destroy Jason.
Now, onto the bad and trust me, there's loads. Having Jason truly be alive makes no sense at all. I get trying to make Jason an urban legend. That's way cool, the campfire scene was great fun in setting that up, however...the first film was so grounded in reality, almost a documentary of the day in those teens lives, that it's very jarring to go from very realistic to mythic proportions.
Another sad thing concerning Part 2 is the pacing of the film itself. The film has no sense of characterization or timing. Whereas the first film timed out each and every kill very carefully, the second film kills off a majority of their cast within a 15 minute time frame. That's way too fast! There's too much time before the counselors get knocked off and when they do, it happens way too quickly. The death scenes also leave a lot to be desired. However, I do not blame this on Carl Fullerton who took over for Tom Savini. I blame this on the MPAA who cut nearly a minute of footage that would have made all the effects 10 times better, but as it is, it's incredibly jumpy and unimpressive. The two standout deaths though, the only two I should add, are the deaths of Mark and Vickie. Mark's death is so shocking. I remember being thrown to the back of my seat in shock the first time I viewed the film! Having a guy in a wheelchair wheel down a flight of stairs moments after he's been killed, it's very twisted. Also, Vickie's death is a standout because she saw it coming and it was very slow and drawn out in comparison to the other kills, truly haunting.
Half of the cast disappears to go drinking. This is simply a ploy to get a few counselors alone at the camp and it happens way too late in the film to redeem such a large casting choice to begin with. Flashing back to the first film so much really shows the film's age as well. I get that understanding the first film is crucial to understanding Jason's motivation (revenge for the death of his mother and protection of his woods), but it's like five minutes of the film. They really did not need to flashback to everything. I'd be interested to see how they would do Part 2 today.
Friday the 13th Part 2 was released on May 1, 1981. The first sequel of any horror franchise, yes even before Halloween II. This film really started the sequel craze of the slasher genre and for that I owe it a lot as it's a genre that I love. On a budget of $1.25 million, the film opened #1 at the box office on it's first weekend. The film made a total of $21,722,776. Not a bad profit.
Friday the 13th Part 2 was nowhere near as solid of a film as the original movie was and the general audience agreed with me. Part 2 did not make nearly as much money as it's predecessor did. However, it made a profit that could not be ignored. A second sequel was just around the corner, but how could they keep the audiences interested? We'll discuss a new approach and a decision that changed the course of the entire series next time.
As always, let's begin with the marketing. Yet again, the marketing for Part 2 is phenomenal. It's another body count, but this time it picks up from 14-23. Ingenious yet again. The taglines for the movie are genius as well: 1. The body count continues... and 2. The day you count on for terror is NOT over. I prefer the first tagline again. It's unashamed of what type of movie it is, fully embracing that these are body count movies with little character development.
As for the film itself, well...let's start with the good. They set up Jason as a menacing and powerful villain very smartly. Alice, the soul survivor of the film gets killed off in the prologue. This instantly signifies that whoever killed her is more powerful and dangerous than Mrs. Voorhees ever was. This killer was able to outsmart Alice! Also killing off Crazy Ralph, the prophet of doom in the first film, is another clever move. He tells the new counselors they're in danger, they don't believe him. He goes to the camp to warn them yet again, just like he did in the first film, but only this time...he doesn't leave the campsite alive. Another symbolic moment that shows how powerful Jason truly is.
Ginny as a heroine is once again a fantastic heroine. She's by far the smartest heroine of the entire series. She's a grad student studying child psych. Ginny, unlike Alice, doesn't seem to fit in nearly as well with the other counselors. She attempts to make a joke, but nobody finds it funny. She's second in command and has Paul's undivided attention, but that doesn't mean she's chummy with the rest of the counselors. She uses child psychology in the end to ultimately escape Jason as well. Another brilliant move by the filmmakers. It shows again just how powerful Jason is, while Alice beheaded Mrs. Voorhees, Ginny just barely escapes. She gives a fantastic fight, and ultimately she's rewarded with her life by escaping, but she didn't destroy Jason.
Now, onto the bad and trust me, there's loads. Having Jason truly be alive makes no sense at all. I get trying to make Jason an urban legend. That's way cool, the campfire scene was great fun in setting that up, however...the first film was so grounded in reality, almost a documentary of the day in those teens lives, that it's very jarring to go from very realistic to mythic proportions.
Another sad thing concerning Part 2 is the pacing of the film itself. The film has no sense of characterization or timing. Whereas the first film timed out each and every kill very carefully, the second film kills off a majority of their cast within a 15 minute time frame. That's way too fast! There's too much time before the counselors get knocked off and when they do, it happens way too quickly. The death scenes also leave a lot to be desired. However, I do not blame this on Carl Fullerton who took over for Tom Savini. I blame this on the MPAA who cut nearly a minute of footage that would have made all the effects 10 times better, but as it is, it's incredibly jumpy and unimpressive. The two standout deaths though, the only two I should add, are the deaths of Mark and Vickie. Mark's death is so shocking. I remember being thrown to the back of my seat in shock the first time I viewed the film! Having a guy in a wheelchair wheel down a flight of stairs moments after he's been killed, it's very twisted. Also, Vickie's death is a standout because she saw it coming and it was very slow and drawn out in comparison to the other kills, truly haunting.
Half of the cast disappears to go drinking. This is simply a ploy to get a few counselors alone at the camp and it happens way too late in the film to redeem such a large casting choice to begin with. Flashing back to the first film so much really shows the film's age as well. I get that understanding the first film is crucial to understanding Jason's motivation (revenge for the death of his mother and protection of his woods), but it's like five minutes of the film. They really did not need to flashback to everything. I'd be interested to see how they would do Part 2 today.
Friday the 13th Part 2 was released on May 1, 1981. The first sequel of any horror franchise, yes even before Halloween II. This film really started the sequel craze of the slasher genre and for that I owe it a lot as it's a genre that I love. On a budget of $1.25 million, the film opened #1 at the box office on it's first weekend. The film made a total of $21,722,776. Not a bad profit.
Friday the 13th Part 2 was nowhere near as solid of a film as the original movie was and the general audience agreed with me. Part 2 did not make nearly as much money as it's predecessor did. However, it made a profit that could not be ignored. A second sequel was just around the corner, but how could they keep the audiences interested? We'll discuss a new approach and a decision that changed the course of the entire series next time.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Friday the 13th Review
Friday the 13th...what can I say that hasn't already been said? A movie made as a potboiler to keep the lights on spawned an unprecedented 9 sequels, 1 spin off, 3 seasons of television, and a remake. Wow! What a phenomenal franchise. It boggles my mind every time I think about it just how successful the Friday franchise truly is. Before we dive into the classic original, a personal favorite of mine, there's a little disclaimer: I am reviewing first the theatrical cuts of all the Fridays as well as all the episodes of all the TV series, then I will go back and review the uncut versions that are available: 1, 9, and the remake. Keep in mind: the theatrical cut of Friday the 13th is very hard to find today. The only way to find the actual theatrical cut (not the uncut or the bizarre hybrid cut on the original DVD release) is to buy the From Crystal Lake to Manhattan DVD box set. And now, let us begin into one extraordinary franchise!
As always, we begin with the trailer. I thought the marketing to this film was genius. It was marketed as a circus show, just one circus with a body count. The trailer counts the scary moments from 1-12. It's so smart...however, the trailer spoils a lot of the movie's scares which is the only downside to the trailer. It may be best to view the trailer after having seen the film. The tagline I thought was very clever as well. There were three that I know of: 1. They were warned... They are doomed... And on Friday the 13th, nothing will save them. 2. A 24 hour nightmare of terror. and 3. You may only see it once...but that will be enough. All clever taglines, but the best and most known by far is the first one. Now onto the film itself.
This film is phenomenal. I think it's one of the quintessential horror films of the past century. This film has been analyzed to death and I'm about to give a detailed analysis about why it works on multiple levels. The death scenes are spectacular. Each and every death scene is special. Standouts include: Annie's death (anyone notice how the first teen to die in both Halloween and Friday the 13th is named Annie and they both get their throats slashed?), Jack's (Kevin Bacon) death (all attention goes up, yet the attack comes from beneath, ingenious filmmaking), and Bill's death which appears offscreen (arrows hold him up behind a door and his throat has been slashed, one can only imagine how the killer toyed with him while he died).
The killer is outstanding! Having a female killer is so striking in today's horror and this was 1980, completely trendsetting. Her motive makes a lot of sense too. Mrs. Voorhees son Jason (we'll get to the whether he's dead or alive debate next film) drowned because two counselors were making love. She blamed the counselors for the death of her son and did everything in her power to prevent other children from dying whether it be by poisoning the water, starting fires, or as in the film itself killing the counselors. The final battle is also the best I've seen out of all of horror film cinema. Whereas Jamie Lee just barely escapes in Halloween, Alice beheads the killer in Friday!
Alice is a fantastic lead heroine. She's smart resourceful, but not completely on the outskirts. She smokes pot with her peers at one point and seems to get along well with all of them. When pressured into an intense situation, she doesn't cry and wimper, she fights back. She is by far, the best heroine in the franchise. She wins in the end. Mrs. Voorhees never came back.
The music works on multiple levels too. I've never heard a more calming end credit tune. The scary music is only played when the actual killer is present. This is unique and different from any other slasher film including this film's sequels. There's no false scares musically, a bold and wonderful idea from Harry Manfredini.
The other characters aside from Alice the heroine and Mrs. Voorhees leave something to be desired. Ned is annoying as crap, Brenda's forgettable, Annie seems TOO nice, and Jack and Marci are just a typical high school couple. Steve though, he's such a jerk and I love him for that. He gets all the teens to do his dirty work while he pigs out in a diner. HAHAHA, what an awesome character!
No review of Friday the 13th would be complete without mentioning the spectacular gore effects of Tom Savini. He was truly an innovator of the genre and he's gotten credit where credit is due. One could argue they are the true star of the film. I think that's true on a lot of Savini's films, but not on Friday. Friday was so special on multiple levels.
As you can tell, I LOVE this film and Paramount did too. They picked up an independent film and gave it a national (1,000 theater) release. This had been unheard of at that time and it ultimately paid off. Friday the 13th was released on May 9, 1980. On a budget of $550,000, the film was #1 at the box office during it's first weekend. The film made a total of $39,754,601 domestically or $117,917,391 in adjusted 2009 dollars. What an extraordinary success. This film is wonderful and should be on every horror fan's MUST SEE list. As far as making a sequel to a film where your main villain is killed off in the first film's ending...well, we'll get to that next time.
As always, we begin with the trailer. I thought the marketing to this film was genius. It was marketed as a circus show, just one circus with a body count. The trailer counts the scary moments from 1-12. It's so smart...however, the trailer spoils a lot of the movie's scares which is the only downside to the trailer. It may be best to view the trailer after having seen the film. The tagline I thought was very clever as well. There were three that I know of: 1. They were warned... They are doomed... And on Friday the 13th, nothing will save them. 2. A 24 hour nightmare of terror. and 3. You may only see it once...but that will be enough. All clever taglines, but the best and most known by far is the first one. Now onto the film itself.
This film is phenomenal. I think it's one of the quintessential horror films of the past century. This film has been analyzed to death and I'm about to give a detailed analysis about why it works on multiple levels. The death scenes are spectacular. Each and every death scene is special. Standouts include: Annie's death (anyone notice how the first teen to die in both Halloween and Friday the 13th is named Annie and they both get their throats slashed?), Jack's (Kevin Bacon) death (all attention goes up, yet the attack comes from beneath, ingenious filmmaking), and Bill's death which appears offscreen (arrows hold him up behind a door and his throat has been slashed, one can only imagine how the killer toyed with him while he died).
The killer is outstanding! Having a female killer is so striking in today's horror and this was 1980, completely trendsetting. Her motive makes a lot of sense too. Mrs. Voorhees son Jason (we'll get to the whether he's dead or alive debate next film) drowned because two counselors were making love. She blamed the counselors for the death of her son and did everything in her power to prevent other children from dying whether it be by poisoning the water, starting fires, or as in the film itself killing the counselors. The final battle is also the best I've seen out of all of horror film cinema. Whereas Jamie Lee just barely escapes in Halloween, Alice beheads the killer in Friday!
Alice is a fantastic lead heroine. She's smart resourceful, but not completely on the outskirts. She smokes pot with her peers at one point and seems to get along well with all of them. When pressured into an intense situation, she doesn't cry and wimper, she fights back. She is by far, the best heroine in the franchise. She wins in the end. Mrs. Voorhees never came back.
The music works on multiple levels too. I've never heard a more calming end credit tune. The scary music is only played when the actual killer is present. This is unique and different from any other slasher film including this film's sequels. There's no false scares musically, a bold and wonderful idea from Harry Manfredini.
The other characters aside from Alice the heroine and Mrs. Voorhees leave something to be desired. Ned is annoying as crap, Brenda's forgettable, Annie seems TOO nice, and Jack and Marci are just a typical high school couple. Steve though, he's such a jerk and I love him for that. He gets all the teens to do his dirty work while he pigs out in a diner. HAHAHA, what an awesome character!
No review of Friday the 13th would be complete without mentioning the spectacular gore effects of Tom Savini. He was truly an innovator of the genre and he's gotten credit where credit is due. One could argue they are the true star of the film. I think that's true on a lot of Savini's films, but not on Friday. Friday was so special on multiple levels.
As you can tell, I LOVE this film and Paramount did too. They picked up an independent film and gave it a national (1,000 theater) release. This had been unheard of at that time and it ultimately paid off. Friday the 13th was released on May 9, 1980. On a budget of $550,000, the film was #1 at the box office during it's first weekend. The film made a total of $39,754,601 domestically or $117,917,391 in adjusted 2009 dollars. What an extraordinary success. This film is wonderful and should be on every horror fan's MUST SEE list. As far as making a sequel to a film where your main villain is killed off in the first film's ending...well, we'll get to that next time.
Tremors: Franchise Overview
Since January I've watched everything Tremors and I am so over this series it is not even funny. The first movie didn't warrant a sequel, the second one was great, the third one was crap, the TV series was above average, and the fourth one was boring. My goodness, I can't believe how much time this year was dedicated to Tremors for me.
In all honesty, I did enjoy it for the most part, even suffering through some lame entries was fun because I've been a fan of the first one for nearly 10 years now. I had never seen the TV series before and I enjoyed the heck out of that seeing it for the first time.
I am very indebted to Michael Gross for continually coming back to this franchise, even if he was over the top and annoying at times. Fans love a loyal actor and Michael was one of the most loyal I've ever seen. He didn't appear in two TV series episodes, but that's ok. He was busy filming the fourth movie by that point in time. I am also indebted to S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock for keeping the franchise alive as long as they have and for continually sticking with it and believing in their product. Again, loyalty plays a factor.
Tremors, the entire franchise reminds me of my childhood. I do not nearly appreciate it or love it as much as I did when I was a kid, but I think the series will always hold a special place in my heart. My thanks to my readers out there who stuck with me through the entire franchise...you guys ROCK!
Next franchise review: FRIDAY THE 13TH!
In all honesty, I did enjoy it for the most part, even suffering through some lame entries was fun because I've been a fan of the first one for nearly 10 years now. I had never seen the TV series before and I enjoyed the heck out of that seeing it for the first time.
I am very indebted to Michael Gross for continually coming back to this franchise, even if he was over the top and annoying at times. Fans love a loyal actor and Michael was one of the most loyal I've ever seen. He didn't appear in two TV series episodes, but that's ok. He was busy filming the fourth movie by that point in time. I am also indebted to S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock for keeping the franchise alive as long as they have and for continually sticking with it and believing in their product. Again, loyalty plays a factor.
Tremors, the entire franchise reminds me of my childhood. I do not nearly appreciate it or love it as much as I did when I was a kid, but I think the series will always hold a special place in my heart. My thanks to my readers out there who stuck with me through the entire franchise...you guys ROCK!
Next franchise review: FRIDAY THE 13TH!
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins Review
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins premiered on the Sci-fi channel on January 2, 2004. As always, we begin with how the movie was advertised. The trailer to this film was a vast improvement on the Tremors 3 trailer, however that does not mean it was a good trailer. The narrator is very distracting. It's demanding menace from the vocal actor as opposed to the visuals that are actually shown.
As for the film itself, it's a lot better than Tremors 3, I'll give it that. The character development ROCKS in this film. Watching Michael Gross take Burt's great-grandfather from a man who can barely stand up for himself to being the gun loving man we know in Burt was fascinating and it was all to save his friends. What an accomplishment! For the first time, it seems like the main character has an ark. You can argue that Val has an arc in Tremors, but it's definitely not as profound or big as Hiram's in Tremors 4.
We're back to primarily puppetry, which is a vast improvement over Tremors 3 and the TV series as well. Puppetry makes movies like this. I can almost guarantee that it's much easier to forgive an outdated anamatronic creature that's physically there on set than to forgive outdated CGI. Think about it: compare the effects in Jaws compared to Jurassic Park. Case and point. The other great thing about going back to primarily puppetry is that the franchise owners actually listen to their fans...imagine that.
Now for the negative: trying to make the grabboid scary again is a very hard task. That creature has been so overexposed it's unbelievable. The TV series didn't help it's scare factor either. This film does an admirable job, but it doesn't quite make the cut. Also, a major problem for the film, aside from Burt not too many other characters actually change. The film's biggest offense is that it's an incredibly boring watch. The focus on the main character puts less focus on the creature. The fact that we know about the creature and how to defeat it and that we have to sit and watch these characters rediscover it, it just doesn't flow for a series like Tremors that was so much smarter in their first two entries.
Here's another major problem: the actors on the making of say that this is the first graboids. That completely contradicts what was set up in the second film saying that they were Precambrian, or thousands of years old. Wow, great job writers! Another problem is that there's no surprises in this film aside from how Hiram acts and that gets old very quick.
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins got better reviews than the third movie, but it wasn't successful enough to warrant another entry. To date, this is the final entry in the Tremors franchise. There for a while was to be a rumored fifth installment, but that died. Stampede Entertainment, the makers of the films even took down the IMDB page of it.
This final film is ok, better characterization, worse creature feature. It depends on what your cup of tea is ultimately. If I wasn't a die hard, I would stop after the second film.
As for the film itself, it's a lot better than Tremors 3, I'll give it that. The character development ROCKS in this film. Watching Michael Gross take Burt's great-grandfather from a man who can barely stand up for himself to being the gun loving man we know in Burt was fascinating and it was all to save his friends. What an accomplishment! For the first time, it seems like the main character has an ark. You can argue that Val has an arc in Tremors, but it's definitely not as profound or big as Hiram's in Tremors 4.
We're back to primarily puppetry, which is a vast improvement over Tremors 3 and the TV series as well. Puppetry makes movies like this. I can almost guarantee that it's much easier to forgive an outdated anamatronic creature that's physically there on set than to forgive outdated CGI. Think about it: compare the effects in Jaws compared to Jurassic Park. Case and point. The other great thing about going back to primarily puppetry is that the franchise owners actually listen to their fans...imagine that.
Now for the negative: trying to make the grabboid scary again is a very hard task. That creature has been so overexposed it's unbelievable. The TV series didn't help it's scare factor either. This film does an admirable job, but it doesn't quite make the cut. Also, a major problem for the film, aside from Burt not too many other characters actually change. The film's biggest offense is that it's an incredibly boring watch. The focus on the main character puts less focus on the creature. The fact that we know about the creature and how to defeat it and that we have to sit and watch these characters rediscover it, it just doesn't flow for a series like Tremors that was so much smarter in their first two entries.
Here's another major problem: the actors on the making of say that this is the first graboids. That completely contradicts what was set up in the second film saying that they were Precambrian, or thousands of years old. Wow, great job writers! Another problem is that there's no surprises in this film aside from how Hiram acts and that gets old very quick.
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins got better reviews than the third movie, but it wasn't successful enough to warrant another entry. To date, this is the final entry in the Tremors franchise. There for a while was to be a rumored fifth installment, but that died. Stampede Entertainment, the makers of the films even took down the IMDB page of it.
This final film is ok, better characterization, worse creature feature. It depends on what your cup of tea is ultimately. If I wasn't a die hard, I would stop after the second film.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Tremors: The TV Series Overview
Tremors: The Series aired their episodes incredibly out of order. The episodes were aired like this: 1, 6, 7, 3, 9, 4, 8, 5, 10, 12, 13, 11, and finally 2. This screwed all the chances of the TV show ever succeeding. It was truly a nice addition and continuation to the first three movies. The TV series aired from March 28,2003 to August 8, 2003. The series laid dormant for a number of years, but then finally after a lot of patience from fans, the studio brought the TV series out on DVD. The DVD was released on March 9, 2010. It was also the first time that the series was presented in it's proper episode order, a true plus for fans. For Tremors fans, the truest collector's item to find has been the 13 episode TV series and now finally people can experience it the way it was meant to be seen. Tremors: The Series was short lived, only because the Sci-Fi channel aired the episodes out of order, truly a shame. Fans should be rejoicing for now the complete Tremors phenomenon is available to own!
Tremors: The Key Review
The Key originally aired on July 25, 2003. I was really torn with this episode before I watched it. I was psyched that the TV show was coming to a close, but I also felt really sad. This was the last time I would ever watch something Tremors related for the first time. It was a weird experience. Michael Gross again isn't in this episode. What's especially interesting about the series finale is how many questions are left unanswered: what was the bat like creature in this episode, what will Larry do with the key to the $20 million, will they ever find the lab, and how many more mutations could there possibly be in Perfection? It was bittersweet. I was so ready for it to end and I'm very glad that I finally got around to watching the TV series.
Tremors: The Sounds of Silence Review
The Sounds of Silence originally aired on July 18, 2003. Another new creature is introduced in this episode and it's nasty. A bug infestation is really scary and creepy to me. Also, the huge explosion at the end, it's the best thing we've seen since the end of Tremors II: Aftershocks. This is the first Tremors thing to not include Michael Gross. It was very strange, but oddly enough the episode worked fine without him, hahaha. It's a little jarring not having Burt, but refreshing in the same way.
Tremors: Water Hazard Review
Water Hazard originally aired on August 1, 2003. This episode added yet another new creature. It was a little odd that the creature was a dinosaur shrimp thing, but hey, what else could be new in Perfection? This episode was a great watch though. What was bad, however, was the camerawork during the attacks. It was so confusing and jumbled. It was just bad. It may have been meant to be like that, but I just don't like that kind of camerawork.
Tremors: Graboid Rights Review
Graboid Rights originally aired on July 11, 2003. It's always interesting to see old characters return. It's always a joy to see what the writers are going to do with Mindy. How she's grown from being a small child to a college activist, it's amazing. She's become one of the smartest characters they've ever written. I did find it strange that Nancy felt sorrow if the graboid died. I found it odd from all of them. They wanted all of the graboids to die at the end of the first one. Have they forgotten how dangerous these creatures are??? This was an ok episode. I mean, it did add to the Mindy character, but it's still nothing great.
Tremors: Flora or Fauna Review
Flora or Fauna originally aired on April 18, 2003. This episode did add something else to the Tremors mythos. It amazes me how much scarier each time these new creatures are than the ones they originally came up with. These creatures are nightmarish, truly. This was another great episode. There was a reference to the first movie. Fred's severed head now becomes a part of the mugs in Chang's. Making the image of an actual person's severed head a part of your merchandise I find truly sickening and bizarre. I don't know what this TV show's trying to get at, but it's very strange. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I might miss the TV show when it ends. The charm of television has done wonders for this series. It's amazing how much it added to the storyline.
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