Friday the 13th

Film Reviews and Release Comparisons
Post Reply
User avatar
Markgway
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 20177
Joined: 18 Feb 2005, 02:04

Friday the 13th

Post by Markgway »

Image

Friday the 13th (1980) **½
Competent, if routine slasher film became a box office phenomenon, turning in a huge profit for Paramount, who treated this series like a bastard stepchild, but were happy to reap the financial rewards. Critics hated them, teenagers loved them. The original is archetypal in every respect and alongside Halloween (1978) defined the splattery sub-genre (although, even the uncut version reviewed here is relatively tame compared to the torturous grotesques allowed in contemporary horror). Producer-director Sean S. Cunningham emphasises suspense over gore and for that reason the film endures better than most. Future star Kevin Bacon appears long enough to take an arrow through the throat.

Friday the 13th, Part 2 (1981) **
Basically a retread of what worked last time, only what little freshness was there has now gone. Steve Miner's direction is sloppy and unimaginative - two of the most memorable moments or 'kills' are stolen from Mario Bava's Bay of Blood. The MPAA gave this entry a harder time than before, but that didn't prevent repeated box office success. The basic suspense/stalk/slash aspects are present and correct, which may satisfy undemanding fans, but even they would find it hard to make sense of the WTF? conclusion. Minimal attention is given to characterization and logic - but would you really expect either?

Friday the 13th - Part III (1982) **
Filmed in the then popular for one-year-only gimmick of 3-D, the third Friday is a frustrating mix of piss poor - basically most of the badly executed first half - and effective climactic shocker - where final girl Dana Kimmel puts up a good fight against the notorious Jason (finding his trademark hockey mask here) and if only the rest of the film had been this entertaining, F13 mark 3 would no doubt be better regarded. The 'kills' are more creative, but having objects constantly thrust into the camera is a 2D distraction (that cheesy eyeball popping gag must've been a hoot in theatres). Curiously, this was the only entry shot in 2.35 widescreen; a shame, as scope photography is an obvious asset. Special nod to Harry Manfredini's funky synth disco theme.

Friday the 13th - The Final Chapter (1984) *½
Inexplicably popular fourth instalment in the Friday series - originally intended to be the last until dollars prevailed. There's absolutely nothing new here, except an awful screenplay, with annoying, cardboard characters (save perhaps Corey Feldman's) and putrid dialogue that makes previous efforts look like the work of Oscar Wilde. If you want to see Jason killed - the sole reason for watching - then best skip to the last 15 mins, as almost everything beforehand is a dull bore. Shocks feel second hand and predictable, just as they did in director Joseph Zito's The Prowler. Tom Savini returned to the fold, but most of his bloody gore effects are trimmed - rabid fans should checkout the extended workprint for an idea of intention. A pre-Back to the Future Crispin Glover dances badly and acts worse. Skip it!

Friday the 13th - A New Beginning (1985) *½
New setting... same old schlock. Corey Feldman (who returns for an effective pre-credit sequence) is subsequently replaced by John Shepard as a now adult Tommy Jarvis. Shepard does what he can with a severely limited role, otherwise performances are rote. However, if you thought the lame-o biker gang from Part 3 was annoying, you ain't seen nothing yet - the hillbilly mom and her idiot son will leave you cursing the screen. Speaking of cursing, the script is more profane than usual, and there's an increase in (admittedly pleasing) nudity, presumably this is to distract male viewers from questioning the plot's total lack of logic. Relocating the story to a youth institution was a good idea, shame it's so ineptly handled. Gorehounds may also whinge at this being the least gory series entry (after MPAA interference).

Jason Lives: Friday the 13th, Part VI (1986) ***
No one would rightly expect the sixth instalment of a horror franchise to be any good, let alone the best in the entire series, yet somehow writer-director Tom McLoughlin managed it. The decision to inject humour and irony into the proceedings (a decade before Scream took credit for it) was a wise move on the filmmakers' part. A slick, classics-inspired aesthetic (think Universal's Frankenstein meets Hammer Gothic) gives the low budget production a professional sheen erstwhile absent from the series. For the first time a Friday movie doesn't look like cheap exploitation schlock. This proved somewhat divisive to fans, many of whom preferred the traditional approach, and also rejected the notion of a Zombie Jason (not that he was terribly human to begin with). Not that it's prefect - I could've done without those Weekend Warriors. Cracking Alice Cooper tracks are icing on the cake. A young Tony Goldwyn appears as a speared victim.

Friday the 13th, Part VII - The New Blood (1988) **
A teenage girl with telekinetic (and clairvoyant) powers inadvertently resurrects (from a watery grave) and then does battle with Zombie Jason (now played by Kane Hodder). It's understandable that with the Tommy Jarvis story arc done the filmmakers would feel the need to create a 'new blood' to face-off against Jason; however, the screenwriters struggle to make this proposition of paranormal vs. supernatural as interesting as it could have been. The formula requirement of gathering a bunch of horny, doped-up teens in a house and then slaughtering them one-by-one gets in the way of what could've been a superior series entry. Make-up artist-turned-director John Carl Buechler achieves little in the way of atmosphere or scares (tellingly this was his only major feature credit) and the conclusion is pretty risible, too.

Friday the 13th, Part VIII - Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) **
The eighth (and last) of the original Paramount series marks a slight improvement over Part 7, if only for writer-director Rob Hedden's attempt to expand Jason's hunting ground. Ironically, this is the reason why most fans dislike this uneven entry - you shouldn't take Jason away from his home, and if you have to take him to New York, it had better be a darn sight more impressive and exciting than what's ultimately delivered (chases through tunnels and alleyways, anyone?). Hampered by a limited budget, very little of the Big Apple can be seen in the end product - most of the film take place on a much cheaper cruise ship setting, proving there's no room for ambition on Friday. Paramount were happy to reap the rewards, but not stump up the cash. Diminishing box office saw the series sold to New Line. A hammy Peter Mark Richman vies for the total-dick-of-the-series award.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) *½
What can you say about a sequel that jumps the shark three times within its opening act? Firstly, the filmmakers choose to ignore the fact that Jason was last seen melted by toxic waste - he's just back at Crystal Lake, don't ask any questions, OK? - and then dreams up the notion that Jason only uses human hosts which he travels between via an evil spirit in his heart or tongue (or something...). Also, we learn that Jason has a hitherto unmentioned sister(!) living in Crystal Lake all this time. If ever a Friday film made no sense it's this one and there's little disagreement that this is the worst of the entire series. Obviously New Line agreed as it took them a further seven years to churn out another. There's some unintentional(?) laughter to be had - I defy anyone not to snicker at the method of Jason's Rebirth, which involves a slimy monster crawling into a dead woman's vagina! Kane Hodder's Jason only appears in the opening and closing sequences.

Jason X (2000) ***
Jason in space! If you can handle that outrageous concept you may actually find yourself enjoying this comic book horror, which delivers its gory kills with tongue firmly in cheek. Purist fans of the series on the other hand will hate it, because it's only tenuously a Friday movie and there's no continuity with past entries (not even New Line's own Jason Goes to Hell). Set about 400 years from now - Jason is defrosted on a space ship and wrecks havoc on an unsuspecting crew (whose characters are better drawn and acted than usual). No one is going to confuse Jason X with a masterpiece, but by this series standards, it's imaginative, and, most importantly, fun.

Freddy Vs. Jason (2003-USA-Canada-Italy) **½
A long time promised... New Line finally gave slasher fans the Death Match they'd been craving for with Hong Kong helmer Ronny Yu at the helm. Unfortunately the result is very uneven despite stylish direction and a desire on the filmmakers' part to give both monsters equal amounts to do - it's frankly hard to see how they could've come up with a better story given the demands. The teens are a varied bunch - some you root for, some you're just happy to see 'get it in the neck'. Almost certainly the bloodiest film in either series, it reveals a marked difference in what you can get away with in a post-millennial R-rated picture (this is to-date the only F13 entry passed uncut on first submission). Robert Englund's Freddy is nastier than ever and dominates his every scene, he's worth the extra half star. Given the huge box office, it's surprising that a sequel never materialised.

Friday the 13th (2009) *½
The scariest thing about this unwelcome redux is a producer's credit for Michael Bay - he does more damage than Jason ever could. This isn't strictly a remake since it takes elements from the first four Fridays and melds them together - with the occasional new idea thrown in for measure. In fact, Jason's mommy's noggin is lopped off before the opening credits are done. The filmmakers were aiming for a 'best of', unfortunately what we get is pretty close to a 'worst of'... and the threat of a sequel still looms. Some suspenseful moments toward the end save this from a BOMB rating, but for the most part this is grisly rubbish. The target youths are - with the exception of the two leads - obnoxious twats and there's a peculiar emphasis on dope: the initial batch of slaughterees plan to sell as well as smoke it - I guess that passes for progress in this movie? The girls are hot, even the ones who don't shed clothes. But that's limited compensation for such a worthless piece of dross.
Last edited by Markgway on 19 Sep 2013, 12:15, edited 17 times in total.
Image
User avatar
Shingster
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 4140
Joined: 08 Sep 2006, 11:14

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Shingster »

I'd argue that Bay of Blood is really the archetypal slasher that should be mentioned next to Halloween given how much the first Friday films rip it off (isn't part 2 the one that actually takes a few kills straight out of Bay of Blood?)! Good luck with parts 2&3, found them a real chore when I revisited the series about 4yrs ago, I'd go with 4&6 as the best of the Friday franchise.
User avatar
Markgway
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 20177
Joined: 18 Feb 2005, 02:04

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Markgway »

Shingster wrote:I'd argue that Bay of Blood is really the archetypal slasher that should be mentioned next to Halloween given how much the first Friday films rip it off (isn't part 2 the one that actually takes a few kills straight out of Bay of Blood?)! Good luck with parts 2&3, found them a real chore when I revisited the series about 4yrs ago, I'd go with 4&6 as the best of the Friday franchise.
I didn't like Bay of Blood, terribly overrated.

Although the shock kills are similar to those found in F13, the characters and setup are very different. Part of F13's ethos is that the victims had to be horny teens, IIRC, the victims in BAY are prey to an Agatha Christie-like murder plot. Also Crystal Lake's summer camp isn't the same as a secluded farm house (again, correct me if I'm wrong on those details). Slasher movies of the 80s era followed F13's template, not BAY, which I doubt was seen by the same core audience. Perhaps Part 2 rips off BAY (there's an impaling thru the bed, I think) but as a piece of popular culture BAY didn't have a fraction of the impact of it's American counterpart.

You could even question Halloween's archetypal status if you look hard enough - there was a British film called Fright from 1971 in which a mysterious intruder terrorizes a young female babysitter. But who remembers that film...?
Image
User avatar
Shingster
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 4140
Joined: 08 Sep 2006, 11:14

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Shingster »

I don't know if you're trying to suggest there that Bay of Blood couldn't have been influential because you don't rate it or it was too obscure a release or both! It was a 1971 release from arguably the most celebrated and important euro-horror director of the 60s, I can assure you that it was noticed by a lot more people than Fright! It's not a film about a "farmhouse" the clue is actually in the title of the film: Bay of Blood, it's about a fancy bayside estate owned by a rich countess who's killed at the start. Aside from the rather complex Agatha-Christie "whodunnit" aspect the film pretty much establishes most of the gory elements of the Slasher movies of the late 70s & early 80s.

Friday the 13th wasn't original enough to be classed as archetypal, it's basically a hodgepodge of ideas lifted from Halloween, Bay of Blood and nmumerous over movies of the 60s and 70s, we're talking about a film that wasn't even considered groundbreaking in 1980! When it came out it was only its immense popularity that differentiated it from the pack, many critics considered it deeply derivative (and it was).

- The Camp Crystal Lake setting was a similar setting to the beachside locale of Bay of Blood.
- Set on an iconic day: Halloween, Black Christmas.
- Series of very gruesome murders: Bay of Blood. Even the gimmick of "13 teenagers killed" mimics Bay of Blood's 13 murders.
- Horny kids being the first to die: Halloween. Carpenter never intended the film to be read that way, but that's the message people took from it & it became notorious for that.
- Brutal murder in the past linked to the fate and "mythos" of a young child/killer: Halloween
- Mrs. Voorhees revelation: Basically just a twist on Psycho.
- Shock "twist" ending - Bay of Blood has that deeply ironic twist at the end which involves children.

Like I say, Friday the 13th was influential by virtue of its success more than anything, it spawned a series of copycat films but didn't really establish anything new within the genre and it didn't create a new genre boom the same way Halloween did.
User avatar
Markgway
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 20177
Joined: 18 Feb 2005, 02:04

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Markgway »

Shingster wrote:I don't know if you're trying to suggest there that Bay of Blood couldn't have been influential because you don't rate it or it was too obscure a release or both!
My opinion of the film is irrelevant. When BAY came out in the US in 1972 (edited, as Twitch of the Death Nerve) it would've been at best a minor success; by 1980 it would've been fairly obscure without the VHS market. I don't buy into the idea that filmmakers were producing slashers like F13 because they remembered how profitable BAY was many years before (I know it was reissued under some silly titles for drive-ins). F13 was made because of Halloween, no doubt in my mind.

The importance of any perceived influence held by BAY is overstated to say the least. Mario Bava was a celebrated director in his field - but cultural impact? I don't see it. FRIGHT may well be more obscure, but my point was about how we can find influence wherever we seek it. If Sean Cunningham had come out and said "BAY was a primary influence" then fair enough, but AFAIK he claimed not to have even heard of Bava - believe that if you will. The details of BAY are fuzzy for me so I'm happy to be corrected (for some reason I remember a farmhouse!)

The quick gory kills in BAY (probably not seen uncut in the US until the advent of VHS) could in theory be influential, but was BAY the first film to do this? Indeed, Bava himself made gialli long before BAY came into existence. Argento's BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE - with its bladed violence - came before BAY and was just as well regarded. Of course, BAY shares elements with F13 as we've established, but the archetype of 80s slashers? Not for me. PSYCHO would have just as strong a claim, but I wouldn't credit that film either. HALLOWEEN and F13 are for my money the two films which gave us the slasher sub genre in its recognised American form; indeed, if it weren't for those films PSYCHO II and III wouldn't have happened.

Does an archetype have to be truly original - or just original enough in current guise to be recognised as an archetype? If we're talking archetype in the truest sense of the term then perhaps only PSYCHO would qualify as an original. The quintessential combination of secluded woodsy setting, horny dope-smoking teens, mysterious/masked killer, quick, but explicit kills, etc... seem to me to belong to F13. Having said that, FRIDAY 2 director Steve Miner clearly saw BAY, as two of its kills were directly lifted (the double impalement and the machete to the face - both of which ended up being censored in the final R-rated version).

Was BAY set on a specific calendar date? I think of BLACK CHRISTMAS (which you mention) as being the first 'date' slasher. Perhaps that makes it an archetype?
I don't think there were thirteen teens killed in F13. More like nine or ten, plus the camp owner and Mrs. Vorhees. Was that a sales gimmick?
Sex equals death was a HALLOWEEN legacy - I guess it was this movie that first employed the virginal final girl?
I don't remember the ending of BAY - but I assumed that F13's 'it's a nightmare' shock ending was cribbed from CARRIE.
Image
User avatar
Shingster
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 4140
Joined: 08 Sep 2006, 11:14

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Shingster »

Bay originally bombed in the US then they re-released it as Twitch of the Death Nerve and it played throughout the 70s in Drive Ins. Both you or I didn't exist back then, so we clearly have no real knowledge or appreciation for the proliferation and exposure of films via this format. In fact, the way you talk it seems that only films that were big theatrical hits could have possibly been influential before the days of home video, which is clearly nonsensical! The fact of the matter is that if you were of a certain age and a fan of drive-in or grindhouse splatter films in the 1970s, you probably would have heard of Twitch of the Death Nerve.

BTW what's your source for your claim that Sean Cunningham didn't even know who Bava was? As far as I can tell he has admitted in interviews that he was largely influenced by gialli at least in making Friday the 13th (and if you know gialli you know Bava), there's also mention in some reviews and articles online that he has discussed the Bava influence on Friday the 13th, but no actual interview transcripts! He has appeared in documentaries on Bava though. Oh and Bay was significantly more violent than other Gialli at the time, not so much in terms of the gruesomeness of the set pieces (although it was certainly gruesome enough) but more the bodycount. Gialli were always mystery thrillers based around at most a handful of murders, in Bay of Blood the murders became the whole point, which is really what the defining aspect of a Slasher is. Bay also combines sex with murder in a way that was more overt than gialli, again this became a textbook element of slasher films.

And no, archetypes don't have to be completely original, but they do have to lay down a template or show some innovation and change the landscape thereafter. Bay of Blood wasn't a big success, but it laid down a template. Halloween is hardly original, but it was innovative and kickstarted an entire industry. Friday was just one of the more successful among a glut of Halloween-inspired movies, it didn't significantly alter the medium or landscape at all, just gave lazy B-move filmmakers something else to cash in on.

Edit:
Bay isn't set on a celebratory or culturally significant day.
It's 11 deaths in Friday the 13th, I must be confusing the 13kills angle with something else!
Sex = Death: Halloween wasn't the first, but I think it was the first in which this idea of the virgin being the one who survives became something repeatedly talked about and oft mentioned as part of the film's mythos. But like I say, this was was something John Carpenter never intended.
User avatar
Markgway
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 20177
Joined: 18 Feb 2005, 02:04

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Markgway »

There are elements of BAY that I acknowledge are probably archetypal (I say probably because I haven't seen every violent horror made before 1971) just as there are elements in F13 which are archetypal when combined - and that's perhaps where our wires are crossed? I'm really thinking of F13 as a combined archetype - a template that brings together individual archetypes inspired by what's gone before. F13 was influenced by Halloween, but I'd argue that much of the subsequent 80s output was influenced by the template F13 defined. I'm now thinking that quintessential might have been a better term to employ than archetype, as at least that doesn't open up the film to accusations of unoriginality. I think you're harsh on F13, but accept your arguments.

I read about Sean Cunningham not acknowledging Mario Bava here:
http://letterboxd.com/chelsevie/film/a-bay-of-blood/
"...Though Sean Cunningham has famously said that he had not seen this film before making Friday the 13th."
Admittedly, not a proven source, but the use of the word 'famously' led me to believe that this was a widely known remark.

Additionally...
http://www.cult-labs.com/forums/horror- ... ead-6.html
"in the interview with Calum Waddell in Darkside 144 when asked about the influence of ABOB in F13, Cunningham says (I still don't believe him) he had never seen Bava's classic and never heard of Bava until 86/87 at a film festival he also stated he wasn't aware of horror films whe filming F13 andothers in the US! Waddell then says in his opinion HALLOWEEN is the main influence on F13"

However...
"Cunningham worked for the company that released Twitch of the Death Nerve/Bay of Blood in theaters in the US. So for him to say he never saw TorDN/BoB until 86/87 is hogwash."
...backs up your argument significantly.
Image
User avatar
Markgway
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 20177
Joined: 18 Feb 2005, 02:04

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Markgway »

OK, I'm finally done!!!

You buggers better read every word!!!!
Image
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by HungFist »

Read every word. Thanks.

I haven't seen any of the films except Freddy vs. Jason, and the first half of the first film.
User avatar
Shingster
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 4140
Joined: 08 Sep 2006, 11:14

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Shingster »

This topic completely slipped my mind! :oops: Nice overview of the series Mark, your opinions mostly match my own except for part IV, which I think is one of the better sequels (but 6 is undoubtedly the best). Next Friday the 13th you've got to give Dementia 13 a go! :D BTW have you seen The Burning? Out Friday-the-13th's most of the sequels imo, better than all of them except for part 6 maybe.
Markgway wrote:There are elements of BAY that I acknowledge are probably archetypal (I say probably because I haven't seen every violent horror made before 1971) just as there are elements in F13 which are archetypal when combined - and that's perhaps where our wires are crossed? I'm really thinking of F13 as a combined archetype - a template that brings together individual archetypes inspired by what's gone before. F13 was influenced by Halloween, but I'd argue that much of the subsequent 80s output was influenced by the template F13 defined. I'm now thinking that quintessential might have been a better term to employ than archetype, as at least that doesn't open up the film to accusations of unoriginality. I think you're harsh on F13, but accept your arguments.
Yeah, about 80% of cheapo slasher films were very much Halloween or Friday the 13th inspired throughout the 80s. I think where Friday 13th probably is archetypal is in the way it actually dumbed down the slasher genre. Before the 80s slashers tended to have either elaborate plots (in the case of the thrillers and Gialli of the 60s & early 70s) and/or a reasonably well fleshed out cast of potential victims, but what the Friday franchise did was turn the cast of victims into characterless faces who are there to strip off, be annoying, and have us anticipating the next kill with devoted relish. It essentially turned slasher films on their head, making them more about the monster than the humans.
User avatar
Markgway
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 20177
Joined: 18 Feb 2005, 02:04

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Markgway »

Thanks for reading guys... I'm surprised Hung, you haven't seen more F13 movies given you like horror pictures. If you only choose one to try in future, choose Part VI. Unless you detest humour in horror, in which case stick with the original.
Shingster wrote:This topic completely slipped my mind! :oops: Nice overview of the series Mark, your opinions mostly match my own except for part IV, which I think is one of the better sequels (but 6 is undoubtedly the best). Next Friday the 13th you've got to give Dementia 13 a go! :D BTW have you seen The Burning? Out Friday-the-13th's most of the sequels imo, better than all of them except for part 6 maybe.
Yeah, I watched The Burning earlier this year (I think it was this year!). It was better than I expected, though very much a formula slasher. Certainly no worse than many of the Friday sequels.
Yeah, about 80% of cheapo slasher films were very much Halloween or Friday the 13th inspired throughout the 80s. I think where Friday 13th probably is archetypal is in the way it actually dumbed down the slasher genre. Before the 80s slashers tended to have either elaborate plots (in the case of the thrillers and Gialli of the 60s & early 70s) and/or a reasonably well fleshed out cast of potential victims, but what the Friday franchise did was turn the cast of victims into characterless faces who are there to strip off, be annoying, and have us anticipating the next kill with devoted relish. It essentially turned slasher films on their head, making them more about the monster than the humans.
That we can agree on. As much as I appreciate Freddy and Jason et al as horror icons I do find something disturbing in the way we're meant to cheer on their killer exploits as if young people are dispensable fodder (the Friday redux seemed particularly callous in this regard, as if characters were made extra obnoxious just so we could laugh at them dying). For me the best slasher pics are the ones where we can root for the good guys (the Nightmare franchise was actually quite good in this regard, with fleshed-out three-dimensional characters).
Image
User avatar
Shingster
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 4140
Joined: 08 Sep 2006, 11:14

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Shingster »

Of course you can argue that even that isn't something the Friday franchise pioneered, you can follow splatter films all the way back to 1963 with Blood Feast and its parade of non-dimensional characters! :D I think the Friday franchise managed to bridge elements of the slasher & splatter sub-genres reasonably well though (again parts 1 & 6 more than any other of the entries) and that's the reason for its enduring success.

I'm gonna be recording a series of podcasts with John White & Mike Sutton (seriously knowledgeable cinephiles) on the horror genre for TheDigitalFix throughout Halloween, we'll be discussing 10 different films from 10 different eras across 10 episodes. For Gialli/Slasher we've chosen Friday the 13th part IV! I know, I know! :D The youngest of us (Rob Bailey) suggested a Friday film for the slasher episode because we'd been focusing too much on classic cinema, and I suggested part IV because it seems to be the most popular sequel online. I'm started to regret that choice though because I'm pretty certain Mike & John hate it! :D
User avatar
Markgway
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 20177
Joined: 18 Feb 2005, 02:04

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Markgway »

Sounds interesting... please post a download link when the Podcasts are done. :)

It certainly can happen that you pick a film you like (and think others will like) and it turns out everyone else hates it. But you're right about Part IV being the most popular among fans; Part VI is usually second (but probably more accessible to non-fans). I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Jason X (after the dire Jason Goes to Hell it was a welcome relief).

The best thing about Part IV is the nudity - honestly Judie Aronson is hot as f**k. :love:

I'm willing to give most horror a go... but I've drawn the line at H.G. Lewis.
Image
User avatar
HungFist
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 11704
Joined: 14 Dec 2005, 15:50
Location: Japan
Contact:

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by HungFist »

Markgway wrote: I'm willing to give most horror a go... but I've drawn the line at H.G. Lewis.
Why?
(note: I haven't seen any of his films)
User avatar
Markgway
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 20177
Joined: 18 Feb 2005, 02:04

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Markgway »

HungFist wrote:
Markgway wrote: I'm willing to give most horror a go... but I've drawn the line at H.G. Lewis.
Why?
(note: I haven't seen any of his films)
I believe they're homemade shit that cost about the same to produce as a Big Mac.
Image
User avatar
Shingster
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 4140
Joined: 08 Sep 2006, 11:14

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Shingster »

HG Lewis gets a bad rep, his film's aren't great but it's only really Blood Feast that is extremely amateurish in terms of direction and acting. It's still plot-driven and not just a sequence of murder set pieces like today's torture porn pap though, you just kinda wish it wasn't! :D

I'll start a thread when the first halloween podcasts go up. We've recorded a few podcasts now on various subjects (our best one is on the films of Guillermo Del Toro imo) but they've been pretty long at around 90mins each. We're gonna try and keep the halloween podcasts down to around 30-40mins per episode though.
User avatar
Markgway
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 20177
Joined: 18 Feb 2005, 02:04

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Markgway »

I don't mind long podcasts as long as they're interesting.
Image
User avatar
Shingster
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 4140
Joined: 08 Sep 2006, 11:14

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Shingster »

Well I guess that's not for me to decide when it comes to The Digital Fix Filmcasts! :D But if you do want to see what they're about then check this page. I would say that the Guillermo del Toro and Controversial Films podcasts are the best though.
User avatar
Markgway
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 20177
Joined: 18 Feb 2005, 02:04

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Markgway »

Shingster wrote:Well I guess that's not for me to decide when it comes to The Digital Fix Filmcasts! :D But if you do want to see what they're about then check this page. I would say that the Guillermo del Toro and Controversial Films podcasts are the best though.
Link doesn't work.

I'm not really into Del Toro (sorry!) but what are the Controversial Films?
Image
User avatar
Shingster
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 4140
Joined: 08 Sep 2006, 11:14

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Shingster »

Looks like you can't link to a search result page. The controversial films filmcast page is here (we cover Straw Dogs, The Human Centipede and Cannibal Holocaust) and all the current episodes are listed on our stitcher page here
User avatar
Shingster
Bruce Lee's Fist
Posts: 4140
Joined: 08 Sep 2006, 11:14

Re: Friday the 13th

Post by Shingster »

We've just put the article for our first "Horrorthon" podcast covering the Silent Era here. You can download the MP3 file there (It's 29mins long).
Post Reply