Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash Review

In the time between Freddy Vs. Jason and the Platnium Dunes Friday the 13th 2009 remake, a lot happened for the franchise. First, the original 8 movies were released on DVD in a collector's box set called From Crystal Lake to Manhattan. The newer Deluxe DVD editions are better, but the 2004 box set includes commentaries that the newer DVD editions do not have. Second, and most importantly, a coffee table sized book on the franchise was released in 2005. Crystal Lake Memories started a trend in doing retrospectives of slasher series and it set the bar extraordinarily high. Third, and this is what I'm reviewing now, Freddy Vs. Jason got a sequel...in comic book form.

Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash, like Freddy Vs. Jason, went through development hell. There are a lot of rumors circulating the project. Most of them involve Bruce Campbell not wanting to do it. I don't blame the man. They made a really great trio of films and The Evil Dead is so tonally different from Friday and Nightmare I can understand why he passed. Having said that, I think the comic is excellent. For those of you who have kept up with me: if you have not read this comic or it's sequel which I'm reviewing next, I strongly urge you to stop reading now and to go out and read it for yourself.

Ultimately, the decision was made to turn Jeff Katz's script into a 6 limited edition comic book series. We begin with our previous final girl Lori. 5 years have passed and she's returning with Will to Crystal Lake to make sure Freddy and Jason are truly dead and to give closure to that chapter in their life. For the first time since Part 2, our surviving characters get killed in the opening scene. They are both killed by Jason. I like this turn of events quite a lot. It makes Jason stronger and more like what he was in the beginnings of the franchise. It's a lot more in character than Freddy Vs. Jason presented him as. He's strong and unforgiving. He wouldn't have made a friendship with Lori even though she saved him for the sole purpose of killing Freddy. Will was pretty forgettable in the last movie to me, so I'm not too upset by his passing. We quickly learn that the narrator is the chosen one, or Ash, from The Evil Dead trilogy.

Bringing Ash in doesn't tonally make sense to me. I know there was that one shot in Jason Goes to Hell, (which is used and explained in this comic book series, thank goodness!) but that was just a random nod to another franchise. It wasn't thought out by those filmmakers. Jeff Katz put more time in explaining their mess in this installment than they did for their film!

Basically it goes like this: Freddy's stuck inside Jason's head, so he gets Jason to go back to his house where the Book of the Dead is. Freddy uses the Book of the Dead to come regain full power, giving Jason more intelligence at the same time. Ash explains that Freddy and Jason are Deadites or demons, like the ones in The Evil Dead trio. Mrs. Voorhees used the Book of the Dead to resurrect Jason. Although it's a cool addition, it doesn't make sense with the first movie, but let's face it: none of the sequels make sense in the reality based original movie, so this gets a pass.

The final girl, Carrie, is even more forgettable than Lori was. I know nothing about this girl other than she survived, is a love interest for Ash, and worked at the Crystal Lake S-Mart. Ash is the true final survivor, but as this is based on a final girl analysis, Ash won't get analyzed.

I really only have one complaint about the comic book. Freddy goes all blasphemous mocking Christian communion and drawing an upside down cross on himself. I found this to be incredibly offensive. They didn't need that to be in there. It felt like simply a jab at my religion, my relationship with God and that's not cool. I was extremely disappointed by that decision.

Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash was released in 6 limited edition comic books from November 2007 to March 2008. In September 2008 the 6 editions were combined into one book. That is the book that I read. In between this and the sequel, the Platinum Dunes remake was released. Seeing as it'll make more sense to finish off the original series with the next comic, I will review that first and end with the remake. We're getting near the end guys! But what would happen in the third chapter of the Freddy Vs. Jason trilogy? Would Jason finally die...well, we'll discuss that next time...

Freddy Vs. Jason Review

Jason X failed to spark new interest to the series. The series appeared to be deader than ever before. The next entry surprised every fan of the series. For the first time Jason from our beloved Friday the 13th series and Freddy from the Nightmare on Elm Street series were going to duke it out in a spectacular extravaganza! What resulted was an impressive life saving jolt that rejuvenated the franchise.

As always, we begin with the trailer. The trailer alluded to both franchise's history. They gave year call backs sporting 1980 with our beloved original and 1984 for Craven's classic. It was a GREAT way to advertise the movie. Now, I gotta be honest with you guys...I've always preferred Freddy. I LOVE Friday, that should be obvious to you guys by now, but watching this movie I'm a little biased. The tagline I felt was misleading: Winner Kills All. The winner doesn't kill all, but we'll get to that later.

As far as the movie goes, I think the film's spectacular. Considering how downhill the Friday franchise had gotten this entry is incredibly impressive. I do feel this movie works a lot better with the Friday franchise than the Nightmare franchise. I don't consider this a part of the Nightmare franchise. New Nightmare ended that series so perfectly. There didn't need to be another Nightmare movie and this really isn't one. Jason kills a TON more people than Freddy in this movie. I wouldn't call this movie scary...this is an event movie and that's what was delivered in spades.

Lori, our final girl is a step down in character from the previous Friday's. She has a LOT less to offer. Lori's mother was killed by Freddy. She has a personal vendetta against him by the end of the movie. She's not all that smart of resourceful. She's been in love with Will ever since she was 14. She drinks and parties. She doesn't do a lot of running for fighting Jason directly. She does 'kill' Freddy at the end, but that's about it. Lori is much more like a Nightmare girl than a Friday girl. Lori, when compared to the Nightmare girls, aside from 2 and 6 would be the weakest of that bunch.

The basic premise of Freddy posing as Jason's mother to get him to kill for Freddy I thought was genius! The ending too...WOW! That's all I can say. That final battle is extraordinary. It was worth the 10 year wait. I LOVE this movie!

Now, every Friday has it's fair share of controversies and this one is no different. Let's start with the recasting of Jason. Kane Hodder was an amazing choice who stayed with the franchise in it's darkest times. Kane made the worst films bearable and for that I'll always respect and love the man. However, FVJ is immensely better than all of the Friday's that Kane was a part of. If I wasn't pleased with the final product I'd probably be a lot more upset, but as it stands, I don't really mind the recasting because the film is spectacular.

Who wins? A lot of people like to say that it's a draw. There's also a camp that says Jason won because he's the one standing at the end. However, from recent interviews it is clear that the winner is Freddy. Ronny Yu has flat out said that in an interview for the documentary on the Nightmare series. I think also the original ending, which can be seen on the DVD release, it's clear that the intention was always to have Freddy win at the end. Sorry, guys, but it's obvious that that was always the filmmakers intent.

Jason being afraid of water. Jason's not afraid of water, he's afraid of drowning. We know this because he walked straight into water in Jason Lives. However, for the purposes of this movie, I like that they changed it. Freddy being afraid of fire and Jason of water was a great juxtaposition. I really have nothing bad to say about the movie.

Freddy Vs. Jason premiered on August 15, 2003. New Line pulled out all the stops for this movie. This was the biggest budget Friday film up to that point in time. On a budget of $25 million, the movie grossed an impressive $113 million worldwide. Freddy Vs. Jason was not only a financial success, but it was an artistic success as well. Where would the series go after such an impressive and gargantuan revival? Could a sequel to Freddy Vs. Jason be made and whatever happened to that random shot of the Book of the Dead from the Evil Dead trilogy? Well...we'll discuss that next time.

Jason X Review

Another long stretch of time passed after Jason Goes to Hell. Freddy Vs. Jason was in pre-production hell. Not a single idea was coming to fruition. Sean Cunningham decided while they were still trying to get Freddy Vs. Jason off the ground that they should do another Jason movie to keep Jason in the public awareness.

As always, we begin with the trailer. The trailer is again a great way to market the film. New Line truly knows how to market a Jason film...they just don't know how to make a good product for Jason. The trailer does spoil what was meant to be a shocking ending. That was the way they marketed the film. They marketed the film as Uber Jason movie. Uber Jason was supposed to be a surprise, but that was the point they were using to sell the movie. It's weird to end the trailer with a metal song. They promoted it as a roller coaster ride as opposed to a horror movie. Which is fine considering there's NOTHING scary about Jason X. The tagline: Evil Gets an Upgrade, is truly lackluster. I really don't like the tagline at all.

As far as the film itself...it's all right. Considering this is a ninth sequel, it's actually pretty darn good. This film is by far the jokiest of the bunch. I haven't been the biggest fan of the jokey Friday. Considering this is coming after the WORST entry in the series, by comparison this movie's great! I honestly don't have too much to complain about with this film.

I don't like that it's set in space, but it's not the franchise killer that everyone always says it is. Leprechaun 4 actually did VERY well on video. I don't like all the CGI effects. The CGI looks incredibly hokey and it really has no place in a slasher movie.

Rowen, our final girl, is one of the most unique yet. She was frozen in time for over 450 years. She knows from the start of the movie how dangerous Jason is. This is unique and is the only time in the franchise's history that this has happened. The rest of the movie she's trying to convince people how dangerous Jason is. They learn pretty quickly and the rest of the film is them just trying to flee from him. This is a nice twist on the formula that I actually quite like. Rowen is also like our previous final girl quite a bit older. She's very resourceful though. She's TOUGH. There's like 0 arc for her, but that's ok. This is the 10th film after all. She is quite memorable and for me at least is the most memorable of all of the New Line final girls.

Harry Manfredini's back once again and he does another fabulous score. It's really quite different from all of his previous scores which is way cool. They were really trying to bring Jason to a new generation.

Kane Hodder...what can I say but great as always. Jason X has the distinction of being the last time Kane played Jason. He was recast unknowingly in Freddy Vs. Jason. Kane is truly by now in the franchise's history the star of the series. He brought a lot of fans over with him from the shift from Paramount to New Line. New Line's products were really rocky and not in style or tone with the rest of the series, so he made it very easy for fans to travel over to New Line with him.

I don't really like Uber Jason either. I just don't like the concept. He doesn't seem like Jason any more when he's got that suit on. They try to explain at the beginning that he's got regenerative cells, but they blow off his head later in the movie. That doesn't seem to make sense at all. Uber Jason looks pretty crappy too, but again and I can't repeat this enough: none of these things is nearly as offensive to the series as Jason Goes to Hell.

This movie really isn't in tone with the rest of the franchise, but it's no where near the wreck that Jason Goes to Hell was. This movie also features in one scene the villain in the 12th episode of The Series. He has such a distinctive voice, but each character, he also played another character in the series, is so different, it's great. I honestly don't have much to say about this movie. I feel quite indifferent about it.

Jason X premiered on April 26, 2002. On a budget of $11 million the film grossed $16,951,798 worldwide. This was a huge disappointment for the franchise. Even though it made more money than the previous two entries, this one had the biggest budget thus far. The returns made the future of the series look really grim. Would the series survive the disappointing returns of Jason X? And whatever happened to Freddy Vs. Jason...well, we'll discuss that next time...

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday Review

After a few years laying dormant, New Line Cinema grabbed the rights for the Friday the 13th series from Paramount and decided to make another film. The film is marketed as the final Friday, but final has never been set in stone for this franchise.

As always, we begin with the trailer. I think the trailer for this film is awesome. It's one of the better trailers for the franchise. There's even a trailer that makes reference to the first 8 films. But the one on the DVD is not that one. There's a lot of quick cuts. It's much flashier than previous trailers and there's a great burst of flame around the iconic hockey mask. It's just a great trailer. I'm being positive now because I really hate this movie. I think it's amazing that they were able to make a trailer that made the film look as appealing as this one does. It's truly great marketing for a very poor and ultimately crummy picture. The tagline is fairly lackluster though: Evil has finally found a home. I don't know if saying finally is good for an eighth sequel. Evil's home for the Friday series has been in Camp Crystal Lake. I just don't think the tagline is a good promise and really has nothing to do with the final product.

As far as the film itself...this is the worst film in the entire franchise and I'm not even playing. This movie truly SUCKS! The movie had a lot going for it too, so what went wrong??? First let's start with the positives: Sean Cunningham has come back to produce. He wanted Jason out of the hockey mask. It's kinda like he wants to ruin his own franchise, but ok. The director Adam Marcus, who was only 23 at the time, wanted to do something DIFFERENT for a Friday film. He definitely achieved that and a lot of his ideas were truly good. He aged up the characters. This is an incredibly smart move. Plenty of people grew up on Friday the 13th. These characters were dealing with what the audience who grew up watching the show would have been dealing with: babies and the death of a parent just to name a few. This was incredibly risky and I love the risk that was taken.

Another good thing is KNB's gore effects. This will be showcased a lot more in the unrated cut, which I'll review later, but still...KNB is always good and it's always a pleasure to see their work, even if only for a fraction, on screen. The mask especially is amazing in this one. It's like engraved in his head because he's worn it for so long. It's an amazing concept that unfortunately doesn't get seen much. Kane Hodder returns as Jason for a third time as well. This movie, I think more than any other, solidified him as the face of the franchise. He was never going to willingly leave the character of Jason, which is made obvious by the crazy mess that this film is. Kane Hodder, without makeup, is actually killed by Jason in this film off screen, it's such a nice moment for the fans. Kane alone I'm sure increased ticket sales.

Our final girl, Jessica, is one of the most unique final girls in the entire franchise. She's a mother! A brand new mother, or recent, at that, but still a mother. She's the oldest one in the series so far. She has to deal with a ton too. She has to deal with the death of her mother (the more I think about it, that's a common trend for the latter half of the series), the father of her baby is accused of murdering her mother, plus she has to deal with the fact that she truly is the only person who can ever kill Jason. This gets into some problems which we'll discuss later. She's one of the biggest fighters early on. She can easily take care of herself. She appears vulnerable for a scene or two, but very quickly she becomes incredibly strong. She does also finally kill Jason. Jason does get sent to hell at the end of the movie. All of these things are good, but the fact is the movie's final product is so bad that Jessica is incredibly forgettable. It's a great character though.

John D. LeMay, or Ryan from The Series plays the main guy Steven in the film. I like John as an actor quite a lot and this film is no different. He's also one of the only actor to appear in both The Series and the film franchise.

The last good thing is that Harry Manfredini returns as the composer. He's always a joy to have on. He did the first six films and the ninth one so far in the franchise. There's some great throwbacks in the score as well. Including the now classic 'Ki, ki, ki, Ma, ma, ma.'

With so much going for it, where did it possibly go wrong? First, the movie had no respect for the history of the franchise. Jason is now said to not truly be Jason. What we know of as Jason (who was established over time in movies 2-4, and 6-8) is just a body. Jason, according to this movie is a body jumper. He goes from body to body until he can be reborn through another Voorhees (which by the way is misspelled on the mailbox in the film). That's another thing, Jason has a sister! Why was this NEVER mentioned before? Oh, I don't know, because it makes no sense!!! That's the biggest offense of all. Jason body switches in this movie. Jason as we know him only appears in two sequences: the beginning and the end. What a waste on something called the final Friday. We should get a TON of Jason. The filmmakers could claim they do give that to us but in body switching form. This franchise isn't about BODY SWITCHING THOUGH!

Second, the character of Creighton Duke is a complete mess. He claims to have followed Jason for years. He knows all this crap about body switching and his character specifically completely changes the mythology of the franchise. The mythology is SOOO important to the fans...if only Adam Marcus realized this.

Finally, one of the worst things is an overflow of references to other current franchises just to have an inside gag. Like how Crystal Lake is now suddenly located at Cunningham county, Jessica passes by the Myers house, and showing the Book of the Dead from The Evil Dead trilogy FOR NO APPARENT REASON! This one shot will come into play later on though, but not in the films. The final shot is a good gag though. Having Freddy's glove pop out of the ground and drag Jason's mask under the sand was a GREAT set up for Freddy Vs. Jason. Overall though this film is a total train wreck and it shouldn't be considered canon.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday premiered on August 13, 1993. On a budget of $2.5 million, the film grossed $15,935,068, a step up from the previous entry and a good start for New Line. What was New Line going to do next with the beloved franchise? How could they continue on with Jason being condemned to hell...well, we'll discuss that next time...

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 72 The Charnal Pit Review

The Charnal Pit, the season 3 and series finale, originally aired on May 14, 1990. This was another time travel episode for the series. This time, the time travel sequences were in color. The cursed antique in this final episode was a double sided painting. The painting was the key to the past. If one sent live people into the past, the man who made the painting would send dead people into the present, along with long lost documents. The villain was a college professor obsessed with Marquis de Sade, a sadistic man who tried to make women feel pleasure in pain. It's truly horrifying. As far as the final moments of the show...granted they had no idea this was their last episode. However, the final shot was, to me, the best way they ever could have ended the show without having a proper ending. The camera is inside the vault and the vault doors close (forever seeing as this is the final episode). It was incredibly fitting.

Season 3 for me was, and I know I'm in the minority in saying this, my favorite season. Having a shorter season helped. The writers didn't run out of ideas as quickly. They had a full 2 hour episode season premiere. I felt the writing was at its strongest point during this season. I'm not a Johnny lover, but I don't hate him. I thought he was a fine addition to the show, and the way they wrote Ryan out, it was impossible for him to EVER return. I accepted Johnny right then and there. The DVD release was also excellent having many of the episodes promos that could be viewed directly before the episode. It greatly enhanced the enjoyment of the season for me. Overall, I had a blast with The Series. I may never watch it again, but it was great to watch all 72 hours for this extensive and complete analysis.

Season 4 was being planned. It was in the works, however the show got cancelled from people who were upset by the title of the show and the fact that it played during prime time. The move to prime time was a huge mistake for the show. If the show didn't move, they probably would have had a proper ending. The end of the series was not only a sad day for the fans of The Series, but also for fans of the franchise as well. For the first time there were no more plans for further installments in our beloved franchise. This episode also marks the last entry of Paramount owning the franchise solely. For me, after having seen this episode, there is nothing new in the franchise as of now for me to see and that is truly saddening to me. I LOVE this franchise, if you couldn't tell by now. But now we must move on from the Paramount years and keep going forward. Now that Paramount wanted nothing more out of Friday the 13th, the franchise rights were up for grabs. Who should end up buying it, but New Line Cinema aka The House that Freddy Built. Freddy was huge box office competition to Jason and Freddy won a lot against Jason. Now for the first time, the two big shots of the slasher genre were under the same company. Finally, plans for a Freddy vs. Jason movie could be realized. But, as of 1991, Freddy was dead. What was New Line going to do with Jason for their first Friday movie...well, we'll discuss that next time.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 71 The Tree of Life Review

The Tree of Life originally aired on May 7, 1990. I thought this was a very effective episode, but for the most part I didn't like it. It really has nothing to do with the quality or anything. I just didn't like the basic premise. The cursed antique was a Druidic fertility statue. If the husband was fed to the Druid Oak Tree as a sacrifice right before birth, the mother, who previously couldn't have children, would be able to give birth to fraternal twins. The Druid cult kept the female children. They were going to bring the little girls up in their evil ways and spread this religion full of human, specifically male, sacrifices. I just found it incredibly unpleasant to watch. I wouldn't watch it again.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 70 Jack in the Box Review

(**Note: As with the previous episode, the DVD release got it backwards. This should really be episode 69, but because I am watching the DVD versions, this is gonna be labeled as episode 70**) Jack in the box originally aired on April 23, 1990. This episode reminded me a lot of the earliest episodes in season 1. The cursed antique was a drowning sailor's jack in the box. A little girl's father was drowned. She can visit her father's spirit by playing the jack in the box which subsequently drowns people. All the people who were involved in the death of her father get killed. Although, I do think two men got away and aren't pursued at all. The little girl want soooo badly to be with her father that she's willing to take her mother's and her life in the process. Luckily neither of these two events happen. This episode was also nominated for a Gemini award. There was a problem though and I had noticed it in earlier episodes but just hadn't mentioned it until now. They are still placing items in the old vault. The new vault at the beginning of this season hasn't been seen in a while. You could argue that they moved all the old items into the new vault, but you see the pilot's item in the last shot of this episode. This is a pretty glaring continuity error for the series if you ask me. Overall, I was very pleased with this episode.

Friday the 13th: The Serie Ep. 69 Spirit of Television Review

(**Note: The DVD release has done it yet again...the DVD release says this episode is episode 69, however airing wise, it's episode 70. Once again since I am watching the DVD version, I am going to call this Episode 69. This is fair warning to everyone out there watching the TV series along with me**) Spirit of Television originally aired on April 30, 1990. This was another completely weird episode. The cursed antique is a 1950s black and white television set. The TV set creates a medium where spirits talk one on one with people. Only one person can actually hear the conversation. The spirit is someone whom the person has felt guilt about passing away. The spirit forgives them during the medium, but later on the spirit visits them through a TV set and degrades them, eventually electrocuting them using the TV set and having their soul given to the cursed TV set. It's complicated and sounds really stupid on paper, however...it brings up a lot of interesting questions concerning guilt and forgiveness which aren't usually found in a show like this. The victims feel great guilt over these deaths. They also feel like they can never be forgiven. They seek a medium to be told they are forgiven. It's all a lie and their life is taken in the process. I wasn't going to ever give my personal perspective on spiritual matters on this blog, but I feel compelled to do so because this episode is such an incredible example. For those of you out there who are like the victims in the episode: you don't feel like you can ever be forgiven, that you must be punished for the things you did or didn't do, there is one and only one solution. The solution is named Jesus Christ. God loves you and forgives you for all of the wrongs you've done, everything. It's as simple as that. God gave his one and only son, Jesus, who died on a cross to pay for all of our wrongs. The catch is He conquered the grave and rose again from the dead. The way to receive forgiveness for EVERYTHING you've done and will do in the future is to ask Him, ask Jesus to enter you're heart. Give you're life over to Him and you will always have forgiveness. You can't do this on your own. Let God help you. If this post meant anything to anyone out there, please message me and let me know. As far as the episode goes, yeah it was weird, but it was a great entry and a wonderful way to talk about spiritual things.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 68 My Wife as a Dog Review

My Wife as a Dog originally aired on February 19, 1990. This was an incredibly bizarre episode. There really are no words to describe how completely bizarre this episode was. It was, however, very effective. The cursed antique is a dog leash, the Aboriginal Leash. This leash can make dreams come true, but that can only happen if someone is strangled with the leash first. Our main villain, who is going through a rough divorce and a dog with a terminal illness, decides he wants his wife to be like a dog. Over the course of the episode, his dog gets healed and transforms into his wife, but only has the brains of a dog. His wife transforms into a dog. It's not The Shaggy Dog by any stretch. I actually found it quite creepy. The commentary on how people view their pets was also very striking and truthful. How far would one go to keep a pet they loved...it's a tough question that doesn't get asked too much. This is also the only episode where the main villain gets his hearts desire and lives to see and relish in it. It's a very bizarre episode.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 67 The Long Road Home Review

The Long Road Home originally aired on February 12, 1990. Jack is not seen on screen but his voice can be heard during a phone call. This was a truly fantastic episode. It had a Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe to it, which was a lot of fun to see on this episode. The stakes were a lot higher with this episode than a lot of the previous ones this season. Johnny and Micki have a kiss in a pool. Johnny's been tied down there and it's Micki's reassuring him that he'll be fine. Johnny thinks it means more. They also almost have a kiss nearby a fire. It's a great scene, incredibly tense for reasons this show has never gone into before. The cursed antique is a yin yang charm. The charm enables the user to transfer his soul into a freshly killed victim. The victim gets resurrected in the course of the act. There was a bit of body switching in this episode as well. Johnny puts his soul in that of a crazy brother whose house they stumble upon when they run out of gas. This brother's into taxidermy. He preserved all the dead bodies of his family. Johnny does get his body back by the end of the episode. The other brother gets his soul transferred into the slightly preserved corpse of their grandfather. It's quite horrifying seeing sand or sawdust or whatever stuffing inside his body comes out when you expect blood to come out. It's very jarring visually. Overall, this was truly a GREAT episode and I highly recommend it.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 66 Repetition Review

Repetition originally aired on February 5, 1990. Jack and Johnny do not appear in this episode and Micki only appears briefly. This was another terrific episode. The cursed antique is a cameo pendent. Someone who died wearing the pendent gets their soul trapped inside the pendent. The pendent then gets inside the head of the killer and demands that their soul be traded with another. What I liked in particular about this episode was the levels of guilt and how intense the killer felt. He felt pressured to turn things around, to make things right, but he couldn't do it. We cannot save ourselves in essence. It's a hard message to grasp, but it's entirely truthful. I really enjoyed this episode.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 65 Midnight Riders Review

Midnight Riders originally aired on January 29, 1990. This was a fantastic episode. this is also the only episode to not include a single magical object. There have been episodes without cursed antiques before, but not without a magical object. This episode reminded me of a movie plot. I could totally see them making this into a stand alone piece. The basic story is that this town wrongly accused a biker gang of raping a girl. She lied to protect her boyfriend who was going to Bible college. He has a son later on. His son and his daughter are dating together, but they don't know that they're siblings. It's incredibly bizarre. When the planets align, the past can return according to the episode. The biker gang returns and kills all the ones responsible for wrongly killing them. Jack's father appears in this episode in his only appearance in the series. Jack's father was a sailor who drifted from boat to boat. He had died at sea a decade earlier but returned to try to make things right in that town. He had been the one who had beheaded the leader. I didn't like the way that the priest or reverend they said was presented. He, even when cornered to death, does not fess up to his sins and tries to save himself. It actually made me quite angry because the reverend was presented as entirely hypocritical. Overall though, the episode's really quite intricate and against type for this show. I thoroughly enjoyed this episode and I highly recommend it!

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 64 Epitaph For a Lonely Soul Review

Epitaph For a Lonely Soul originally aired on January 22, 1990. Johnny does not appear in this episode. This was another forgettable episode. The cursed antique is a mortician's aspirator. The aspirator takes away one person's life and then gives someone who was dead new life. A supermodel guest starred in this episode. It was intriguing seeing how the two women who were rejuvenated back to life chose not to continue to live as the place burned down. They opted instead to die again. That's one of the things I think this series can do really well at times, raise up questions about death. I have to admit though, I watched two episodes back to back and I for the life of me couldn't remember what this one was about. This is an incredibly forgettable episode.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 63 Year of the Monkey Review

Year of the Monkey originally aired on January 15, 1990. This was yet again another good, but not great, episode. There are two cursed antiques in this episode. One that's mentioned at the beginning is a tea set that can make the tea become poisonous. This is retrieved off screen after the credits role. The second antique and the prominent one in the episode is three statues of monkeys. These are the see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil monkeys. If the children fall and use the monkeys evil powers, they will die. The villain is a father who has been the same father for six generations. He keeps on killing his children until he finds someone who is honorable. He finally finds someone in his daughter. She opts to take her own life as opposed to killing her father. She shows honer, however twisted it may be, even in her own death. The villain gets tricked and is killed by the own statues he used to kill his children for six generations. This episode was fine, but not very memorable in the long run.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 62 Mightier than the Sword Review

Mightier than the Sword originally aired on January 8, 1990. This episode was all right. It was good enough, so to speak. The cursed antique was a fountain pen. By pricking one's finger and writing in blood it forced whoever had the pen injected into their neck to do whatever the owner of the pen wrote them to do. This is very reminiscent of episode 2's antique. The owner of this object was creating serial killers so he could sell books and capture the serial killers in the act. Micki, yet again, has the object used against her. In her murderous rage which was written into her, she kills the owner of the pen. This is the only episode where Micki directly kills a villain. Micki is very scarred by it even though it was the evil inside controlling her. It was a good enough episode. Nothing stunning, but nothing awful by any means.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 61 Femme Fatale Review

Femme Fatale originally aired on November 20, 1989. This was an all right episode, nothing too good nor too bad. The cursed antique is a 16mm movie print. The print will absorb a woman to take the place of the actress in the film. The actress dies at the end of the film. This in turn makes the woman absorbed into the film die never to be seen again. It's another weird episode that's not very deep. Although, I must admit, I liked the fact that the main villain, the director was torn. He loved his wife, but he wanted her to be young again, which is what he was rewarded with when he fed the film a woman. The younger wife wanted the older wife to be killed. He tries a few times, but can't do it. Finally, he attempts, but she acts her way out of the scenario and actually kills him instead. She gives up her life to save Micki's, who was absorbed into the film for half of the episode. There's some interesting things in this episode, but for the most part it's just plain forgettable.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 60 Night Prey Review

Night Prey originally aired on November 13, 1989. After a string of great episodes, we get a huge letdown. This episode is nothing short of terrible. The cursed antique is a cross that came from the crusades, the Cross of Fire. This cross after having killed a human gives the owner the power to burn vampires. I know, we're dealing with vampires yet again. I find it quite disturbing and insulting that a cursed object is a cross. I don't think that's acceptable. This is one of the more controversial episodes of the series. In 1989, this episode premiered and had a lesbian kiss between two female vampires. The main villain is dead set on killing vampires because he believes a vampire killed his wife. In reality, the wife was turned into a vampire. He is then at the end of the episode turned into one as well. It's his ultimate downfall. I don't like the bookends of Jack questioning what is right and wrong and that it's not clear cut. It is. This was just such a huge let down in comparison to the rest of this season so far.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 59 Hate on Your Dial Review

Hate on Your Dial originally aired on November 6, 1989. I thought this was one of the most disturbing and most profound episodes the series has done so far. This episode had a high focus on hate crimes specifically dealing with racism. There are two brothers: one's a white power racist, the other is completely accepting of others and is mentally challenged. The older brother, the racist, is super pissed that his younger brother is friends with people of other races, specifically African Americans. The older brother kills a very young African American boy. The cursed antique in this episode is a 1954 Chevy car radio. After touching the blood of the dead boy, by turning the dial on the car radio, the older brother is able to travel back in time to 1954. The older brother had an obsession with his racist father who was lynched after being a part of a KKK meeting where they unjustly killed and tortured an African American man. The older brother is able to befriend his dad and becomes a part of the KKK clan. He partakes in the hate crime that his dad gets lynched for. He attempts to warn his father that there is a witness that will cause all of them to be killed. The time comes back to when he returns to the present. He kills his younger brother and returns back to 1954. Johnny and Jack save the day by providing a picture to a prominent African American lawyer. We learn that the witness is actually the boy's mother. His father had been physically abusive to him throughout his early childhood. The mother did what she could to stop it and hope that the hate didn't continue on. The KKK, which includes the town sheriff, decide to burn the older brother deeming him a traitor. His screams for the love of his father as he burns to death are excruciating. His father just stares on with no remorse for the loss of human life. What was so incredibly profound to me was that attempting to receive love by spreading hate destroyed this man's life. Even at the end of his life he was begging for the love of his father, which he never received. It was an incredibly awkward and painful episode to sit through, but immensely thought provoking.