Friday, April 5, 2013
Friday the 13th Analysis Overview
As I play The Man Behind the Mask and the Friday the 13th (1980) end credits theme, I can't help but reminisce on this whole analysis. This analysis took everything I had. It took a long time and by the end I got so busy with school that the analysis was pushed aside to focus on finishing up college, but I've gotta tell you guys, this analysis was truly a passion project for me and I'm so grateful that I did it and I'm overjoyed to see that some of you have stuck with it the entire time. I've learned so much about analysis and writing critiques through this gigantic analysis. When I look back on the Tremors reviews, I cringe because they are so poorly written in comparison. I've also learned that to truly stand out from the crowd, you have to do something unique with your analysis. In my experience, and I've been a horror fan for over half of my life now, every horror fan that voices their opinions of franchises does a Friday the 13th franchise analysis, but most of them would skip over the TV series, and of those I had never found one that did an episode by episode analysis. This helped my analysis stand out for you readers out there, and I've gotta tell you, even through the terrible episodes and movies, I've enjoyed every single minute of this analysis. I can't make this clear enough to you, I LOVE Friday the 13th! I ADORE the original film, I love the franchise, the comic books, the TV series, the alternate cuts...I love it all. Friday the 13th is a huge part of my life. I can honestly say that I've never spent this much time analyzing any franchise before. I wanted to give a special shout out to some people associated with the franchise: thank you Sean Cunningham for an astounding rip off movie that amazingly turned out to be a better product than the film it knocked off, thank you Adrienne King for being the best final girl I have ever seen, thank you Betsy Palmer for being the most extraordinary female killer in cinematic history, thank you Steve Minor for continuing the franchise by making Jason the primary killer and giving him the iconic hockey mask, thank you Frank Mancuso, Jr. for continuing the film franchise for many years at Paramount and for bringing the beloved series to TV, thank you Corey Feldman for being in more than one entry, even if only for a dream sequence in A New Beginning, thank you Robey for being in nearly every episode of The Series, thank you John D. LeMay for being in both The Series and the movie franchise, thank you Bob Shaye for picking up the franchise when Paramount dropped it, the New Line products weren't the best, but it kept the franchise alive for another two decades, thank you Kane Hodder for not only playing Jason once, but four consecutive times, you are truly the ultimate Jason actor, thank you Jeff Katz for finishing the Freddy Vs. Jason storyline and giving a solid conclusion to the original franchise, thank you Michael Bay for making a remake that didn't suck, that paid homage to the original, but made it's own identity, thank you Peter Bracke for writing about this amazing franchise in the Crystal Lake Memories book, thank you Daniel Farrends and company for turning that book into a documentary, but most of all thank you, the readers, the fans of Friday the 13th, for sticking with me and geeking out over the various incarnations of this extraordinary franchise. It's so sad to see this end...I feel so accomplished, but in many ways, I feel like this is a goodbye to Friday the 13th. I don't think my love for Friday the 13th will ever die as long as I'm on Earth, but it may take a few years before I rewatch an entry. I love my readers so much! You guys are the best! Please continue to support horror film analyses! Honestly, it'll be about a month and a half before I can post again, but I'll be back with another, smaller, franchise analysis. Next franchise analysis: Leprechaun to commemorate the 20th anniversary
Friday the 13th (2009) Killer Cut Review
The Killer Cut of the Friday the 13th 2009 film is astounding in this fact: 9 minutes and 46 seconds are added back into the film, but none of the changes were noticeable upon first viewing, it simply felt like the same movie. I'll be honest guys, I had to look up the differences on a movie comparison website. This is the Friday film I definitely know the least also, but here it goes: the biggest changes are that we see Jason see his mother killed and pick up the machete, there's a new scene between Jenna and Clay when they first enter the campground, and there's an alternative storyline involving Whitney who in the Killer Cut actually gets herself out of the handcuffs that she's chained to for over half of the picture, she gets out of the underground and runs to the window where Trent and Bree are having sex, but Jason grabs her before they even notice that she's there. Aside from that we have alternate shots of various nudity and various violent scenes. A good number of scenes have extended violence. Honestly, guys, I don't know what to tell you with this one. This is a tough one. The theatrical cut is definitely harder to view because of how the blu ray is encoded, but just because it's harder to find doesn't mean it's better...I'd say the better cut is the Killer Cut. The added moments didn't really add anything, but unlike the original's uncut version, it didn't detract from the impact of the film either. I'd watch both versions of the 2009 film at any time, but if you had to choose one, watch the Killer Cut.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday Uncut Review
The first uncut version available of a Friday film in the U.S. was Jason Goes to Hell. You already know how much I despise this film, but here it goes. The biting of the heart and spitting of the black blood is extended. There's a few extra beats before the sex scene when the couple enters the tent. The doctor stabs the girl outside the tent two more times. The sex scene is extended. The girl's death is actually shone and it is by far the most violent moment in all of Friday the 13th history. This moment is extraordinary. The melting man has an extra beat. The killer in the police office gets shot an extra time. The killer gets shot a few more times in the dinner. The waitress has an extended death which is also spectacular. There's also a few more seconds with Duke and Diana before the climax. In total there's an entire 2 minutes and 8 seconds more in the unrated cut. Unlike the original film, the better version of Jason Goes to Hell is by far the unrated cut. This movie sucks in either version, but the impact is much stronger and carries a lot more punch in the unrated cut. Next up: the killer extended cut of Friday the 13th (2009).
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Friday the 13th Uncut Review
Having uncut, unrated versions of the Friday films has always been a Friday the 13th fans dream. There are three officially released uncut versions of the films. The first one is for the iconic original film. This version has been widely available overseas for quite a while, however it wasn't released in America until February 3, 2009. There's not too many changes to note in this version. This version is only 10 seconds longer. Annie's death in the beginning is extended. We don't fade to white quite so quickly. There's an extra beat in the sex scene. Jack's death gets a whole new shot added in which showcases the great gore effects of Tom Savini brilliantly. Marci's death has a few more beats to it. Mrs. Voorhees death also has a few more moments in the film. The added gore affects work fine with the film. The film flows great with it's uncut version. However, the longer gore affects have made it more obvious where to spot the make up effects. This has greatly been enhanced by the blu-ray. It's much easier to tell that they're just effects. The magic gets a little lost with the uncut version on blu. Which version is the better cut? I'm in the minority on this I'm sure, but I prefer the theatrical cut. I like the shorter version of Jack's death, I think it has more impact with the shorter version. I like not dwelling too long on the deaths. Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE the uncut version of the film and I'm stoked that of all the Paramount films, the original, my personal favorite is the one that has the uncut version available. Having said that, I think the theatrical cut flows better. It may just be a nostalgia thing for me, but I really think the theatrical cut is the more effective cut of the film. Only two more cuts to go! Next alternate cut: the unrated cut of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday the 13th (2009) Review
Slasher movie franchises appeared dead. Torture movies had taken over and created a whole new generation of horror fans. Movies like Cabin Fever, Hostel and the Saw series set the bar for graphic violence and what was acceptable to show extremely high. Friday the 13th had always been fun. In 1980, when the original came out it was shocking how violent it was. The remake could not compare to the common trend in horror. With the Freddy Vs. Jason sequel movie in development hell and New Line losing their brilliant maverick Bob Shaye, Warner Brothers who now owns New Line Cinema teamed up with Paramount and Michael Bay to bring Friday the 13th and more importantly Jason to a brand new audience.
As always we begin with the trailer. The trailer is very old school. It's a throw back to the carnival attraction that the first three films trailers were like. It was great fun, but I don't know if it gained a new audience using that technique. The tagline: Welcome to Crystal Lake. is really stupid. I think the tagline just plain sucks.
Here's the thing: with the blu ray release of the film, it is nearly impossible to find the theatrical cut. I did find it, but it was super hard to navigate to. If you have trouble finding the theatrical cut, go to amazon and look at frequent questions on the blu ray page for this film.
I must say, the first time I saw this was on Friday the 13th, 2009 in the movie theatre and it was an AWESOME experience. I instantly gave the film 9/10 on IMDb. I couldn't remember the last time I had had so much fun at a movie. Rewatching it, however, it doesn't fare as well. It is by far the best film since The Final Chapter. Friday got really really jokey and hokey in the subsequent zombie Jason sequels. But this film really really drags. It's actually quite boring. I was shocked when I rewatched it. Granted, this is the Friday film I've seen the least, so I don't know it nearly as well as the others, but still...it's really boring.
I now understand why everyone said the best part of the movie was the opening scene. That opening scene is also long, but it gets to the point fairly quickly and the deaths are really cool. The gore affects are great in this film and for the first time in ages, there is a creative and more importantly SHOCKING death sequence. I still jump when that arrow goes through the boat driver's head.
Let's be straight, Derek Mears as Jason rocked. He was the perfect casting decision. He's such a fan boy and that's perfect for the character. Let's get one thing straight: the controversy over Jason running in this movie is uneducated and stupid. Jason runs in Part 2, and Part III in 3D. Jason running is nothing new. I guess some people just want to complain about everything even things that were alluded to in the first entries of the franchise. Jason also gets a moment when he actually puts on the mask for the very first time. We never saw that in Part III. It's a great moment for the fans.
As far as following the original film's plot line, they do a fairly decent job, but it's only given 2 minutes of screen time. Let's face it, the replacement for Betsy Palmer is very poor in comparison. Betsy just OWNED Mrs. Voorhees. It's a calmer take with this film, but I gotta go with the original on their take on Mrs. Voorhees. The rest of the film departs from the original storyline and plays more like a sequel than a remake, but I'm fine with that. Expanding on what audiences responded to in a remake is never a bad thing. Take the 1956 remake of The Ten Commandments. Cecil B. DeMille just expanded on the Moses storyline from his 1923 original film. Now, Friday the 13th is no Ten Commandments, but the basic idea still applies. However, I just can't say that the 2009 remake is a better film than the 1980 original. Film quality, it's a ton better. Storywise, character moments, acting, the 1980 film is better.
This movie tries to explain how Jason appears out of thin air. This movie put tunnels underneath Crystal Lake. I still like this idea. This, to me, brought it back to the realness of the first film. It's still not as realistic as the original classic, but it's a vast improvement over previous entries.
With so much going for it, why does it feel so slow when you watch it? I think the problem lies in two fundamental areas: our main character is a dude and the ending is cliche. Our final heroine spends a good amount of the film chained in the underground tunnels. We don't know much about Whitney at all. We do know this: Whitney has a strong heart. She cares for her mother who is dying from cancer. She goes missing in Jason's woods, but Jason doesn't kill her. Jason feels like she is his mother. So he keeps her chained underground. What is interesting about our final heroine to date is that she doesn't seem like she's a virgin. She has a boyfriend who she goes out to the woods with. Her friends were all screwing, so who knows what Whitney has done with her boyfriend in the past. However, like it's stated before, Whitney is MIA for the majority of the film and that is not ok.
The ending is really bad. There's no way of getting around it. We've seen it all before. Jason jumps out of the water again, only this time we don't get an iconic, horrifying jump scene, we get a scene that's so forgettable you'll forget it within an hour. The ending ended on such a cliche note that I think it screwed the course of the remake series.
Friday the 13th, the remake, premiered on Friday the 13th, February, 2009. On a budget of $19 million, the film grossed $64,997,188. I do enjoy the remake. A lot of complaints are said that I don't think carry much weight at all, but it does drag and the ending sucks. So there you have it, but we're not done just yet. There's three officially released alternate cuts. Those will not be a typical review, they will only compare with the theatrical cut and I'll determine which cut I feel is the better cut. Until next time...
As always we begin with the trailer. The trailer is very old school. It's a throw back to the carnival attraction that the first three films trailers were like. It was great fun, but I don't know if it gained a new audience using that technique. The tagline: Welcome to Crystal Lake. is really stupid. I think the tagline just plain sucks.
Here's the thing: with the blu ray release of the film, it is nearly impossible to find the theatrical cut. I did find it, but it was super hard to navigate to. If you have trouble finding the theatrical cut, go to amazon and look at frequent questions on the blu ray page for this film.
I must say, the first time I saw this was on Friday the 13th, 2009 in the movie theatre and it was an AWESOME experience. I instantly gave the film 9/10 on IMDb. I couldn't remember the last time I had had so much fun at a movie. Rewatching it, however, it doesn't fare as well. It is by far the best film since The Final Chapter. Friday got really really jokey and hokey in the subsequent zombie Jason sequels. But this film really really drags. It's actually quite boring. I was shocked when I rewatched it. Granted, this is the Friday film I've seen the least, so I don't know it nearly as well as the others, but still...it's really boring.
I now understand why everyone said the best part of the movie was the opening scene. That opening scene is also long, but it gets to the point fairly quickly and the deaths are really cool. The gore affects are great in this film and for the first time in ages, there is a creative and more importantly SHOCKING death sequence. I still jump when that arrow goes through the boat driver's head.
Let's be straight, Derek Mears as Jason rocked. He was the perfect casting decision. He's such a fan boy and that's perfect for the character. Let's get one thing straight: the controversy over Jason running in this movie is uneducated and stupid. Jason runs in Part 2, and Part III in 3D. Jason running is nothing new. I guess some people just want to complain about everything even things that were alluded to in the first entries of the franchise. Jason also gets a moment when he actually puts on the mask for the very first time. We never saw that in Part III. It's a great moment for the fans.
As far as following the original film's plot line, they do a fairly decent job, but it's only given 2 minutes of screen time. Let's face it, the replacement for Betsy Palmer is very poor in comparison. Betsy just OWNED Mrs. Voorhees. It's a calmer take with this film, but I gotta go with the original on their take on Mrs. Voorhees. The rest of the film departs from the original storyline and plays more like a sequel than a remake, but I'm fine with that. Expanding on what audiences responded to in a remake is never a bad thing. Take the 1956 remake of The Ten Commandments. Cecil B. DeMille just expanded on the Moses storyline from his 1923 original film. Now, Friday the 13th is no Ten Commandments, but the basic idea still applies. However, I just can't say that the 2009 remake is a better film than the 1980 original. Film quality, it's a ton better. Storywise, character moments, acting, the 1980 film is better.
This movie tries to explain how Jason appears out of thin air. This movie put tunnels underneath Crystal Lake. I still like this idea. This, to me, brought it back to the realness of the first film. It's still not as realistic as the original classic, but it's a vast improvement over previous entries.
With so much going for it, why does it feel so slow when you watch it? I think the problem lies in two fundamental areas: our main character is a dude and the ending is cliche. Our final heroine spends a good amount of the film chained in the underground tunnels. We don't know much about Whitney at all. We do know this: Whitney has a strong heart. She cares for her mother who is dying from cancer. She goes missing in Jason's woods, but Jason doesn't kill her. Jason feels like she is his mother. So he keeps her chained underground. What is interesting about our final heroine to date is that she doesn't seem like she's a virgin. She has a boyfriend who she goes out to the woods with. Her friends were all screwing, so who knows what Whitney has done with her boyfriend in the past. However, like it's stated before, Whitney is MIA for the majority of the film and that is not ok.
The ending is really bad. There's no way of getting around it. We've seen it all before. Jason jumps out of the water again, only this time we don't get an iconic, horrifying jump scene, we get a scene that's so forgettable you'll forget it within an hour. The ending ended on such a cliche note that I think it screwed the course of the remake series.
Friday the 13th, the remake, premiered on Friday the 13th, February, 2009. On a budget of $19 million, the film grossed $64,997,188. I do enjoy the remake. A lot of complaints are said that I don't think carry much weight at all, but it does drag and the ending sucks. So there you have it, but we're not done just yet. There's three officially released alternate cuts. Those will not be a typical review, they will only compare with the theatrical cut and I'll determine which cut I feel is the better cut. Until next time...
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors Review
In between the release of the Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash comic the 2009 remake was released. Don't worry, it'll get it's own review. But for artistic reasons, it seems a lot more fitting to review this one first. This is truly the end of the original series as far as I'm concerned. Not only is it the third and final chapter of the Vs. trilogy, but it's the 13th story in the Friday the 13th movie franchise. It is a very fitting conclusion
The final girl scenario doesn't really apply to this entry unfortunately. Tommy fits what would usually be the final girl. Tommy from parts 4-6 returns one last time. Tommy is crazy and unsympathetic this time round. He butts heads with Ash a lot. This is a problem. I know that the writer's feel that Tommy is this outstanding character...but when compared to Ash, he pales in comparison. Tommy did wonders for Friday's 4-6, but he's not the end all to be all that so many fans seem to think he is. I think there are other characters, in particular Tina, who add a lot more to the series and show a lot more depth than Tommy. Tommy, in the end, goes one-on-one with Jason and wins. He beheads Jason. Jason's soul then enters into Freddy's body which I thought was incredibly awesome, but then Freddy dies as well. However, this one act, as I said in the Freddy Vs. Jason movie review, solidifies that in the movie Freddy wins.
There's a ton of returning survivors from the Friday and Nightmare franchises. There's Ash from The Evil Dead trilogy; Maggie, Dr. Gordon, Alice, and Jacob from the Nightmare franchise; and there's Tommy, Steven, Rennie, Stephanie, and Tina from our beloved Friday franchise. I was upset by a lot of deaths of our beloved survivors in this comic book. Steven, Rennie, Maggie (who turns evil, which makes NO sense based on her character in Freddy's Dead), and Alice died. I was upset that Steven seemed to neglect his daughter, I mean come on guys, this is Ryan from The Series!!!! We can't treat his character like this! Rennie also dies. She doesn't really stand a chance. She's more memorable than anyone in the New Line years, but she's still a fairly forgettable heroine. No death, however, made me more upset than the death of Alice. You guys know I love Friday, but I also love Nightmare. Alice is my favorite heroine of all time in a horror movie, unless you count Ripley from Alien 1-3. Alice's character arc in Nightmare 4 is extraordinary. I have never seen so much character growth in a slasher movie before. She was so strong. I was super upset that she died. I didn't care so much about Maggie because they already ruined her character, but killing Alice...that's a huge crime against the Nightmare series in my book.
The deaths this time around are BEAST. People get DESTROYED. If this was a movie, it'd easily be X. However, a lot of the deaths seem similar and not very inventive. The series has always been known for it's inventive deaths, but this is a low point on that end.
As far as it being a happy ending goes, I quite enjoyed it. I thought it was fitting. Freddy's arrest warrant is signed, so he never becomes the dream stalker. Jason is dead. Ash can finally live at peace. I wouldn't change a thing apart from keeping Alice alive.
Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors was released as a six issue comic book series from August-December 2009. A collector's book edition combining all six issues was released on July 20, 2010. This was the version I read. This is very easy to come by off of amazon for those of you who search for it. Now that the original series is over...does that mean it's the end of Friday? Not by a long shot. As New Line was working on a sequel to Freddy Vs. Jason, company head Bob Shaye lost the company, the movie empire that he built. The Freddy Vs. Jason sequel was stuck in pre-production hell. With a slew of remakes including the very finacially popular Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween remakes, there was only one true way to continue the series: starting over as a remake...but how would the remake reintroduce a character who was laughable in the past four entries, and would the remake rejuvenate the franchise again...well, we'll discuss that next time.
The final girl scenario doesn't really apply to this entry unfortunately. Tommy fits what would usually be the final girl. Tommy from parts 4-6 returns one last time. Tommy is crazy and unsympathetic this time round. He butts heads with Ash a lot. This is a problem. I know that the writer's feel that Tommy is this outstanding character...but when compared to Ash, he pales in comparison. Tommy did wonders for Friday's 4-6, but he's not the end all to be all that so many fans seem to think he is. I think there are other characters, in particular Tina, who add a lot more to the series and show a lot more depth than Tommy. Tommy, in the end, goes one-on-one with Jason and wins. He beheads Jason. Jason's soul then enters into Freddy's body which I thought was incredibly awesome, but then Freddy dies as well. However, this one act, as I said in the Freddy Vs. Jason movie review, solidifies that in the movie Freddy wins.
There's a ton of returning survivors from the Friday and Nightmare franchises. There's Ash from The Evil Dead trilogy; Maggie, Dr. Gordon, Alice, and Jacob from the Nightmare franchise; and there's Tommy, Steven, Rennie, Stephanie, and Tina from our beloved Friday franchise. I was upset by a lot of deaths of our beloved survivors in this comic book. Steven, Rennie, Maggie (who turns evil, which makes NO sense based on her character in Freddy's Dead), and Alice died. I was upset that Steven seemed to neglect his daughter, I mean come on guys, this is Ryan from The Series!!!! We can't treat his character like this! Rennie also dies. She doesn't really stand a chance. She's more memorable than anyone in the New Line years, but she's still a fairly forgettable heroine. No death, however, made me more upset than the death of Alice. You guys know I love Friday, but I also love Nightmare. Alice is my favorite heroine of all time in a horror movie, unless you count Ripley from Alien 1-3. Alice's character arc in Nightmare 4 is extraordinary. I have never seen so much character growth in a slasher movie before. She was so strong. I was super upset that she died. I didn't care so much about Maggie because they already ruined her character, but killing Alice...that's a huge crime against the Nightmare series in my book.
The deaths this time around are BEAST. People get DESTROYED. If this was a movie, it'd easily be X. However, a lot of the deaths seem similar and not very inventive. The series has always been known for it's inventive deaths, but this is a low point on that end.
As far as it being a happy ending goes, I quite enjoyed it. I thought it was fitting. Freddy's arrest warrant is signed, so he never becomes the dream stalker. Jason is dead. Ash can finally live at peace. I wouldn't change a thing apart from keeping Alice alive.
Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors was released as a six issue comic book series from August-December 2009. A collector's book edition combining all six issues was released on July 20, 2010. This was the version I read. This is very easy to come by off of amazon for those of you who search for it. Now that the original series is over...does that mean it's the end of Friday? Not by a long shot. As New Line was working on a sequel to Freddy Vs. Jason, company head Bob Shaye lost the company, the movie empire that he built. The Freddy Vs. Jason sequel was stuck in pre-production hell. With a slew of remakes including the very finacially popular Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween remakes, there was only one true way to continue the series: starting over as a remake...but how would the remake reintroduce a character who was laughable in the past four entries, and would the remake rejuvenate the franchise again...well, we'll discuss that next time.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
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 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...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)