You might be surprised that after such a big success in Bride of Chucky, the studio waited a full six years before releasing another sequel. It wasn't from a lack of a script either for the script was written in 1999. However when you see the final product you realize why the studio waited so long...the fifth installment is a train wreck on nearly every single level.
As always we begin with the trailer. The trailer does a very good job of making trash seem appealing and slightly funny but also hints at some of the most disgustingly inappropriate scenes. The oddest thing about the trailer is that they sold it as if this was the 20th anniversary movie when in reality it was 16 years since the original film. Anniversaries aren't like math where you round up to the nearest 10, four years does make a major difference! The tagline does sell the movie but also makes people run away screaming at how disgusting it is: Get a load of Chucky! Once you realize what it's really saying it's a major turn off to this film.
Considering this film is an abomination to the franchise I will start with the good things which are miniscule. Brad Dourif is amazing as always and works the most out of a terrible script as he possibly can. The death scenes are all quite spectacular and gory in this one. I must give this film props for that. It is the goriest film and the effects not only with gore but with the dolls are at their strongest point in the franchise...and that's pretty much it. While most all of the death scenes are great not a single one of them is horrific, which is only the beginning of this movie's problems.
Seed of Chucky brings up gender identity issues, domestic violence and abuse issues, and addiction issues and deals with all of them in a joking matter. That's pretty disgusting. I know that people piss all over Twilight Breaking Dawn for bringing up abortion, but this is worse. To think that a Chucky movie could speak to someone and change their mind on gender identity issues or even make a case for it is not only laughable but insulting to it's audience. I don't think my personal opinion of gender identity issues is important here, but in the movie it's disgusting. I don't want to see that in a Chucky movie. Chucky masturbates in this movie. Ok, now that you've thrown up read that sentence again...Chucky MASTURBATES in this movie. That is the sickest thing I've probably ever seen in a horror movie...ever. Don clearly didn't understand what the audience wanted to see. I believe that Don's personal political views clouded his script to the point that it was no longer recognizable as a Chucky film. I love Don for his loyalty to Chucky our friend to the end, but this was a major mistake. Having the film be too comedic was also a mistake. Bride walked a very thin line of floss between horror comedy and a hilariously awful movie. Seed broke that line within the main title sequence when we see Chucky's semen wipe down the screen. Oddly enough, I used to really like and enjoy this one more than Bride. It didn't seem as offensive to erase Andy and add the amulet...however I was a very young and innocent boy. This was the first time that I had seen it and actually understood the movie.
One of the movie's biggest problems is erasing Chucky's motivation by the end of the movie. Having Chucky choose to remain a doll at the end is a bold choice and Brad gives a great performance in the monologue that almost sells you on that idea, but when you think about it...it falls flat. It's not as forgivable as the random amulet Chucky didn't mention for a decade. You just have to ask what was Don thinking when he wrote and directed this movie. I LOATHE Glen or Glenda. He/she is the embodiment of everything that I despise about this movie. Gender identity issues are not funny.
By the way, I did watch the theatrical cut to this movie which is kind of hard to find these days considering it's not on the blu ray collection. The theatrical cut can be found on the four film franchise collection DVD set or if you're lucky you might still be able to find the stand alone theatrical cut DVD release when the film was first put out on DVD.
Seed of Chucky premiered on November 12, 2004. On a budget of $12 million, the film grossed $24,829,644 worldwide not even making half of the previous entries gross. With such a disappointing return and the least favorite film for Chucky fans along with the changing scene of horror, it seemed highly unlikely that we would get another sequel. A remake was discussed for several years, but finally this year we got another sequel. How does the new one fair up? How does Chucky return...well, we'll discuss that next time.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Bride of Chucky Review
The disappointing returns for Child's Play 3 led the studio to drop the series. In 1996 a phenomenon occurred that hadn't been seen by the likes of horror since the original Friday the 13th, Scream came out and made over $100 million. In response Universal looked for what horror franchises they still owned. Chucky was a hot property for it's first two entries. Thankfully, the studio decided it was time for our favorite killer doll to return.
Producer David Kirschner saw a copy of Bride of Frankenstein on the shelf in the video store. He told Don Mancinin the series' main stay author that it would be great if they could get a bride for Chucky.
As always we begin with the trailer: I think this is an excellent trailer. It's intriguing and scary and slow at the beginning and then it's extremely fast paced once we realize that it's a Chucky movie. The tagline: Chucky Gets Lucky is also quite good and sells the more playful comedic side of the film. The poster with the two eyes one blue, one green to represent Chucky and Tiffany is not only fantastically spooky but is in itself an homage to the Scream 2 poster poking fun at that franchise. Basically, the advertising rocked for this film.
Here's the deal with Bride: as a fan of the franchise you will either ADORE or LOATHE this movie. Watching it for this analysis I adored it, but this is the first time I have ever enjoyed the film. I loathed this movie for years. Let's start with the bad this time because there's much less that's bad than that's good. The film ignores the mythology that built up over three films. There isn't even a mention of Andy who was our main character in the past three. All of a sudden there's a necklace that Chucky forgot to look for for what 10 years??? The heart of Dambala necklace is a stupid addition and is a slap to the face of the fans that stuck with the first three movies. Here's the other thing, but I'm not 100% sure of this one: I thought that in order to transfer your soul into something else, a doll, a human, you had to be alive...so after Tiffany dies, shouldn't she not be allowed to be transferred into the soul of the doll? For years, I could never get past the problems of the concept alone.
What made me enjoy the movie this time you ask? I finally saw the movie for what it was: a rebooting, rejuvenating of the Chucky franchise that was more jokey than serious. Without the previous three movie build up and the lack of continuity in this entry's mythology, it's actually a very well scripted movie. It's fun, it's edgy, it's jokey, but it still has it's elements of horror to it without it ever losing it's sense of fun. The doll sex scene is always shocking every time I watch it. The film pushed the right buttons and it totally paid off. This is something Seed will have not done correctly. Bride pushes the buttons just enough to be edgy, hilarious, and marketable to a mass audience.
The movie made a very smart decision in having Ronny Yu direct. His visual style is so striking and was just so perfect for this movie. The cop car explosion is a stand out piece as well was the thieves' death on the water bed. Brad as always is fantastic. The puppetry looks the greatest in this one out of the first four. Jennifer Tilly, I can't end this review without expressing how crucial she was in creating the tone of Bride. She was THE perfect choice.
Bride of Chucky premiered on October 16, 1998. On a budget of $25 million, the film grossed $50,671,850 worldwide making it the most successful Child's Play film to date. With the franchise's first open endings of Tiffany giving birth at the end, how would they tell the story of Chucky's child? How would Chucky and Tiffany return...and would the studio prevent them from returning again...well, we'll discuss that next time.
Producer David Kirschner saw a copy of Bride of Frankenstein on the shelf in the video store. He told Don Mancinin the series' main stay author that it would be great if they could get a bride for Chucky.
As always we begin with the trailer: I think this is an excellent trailer. It's intriguing and scary and slow at the beginning and then it's extremely fast paced once we realize that it's a Chucky movie. The tagline: Chucky Gets Lucky is also quite good and sells the more playful comedic side of the film. The poster with the two eyes one blue, one green to represent Chucky and Tiffany is not only fantastically spooky but is in itself an homage to the Scream 2 poster poking fun at that franchise. Basically, the advertising rocked for this film.
Here's the deal with Bride: as a fan of the franchise you will either ADORE or LOATHE this movie. Watching it for this analysis I adored it, but this is the first time I have ever enjoyed the film. I loathed this movie for years. Let's start with the bad this time because there's much less that's bad than that's good. The film ignores the mythology that built up over three films. There isn't even a mention of Andy who was our main character in the past three. All of a sudden there's a necklace that Chucky forgot to look for for what 10 years??? The heart of Dambala necklace is a stupid addition and is a slap to the face of the fans that stuck with the first three movies. Here's the other thing, but I'm not 100% sure of this one: I thought that in order to transfer your soul into something else, a doll, a human, you had to be alive...so after Tiffany dies, shouldn't she not be allowed to be transferred into the soul of the doll? For years, I could never get past the problems of the concept alone.
What made me enjoy the movie this time you ask? I finally saw the movie for what it was: a rebooting, rejuvenating of the Chucky franchise that was more jokey than serious. Without the previous three movie build up and the lack of continuity in this entry's mythology, it's actually a very well scripted movie. It's fun, it's edgy, it's jokey, but it still has it's elements of horror to it without it ever losing it's sense of fun. The doll sex scene is always shocking every time I watch it. The film pushed the right buttons and it totally paid off. This is something Seed will have not done correctly. Bride pushes the buttons just enough to be edgy, hilarious, and marketable to a mass audience.
The movie made a very smart decision in having Ronny Yu direct. His visual style is so striking and was just so perfect for this movie. The cop car explosion is a stand out piece as well was the thieves' death on the water bed. Brad as always is fantastic. The puppetry looks the greatest in this one out of the first four. Jennifer Tilly, I can't end this review without expressing how crucial she was in creating the tone of Bride. She was THE perfect choice.
Bride of Chucky premiered on October 16, 1998. On a budget of $25 million, the film grossed $50,671,850 worldwide making it the most successful Child's Play film to date. With the franchise's first open endings of Tiffany giving birth at the end, how would they tell the story of Chucky's child? How would Chucky and Tiffany return...and would the studio prevent them from returning again...well, we'll discuss that next time.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Child's Play 3 Review
The craziest thing about Child's Play 3 is how quickly the movie came out since the previous entry. There were only 9 months between the release of 2 and 3. Don Mancinin the writer throughout the series has previously stated that this is his least favorite film in the franchise and he say that has to do with he ran out of ideas being asked to write 3 while 2 was in post. A lot of fans despise this film. While 2 and Bride were released on DVD in 1999, 3 did not get a DVD release until 2003. With all of that hatred out of the way, let's take a look at Child's Play 3.
As always we begin with the trailer. In comparison to 2's ingenious although sort of false advertising, the trailer for 3 is in turn extremely disappointing. There is nothing extremely memorable about it except for ending the trailer with "Don't **** with the Chuck!" That's definitely a note that leaves with a punch, but it wasn't enough to get audiences back into theaters so soon after 2. The tagline: There comes a time to put away childhood things. But some things won't stay put! I mean...it sells the movie enough. Again it's not anything memorable after the brilliant tagline for 2. The poster this time round is also disappointing. It's just a one sheet of a painted Chucky face. We can't even see Chucky's red hair.
As far as the film itself...well, let's get the bad out of the way first. Don in a recent interview pointed this out and he is spot on. The film suffers from 2 casting issues. The kid who plays Tyler while a fine enough actor is way way way too old for the part to be believable. The Colonel is also too old and too soft for the part. He's comes across as too nice for the way the dialogue was written.
Most of the death scenes are pretty forgettable too. The death of the tailor is memorable and one other I'll mention a little later, but other than that, it's just kinda blah.
Now, here's the deal, with such forgettable deaths and some casting issues, you probably think I hate this film and will destroy it. You'd be wrong. I actually find that this film plays a lot better than Child's Play 2. Whereas 2 only had one likeable character throughout and even then it was just plain depressing watching him get beat up for 2/3 of the movie, 3 has at least four likeable characters in the movie. I genuinely care more about what happens to other people than Andy this time round and that's a hard feat for a second second sequel. Having Andy be older helped quite a bit. I like Tyler, his innocence is charming and you want to be protective of him. I still think the actor was too old, but the character is at least appealing. Whitehurst is really appealing because I felt the most like him. The nerdy guy who got picked on. I wasn't nearly as picked on as he was in the movie though. He just gets told throughout that he's the sorriest excuse for a soldier, however when danger comes, he's the only one who acts like a real soldier. He died a hero losing his life to people that constantly tore him down and beat him up...sound familiar? Yep, Whitehurst is the Christ figure in this series. Except unlike Jesus, Whitehurst doesn't resurrect, but the self sacrificial nature is there. The love interest De Silva is also likeable considering that she is protective of Whitehurst and in turn of Andy.
Here's the deal. The story in this one is stronger overall because we care about these people and it means something to us when they are in peril. I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I don't care. I genuinely believe that 3 is a better film than 2.
Jack Bender was the director this time around. He did an adequate job, but he did have some odd, questionable choices. He's done well for himself though having directed a ton of LOST episodes including the series finale.
Brad is as always amazing, engaging, etc... Words can't express how immersive his performance is for an audience. The puppetry gets increasingly better each time as well.
Before the final run down, I have to say that having Chucky's face slice off was so shocking to me the first time I saw it. I know Chucky's stitched look more than his solo movie look at that time and I thought there was no way they would explain why he was stitched up, but having a piece of his face slice off and thrown into a giant fan does justify the decision.
Child's Play 3 premiered on August 30, 1991. On a budget of $13 million, the film only grossed $20,560,255 worldwide. Child's Play 3 suffered primarily from too much too soon. I think the idea of a killer doll is too ludicrous to hold a wide audience for multiple entries and that's the problem they ran into. But how would the series continue after the disappointing reception to 3, and how would they address the increasing absurdity of the killer doll concept, well...we'll discuss that next time.
As always we begin with the trailer. In comparison to 2's ingenious although sort of false advertising, the trailer for 3 is in turn extremely disappointing. There is nothing extremely memorable about it except for ending the trailer with "Don't **** with the Chuck!" That's definitely a note that leaves with a punch, but it wasn't enough to get audiences back into theaters so soon after 2. The tagline: There comes a time to put away childhood things. But some things won't stay put! I mean...it sells the movie enough. Again it's not anything memorable after the brilliant tagline for 2. The poster this time round is also disappointing. It's just a one sheet of a painted Chucky face. We can't even see Chucky's red hair.
As far as the film itself...well, let's get the bad out of the way first. Don in a recent interview pointed this out and he is spot on. The film suffers from 2 casting issues. The kid who plays Tyler while a fine enough actor is way way way too old for the part to be believable. The Colonel is also too old and too soft for the part. He's comes across as too nice for the way the dialogue was written.
Most of the death scenes are pretty forgettable too. The death of the tailor is memorable and one other I'll mention a little later, but other than that, it's just kinda blah.
Now, here's the deal, with such forgettable deaths and some casting issues, you probably think I hate this film and will destroy it. You'd be wrong. I actually find that this film plays a lot better than Child's Play 2. Whereas 2 only had one likeable character throughout and even then it was just plain depressing watching him get beat up for 2/3 of the movie, 3 has at least four likeable characters in the movie. I genuinely care more about what happens to other people than Andy this time round and that's a hard feat for a second second sequel. Having Andy be older helped quite a bit. I like Tyler, his innocence is charming and you want to be protective of him. I still think the actor was too old, but the character is at least appealing. Whitehurst is really appealing because I felt the most like him. The nerdy guy who got picked on. I wasn't nearly as picked on as he was in the movie though. He just gets told throughout that he's the sorriest excuse for a soldier, however when danger comes, he's the only one who acts like a real soldier. He died a hero losing his life to people that constantly tore him down and beat him up...sound familiar? Yep, Whitehurst is the Christ figure in this series. Except unlike Jesus, Whitehurst doesn't resurrect, but the self sacrificial nature is there. The love interest De Silva is also likeable considering that she is protective of Whitehurst and in turn of Andy.
Here's the deal. The story in this one is stronger overall because we care about these people and it means something to us when they are in peril. I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I don't care. I genuinely believe that 3 is a better film than 2.
Jack Bender was the director this time around. He did an adequate job, but he did have some odd, questionable choices. He's done well for himself though having directed a ton of LOST episodes including the series finale.
Brad is as always amazing, engaging, etc... Words can't express how immersive his performance is for an audience. The puppetry gets increasingly better each time as well.
Before the final run down, I have to say that having Chucky's face slice off was so shocking to me the first time I saw it. I know Chucky's stitched look more than his solo movie look at that time and I thought there was no way they would explain why he was stitched up, but having a piece of his face slice off and thrown into a giant fan does justify the decision.
Child's Play 3 premiered on August 30, 1991. On a budget of $13 million, the film only grossed $20,560,255 worldwide. Child's Play 3 suffered primarily from too much too soon. I think the idea of a killer doll is too ludicrous to hold a wide audience for multiple entries and that's the problem they ran into. But how would the series continue after the disappointing reception to 3, and how would they address the increasing absurdity of the killer doll concept, well...we'll discuss that next time.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Child's Play 2 Review
United Artists was bought by a new company that only wanted to do family friendly films and let's face it, as much of a friend as Chucky is to us, he's not family friendly. Therefore Universal bought the rights to the franchise and Child's Play 2 was born.
As always we begin with the trailer. I think the trailer is stunning. It's just a truly amazing ad campaign for the film. The poster is breathtaking too with Chucky holding a pair of scissors about to cut off the head of Jack in the Jack in the Box. The tagline is one for the ages: Sorry Jack...Chucky's back! As great of an ad campaign as it is unfortunately I don't think it resembles the film well at all. The sequel is much darker tonally. There are less characters you like and root for. Chucky's motive behind killing is a little more blurred in the sequel. It's not nearly as fun of a ride as the ad campaigns claim it to be. It's much more grim than fun to watch.
The first question of any horror sequel is how do they bring the monster back to life? The toy company who got a bad rep after the rumors of Chucky surfaced got their hands on the burned to a crisp remains of Chucky and in the process of rebuilding the doll when the eyes are placed it, it comes back to life rejuvenating Chucky. It's clever but a little bit confusing.
Really the only sequence that I absolutely love in this film is from the moment that Kyle recognizes the buried Tommy doll to the end. By that point in time it keeps moving as fast as a freight train and never lets up. The ending set piece in the toy factory is a stunning sequence for the film and has one of the more brutal Chucky death scenes. A guy gets stuck in the conveyor belt and has doll eyes pluck out his own eyes killing him...ouch!
Kevin's animatronics are even sharper giving Chucky more impressive facial movements.
Brad Dourif again knocks it out of the park with his powerful voice. Chucky gets a few more one liners this time around, but overall the tone is much darker.
Besides that there's really not much else to praise in this movie. Alex is ok, but you can sorta tell he's over Chucky by now. His performance just isn't as fresh or as exciting as it was in the first movie. My biggest complaint is that apart from Andy in the first 2/3 of the movie there's nobody to connect with, nobody to root for and this is a major problem. It's just not fun to watch as people consistently beat up on Andy. As an audience member I felt very protective of Andy and powerless and uncomfortable while throughout the majority of this film he's all alone. It would be different if he was no longer a child, but that's what the first film got right: have your protagonist who's constantly in peril be an adult. It's uncomfortable when it's a child.
The death scenes this time round in some ways are a lot harsher but lack the charm and staying power of the originals. Both John Lafia and the wonderful Don Mancini returned as well as the ever present David Kershner, but I think the sequel proves that the true mastermind behind the original film was Tom Holland. It does get fun by the end, but it takes a while to get out of the stage of uncomfort and I know it's a horror film and it should make you uncomfortable, but the advertising said it was supposed to be fun and it just wasn't.
Child's Play 2 premiered on November 9, 1990. On a budget of $13 million, the movie grossed $35,763,605 worldwide, a hefty profit for a sequel especially at a time when the genre was considered dead. I don't think the film is as strong as people claim it to be, but without the success of this film, we wouldn't have the franchise and for that I tip my hat off to it in gratitude. How soon would Chucky return and would the success keep up...well, we'll discuss that next time...
As always we begin with the trailer. I think the trailer is stunning. It's just a truly amazing ad campaign for the film. The poster is breathtaking too with Chucky holding a pair of scissors about to cut off the head of Jack in the Jack in the Box. The tagline is one for the ages: Sorry Jack...Chucky's back! As great of an ad campaign as it is unfortunately I don't think it resembles the film well at all. The sequel is much darker tonally. There are less characters you like and root for. Chucky's motive behind killing is a little more blurred in the sequel. It's not nearly as fun of a ride as the ad campaigns claim it to be. It's much more grim than fun to watch.
The first question of any horror sequel is how do they bring the monster back to life? The toy company who got a bad rep after the rumors of Chucky surfaced got their hands on the burned to a crisp remains of Chucky and in the process of rebuilding the doll when the eyes are placed it, it comes back to life rejuvenating Chucky. It's clever but a little bit confusing.
Really the only sequence that I absolutely love in this film is from the moment that Kyle recognizes the buried Tommy doll to the end. By that point in time it keeps moving as fast as a freight train and never lets up. The ending set piece in the toy factory is a stunning sequence for the film and has one of the more brutal Chucky death scenes. A guy gets stuck in the conveyor belt and has doll eyes pluck out his own eyes killing him...ouch!
Kevin's animatronics are even sharper giving Chucky more impressive facial movements.
Brad Dourif again knocks it out of the park with his powerful voice. Chucky gets a few more one liners this time around, but overall the tone is much darker.
Besides that there's really not much else to praise in this movie. Alex is ok, but you can sorta tell he's over Chucky by now. His performance just isn't as fresh or as exciting as it was in the first movie. My biggest complaint is that apart from Andy in the first 2/3 of the movie there's nobody to connect with, nobody to root for and this is a major problem. It's just not fun to watch as people consistently beat up on Andy. As an audience member I felt very protective of Andy and powerless and uncomfortable while throughout the majority of this film he's all alone. It would be different if he was no longer a child, but that's what the first film got right: have your protagonist who's constantly in peril be an adult. It's uncomfortable when it's a child.
The death scenes this time round in some ways are a lot harsher but lack the charm and staying power of the originals. Both John Lafia and the wonderful Don Mancini returned as well as the ever present David Kershner, but I think the sequel proves that the true mastermind behind the original film was Tom Holland. It does get fun by the end, but it takes a while to get out of the stage of uncomfort and I know it's a horror film and it should make you uncomfortable, but the advertising said it was supposed to be fun and it just wasn't.
Child's Play 2 premiered on November 9, 1990. On a budget of $13 million, the movie grossed $35,763,605 worldwide, a hefty profit for a sequel especially at a time when the genre was considered dead. I don't think the film is as strong as people claim it to be, but without the success of this film, we wouldn't have the franchise and for that I tip my hat off to it in gratitude. How soon would Chucky return and would the success keep up...well, we'll discuss that next time...
Child's Play Review
What can I say that hasn't already been said? Chucky is my friend and has been for many, many years. I adore the character and this movie in particular. Let me give you a little background before we begin with the review. The script was originally written by Don Mancini, who will become crucial to this franchise. The script was called Batteries Not Included as well as Blood Buddies by one point. Instead of voodoo, it was the boyhood blood buddies passing that caused the doll to come to life. David Kirschner, another person crucial to the franchise, loved the script and brought it to United Artists. Tom Holland and John Lafia were brought on board to flesh out the concept and make it more easily accessible. Don was not the one who came up with Charles Lee Ray or Chucky for short. He did come up with the killer doll though. History is not clear as to who exactly came up with Chucky but whoever did had a stroke of genius because they created a horror icon. Now onto the finished product itself...
As always we begin with the trailer. The trailer feels extremely 80s, but it's still intriguing enough and has that haunting end credits music. It sells the movie well enough and garners enough interest in seeing the finished product. The tagline: Something's moved into the Barclay home, and so has terror. You'll wish it was only make believe. is actually a pretty fine tagline. It's a little long, but hey this was the late 80s. Friday had terrible advertising by this point, so this on gets a pass. The poster of Chucky's eyes in the sky as the babysitter falls out the window is a wonderful poster. It's completely chilling and visually stunning. It grabs your eyes immediately.
Everything about this movie, at least to me, works. Out of all the horror series that I will review on this blog, this original film is the classiest. The sequels, well that's a different story, but the original is so wonderfully made. I want you all to watch the movie again and pay specific attention to Chucky's head and watch how it transforms and becomes more and more human throughout the movie. It's extraordinary. Kevin Yagher is the unsung actor of this franchise. Kevin through animatronics has to act out Chucky. Brad Dourif is extraordinary and deserves all the credit for voicing Chucky. I adore Brad and you'll find that out more as we go along, but without the amazing acting of the animatronic, Chucky can only go so far. Brad gave SO much and Kevin was able to draw from it.
One of the best things I love about the movie is that it doesn't need a sequel. Many of the films I'll review here leave the door wide open for a sequel but that is not the case for Child's Play. Yes, the door is left open when Andy is walking out the room, but that was more to symbolize how the memory of Chucky would forever haunt Andy not implying that they were planning a sequel.
All that said, I think that this movie has one of the greatest horrific moments of any horror movie. When the mother discovers that the batteries are not in the doll and when she looks at the battery compartment and sees that it's empty it's so chilling. Having the head spin around and talk, it's just all so horrific. When Chucky first talks in his Chucky voice and not his doll voice, it's just like BOOM, the birth of our beloved Chucky, our friend to the end.
I cannot express in words how amazing this cast is especially from Alex Vincent. He is so unHollywood for a child actor that I actually genuinely care for him in this movie. He gave an intense performance that is so captivating, it's impossible to overlook.
I have to give Brad a specific paragraph all his own because he's truly that important. Brad was always playing the life version of the strangler, but the voice of the doll was originally supposed to be the woman from Play Misty for Me. For a lot of reasons this didn't work. Chucky sounded too effeminate. They brought Brad back in to voice the doll portions as well and boom, a horror icon was born.
Keep an eye on Chucky's partner Eddie Caputo because in later flashbacks, he will be an erased character.
Child's Play was originally released on November 9, 1988. On a budget of $9 million, the film grossed $44,196,684 worldwide. A very nice profit. Everything about this movie worked. I have nothing but the highest praise I can give a horror movie to this film. The sequels will get a lot of criticism don't worry, but the original is a class all its' own. But how would Chucky return after his heart had been shot, who from the cast would return as well...well, we'll discuss that next time...
As always we begin with the trailer. The trailer feels extremely 80s, but it's still intriguing enough and has that haunting end credits music. It sells the movie well enough and garners enough interest in seeing the finished product. The tagline: Something's moved into the Barclay home, and so has terror. You'll wish it was only make believe. is actually a pretty fine tagline. It's a little long, but hey this was the late 80s. Friday had terrible advertising by this point, so this on gets a pass. The poster of Chucky's eyes in the sky as the babysitter falls out the window is a wonderful poster. It's completely chilling and visually stunning. It grabs your eyes immediately.
Everything about this movie, at least to me, works. Out of all the horror series that I will review on this blog, this original film is the classiest. The sequels, well that's a different story, but the original is so wonderfully made. I want you all to watch the movie again and pay specific attention to Chucky's head and watch how it transforms and becomes more and more human throughout the movie. It's extraordinary. Kevin Yagher is the unsung actor of this franchise. Kevin through animatronics has to act out Chucky. Brad Dourif is extraordinary and deserves all the credit for voicing Chucky. I adore Brad and you'll find that out more as we go along, but without the amazing acting of the animatronic, Chucky can only go so far. Brad gave SO much and Kevin was able to draw from it.
One of the best things I love about the movie is that it doesn't need a sequel. Many of the films I'll review here leave the door wide open for a sequel but that is not the case for Child's Play. Yes, the door is left open when Andy is walking out the room, but that was more to symbolize how the memory of Chucky would forever haunt Andy not implying that they were planning a sequel.
All that said, I think that this movie has one of the greatest horrific moments of any horror movie. When the mother discovers that the batteries are not in the doll and when she looks at the battery compartment and sees that it's empty it's so chilling. Having the head spin around and talk, it's just all so horrific. When Chucky first talks in his Chucky voice and not his doll voice, it's just like BOOM, the birth of our beloved Chucky, our friend to the end.
I cannot express in words how amazing this cast is especially from Alex Vincent. He is so unHollywood for a child actor that I actually genuinely care for him in this movie. He gave an intense performance that is so captivating, it's impossible to overlook.
I have to give Brad a specific paragraph all his own because he's truly that important. Brad was always playing the life version of the strangler, but the voice of the doll was originally supposed to be the woman from Play Misty for Me. For a lot of reasons this didn't work. Chucky sounded too effeminate. They brought Brad back in to voice the doll portions as well and boom, a horror icon was born.
Keep an eye on Chucky's partner Eddie Caputo because in later flashbacks, he will be an erased character.
Child's Play was originally released on November 9, 1988. On a budget of $9 million, the film grossed $44,196,684 worldwide. A very nice profit. Everything about this movie worked. I have nothing but the highest praise I can give a horror movie to this film. The sequels will get a lot of criticism don't worry, but the original is a class all its' own. But how would Chucky return after his heart had been shot, who from the cast would return as well...well, we'll discuss that next time...
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Leprechaun Analysis Overview
This was one of the hardest analyses to do because this is the franchise I know the least of the three I've done thus far and unfortunately over the reviews, it's shown. I have only one person to thank: Warwick Davis, thank you for being loyal to the series, returning to every entry and most of all for being proud to be a slasher movie franchise villain. I respect the series mostly for Warwick. I enjoyed the series the most this time round. This was the first time I had made it all the way through the series. Leprechaun may not have permeated the culture as profoundly as Friday the 13th did, but it's undeniable that it has a strong cult following. I would be happy to sit through another Leprechaun movie. Next franchise analysis: Child's Play commemorating the 25th anniversary of the original film's release!
Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood Review
The Leprechaun franchise changed studios in between the fifth and sixth installments. The Leprechaun moved over to the wonderful hands of the Lions Gate studios. Lions Gate has always been good to horror films, especially after they picked up Eli Roth's Cabin Fever.
Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood amazingly brings back suspense to a franchise that had it missing entirely from the previous two installments. Originally a spring break Leprechaun movie was pitched. That would have fit the style of the franchise more than this because up to this point in time it had always changed settings, but it is what it is.
As always we begin with the trailer. I'm actually quite impressed with the trailer. It's fast paced, it has a lot of energy to it and it knows what it's selling. This is Leprechaun 6 after all. The tagline is stupid though: Evil has a whole new rap! I don't think he rapped this time round.
The opening of the movie yet again creates an entirely new mythology for our franchise. The book opens to chapter 6, and considering this is the sixth installment, I thought that was a great touch.
Our heroine is the strongest female character in the entire series. Emily falls under the spell of the gold after she first finds it. She lives in a lavish lifestyle afterwards, but quickly realizes her mistake as her greed from the gold haunts and follows her and her friends. By the end she kicks the leprechaun off the building to his doom.
This is the first movie where we see the Leprechaun's feet. They are nasty, just the way they should be. It's helpful to have the same make up artist throughout the entire series.
There are two really memorable death sequences in the movie. One involves a character with a bong. The bong gets shoved in his stomach and his blood fills the bong up. The other one involves a character who melted a gold coin down to a tooth. The leprechaun, like in Leprechaun 2, pulls the tooth out, but he pulls out her entire jaw in doing so...only the tooth was from the top set of teeth. This added bloody jaw shot doesn't make sense. Unfortunately, this death is memorable because it's bad.
The leprechaun has a new look with a new coat and overall dress. He's greener this time round and that's not really a welcome change on my part. They had been consistent with his dress for the first five entries and all of a sudden they decide to change it. No, BAD MOVIE! You are Leprechaun 6, you don't have a rite to change the look of the Leprechaun.
Like the first film, a four leaf clover is used in killing the Leprechaun. This time they have it spread over bullets. The Leprechaun is more powerful this time round having him regenerate even after being shot. He ultimately dies by sinking into cement.
Lastly, I must add that they took another jab at Christianity. The priest, knowing that the gold was evil still took it so he could have money to do the good things he wanted to do. That is such a bad expression of Christianity and it saddens me deeply to see how poorly it's represented in my favorite genre.
Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood was released straight to DVD on December 30, 2003. The film was panned, considered number 3 on an Entertainment Weekly list of the worst sequels of all time. I thought after the second one this was the best sequel. Currently, the original series has been laid to rest, but a remake with someone other than Warwick is planned by Lions Gate.
Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood amazingly brings back suspense to a franchise that had it missing entirely from the previous two installments. Originally a spring break Leprechaun movie was pitched. That would have fit the style of the franchise more than this because up to this point in time it had always changed settings, but it is what it is.
As always we begin with the trailer. I'm actually quite impressed with the trailer. It's fast paced, it has a lot of energy to it and it knows what it's selling. This is Leprechaun 6 after all. The tagline is stupid though: Evil has a whole new rap! I don't think he rapped this time round.
The opening of the movie yet again creates an entirely new mythology for our franchise. The book opens to chapter 6, and considering this is the sixth installment, I thought that was a great touch.
Our heroine is the strongest female character in the entire series. Emily falls under the spell of the gold after she first finds it. She lives in a lavish lifestyle afterwards, but quickly realizes her mistake as her greed from the gold haunts and follows her and her friends. By the end she kicks the leprechaun off the building to his doom.
This is the first movie where we see the Leprechaun's feet. They are nasty, just the way they should be. It's helpful to have the same make up artist throughout the entire series.
There are two really memorable death sequences in the movie. One involves a character with a bong. The bong gets shoved in his stomach and his blood fills the bong up. The other one involves a character who melted a gold coin down to a tooth. The leprechaun, like in Leprechaun 2, pulls the tooth out, but he pulls out her entire jaw in doing so...only the tooth was from the top set of teeth. This added bloody jaw shot doesn't make sense. Unfortunately, this death is memorable because it's bad.
The leprechaun has a new look with a new coat and overall dress. He's greener this time round and that's not really a welcome change on my part. They had been consistent with his dress for the first five entries and all of a sudden they decide to change it. No, BAD MOVIE! You are Leprechaun 6, you don't have a rite to change the look of the Leprechaun.
Like the first film, a four leaf clover is used in killing the Leprechaun. This time they have it spread over bullets. The Leprechaun is more powerful this time round having him regenerate even after being shot. He ultimately dies by sinking into cement.
Lastly, I must add that they took another jab at Christianity. The priest, knowing that the gold was evil still took it so he could have money to do the good things he wanted to do. That is such a bad expression of Christianity and it saddens me deeply to see how poorly it's represented in my favorite genre.
Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood was released straight to DVD on December 30, 2003. The film was panned, considered number 3 on an Entertainment Weekly list of the worst sequels of all time. I thought after the second one this was the best sequel. Currently, the original series has been laid to rest, but a remake with someone other than Warwick is planned by Lions Gate.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Leprechaun in the Hood Review
Although Leprechaun 4: In Space was a success, it was a huge letdown for the audience. The producers decided to do focus groups around the nation to find out the best way to make the fifth Leprechaun film. What they discovered was that the largest demographic for the Leprechaun films was black Americans.
Leprechaun in the Hood is a very odd film. It does it's job in reinventing the franchise, but it oddly feels quite forgettable. The good thing is that it's a much better film than Leprechaun 4. The film also makes more sense than the fourth film, but because of that it's under more scrutiny when it doesn't deliver. Fans of the franchise seem to be at odds. Half of them enjoy the fourth film more and the other half think this film is light-years ahead of the fourth film.
As always we begin with the trailer. The trailer is like a 30 second TV spot. It's straight to the point. It sells the movie well enough. Like I've said before, don't expect much from any of the trailers for the Leprechaun films, they're not known for quality trailers. The tagline once again is adequate enough, but nothing all that special: Evil's in the house.
The film opens with recycled shots of the first movie. I think the dialogue is the same too. This brings instant nostalgia for the original film. As much as I hated the film, I can't deny that going through this franchise analysis has made me feel attached and loyal to the series.
The rules of the leprechaun have changed again, but for the first time in the franchise it has repeated a way you can stop the leprechaun. The amulet from the third film is the thing that has stopped the leprechaun at the beginning of the movie. The leprechaun is also the most powerful in this film of all five so far. He can just with a touch of iron electrocute whoever is holding the other end. Sure this goes against what Leprechaun 2 said, but the Leprechaun franchise has always changed the rules with each entry. Also with the power of a touch he can make you his slave. The most interesting thing is with the push of his hand he can blow out your heart. He does this more than once in the film. It's the first time in the franchise that the leprechaun just seems unstoppable.
This film has the most ridiculous death since the pogo stick death in the first one. A man gets killed with his own hair pick repeatedly being stabbed in his neck. We don't see this happen, we only see the aftermath. The film also repeats ripping off a man's finger for his gold ring. It was a lot more effective during the second film.
I can't ignore the fact that the leprechaun smokes weed multiple times in the film and raps at the very end of the movie. This is what makes the movie seem odd. The leprechaun is at his most powerful, but he's also at his most jokey. I think some of these scenes were meant to be horrific, but the thing you walk away with is the comedic moments. We also see that the leprechaun has won in the end. He doesn't die, he has the main character under a spell, and he raps. This moment should be horrifying and in a way it is because it's just so ridiculous.
The main characters use a magic flute through the whole film. This brings about success to you. The main characters use it in a church when they're rapping Jesus Loves You. This brings about the most offensive scene in the entire franchise. They change the lyrics to say that Jesus doesn't love you, find a whore, and do your own thing. This is just despicable. Let me make one thing clear: Jesus does love you. He died for you. He humbled Himself in human form and died for your sins on the cross. He's not distant. He's very near and He wants a relationship with you. I would love to discuss with any of you about my faith and how it's changed my life. Don't be afraid to leave a comment.
Leprechaun in the Hood was released straight to DVD on March 28, 2000. There is no know budget or profit for the film. According to Size Matters Not, Warwick Davis' autobiography, the film was a smash hit that was nominated for a Video Premiere Award (the Academy Awards for straight to video projects) for best actor for Warwick Davis. He didn't win, but the fact that he got recognized for this role with a nomination is something I don't think anyone would have expected. How would the series continue and would they use the same leprechaun the sixth time around...well, we'll have to discuss that next time.
Leprechaun in the Hood is a very odd film. It does it's job in reinventing the franchise, but it oddly feels quite forgettable. The good thing is that it's a much better film than Leprechaun 4. The film also makes more sense than the fourth film, but because of that it's under more scrutiny when it doesn't deliver. Fans of the franchise seem to be at odds. Half of them enjoy the fourth film more and the other half think this film is light-years ahead of the fourth film.
As always we begin with the trailer. The trailer is like a 30 second TV spot. It's straight to the point. It sells the movie well enough. Like I've said before, don't expect much from any of the trailers for the Leprechaun films, they're not known for quality trailers. The tagline once again is adequate enough, but nothing all that special: Evil's in the house.
The film opens with recycled shots of the first movie. I think the dialogue is the same too. This brings instant nostalgia for the original film. As much as I hated the film, I can't deny that going through this franchise analysis has made me feel attached and loyal to the series.
The rules of the leprechaun have changed again, but for the first time in the franchise it has repeated a way you can stop the leprechaun. The amulet from the third film is the thing that has stopped the leprechaun at the beginning of the movie. The leprechaun is also the most powerful in this film of all five so far. He can just with a touch of iron electrocute whoever is holding the other end. Sure this goes against what Leprechaun 2 said, but the Leprechaun franchise has always changed the rules with each entry. Also with the power of a touch he can make you his slave. The most interesting thing is with the push of his hand he can blow out your heart. He does this more than once in the film. It's the first time in the franchise that the leprechaun just seems unstoppable.
This film has the most ridiculous death since the pogo stick death in the first one. A man gets killed with his own hair pick repeatedly being stabbed in his neck. We don't see this happen, we only see the aftermath. The film also repeats ripping off a man's finger for his gold ring. It was a lot more effective during the second film.
I can't ignore the fact that the leprechaun smokes weed multiple times in the film and raps at the very end of the movie. This is what makes the movie seem odd. The leprechaun is at his most powerful, but he's also at his most jokey. I think some of these scenes were meant to be horrific, but the thing you walk away with is the comedic moments. We also see that the leprechaun has won in the end. He doesn't die, he has the main character under a spell, and he raps. This moment should be horrifying and in a way it is because it's just so ridiculous.
The main characters use a magic flute through the whole film. This brings about success to you. The main characters use it in a church when they're rapping Jesus Loves You. This brings about the most offensive scene in the entire franchise. They change the lyrics to say that Jesus doesn't love you, find a whore, and do your own thing. This is just despicable. Let me make one thing clear: Jesus does love you. He died for you. He humbled Himself in human form and died for your sins on the cross. He's not distant. He's very near and He wants a relationship with you. I would love to discuss with any of you about my faith and how it's changed my life. Don't be afraid to leave a comment.
Leprechaun in the Hood was released straight to DVD on March 28, 2000. There is no know budget or profit for the film. According to Size Matters Not, Warwick Davis' autobiography, the film was a smash hit that was nominated for a Video Premiere Award (the Academy Awards for straight to video projects) for best actor for Warwick Davis. He didn't win, but the fact that he got recognized for this role with a nomination is something I don't think anyone would have expected. How would the series continue and would they use the same leprechaun the sixth time around...well, we'll have to discuss that next time.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Leprechuan 4: In Space Review
For three times previously the Leprechaun franchise had changed the rules and each movie depicted a different leprechaun. Although it's always played by the marvelous Warwick Davis. Leprechaun 4: In Space is no exception. Again it is a new leprechaun and a new set of rules. This movie is by far the weakest entry thus far in the franchise. It has a weird blend of great practical effects and horrendous CGI which makes for an overall extremely campy experience.
As always we begin with the trailer. If by the fourth film you didn't know what a Leprechaun movie felt like this trailer wouldn't convince you to go out and watch one. It's an all right trailer, but they must have done something right because people kept watching and buying these movies. The tagline is all right: One small step for man. One giant leap of terror! The poster is a mock up of the Apollo 13 poster. This is most likely where the idea to send him off into space came from but it has never been confirmed.
As for the movie itself it is the campiest film yet. This film makes the original seem like a great movie, which is no easy feat. The leprechaun is searching for a bride again. This time though, he feels he must marry a princess. If he does, he will become king (after he kills her father, of course) and this will make him ruler of the galaxy! Doesn't make sense? You're right, it doesn't, but Warwick makes a valid point in his autobiography Size Matters Not that this and all the other films are Leprechaun films. Nothing needs to make sense. In fact, the crappier the product, the more horror fans embraced the character according to Davis.
Let's begin with how crappy those space marines are. After they kill the leprechaun in the opening, a guy pees on his remaining parts. Brutality in our human characters is not something the audience wants. We want to root for the human characters, but then again, it is truthful about the depravity of humanity, so I can't complain too much. Then we get the most unique reentrance of a horror icon in a sequel yet (yes, even more unique than the dog pissing fire on Freddy's bones in Nightmare 4), the leprechaun comes out of the man who peed on him's penis. Once the man get's hard, the leprechaun comes out. This instantly kills him. It's just a much more perverted version of the chestburster scene in Alien. It's also not as graphic as you're thinking. The man has pants on the whole time and you just see a large blob come out before the leprechauns head comes through the seam of the pants. It's so unique and just plain trashy that it perfectly embodies the series. They aren't ashamed to do anything in a Leprechaun movie.
The CGI effects are SO awful! I think the SciFi channel has done better effects than this film has. It's like an early 90's video game. Over time my mind just grew numb to it, but the first few shots every time I couldn't help but laugh at it.
On the other hand, the practical effects are AMAZING this time round. Especially with the Dr. Mittenhand character. When he's first revealed the prosthetics of him being only like a third flesh were impressive enough. The rest of him was computer/walker. By the end however, he is injected with tissue that regenerates mixed with a spider and a scorpion. It's quite an amazing site. It's nightmarish and that is so rare for this series. That is the stand out moment of the movie seeing him in that new form.
Before the end of the movie, the leprechaun is enlarged. There is a device that can enlarge and shrink items. I thought for certain the way they were going to kill the leprechaun this time round was to eventually shrink him and step on him, but instead he gets ejected out into space and randomly explodes. Also the princess character who was in cohorts with the leprechaun by the end just kinda passes out and is never seen again in the movie. It's like the movie forgot to finish that plotline. When all is said and done, Leprechaun 4: In Space is a terrible film with some great prosthetics. The original is by far the better movie, but I must admit this one is still more fun to watch.
Leprechaun 4: In Space was released straight to video on February 25, 1997. The film had a budget of $1.6 million. There is no known profit. According to Size Matters Not the film still did really well and warranted another sequel. However, even the fans of Leprechaun seemed to be tired of the films by the fourth movie. The fifth film would have to reinvent the series in some way...but how would the series be reinvented...would it be a different leprechaun with a different set of rules...well, we'll discuss that next time.
As always we begin with the trailer. If by the fourth film you didn't know what a Leprechaun movie felt like this trailer wouldn't convince you to go out and watch one. It's an all right trailer, but they must have done something right because people kept watching and buying these movies. The tagline is all right: One small step for man. One giant leap of terror! The poster is a mock up of the Apollo 13 poster. This is most likely where the idea to send him off into space came from but it has never been confirmed.
As for the movie itself it is the campiest film yet. This film makes the original seem like a great movie, which is no easy feat. The leprechaun is searching for a bride again. This time though, he feels he must marry a princess. If he does, he will become king (after he kills her father, of course) and this will make him ruler of the galaxy! Doesn't make sense? You're right, it doesn't, but Warwick makes a valid point in his autobiography Size Matters Not that this and all the other films are Leprechaun films. Nothing needs to make sense. In fact, the crappier the product, the more horror fans embraced the character according to Davis.
Let's begin with how crappy those space marines are. After they kill the leprechaun in the opening, a guy pees on his remaining parts. Brutality in our human characters is not something the audience wants. We want to root for the human characters, but then again, it is truthful about the depravity of humanity, so I can't complain too much. Then we get the most unique reentrance of a horror icon in a sequel yet (yes, even more unique than the dog pissing fire on Freddy's bones in Nightmare 4), the leprechaun comes out of the man who peed on him's penis. Once the man get's hard, the leprechaun comes out. This instantly kills him. It's just a much more perverted version of the chestburster scene in Alien. It's also not as graphic as you're thinking. The man has pants on the whole time and you just see a large blob come out before the leprechauns head comes through the seam of the pants. It's so unique and just plain trashy that it perfectly embodies the series. They aren't ashamed to do anything in a Leprechaun movie.
The CGI effects are SO awful! I think the SciFi channel has done better effects than this film has. It's like an early 90's video game. Over time my mind just grew numb to it, but the first few shots every time I couldn't help but laugh at it.
On the other hand, the practical effects are AMAZING this time round. Especially with the Dr. Mittenhand character. When he's first revealed the prosthetics of him being only like a third flesh were impressive enough. The rest of him was computer/walker. By the end however, he is injected with tissue that regenerates mixed with a spider and a scorpion. It's quite an amazing site. It's nightmarish and that is so rare for this series. That is the stand out moment of the movie seeing him in that new form.
Before the end of the movie, the leprechaun is enlarged. There is a device that can enlarge and shrink items. I thought for certain the way they were going to kill the leprechaun this time round was to eventually shrink him and step on him, but instead he gets ejected out into space and randomly explodes. Also the princess character who was in cohorts with the leprechaun by the end just kinda passes out and is never seen again in the movie. It's like the movie forgot to finish that plotline. When all is said and done, Leprechaun 4: In Space is a terrible film with some great prosthetics. The original is by far the better movie, but I must admit this one is still more fun to watch.
Leprechaun 4: In Space was released straight to video on February 25, 1997. The film had a budget of $1.6 million. There is no known profit. According to Size Matters Not the film still did really well and warranted another sequel. However, even the fans of Leprechaun seemed to be tired of the films by the fourth movie. The fifth film would have to reinvent the series in some way...but how would the series be reinvented...would it be a different leprechaun with a different set of rules...well, we'll discuss that next time.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Leprechaun 3 Review
Leprechaun 2 did well enough to warrant a sequel. However, Leprechaun 3 went straight to video. Did the quality drop enough to warrant a direct to video release, or did this film deserve a theatrical run? Warwick Davis, the man behind the latex, has hinted in a recent interview that Leprechaun 3 is possibly his favorite film in the franchise. That's a huge thing to say. His opinion definitely has a huge weight over this series, but unfortunately we get a lackluster piece.
As always we start with the trailer. The trailer is once again a boring sell. It's hard to convince people to watch a movie about a killer leprechaun. There's a specific audience that would desire to see that and that's a very small, very limited audience. The tagline is fine: Welcome to Vegas...the odds are you won't leave alive! It's a fine sell, but again there's nothing special or memorable about it. This series isn't really known for great trailers or taglines, which is a good thing overall for the series. It's known for the films themselves.
Warwick Davis is right about one thing in the interview, Leprechaun 3 did increase the humor. This is a key element that had the series go on for 3 more entries after this. The leprechaun flips the bird to cars that won't pick him up, he impersonates Elvis, and he is making more limericks than ever before. When you spell it like that, this would seem to be the most enjoyable entry thus far, but actually it's the weakest.
The death scenes are really, really poor this time around. It's obvious they had a huge decrease in budget, which they did $800,000 worth. Caroline Williams of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 fame appears in this one and has a plastic surgery makeover from hell eventually exploding. But the biggest problem is that the leprechaun enters the film so early and does nothing. In fact the first death scene, the one with the pawn shop owner is dragged on and on and on. It's intercut with our main story, but it's a really awkward shift in tone and it just doesn't flow. It's not good editing at all.
Yet again, this is a brand new leprechaun that just happens to look the same and is played by the same actor. With a new leprechaun comes new rules. A medallion can turn a leprechaun into stone, which is one way you can stop him. Stealing a leprechaun's gold coin will grant you one wish. Some people criticize the film claiming that the people could just wish away the leprechaun, but the leprechaun's gold cannot be used as a wish to harm him. This is explained clearly in dialogue. Also it brings about an interesting insight into human nature. We're greedy. We think of ourselves and forget to help others when we're so close to our wildest dreams. Especially if it's only a wish away. We love being lazy. The easy achievable dream. Ultimately, we're a broken world. We are all very broken, which is evidenced by all of the characters. The way that you can kill the leprechaun this time is by destroying his gold. Which our main character does and this leprechaun like the second film's leprechaun dies by the end. This is one of the fun things about this series now. While it lacks all sense of continuity even though they're claiming to be direct sequels, the rules change every time and once you realize that it makes it for a fun and exciting experience as an audience member.
Two things that also stood out about this movie are the death of the magician. He is literally sawed in half. It's so painful to watch but it's mesmerizing. You can't keep your eyes off of it. It's by far the best death scene in the film and kicks off the film's finale. Another thing is that in this film when the leprechaun bites our lead character's arm, it turns him into a leprechaun. His blood changes, his body starts to change. He starts to speak in limericks occasionally. It also hints that leprechauns are very territorial and can't stand other leprechauns. This was a really interesting addition to this film and really gave a new elevation to the character arc of our leads in these films.
Overall, the film suffers from a decreased budget and poor pacing at the beginning. The film does pick up tremendous speed by the end and introduces some really unique and interesting concepts. It's uneven, but overall a fun addition to the series and is still far better than the original.
Leprechaun 3 was released straight to video on June 27, 1995. The film was again panned by critics, but oddly enough this film holds the highest user rating on IMDb. The budget was $1.2 million. There is no known gross for the film. The film obviously did well enough on video to warrant another straight to video sequel...but where would the leprechaun go after he had gone to Vegas...how would they bring the leprechaun back again after having killed him off in the previous two...would there be another set of rules...well, we'll discuss that next time.
As always we start with the trailer. The trailer is once again a boring sell. It's hard to convince people to watch a movie about a killer leprechaun. There's a specific audience that would desire to see that and that's a very small, very limited audience. The tagline is fine: Welcome to Vegas...the odds are you won't leave alive! It's a fine sell, but again there's nothing special or memorable about it. This series isn't really known for great trailers or taglines, which is a good thing overall for the series. It's known for the films themselves.
Warwick Davis is right about one thing in the interview, Leprechaun 3 did increase the humor. This is a key element that had the series go on for 3 more entries after this. The leprechaun flips the bird to cars that won't pick him up, he impersonates Elvis, and he is making more limericks than ever before. When you spell it like that, this would seem to be the most enjoyable entry thus far, but actually it's the weakest.
The death scenes are really, really poor this time around. It's obvious they had a huge decrease in budget, which they did $800,000 worth. Caroline Williams of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 fame appears in this one and has a plastic surgery makeover from hell eventually exploding. But the biggest problem is that the leprechaun enters the film so early and does nothing. In fact the first death scene, the one with the pawn shop owner is dragged on and on and on. It's intercut with our main story, but it's a really awkward shift in tone and it just doesn't flow. It's not good editing at all.
Yet again, this is a brand new leprechaun that just happens to look the same and is played by the same actor. With a new leprechaun comes new rules. A medallion can turn a leprechaun into stone, which is one way you can stop him. Stealing a leprechaun's gold coin will grant you one wish. Some people criticize the film claiming that the people could just wish away the leprechaun, but the leprechaun's gold cannot be used as a wish to harm him. This is explained clearly in dialogue. Also it brings about an interesting insight into human nature. We're greedy. We think of ourselves and forget to help others when we're so close to our wildest dreams. Especially if it's only a wish away. We love being lazy. The easy achievable dream. Ultimately, we're a broken world. We are all very broken, which is evidenced by all of the characters. The way that you can kill the leprechaun this time is by destroying his gold. Which our main character does and this leprechaun like the second film's leprechaun dies by the end. This is one of the fun things about this series now. While it lacks all sense of continuity even though they're claiming to be direct sequels, the rules change every time and once you realize that it makes it for a fun and exciting experience as an audience member.
Two things that also stood out about this movie are the death of the magician. He is literally sawed in half. It's so painful to watch but it's mesmerizing. You can't keep your eyes off of it. It's by far the best death scene in the film and kicks off the film's finale. Another thing is that in this film when the leprechaun bites our lead character's arm, it turns him into a leprechaun. His blood changes, his body starts to change. He starts to speak in limericks occasionally. It also hints that leprechauns are very territorial and can't stand other leprechauns. This was a really interesting addition to this film and really gave a new elevation to the character arc of our leads in these films.
Overall, the film suffers from a decreased budget and poor pacing at the beginning. The film does pick up tremendous speed by the end and introduces some really unique and interesting concepts. It's uneven, but overall a fun addition to the series and is still far better than the original.
Leprechaun 3 was released straight to video on June 27, 1995. The film was again panned by critics, but oddly enough this film holds the highest user rating on IMDb. The budget was $1.2 million. There is no known gross for the film. The film obviously did well enough on video to warrant another straight to video sequel...but where would the leprechaun go after he had gone to Vegas...how would they bring the leprechaun back again after having killed him off in the previous two...would there be another set of rules...well, we'll discuss that next time.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Leprechaun 2 Review
Trimark pictures was thrilled with the money that Leprechaun made. Leprechaun especially became a huge hit on video. It also helped that Wayne's World 2 had a scene in which one of the characters is scaring the other one pretending to be the leprechaun. Leprechaun 2 seemed inevitable in the minds of the studio.
As always we begin with the trailer. The trailer once again is lackluster. It promotes the movie as gross, but not very engaging. The tagline is better though: This time, luck has nothing to do with it! It's really ominous and plays well off of the tagline of the original film.
The movie itself is both the most frustrating and engrossing part 2 of any horror franchise I have ever seen! Let's start with the frustrating: the movie doesn't respect the original film at all. This is an entirely different leprechaun (even though it's still played by Warwick Davis). I guess the leprechaun at the bottom of the well will stay there for eternity. The way you kill the leprechaun has also changed: the first film it was a four leaf clover, this film it's by iron. The basic plot of the leprechaun trying to get a wife every thousand years is also very stupid. It's simply infuriating to watch a film called leprechaun 2 that pays no homage to the original film.
However, the film is the most engrossing sequel I have ever seen because it surpasses the original film in everything it does. It's obvious that the studio intended the film to be an R right off the bat (the biggest problem with the original film) and that helps the quality of the second film skyrocket. This film is vicious and it's super surprising after a quite tame original film. The first time the leprechaun comes out in the present day, he sees a gold tooth on a drunk and pulls it out. It's so painful to watch. He also rips off a guys finger to have a gold ring. The leprechaun is so much meaner and that's a welcome change.
It's very easy to tell that the second one would be more appealing to watch as a teenager than the first one. The film also has the best death scene of the entire franchise. A greedy uncle asks for the leprechaun's gold. The leprechaun gives it to him, but it starts falling down in his stomach. His stomach stretches as it holds the pot of gold inside his body. He begs the leprechaun to take it out. The leprechaun rips the stomach open killing him in order to take the pot of gold out. It's a thrilling and completely surprising viewing experience.
It does everything better. The acting is much more bearable this time round too. As frustrating as it is, considering it surpasses the original in every way, I can forgive the film for having no respect for the original. The original shouldn't be that well respected anyways.
On April 8, 1994, Leprechaun 2 premiered in theaters. The film grossed $2,260,622, which was enough to warrant another sequel from the studio. How would the second sequel go after the first sequel's leprechaun exploded by the end? Considering the rules had changed would they possibly change them once again...well, we'll discuss that next time.
As always we begin with the trailer. The trailer once again is lackluster. It promotes the movie as gross, but not very engaging. The tagline is better though: This time, luck has nothing to do with it! It's really ominous and plays well off of the tagline of the original film.
The movie itself is both the most frustrating and engrossing part 2 of any horror franchise I have ever seen! Let's start with the frustrating: the movie doesn't respect the original film at all. This is an entirely different leprechaun (even though it's still played by Warwick Davis). I guess the leprechaun at the bottom of the well will stay there for eternity. The way you kill the leprechaun has also changed: the first film it was a four leaf clover, this film it's by iron. The basic plot of the leprechaun trying to get a wife every thousand years is also very stupid. It's simply infuriating to watch a film called leprechaun 2 that pays no homage to the original film.
However, the film is the most engrossing sequel I have ever seen because it surpasses the original film in everything it does. It's obvious that the studio intended the film to be an R right off the bat (the biggest problem with the original film) and that helps the quality of the second film skyrocket. This film is vicious and it's super surprising after a quite tame original film. The first time the leprechaun comes out in the present day, he sees a gold tooth on a drunk and pulls it out. It's so painful to watch. He also rips off a guys finger to have a gold ring. The leprechaun is so much meaner and that's a welcome change.
It's very easy to tell that the second one would be more appealing to watch as a teenager than the first one. The film also has the best death scene of the entire franchise. A greedy uncle asks for the leprechaun's gold. The leprechaun gives it to him, but it starts falling down in his stomach. His stomach stretches as it holds the pot of gold inside his body. He begs the leprechaun to take it out. The leprechaun rips the stomach open killing him in order to take the pot of gold out. It's a thrilling and completely surprising viewing experience.
It does everything better. The acting is much more bearable this time round too. As frustrating as it is, considering it surpasses the original in every way, I can forgive the film for having no respect for the original. The original shouldn't be that well respected anyways.
On April 8, 1994, Leprechaun 2 premiered in theaters. The film grossed $2,260,622, which was enough to warrant another sequel from the studio. How would the second sequel go after the first sequel's leprechaun exploded by the end? Considering the rules had changed would they possibly change them once again...well, we'll discuss that next time.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Leprechaun Review
Leprechaun is undoubtedly a franchise. With six movies under it's belt there's no question about that. What is surprising is that there were so many sequels for a franchise that has barely been heard of today. Even for the horror genre, Leprechaun is a C series. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original's release, I have decided to do a franchise analysis of one of the most bizarre and mind bogglingly problematic (continuity wise) series I will ever attempt. Bare with me, folks, this one's gonna be a bumpy and infuriating ride.
As always we begin with the trailer. The original trailer had a lot to be desired. It was engaging enough to make me want to see the film and it definitely made the leprechaun seem much more menacing and scarier than he actually is, but it just wasn't a great trailer. The tagline for the film: Your luck just ran out! really is the only tagline that could sell the movie for what it is. It's a pun, like several of the lines in the movie, and that's one of the most irritating qualities of the first picture.
Leprechaun's first problem stems from the fact that Mark Jones shot this movie for young children. It was intended to be a young children's scary movie. This makes sense because it seems to be the only audience that would find a leprechaun scary in any sense.
The characters are a mess. I just don't care about Jennifer Aniston or any of the human characters in the movie. The acting is simply atrocious. It is by far the worst acting of any horror movie I have ever seen! This movie just infuriates me to no end!
The only positive element of the film is the casting of Warwick Davis as the killer leprechaun. He is just so mesmerizing as an actor. I just can't take my eyes off of him. He is so much fun to watch, which is the only thing I can think of that makes sense as to why we have five sequels to a crappy film.
The biggest problem with the film is this: they shot it for children like I said before. When they sold the movie, the studio asked for the film to be made into an R. They then vamped up the violence. However, this makes the whole picture disjointed. The violent sequences are incredibly violent for a 'kids film.' It definitely warranted it's R rating in 1993, however the rest of the film is so childish that it just tonally makes no sense. I can't seem to understand why anyone would like the original film for this reason alone. I thought it would be so much better than it was seeing as it's the original of a long series, but I clearly overestimated it's quality.
The leprechaun in this film is killed, or at least stopped, by a four leaf clover. Keep this in mind for next time. It is also trapped inside a well at the end claiming revenge. I rewatched the film for the first time in a few years for my review. I watched it on VOD on amazon. The movie was presented in glorious HD and for the first time that I've ever seen it in widescreen. That made the experience of watching the film fresh. I finally felt complete with this film having watched it in widescreen. But even with the HD and the widescreen it didn't save the film from being incredibly boring. I can never forget the total knockoff of the phone gag from Nightmare on Elm Street. I've always thought of Freddy every time that scene comes up and it's so far from Nightmare's quality it's just painful to sit through. While I was watching it, about halfway through I was itching for the film to be over. It just always seems to drag on for FAR too long. Like I said, it's a disjointed piece. Keep that in mind when you watch it.
Leprechaun was released in theaters on January 8, 1993. On a budget of $900,000, the film grossed $8,556,940. That is an incredible profit for such a crappy movie! That profit margin was something the studio could not ignore, so the studio demanded a sequel. But how would the leprechaun get out of the well, would the sequel still have the childish quality of the original, and how ultimately would the leprechaun return to the big screen...well, we'll discuss that next time.
As always we begin with the trailer. The original trailer had a lot to be desired. It was engaging enough to make me want to see the film and it definitely made the leprechaun seem much more menacing and scarier than he actually is, but it just wasn't a great trailer. The tagline for the film: Your luck just ran out! really is the only tagline that could sell the movie for what it is. It's a pun, like several of the lines in the movie, and that's one of the most irritating qualities of the first picture.
Leprechaun's first problem stems from the fact that Mark Jones shot this movie for young children. It was intended to be a young children's scary movie. This makes sense because it seems to be the only audience that would find a leprechaun scary in any sense.
The characters are a mess. I just don't care about Jennifer Aniston or any of the human characters in the movie. The acting is simply atrocious. It is by far the worst acting of any horror movie I have ever seen! This movie just infuriates me to no end!
The only positive element of the film is the casting of Warwick Davis as the killer leprechaun. He is just so mesmerizing as an actor. I just can't take my eyes off of him. He is so much fun to watch, which is the only thing I can think of that makes sense as to why we have five sequels to a crappy film.
The biggest problem with the film is this: they shot it for children like I said before. When they sold the movie, the studio asked for the film to be made into an R. They then vamped up the violence. However, this makes the whole picture disjointed. The violent sequences are incredibly violent for a 'kids film.' It definitely warranted it's R rating in 1993, however the rest of the film is so childish that it just tonally makes no sense. I can't seem to understand why anyone would like the original film for this reason alone. I thought it would be so much better than it was seeing as it's the original of a long series, but I clearly overestimated it's quality.
The leprechaun in this film is killed, or at least stopped, by a four leaf clover. Keep this in mind for next time. It is also trapped inside a well at the end claiming revenge. I rewatched the film for the first time in a few years for my review. I watched it on VOD on amazon. The movie was presented in glorious HD and for the first time that I've ever seen it in widescreen. That made the experience of watching the film fresh. I finally felt complete with this film having watched it in widescreen. But even with the HD and the widescreen it didn't save the film from being incredibly boring. I can never forget the total knockoff of the phone gag from Nightmare on Elm Street. I've always thought of Freddy every time that scene comes up and it's so far from Nightmare's quality it's just painful to sit through. While I was watching it, about halfway through I was itching for the film to be over. It just always seems to drag on for FAR too long. Like I said, it's a disjointed piece. Keep that in mind when you watch it.
Leprechaun was released in theaters on January 8, 1993. On a budget of $900,000, the film grossed $8,556,940. That is an incredible profit for such a crappy movie! That profit margin was something the studio could not ignore, so the studio demanded a sequel. But how would the leprechaun get out of the well, would the sequel still have the childish quality of the original, and how ultimately would the leprechaun return to the big screen...well, we'll discuss that next time.
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...
Saturday, January 19, 2013
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.
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.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
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...
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...
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
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...
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.
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, January 11, 2013
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.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
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.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
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.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)