Review #2: Friday the 13th Part I (1980)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Sean Cunningham (Director):

Betsy Palmer (Pamela Voorhees): Friday the 13th Part 2, Knots Landing T.V. Series

Adrienne King (Alice): Friday the 13th Part 2

Kevin Bacon (Jack): Animal House (1978), White Water Summer (1987), Planes, Trains, & Automobiles (1987), Tremors (1990), Flatliners (1990), J.F.K. (1991), A Few Good Men (1992), and many, many more

Trailer:


So how does the legendary series begin? Back in 1958, Mommy Voohrees takes revenge on Crystal Lake Camp counselors for the death of her son. I guess that the police never learn who do it, and camp is closed for years. It becomes the center point of a good campfire story, known as Camp Blood.

Years later (1979), the camp reopens...at least attempts to reopen. A man named Steve Christy, has bought the place and is attempting to reopen the camp and has employed a few young adults to help fix up the place.

The day is now Friday the 13th, and the six counselors are left behind as Steve travels to town on the eve of a storm to pick up more supplies for the camp. Little do they know that a mysterious person is not happy with the reopening of the camp and starts to pick off the counselors one by one with hopes of keeping the camp cursed.

That someone turns out to be Mommy Voorhees, and she continues her vengeance on the unsuspecting young adults. Still are little rattled and psychotic years after her son's death, Pamela takes it upon herself to make sure the camp never reopens. As you may suspect, murder and mayhem ensues.

It's the mother ship of the series. If Halloween is the bible of slasher movies, then this is The Holy Grail. Well maybe not quite that, but it’s my review. I can say whatever I want. This film strengthens the genre and kind of becomes a blue print for many similar and rip offs to come. Without this film, the horror industry probably wouldn't be the same.

Villain:

For the majority of the film, the killer remained faceless, hidden in the shadows. Who knew that the killer would be a pissed off middle-aged chick? Brilliant. Pamela Voorhees, mother of Jason, pictured right. This just goes to show that all bad guys don’t necessarily have to be some freak of nature, super strong or an evil mastermind to have fun.

Common uneducated folk mistake Jason to be the killer for all the Friday movies, but not this one. Friday the 13th is actually Jason's birthday, as described by his mom in the film. But don't be totally depressed...Jason has a very, very small part in this one. Which is why remaking this movie is tough. Every one wants Jason, but his mom does the dirty work in this one. It's a dilemma that tears apart a true fan's heart.

Cast:

The cast of the film was nothing special. They were just a bunch of young adults working at a summer camp who smoke weed, drink and have sex. I call it the American Dream. Those three traits end up creating the mold of victims for slasher/horror movies to come. Alice goes on to be the heroine of the film. She just plays a bubbly, screaming coed who eventually stands her ground and fights back.

Hey, what d' ya know, we have a famous guy in here! Kevin Bacon co-stars in the film. Unfortunately it's not his first gig, Animal House is credited, but it's definitely one of his earlier pieces of art.

SFX/Gore:

Considering it was a late 70’s early 80’s film, the special effects were not that bad on the kills. There were a total of ten deaths in all unfortunately one of them being the bad guy...or girl...Ms. Voorhees.

For the most part, they were all kind of creative as in NOT repetitive and none of them were too overly gory. I think it was just right. I guess my favorite death is the one you really get a good glimpse at, the Bacon death. Sorry, it's a minor spoiler, but come on' who didn't see him dying? * Highlight to Read * His death pretty much comes after he just had sex with his girlfriend. They take shelter from the violent storm in one of the cabins to get it on.

Afterwards, she goes to wash up and leaves him smiling and relaxing in the bottom bed bunk. He's relaxing and lites up an additional relaxer, when he feels a drop of blood from above. The bloods from a previously disposed character hidden on the top bunk. As he goes to react, an arm comes from underneath the bed and grabs his forehead. Next an arrow comes up through his throat from underneath the bed. * End. It was probably the most detailed death in the movie. And it kills Kevin!

TNA:

A little disappointed about TNA, but at least it had some. This was still early in the horror genre, so TNA wasn't the focal point of a plot element yet. We get one set of twins, and two sex acts. Through in four hot chicks (Shark factor) and we get a decent amount to enjoy. Like I said, back then they were trying to sell the movie at first as a horror movie and didn't think too much about TNA. Of course in today's standards, they MUST incorporate that element. Otherwise, they leave the fans disappointed and the film PG-13.

T.Gun's Take:

The story and setting of the movie was some of the bests parts of the movie. At the time Friday came out, it was considered an original. Hollywood churned out billions of similar films like it afterwards. You got to remember that it was one of the first in…teenagers goes camping and gets killed…plot lines, so as far as originality goes, it’s up there in the ranks.

Friday's movie pace was overall pretty good. There were very few dull spots along the way, but every movie seems to have it's low periods. The climatic battle between Alica and Pamela at the end was great. We all love to see a chick fight!

The musical score complementing the chase sequence went perfect, it was eerie and fast paced. Harry Manfredini came up with the score for the film, and since then it has become legendary.

The "twist" at the end was very nice...probably because it sets up a whole new monster itself. No one at the time could have foresee what it would do to pop culture in years to come.

The film quality was good for being a low budget film. I've seen a few where the quality was so grainy and dark that I couldn't tell what was going on. I liked the atmosphere, dark and rainy. Little did I know, that those two elements would be a staple in the franchise and show up in all of them. It also was a pretty suspenseful flick, keeping the blood running through the veins. Over the ages of time, it still holds up to be quite thrilling and suspenseful.

The original Friday the 13th movie is one of my all time horror favorites. Some day I'll put out a Top 10 list, and this one will be some where pretty high on the list. And I'm not just the only one who likes it. Friday is highly recognized as a classic horror movie by many prestine individuals.

Director Sean Cunningham has gone on to help prolong the life of this franchise by producing Jason X, Jason Goes to Hell, & FvsJ and the re imagining/remake Friday the 13th. It all started with him just taking a simple advertisement out of Variety magazine with the Friday the 13th logo. The script wasn't even completed at the time. It just proves that advertising can create buzz.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on May 9, 1980 and made $39.7 million at the Box Office ($5.8 million opening weekend)
-Sally Field auditioned for the role of Alice
-Filmed at Camp Nobebosco in New Jersey
-Henry Manfredini wrote the famous score and explained the famous chi, chi, chi, ha, ha, ha is actually ki, ki, ki, ma, ma, ma after Kill, Kill, Kill, Mom, Mom, Mom

Review #3: Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Steve Miner (Director): Friday the 13th Part 3, House (1986), Warlock (1989), H2O, Lake Placid (1999), Texas Rangers (2001), Day of the Dead

Amy Steel (Ginny): April Fool's Day

Adrienne King (Alice): Friday the 13th

Stuart Charno (Ted): Once Bitten (1985), Sleepwalkers (1992), Christine

Marta Kober (Sandra): Rad (1986)

Russell Todd (Scott): Chopping Mall (1986)

Trailer:

Plot:

The success and ending of the first movie demanded the making of a sequel. Demanded I say! Now that mommy's dead, the legend of Jason Voohrees can take the stage for years to come.

The story picks up two months after the events of the first movie. The lone survivor of the first film, Alice, is slain at home by a mysterious prowler. Hmm. Who could that be? Fast forward into the future five more years and we have a group of young adults attending a camp counselor training center at Crystal Lake. It's not the same camp as the first movie, it's a similar camp on the other side of the lake. The original camp has been now condemned.

Paul is the boss of the new camp and his girlfriend, Ginny shows up to help. A new group of counselors attend this training camp as Paul and a few others teaches them the ropes of being a counselor. One night, they're all sitting down at the campfire and Paul tells them the story of Camp Blood. Paul warns all of them not to attempt to go over at the deserted camp on the other side of the lake.

Well what ya know, the next day, two of the trainees venture off into the forbidden zone, Camp Blood. They are caught by a local police man for trespassing. He turns them over to Paul who gives them a stern warning and pretty much grounds them for a day.

The cop leaves the camp and is traveling down the road when a hooded figure jumps out in front of the car and dashes into the woods. The cop follows him on foot through the woods. The chase leads the cop to a pieced together shack/trailer looking structure. Inside appears to be a rundown, make shift home of a woodsman. For the cop, it turns out to be a regrettable mistake, because he's just stumbled into the home of Jason. Needless to say, he doesn't make it out alive.

Night fall comes, and after a group dinner, most trainees leave camp for a night out on the town. A few of them are left behind to watch camp. With a sparse crew left to hold down the fort, Jason starts his rein of terror. Let the slaughtering of counselors begin! Only this time, it's not by a pissed off middle aged chick, but by a revenge seeking retard.

Villain:

Jason Voohrees. Self explanatory. My favorite horror movie icon. This is the movie that starts it all. At least for Jason. In this film, Jason is pretty much a confused teenage retard, living off the land and seeking revenge on anyone who comes onto his lands. His raged is fueled by the murder of his mother that he had witnessed at the end of the first.

Unlike the other Friday movies, Jason has a realistic touch to him. At this point his character was still a mystery. Did he actually drown years ago? Or has he been hiding out all these years living off the land? He is not yet an indestructible force of nature. He's just a troubled, mutated wild boy seeking revenge. I believe this characteristic makes this Jason character scarier than any of the other upcoming Jason’s. It's a sense of realism in the world. Jason's one of those crazy hill billies killing people. Not a Frankenstein monster who can't be killed. Who cares if he wears a sack over his head in this one?

Cast:

I might have over rated this category, but oh well it's my scoring. I liked the cast of the film. They were nothing special, it was a typical cast of twenty year old teenagers. At least, none of them were as annoying as I've seen in most horror movie films. I thought they did a good job staying with in the boundaries of their acting abilities.

Ginny was the "strong" female in the film. She was studying child's psychology in college and gave some insight to the development and psyche of Jason. She had a pretty physical role in the film, constantly being chased and roughed up by Jason towards the end of the film.

SFX/Gore:

Considering it was an early 80’s film, the special effects were pretty descent on the kills. There were a total of nine deaths in all. For the most part, they were all creative and nothing was overly gory or bloody. Apparently 48 seconds were cut from film to keep it from a “X” rating. I guessing it has something to do with the upstairs bed room scene. Because most of the deaths were quickly cut away or not shown.

I had two favorite deaths, so I'll list them both. * Highlight to Read * 1. Roller boy. Mark, one of the counselors, had gotten injured in a motorcycle incident some time prior to the film. He was left paralyzed and ridden to his wheelchair. It was some time late in the evening and it started to rain and thunderstorm. His girlfriend, Vicki, had left to her cabin to freshen up and he hears something outside of the main cabin.

He rolls out onto the front deck to investigate. Mark's sitting in his chair looking out into the dark stormy night. We get multiple angles of Mark sitting there looking out into the darkness, and the film's suspense builds up. Then out of nowhere...BAM! He takes a machete implant to the head and the force pushes him and his wheelchair off the deck and stumbling down a flight of walk up stairs. The timing of it was awesome.
2. Love Spear. It's the perfect way to die or go out. Two of our lovely young counselors, Sandra and Jeff, have taken their evening plans upstairs and to the bedroom. They start to do what young adults do, when Jason sneaks up the stairs and enters the room. As they have sex, Jason rams a spear down Jeff's back and impales the both of them in the process. * End. If you're going to die, then go out havin' sex!

TNA:

We are welcomed to one set of twins thanks to a late night skinny dipping in the lake scene. One sex act seals the deal for the "premarital sex" theory labeled with these films. There are roughly four hot chicks (Shark factor). It was actually pretty light and harmless in the film. I guess the film makers haven’t figured out the sex sells thing yet.

T.Gun's Take:

The film had a great creepy, dark atmosphere attached to it. There was no modern artificial lighting involved. The night scenes were purely realistic due to the lack of lighting. Of course, a violent stormy night takes play in the film. That has become a staple in the series. It's not a Friday film if it's not bad weather and raining.

As for the style of the photography, I LOVED the killer’s point of view shots. I always liked not seeing the killer, but seeing what he sees instead. The hiding behind the trees and bushes looking at it's prey, is an awesome idea.

There were quite a few jump factors in the film, like roller boy's death. I think the "jump" scenes are essential to a good horror film. You don't always need buckets of blood and guts to frighten the viewers. Let the film build the suspense and throw something out there when the nerves are rattled.

Again, the musical score is classic! This film also uses the great, tense, fast pace score during key points in the film. The soundtrack alone gets the blood rushing through the body. Have I mention that is one of the best sequels ever!!!

I believed this movie is totally underrated. I believe it's better than the first film. It's also way better than the next ten plus sequels. There were many memorable scenes from the flick. The coolest sequence was the late in the film when Paul and Ginny went into the dark office to investigate the sudden power outage. It had a great feel to it.

Another great scene is the legendary campfire scene. This is the scene we've seen at the beginning of other movies recapping the series. This is where Paul is sitting around the latte night campfire with the other counselors explaining the tale of Camp Blood and warning them of the legend of Jason. I loved that campfire scene! Nothing better than a good scary campfire story!

If the “Mask” had appeared in this one...then it would be THE BEST MOVIE EVER!!! Hands down.

Part 2 is my favorite horror movie. For me, it has all the key elements needed to be one of the greats. In a perfect world, it would have applied a little bit more TNA and maybe just a smudge bit more bloodier deaths. Also it would have been great if it happened to be the first in the franchise. But that's in a perfect world. It sounds like the re imagining of the series is going to be a lot like this. Old School Horror! Let's hope so. It's a great blue print to work off of.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on May 1, 1981 and made $21.7 million at the Box Office ($6.4 million opening weekend)
-Two men played the role of Jason; Warrington Gillette did not do his own stunts

Review #4: Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Steve Miner (Director): Friday the 13th Part 2

Dana Kimmell (Chris): Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)

Kevin O'Brien (Loco): Warlock (1989)

Trailer:


Plot:

Part 3 picks up immediately after Part 2. As police bag up the bodies at the camp, Jason slips out the back door and finds himself further down the road from the lake. A group of twenty somethings are staying at Higgins Haven, one of their friends farm house cabin properties for the weekend. Jason decides to hide in the estate's barn waiting for an opportunity to strike.

In typical Friday fashion, victims slowly wander off one by one and Jason takes them out one by one, and before anyone realizes it, it's usually last chick standing vs. Jason. Surprise. It is. Part 3 does bring some new elements to the film, like it's in 3-D! Also introduces a new piece to Jason's wardrobe, a hockey mask.

Villain:

My favorite horror movie icon, Jason Voohrees, gets an upgrade to his mystique, The Hockey Mask. It's the most genius thing that anyone has thought of in the horror industry. The mask becomes the symbol of the character and franchise. Even people who have never watched a single minute of any of the films know what it stands for and who it belongs to.

The film picks up right after Part 2, but some how Jason seems to have grown up a little bit. A growth spurt, I guess. Long gone is his stringy, patchy long reddish hair. Enter a bald, creepy ex-convict look to him. There was an obvious actor recast for the Jason role. Stuntman, Richard Booker, steps into Jason's shoes. At this point, Jason still has a realistic human touch to him even though he looks different than the previous film. It's like he aged 13 years in between films. He's more of a man than the retarded teenager running around in Part 2. Oh, have I mentioned that the infamous Hockey Mask is brought into the series?

If you want to know how he obtains it then highlight the section below. * Highlight to Read * One of the cast members, Shelly, is a prankster. He brings a chest full of props for his practical jokes he plays on his friends. One of his costumes includes a spear gun and...the mask. One of the females, Vera, who Shelly has a crush on is out in the dark hanging out by the dock. Shelly sneaks up on her in full costume to scare her.

It works, but Vera gets pissed at Shelly and chews him out for being an immature dork. Feeling shame, Shelly wonders off on his own. He sees someone going into the barn and goes to investigate. Inside the barn Shelly comes to his end and the hands of Jason. His actual death is filmed off screen, but he later makes his way back to the cabin and dies because his throat was sliced open. * Anyway, Jason takes the mask and the rest is history.

Cast:

The cast is nothing special. They were all really disposable dudes, hippies, and bikers. The lead female was Chris, who they wrote a back story of her having an encounter in the woods years earlier with Jason. She got mad at her parents and stormed off into the woods and was ambushed by Jason, and had a narrow escape. I guess she came back to the place to face her demons. Be careful what you wish for!

A dorky red-headed dude named Shelly was responsible for bringing the famous mask to the film. One of my favorite characters ended up being the leader of the biker gang, Ali. He kind of reminded me of Louis Gossett Jr.

SFX/Gore:

There were twelve deaths in the film, one shy of the magic number. Obviously with the film being presented in 3-D, some of the kills were catered for it. Looking back at time and watching the film now, some of them look down right goofy. But that's 3-D. Don't you remember Jaws 3-D? Yeah, kind of cheesy like that. Not as bad as the cardboard shark slowly moving towards you at the end, but there's a definite look to the kills. Not all deaths were presented in the 3-D fashion, giving some respect to the film. look to the film.

Favorite death: The handstand splits. * Highlight to Read * Andy was screwing around up stairs while his girlfriend was taking a shower. He was doing a handstand and walking around on his hands when he saw a pair of feet and looked up at the dreaded hockey mask. Jason came down with his machete slicing him from the bottom to the top. Most of the kill was cut due to MPAA ratings. The actual death showed Jason cutting off his right leg, and then having his stomach ripped apart. * I can't wait for the uncut special edition of that. If Paramount ever releases it.

TNA:

We get a new feature for the Friday franchise, a shower scene. Hell Yeah! Other than that we get one set of twins, one sex act and three hot chicks (Shark Factor). They still haven’t figured out the sex sells thing yet but I have a feeling that things are about to change.

T.Gun's Take:

I'm seeing a pattern here. The movies are starting to run the same, Jason slaughters young adults at Crystal Lake. It's not like they could pound out a dozen of these films based on this same formula.

The setting of the film is slightly different. It's removed from the campgrounds off the lake and takes place at a house and a barn which is close to the lake. The best element in this setting is the barn. I really liked the barn element. For one, it gave Jason a placed to hide and stalk. Secondly, for some reason, barns create a creepy atmosphere. They're typically dark and dusty with many possibilities of places to hide.

The film implemented some funky seventy’s disco music to it's score. That music was mainly attached to the credits, but it kept classic eerie score during movie. Part 3 also had a nice dark atmosphere through out the film using the barn sequence and the fun stuff taking place at night. The end wasn't a terrible rainy thunderstorm as the franchise is accustomed to, but it did employ some parts of rain to complement more of a violent windy atmosphere.

This movie rates no different than many of it's sequels to come. Same formula implemented, but I give some serious props for the introduction of the hockey mask into the film. As for the 3-D crap, it was better than Jaws 3-D at least. It's a noble try for a horror movie, but if you don't watch it in 3-D, it looks a little hokey.

The movie was actually supposed to be the end of Jason, unlike The Final Chapter and Jason Goes to Hell. But it did well at the box office, and we all know what that means...sequel! So Part 4 was going to be the new of the franchise. So they thought. Part 3 was going to end it, therefore, the Jason character would have been limited to just being a human, but now he starts to be the unrealistic unstoppable killing machine.

Bookie reluctantly saw this movie by choice. How's that possible? The power of a rainy day. A few of us were together and bored on a cold rainy day and we threatened him into watching one of the Harry Potter movies. He hated that franchise more than the Friday films. So I gave him a choice, thinking he would choose Potter. I was wrong. He chose this one.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on August 13, 1982 and made $33.3 million at the Box Office ($9.4 million opening weekend)
-Actually one of five Fridays to open on Friday the 13th
-Films events take place on Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th

Review #5: Friday the 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter (1984)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Joseph Zito (Director): Invasion U.S.A. (1985), Missing in Action (1984), The Prowler (1981)

Kimberly Beck (Trish Jarvis): Independence Day (1996)

Erich Anderson (Rob) Missing in Action, Unfaithful (2002), Boomtown T.V. Series

Corey Feldman (Tommy Jarvis):Gremlins, Goonies (1985), Stand By Me (1986), Lost Boys (1987), Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood (1996), Friday the 13th Part 5

Peter Barton (Doug): Hell Night (1981)

Crispin Glover (Jimmy): Back 2 the Future (1985), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Nurse Betty (2000), Charlie's Angels 1 & 2 (2000 & 2003), Willard (2003), Epic Movie (2007), Beowulf (2007)

Judie Aronson (Samantha): Weird Science (1985), American Ninja (1985), Hannibal (2001)

Camilla & Carey More (Tina & Terri): General Hospital & Days of Our Lives T.V. series (Tina)

Bruce Mahler (Axel): Police Academy 1(1984), 2 (1985), 3 (1986) & 6 (1989)

Lisa Freeman (Nurse Morgan): Back 2 the Future 1 & 2 (1989), Mr. Mom (1983)

Trailer:



Part 4: The Final Chapter... at least it was supposed to be. Thank God it wasn’t the last one. One of the best in the franchise. Jason returns to wreck havoc on a family and group of partying twenty-somethings. This is the movie where the producers/directors pretty much said “fuck it” and let loose on Jason killing people and hot chicks showing nudity. And I’m thankful for it.

This is the first movie in the Tommy Jarvis vs Jason story line. Because of the Tommy recasting in future movies...a great remake or re-imagining would be awesome if they went back and used Corey Feldman...hint, hint.

Forward...march! Onto the the movie...The Final Chapter picks up immediately after Part 3. The police are at the old farm house and barn collecting evidence and bagging up the bodies. Jason is hauled away to the morgue with the others. Once at the hospital, Jason comes back to life and takes out a nurse and doctor and heads back for home.

The film moves back to a set of nearby houses in Jason's old stomping grounds and meet our new members of the Soon to be Killed by Jason Club. The Jarvis family live in one of the houses. They're a broken family, parents got divorced and now the two kids, Trish and Tommy, live with the mother. Moving into the house next store is a bunch of horny twenty somethings. Looking good so far.

The new neighbors settle in and as Jason makes his way back to the homelands. The neighbors demonstrate that they are a bad influence on Tommy and Trish, with their hormones kicked into hyper drive and are constantly acting like sex hungry freaks. They drink, smoke pot, and go skinny dipping in front of Trish and Tommy.

As the movie moves along, we meet additional members like the twins and Rob. Rob is a suspicious backpacker, who we eventually learn is hunting down Jason because Jason killed his sister (a chick from Part 2).

Eventually Jason returns home and finds out that there's a new set of people to kill, and it doesn't take long for him to get going. In typical, Friday fashion, people get picked off one by one at the hands of Jason. In the end, Trish and Tommy are left to defend themselves against the madmen.

Villain:

Jason returns to his bad ass role. And this time he looks awesome. I mean, the best he's looked yet. The movie marks the standard of what Jason should look like. He's a mean, lean fighting machine. It's the last time we see a realistic Jason before he turns into a zombie, monster, Frankenstein looking thing.

Actor Ted White played Jason in this film. During filming he decided not to interact or talk to any of the other cast. He felt that isolation created an extra fear, so during filming, the actors would be frightened by him. Smart move!

Cast:

The creme of the crop. An All-Star cast. Let's talk about the cast of actors in the film. First of all, we had the up and coming famous kid actor, Corey Feldman at the beginning of his career. He played the character Tommy Jarvis. Tommy would become a fan favorite to the series. Tommy's character would go on the next two additional movies and be Jason's arch enemy.

Next we have Crespin Glover (pictured right). Better known as Marty McFly. Right on the dawn of the Back to the Future Trilogy. He plays a geeky kid looking to get break his virginity and get laid.

In addition to those two, the rest of the cast was pretty solid. Tommy's older and hotter sister Trish did an excellent job in the film. A great damsel in distress. The character of Rob was one of my favorites growing up. Rob was out "hunting" for Jason. His sister was one of Jason's victims in Part 2.

SFX/Gore:

There are one word that describes the body count in this movie: thirteen. Yep. That’s how it should be! One kill for each day of the film’s title. Way to go! That's a perfect amount to stop at. It's a nice round number. Or something like that.

I had trouble deciding what my favorite kill was, but I've settled on this one. The Door Axe. * Highlight to Read * Okay, it's a pretty simple death, but the timing of it was awesome. One of the last party goers was starting to stumble across some of Jason's handy work. The person was running frantically through the house. As they approached the front door...BAM! Jason wields an axe through the door and into the person's chest. * It was more of the timing of the kill and magnitude of it's greatness. Nothing fancy, but highly effective.

There was one kill that I was extremely disappointed in, and that was the second story window kill. That blew. How many people die from being tossed out of a second story window. They pulled the same sh*t off in Part 7. Boo!

TNA:

I thought that this would be the ultimate TNA flick in the series. There were six hot chicks (Shark Factor), including a set of real twins. Speaking of twins, there were two pairs shown off. Additionally, there was a shower scene, a skinny dippin' party, and a late night nude swim at the lake.

A couple did get it on in the movie. Personally, I would have liked to seen more from the film. Yeah, I'm spoiled, but I thought there was more potential in the film.

T.Gun's Take:

Okay, let's be frank here. It's the same storyline as the rest of them. Kids get slaughtered at the expense of Jason. So nothing special here. Except they decided to just let go with the film and let Jason go all out. No holding back. Go get 'em Jason!

The movie did deliver a great atmosphere, music, pace and look. It had a creepy, dark feel to the movie which worked well. The story also sets up next two movies to come with Tommy and provides some insight back into Part 2 with Rob's family history.

What a great, fun movie. Probably is the best Jason movie that's not named Part 1 or 2. From here on out it’s zombie, indestructible Jason. The touch of realism has gone out the window the second this one ends.

Once all the cannon fodder has been dispatched in the movie, and it's just Tommy, Trish and Jason left, the fun begins. Tommy and Trish barricade themselves in their house and Jason breaks in trapping them with nowhere to go. The movie is at it's best with Jason out in the open, stalking Tommy and Trish. It leads up to a great ending with Tommy and Jason in a final showdown where Tommy just goes Ape Sh*t on Jason.

Horror movie special effects king, Tom Savini contributes his greatness to the special effects and make up for the movie. Director Joseph Zito also directs personal favorites in Missing in Action (Chuck Norris!!) and the Prowler.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on April 13, 1984 and made $30.3 million at the Box Office ($11.1 million opening weekend)
-One of five Friday films to open on Friday the 13th
-Film's events take place on Sunday the 15th, Monday the 16th, and Tuesday the 17th

Review #6: Friday the 13th Part 5: A New Beginning (1985)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Danny Steinmann (Director): You should be ashamed of yourself!

Probably why he never did anything again.

I don't care about the rest of the cast attached to this piece of sh*t. They shouldn't associate themselves with it either. But if you want to know, highlight below. I'm doing them a favor and hiding their names.

* Highlight to Read Cast: *

Rebecca Wood (Lana): Mask (1985)

Corey Feldman (Tommy at age 12): Part 4

John Shepard (Tommy): Down Periscope (1996), The Hunt For Red October (199o)

Juliette Cummins (Robin): Psycho 3 (1986), Slumber Party Massacre 2 (1987)

Miguel A Nunez Jr. (Demon): Return of the Living Dead (1986), Leprechaun 4 (1997), The Nutty Professor 2 (2000), Juwanna Man (2003)

Shavar Ross (Reggie): Benson, Different Strokes, Magnum P.I., & Family Matters T.V. shows

Trailer:


Friday the 13th Part 5: The Fuck You Guys Give Us More Money!

What a f*ckin’ rip off! The movie picks up some years later after Part 4: The Final Chapter...I guess they lied...or did they? The film makers continue the story line of the Tommy Jarvis character (the little kid from The Final Chapter).

Tommy is now a twenty something (or a twenty something playing a teen) and has been recently placed on a mental farm, named Pinehurst, due to his traumatic childhood. Tommy is partly on the mental farm because he has been experiencing dreams and flashbacks of Jason. Basically he is screwed up in the head big time.

While out on the funny farm, one of the "residents" accidentally dies in a wood chopping mishap. Shortly afterwards, Jason shows up murdering the local folk of Pinehurst. Tommy comes face to face with his demon once more.

But in the end, we find out that everything is not what it seems. Jason is actually a local ambulance driver named Roy Burns, posing as Jason to kill kids/retards at the mental farm. Roy's son happened to be the one that died in the wood chopping accident. Pissed off at the kids and staff of Pinehurst, Roy uses the Jason legend to take out his revenge on the funny farm tenants.

Tommy spends the movie freaking out with his imagination and then dead bodies pile up which leads to him actually seeing Jason and then he really freaks out. Yep. No real Jason. Instead we get a local ambulance driver named Roy Burns. What a f*ckin' rip off. A big FUCK YOU! Enough said.

Villain:

Just when you thought it you were dealing with Jason, the carpet is swept out from underneath you and then you get a kick in the balls. That's how I feel.

I thought the villain was cool and then they revealed Roy Burns the Fart Knocker ambulance driver. Nooooo!!! How could they?

Cast:

The Tommy character was supposed to be replayed by Corey Feldman, but he couldn’t do the whole shoot. Corey happened to be filming one of my childhood favorites, Goonies, at the time. He did make a cameo appearance at the beginning of the film.

We got like five minutes out of him in some bizarre stupid dream sequence and then the reins were turned over to some other fool. And I really mean fool. The older Tommy version said 24 words outside of laughing and yelling. WTF? Did they cast a retard or something?

The remainder of cast wasn't anything special either. We had one dude that looked like Prince taking a dump in an outhouse, by the way, that's a horrible way to go. Another casting achievement was having Sanford and son acting as the farm's handyman and boy, and the pop singer Pink dancing by herself in her room before she gets killed. I'm kidding...or am I?

SFX/Gore:

Holy crap there was a lot of deaths. I counted twenty of them. Sadly enough, there were characters popping up through out the whole movie that had no connection to the movie what so ever. Cannon fodder.

Favorite Death: The belt buckle squeeze. * Highlight to Read * Actually, the two best are in the same scene. Midway through the film, two of the loony bin kids, Eddie and Tina, are out in the woods doing the nasty and smokin' some green leafy substance. Eddie has to go down to the creek and wash up.

Eddie takes off leaving Tina alone and naked in the woods. Jason sneaks up on Tina with a pair of hedge clippers and Bam! Tina takes them to the eye sockets and is no longer a living member of the cast.

Eddie returns and discovers Tina's dead body and backs up in fright up against a tree. Jason uses a leather strap around the tree and tightens the strap, squeezing out Eddie's eyes. * End. It looked better than what I might have described it.

A cool death that could have been...cut from film to avoid a "X" rating...was Violet's death. Originally, she was cut in half...starting from the crotch up. Gives a new meaning to the phrase, "Crotch rocket".

TNA:

At least the movie made up for its aura of crap with sex and boobies. There were five hot chicks (Shark Factor)...crazy, but hot. Well now that I think about it, those two go hand in hand, crazy and hot. We were treated to triplets of twins, and one foiled sexual encounter. At least they got to go in the wake of a good fashion.

T.Gun's Take:

A bad, bad, bad sequel. Well, actually it was pretty creative and deceitful with the storyline. No one expected the twist ending of the dude copycatting Jason's murders for the revenge of his son. But none of that sh*t here! I don’t stand for that crap.

Just call it another damn movie. Don't bring any of that crap into the Friday franchise. As we can see, the movie paid the ultimate price for it. It's a good idea nonetheless, but a bad franchise to try and pull that crap off with.

A New Beginning is a crappy movie from a pure Friday aspect. It might have worked early on in the franchise, but after Jason had become a staple...a legendary icon...it was a ballsy move.

Like I said, good idea, but don't try that sh*t here. Outside of the twist ending, the movie pretty much lived up to the spirit of the Friday Legacy. There were a few things they could have done better, that might have pulled this one off. For one, it might not have been as worse if Corey Feldman got to continue the roll of Tommy. That character alone might, I mean might, have saved this film.

It seems that every good horror franchise has a rip-off-kick-you-in-the-nuts movie. This was it. It was the Halloween 3 or the Nightmare 2 of the Friday the 13th's.

It's taken me years just to acknowledge it's existence. I get what they were aiming for, but like I said, not here. Take your game somewhere else. I'm done with it. I'm not gonna waste anymore time talking about it.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on March 22, 1985 and made $20.6 million at the Box Office ($8 million opening weekend)
-Multiple deaths scenes were cut from the film to avoid the "X" rating

Review #7: Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives (1986)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Tom McLoughlin (Director): Date with an Angel (1987)

Thom Matthews(Tommy): Kick Boxer 4 (1994), Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Jennifer Cooke (Megan): V: The mini series

Darcy DeMoss (Nikki): Hardbodies (1984), Vice Academy 3 (1991), Erotic Confessions T.V.

Tony Goldwyn (Darren): Ghost (1990), Kiss the Girls (1997), Abandon (2002), The Last Samurai (2003)

Ron Palillo (Allen): Welcome Back Carter T.V. series (Horshack)

Alan Blumenfeld (Larry): WarGames (1983), Problem Child 2 (1991), The Ring, Dickie Roberts (2003), and Heroes T.V. series (Parkman's Dad)

Matthew Fasion (Stan): Puppet Master 3 (1991), Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

Ann Ryerson (Katie): Caddyshack (1980), Minority Report (2002), Curb Your Enthusiasm (Nan Funkhouser)...for Shark

Wallace Merck (Burt): Children of the Corn 2 (1993), Robo Cop 2 (1990), King Kong Lives (1986)

Justin Nowell (Billy): Sleepaway Camp 2 (1988)

Trailer:

Plot:

Part 6 marks the return of Jason back to the big screen. After the piece of sh*t labeled Part 5, the series needed this. And for the third straight movie, the Tommy Jarvis character pops up. Jason has a true enemy now. Tommy Jarvis, the Van Helsing of Jason. It's a stretch.

Haunted by his past demons, Tommy decides to pay a visit to Jason’s grave along with a friend. Tommy's plan is to dig up the body out of the grave and cremate the body himself. Hopefully it will provide closure and bring peace to his life once and for all. Or something like that.

Tommy and his friend sneaks into the cemetery late one night and digs up the Jason grave as the weather turns into a violent thunderstorm. If I was present, I would definitely take notice to the weather. Once the weather turned to sh*t, I would be like, "Alright, let's get the hell out of here. It's a sign from God." But they didn't.

Tommy finally hits the coffin and opens it. He sees a rotting corpse of Jason laying peacefully in his grave. Out of anger, Tommy runs a metal spear through the body of Jason and climbs out to get the gasoline. As Tommy retrieves the gas, a lightning bolt crashes down on the metal spear striking life into the monster bringing him back to life. Sounds a lot like Frankenstein doesn’t it? Hmm.

Jason comes to life...again...and goes after Tommy. His friend tries to interfere with Jason and ends up dead in Jason's coffin. Tommy narrowly escapes as Jason kills his buddy. Tommy runs to the police with his story, and Jason starts his journey home. Jason finds his way back to the new Forest Green (a.k.a. Camp Crystal Lake). I guess tourism was down so they had to rename the joint. A new set of counselors are at Forest Green teaching young kids the ways of the outdoors as Jason returns home.

Meanwhile, the police don't believe Tommy's story of Jason coming back to life, and they escort him out of town. And Jason starts his new killing spree, taking out the new camp counselors. Tommy sneaks back to Forest Green and confronts Jason one last time. And he's got a plan now. In order to kill Jason, he must send him back to the bottom of the lake. Somehow I don't think that's going to work...at least permanently.

Villain:

Jason is back from the dead and looking cool. Obviously after being buried for some time, he's come back as a rotting corpse monster, and has lost all realistic human qualities. Yet another movie and another Jason actor. This time C.J. Graham has the pleasure of putting the mask on. On his way back to home, Jason kills some corporate business men playing paint ball in the woods. He takes the clothing of one of them and adds an utility belt to his waist to complement his outfit.

Cast:

Part 6 marks the return of Tommy Jarvis, and yet we have another re casted member. He's not as bad as the douche bag they picked in Part 5. The guy who said 24 words outside of laughing and yelling.

It was actor Tony Goldwyn’s first gig. Whose that? That’s the guy from Ghost. Yeah that crappy Demi Moore/Patrick Swayze/Whoopie Goldberg movie. He played the "evil buddy" who betrayed Patrick. I can’t believe I just referenced that movie. And in some detail. To wipe some of that filth out of my mind, I have to mention that he was also in Kiss the Girls. Actually one of my favorites movies. He didn't do such a bad job there.

Megan was the lead female, and it seemed for once, that a female didn't act as the heroine in the series. She was more of a secondary hero than the star. There were very few hot chicks (Shark Factor) in the film. Another actor of note was Horshack from the Welcome Back Carter T.V. show made an appearance.

Matthew Faison co-starred in the movie. He also crossed legendary lines and later appeared in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. Now he's got to try and get a gig on the Halloween front, and then he will have the trifecta.

SFX/Gore:

Eighteen kills. Yes…eighteen. The most kills for a “real” Friday movie. I’m guessing, but that count maybe broken somewhere down the road. Hmm…foreshadowing.

My favorite death: RV kill. * Highlight to Read * The best kill is the chick in the RV. At the camp, one of the counselors, Cort, is borrowing his family's RV. Cort's in the back ready to get in on with his girlfriend, Nikki. The lights go out and Cort checks the power hook up. He sees that it's shredded and decides it's time to bolt and leave town. Cort starts up the RV and drives off.

Cort's driving the RV fast and recklessly down the road with the music on the radio blaring. Nikki is struggling to stay on her feet in the back. She walks past the mini bathroom and Jason snags her and pulls her inside the bathroom. She struggles, and Jason kills her by driving her face, smashing it into the side wall of the RV. Her face makes an implant on the outside lining. * It was a pretty cool kill.

The remainder of the kills were pretty realistic in nature. It seemed that the film took liberty in making a few pretty gory. There was a fire and explosion section in this movie. And no...Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay weren’t even involved! But they would be proud.

TNA:

What? Negative points! There were three hot chicks (Shark Factor), one sex act and no nudity. I repeat...No nudity! How is this possible? Com’ on, it’s a Friday movie!!! Boo! Hiss! It sucks, especially when one of the chicks (pictured right) was in Hardbodies and goes on to do Erotic Confessions. What the hell? Did they not ask if she would mind doing a little twin dance for the viewers?

T.Gun's Take:

Honestly I wonder why I like this film so much. I guess it's because it's surround by other crappier Fridays. So it makes this one look stellar. It's a real generic formula for horror movies, which seems to bode well for this film. Part 6 makes the plot plain and simple, young adults go to Camp Blood...meet Jason...die...and one or two live.

Jason Lives is one of the funnier Friday films. Obviously they weren't taking themselves seriously anymore at this point. I give it credit, it brought Jason back on the map, but it also opened the door for the franchise to go down some lesser more idiotic paths. Which also leads to the fans, media and the rest of the world not taking this franchise seriously anymore. The Jason movies just became more funnier than scary after this film. Part 5 doesn't even count in my book.

I liked the story line continuity with the Tommy vs. Jason battle. If I could go back in time and re-do it, I would try to have Corey Feldman do all three films. But that's in a perfect world.

The paint ball sequence was years ahead of it’s time. Little did we know that would be a huge hobby down the road. It also made a great way to add on to the body count.

The RV sequence was pretty cool also. It was another fresh new idea that this movie brought to the franchise. Part 6 seemed to have some good new ideas considering it was the sixth installment.

It was down right a fun movie to watch. There were a lot of good and new ideas brought to the table, and for once, someone actually took a shot at Jason. I mean with a gun. I was always under the impression that you could kill Jason by shooting him. I was young and dumb, and eventually wrong.

After reading trivia on the movie, I guess the original script called for a Jason’s father character. But somehow it was left out of filming but continued to be in the movie’s novelization. I’ve personally thought the series could milk a movie off that story line…wait...what the hell did I just type? Novelization? There’s a novelization of the movie! Who the fuck would write or read that? I thought I was the only sick bastard who could read and write that enjoys this stuff. Well if you’ve been reading my reviews, you know I can’t write, but anyways…novelization? What the hell?

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on August 1, 1986 and made $18.9 million at the Box Office ($6.7 million opening weekend)
-Filmed at Camp Daniel Morgan in Covington, Georgia

Review #8: Friday the 13th Part 7: A New Blood (1988)

Cast/Notable Credits:
John Carl Buechler (Director): Troll (1986)

Lar Park-Lincoln (Tina): House 2 (1987)

Jennifer Banko (Young Tina): TCM 3

Kevin Blair (Nick): The Hills Have Eyes 2 (1985)

Terry Kiser (Dr. Crews): Side Out (1990), Tammy & the T-Rex (1994)

Susan Blu (Ms. Shepard): Transformers the Movie (1986)

Heidi Kozak (Sandra): Slumber Party Massacre 2 (1987)

William Butler (Michael): TCM 3, Ghoulies 2 (1987), Terror Night (1987)

Staci Greason (Jane): Terror Night

Jeff Bennett (Eddie): Many, many disney cartoon voices...Go figure.

Elizabeth Kaitan (Robin): Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity (1987), Assault of the Killer Bimbos (1988), Vice Academy movies 3-5 (they made that many?)

Trailer:


You would figure after taking an extra year to produce (compared to previous movies), you could come up with something better than this. Psychic girl with powers battle Jason. Okay, throw out all realism and credibility that this franchise might have had left in it. Gone. Out the window. I'm sorry if you're going down the path of chick with powers battling Jason, then it's over. None...I mean zero credibility left. If you're wondering how they pulled off this cock-a-mania idea, then here we go.

We start the film with some sort of flashback to a little girl, Tina Sheppard, and her family that lives off of Crystal Lake. She has a fight with her dad and it eventually leads down to the boat dock by the lake. In her frustration and anger, Tina conjures up some psychic power from within and accidentally drowns her dad with her powers in Crystal Lake.

Some ump-teen years later Tina returns with her mother and evil psychiatrist, Dr. Crews, to the lake in an effort to help “rehab” her from her troubled past. Her psychiatrist actually has other plans for her, as he is trying to get her to use her powers more so he could study them. Shortly after arriving, a group of twenty year old's show up in the house next door with their weekend plans for fun and laughter as they celebrate one's birthday.

Once again, the scenery of Camp Crystal Lake has changed. And this one is more mind boggling than previous films. In Part 6, CCLake was being reopened as a summer camp. Cool. There were multiple cabins around the place. Now in this film, there are no evidence of cabins existence, and there are two houses off the lake. So over the course of the two movies, we've had the camp completely demolished and two new houses built.

Factor in that Tina was a little girl around the age of...let's say...8 to 10 years old when shes drowns papa. She returns and she's now like somewhere between 18-24 years old. Let's say it's the minimum amount of years past, 6-8. So within that 6-8 year span, we've had those two houses knocked down and rebuilt in favor of a kid's camp which was then demolished and the two houses were rebuilt the same way.

Or we chalk up another huge mark in the film's credibility and realism category. I'm thinking it's another flaw in the franchise's continuity legacy. Or possibly it's like Part 6, and there's a F*ckin' novelization of the movie explaining sh*t out!

Dr. Crews pushes Tina's boundaries one sessions and she gets all pissed off and storms out of the house and down to the lake. Emotionally stressed, she summons her powers back up into undoing what she did years earlier, drowning her dad. But instead of resurrecting her dad, she accidentally brings someone else to life. A someone who has been rotting at the bottom of the lake chained to a big boulder. Hmm. Who could that be?

Jason comes back to life via Tina's special powers. Novelization, I just can't get over that. Who buys these books? Jason comes back to life and makes chop suey of the party goers and campers who dare to come on his lands. But he's met his match. Tina battles him off with her special psychic powers as she fights for survival. Psychic powers! Oh God.

Villain:

Enter Kane Hodder. The man who comes in and takes over the role of Jason for sequels to come. Finally a man who can be identified with Jason. Not just a stunt man running around with a mask, but a dude whose willing to embrace the character as his own. And in the process, maybe ruining the character for sequels to come.

I gotta say, if there’s any kick-ass, evil looking depiction of Jason, then this film has it. It’s probably the truest form of Jason, and the best Jason on screen. If you’re looking for a monster who is truly the boogieman, than this is it. Fans grow to love this version of Jason.

For me, as I think about it, Part 4’s Jason is good in its realistic image. I mean he's still a creepy dude that runs around killing people. The same principles that hold for you and me apply to him. It's still a man behind the mask.

Now, we've entered into Monster Jason. The icon of horror. Someone whose so huge and terrifying that you wouldn't want to mess with. One look at him and you know you're dead. You have no chance. Fans love him, studio exec.'s hate him. This Jason and Human Jason (Part 4) are the two best of their class.

Cast:

Nothing here to see. A bunch of cannon fodder for Jason to hack up. Lar Park-Lincoln (what a name for a chick) plays the lead female, Tina. She's an emotional wreck, but comes out to play when it's time to get it on.

Other than some other hot chicks (Shark Factor) to look at, there's not much else. There are plenty of bodies for Jason to pile up in this one. And I think we start to see Hollywood cover all of its ethnic bases and stereotypical kids in this one. We have the cool guy, the ugly girl, the b*tchy girl, etc., etc.

SFX/Gore:

Body count: 16. Yes Bookie, 16. I know the parts you saw, it seemed like more people were getting axed, but only sixteen total. You make it out to be nonstop flow of victims, but there is an end to the slaughter count.

The kills are all over the place from kick butt kills to lame. One of the lame, unrealistic deaths came when a chick got tossed from 2nd story window, landed on her shoulder and then died. Don’t ask me. I just work here. And the famous sleeping bag kill is introduced in this film. It will be used in different ways in films to come. :)

Also there is one big house explosion that will make Jerry Bruckheimer and Micahel Bay wet their pants. Nothing better than a little fire for the marshmallows!

TNA:

The films statistics: four hot chicks (Shark Factor), 2 sets of twins, and 2 bumping the flesh acts. Wow. One of the hot chicks is Elizabeth Kaitan (pictured right), who stars in personal late night movie favorites: Vice Academy Parts 3-6, Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity, and Assault of the Killer Bimbos. What a resume! And she gladly shows her “hidden talents” in the film making it one of my favorite Friday TNA films.

Story:

Two words: Psychic Powers. Yeah. I know. It's a tough one to swallow. Considering the premise of the film and it's predecessors, what more can you do with the franchise? Take it on a boat tour to NY? Oh...they did that.

There were a lot more story line flaws than previous Friday films. Pretty hard to accomplish that, but they did. The whole change of CCLake pretty much screwed with me. Maybe it's in the film's novelization. Novelization. I still can’t get over that.

T.Gun's Take:

Considering the elements the film had to work with, it came out pretty decent. For many fans, this is in their Top 5 of Friday films. It did the franchise well in kills, amount of kills, TNA, and of course the ultimate image of Jason.

Once again, I give props for the film bringing sleeping bag kill to the table. Skip to my review of Jason X to fully understand my appreciation of it. I also liked the hiding in the kitchen death/sequence. That was pretty good and eerie.

It also happened to be one of the most edited Friday movies. It had several cuts to sneak under the “X rating”. Wow. The franchise is starting to quickly go down hill...well, maybe not. It's living up to it's "rep" as a slasher flick.

I'm also glad that Bookie’s seen parts and technically “owns” the DVD (but won’t watch it!). By the word “owns”, I gave it to him along with Parts 1-3 once I purchased the box set. So he's stuck in possession of it now. Come on' Bookie, watch it already!

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on May 13, 1988 and made $19 million at the Box Office ($8.2 million opening weekend)
-One of five Friday films to open on Friday the 13th
-According to the director, Jason was chained at the bottom of the lake for 10 yrs