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Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter – Review

reviewed by hallo
directed by Joseph Zito, 1984
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The formula for a successful Friday the 13th film had been firmly established by the time part 4 (The Final Chapter) graced the silver screen in 1984.  It was established so well that the film, intending to be the last in the series, grossed enough money to make Paramount Pictures rethink killing the franchise.  Obviously, they decided to bring Jason back – time and time and time again.

So, The Final Chapter is a classic Friday the 13th film, filled with a bunch of silly young people who get knocked off one-by-one by the maniacal and revengeful Jason Vorhees.  The fun part of this particular film is a young Corey Feldman playing Tommy Jarvis, a character that will be reprised in two more films.  The character and personality of Tommy Jarvis fit the style of Corey Feldman quite well and the character is actually believable, unlike virtually every other character in the film who simply exists to be creatively killed.  Death scenes include a corkscrew to the forehead (of Crispin Glove, AKA George McFly), a couple of impalements, a harpoon to a crotch, a nasty collision with some shower tile, a finger through the eye, and an axe to the head.  Nice.

The ending of the film is the best since the original.  Tommy Jarvis ends up shaving his head to resemble a young Jason Vorhees.  The ploy works long enough to distract Jason so that Tommy’s sister, Trish, can get the upper hand.  Tommy eventually flips out and ends up taking a machete to the corpse of a presumed dead Jason about fifty times.  It is actually a pretty freaky little scene to see Tommy with a shaved head going crazy on Jason yelling “Die Die Die” the entire time.  This whacked out ending will be used in part 5 to explain the thrust of that film’s plot.

This one is probably the best since the original or at least a close tie with part 2.  That, of course, is a relative statement and remains a pretty bad horror movie.  But as I have said all along through this series of reviews, if you like slasher films and don’t mind the same, tired formula, then it is hard to go wrong with a Friday the 13th film.  This one is no different.

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Hatchet – Review

reviewed by hallo
directed by Adam Green, 2006
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I have continued to hear news reports concerning the fall 2010 release of Hatchet 2 directed by Adam Green.  Each of these reports served as a gentle reminder that I had yet to see the original, so I figured the time was ripe.  I will return to a few brief comments about the sequel below.

After quickly reviewing the production team and cast for Hatchet, I was surprised by a couple of things.  First, I was surprised that I had never heard of the director Adam Green.  The movie has caused enough of a stir in the horror world that I figured I would have at least known something about the director.  Nevertheless, I had never seen nor heard any of the 10 films he had directed.  On the contrary, the cast was packed with familiar names such as Joel Moore, Kane Hodder, Richard Riehle, Robert Englund,  and Tony Todd.  I was intrigued to say the least.

The film is about a young man named Ben who has unfortunately been dumped by his girlfriend of eight years.  In a friendly attempt to offer consolation, a few of his friends take Ben to Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  Ben, however, wants nothing to do with the moral decay of Mardi Gras much to the chagrin of his friends.  He decides to find something that better suits his interests and seeks out a haunted swamp tour he heard about from a friend.  Although the rest of his group ditches Ben, one loyal friend named Marcus hangs around.  Marcus, as it it turns out, becomes one of the very few reasons why Hatchet is watchable.  Although the established swamp tour business is no longer doing tours (because they were sued), they stumble across another tour guide.  As we will discover, this new tour guide is a fake and is only looking to make a buck.

Ben and an extremely reluctant Marcus end up paying for a tour along with a couple of porn stars, a porn director, an elderly couple, and a quiet but assertive lady.  Ben attempts to befriend the quiet lady, whose name is Marybeth, by whipping out effective conversation starters such as “I like that coat.”  Anyway, the group eventually gets to the boat and makes their way down the swamp.  Along the way all the guests begin to realize that the guide is a scam and just as it comes to a head, he wrecks the boat into a pile of rocks.  Too bad for them, because this is the home of Victor Crowley, a severely deformed man who was accidentally stabbed in the head by his father with a hatchet.  Now, as the legend goes, Victor walks the swamp looking for folks to brutally mutilate (sound like anyone else you know?).  In classic horror movie style, folks start dying one by one in rather gruesome ways.  The gore is excellent and is probably the only other redeeming aspect of the movie.  Arms are torn off, jaws are sawed off, spines are ripped out, and heads are twisted off.  The gore is not really an essential part of the film in terms of the storytelling, but as a horror movie lover I am always pleased to see a well done kill scene.

Amid all the stupid dialogue and confusing actions on the part of the group, Ben finally decides to go back to Victor’s house to look for gasoline cans.  Bad idea as that causes the death of more people.  Ultimately, Marcus bites the dust and just when it appears that things are over for Ben and Marybeth, they manage to run through Victor with a spear.  Just like all good slasher movies, the heroes end up on a canoe to paddle away with nice peaceful music playing (sound like another ending to a movie?).  Oops!  Victor isn’t dead!!  Can you believe it??  He pulls Marybeth into the water.  She manages to escape but gets caught in some branches under the water.  Just above her she can see Ben’s hand reaching down in the water grasping for her.  She finally manages to reach Ben’s hand and is pulled up out of the water.  The bad news is that Victor has ripped Ben’s arms out of their sockets and was holding them down into the water to lure Marybeth up.  The film ends with Marybeth in the embrace of Victor’s arms.

The movie has absolutely zero to offer in originality and creative story telling.  However,  I’m not so sure that was their intent.  The tagline for the movie is “Old School American Horror.”  This is a film that sets out to take a well-established formula and do it well.  Three elements were obviously important for director Adam Green.  First, he wanted to assemble a solid group of actors.  This is a movie where you keep saying, “oh yeah, I know that guy.”  It does add credibility to the film and it is always fun to see old name resurface.  Second, humor was a critical part of the movie and it was provided beautifully by Marcus and Shawn (the fake tour guide).  Third, gore was used as a means to filter between horror fans who live for well done classic gore and those who don’t.  So much so that director Adam Green’s comments concerning the second film are, “if you didn’t like the first one, don’t see the second one.”  Green’s directing leaves something to be desired and a majority of the dialogue is pathetic.  Having said that, this probably succeeds in what it was attempting to do:  provide a fun, stomach-wrenching gore fest wrought with laughs and “shock” moments.

Philosophically, the movie really says absolutely nothing.  The only point of interest is a running theme throughout the film concerning folks who pretend to be something they aren’t.  The tour guide who speaks with a terrible New Orleans accent is really a scam artist.  The “porn director” is really a business man just trying to get some action.  One of the porn actresses lies about attending NYU.  What all that has to do with the gore infestation that is Victor Crowley I have no idea.  The only thing I was able to come up with is the irony that Victor, a brutally distorted human being, was always honest and open about who he was.  In contrast, he is now killing those who hide their own inner darkness behind a facade of lies.  More likely is the possibility that the writers were frantically looking for a story to weave in-between the awesome death scenes.

From what I have been reading concerning the sequel, Adam Green has decided to step it up a notch.  Humor, apparently, will not play as prominent a role in the sequel and the gore promises to be taken to the next level.  My hunch is that Green is somewhat amazed that he will actually be directing a sequel and has decided to strengthen his grip on what could be the start of a name for himself.  The movie has a strong set of fans and the sequel seems to be gaining some high expectation.  Victor is not finished yet.

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Friday the 13th Part 3 – Review

reviewed by hallo
directed by Steve Miner, 1982
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This review is part of my ongoing Friday the 13th series.  You can read my reviews of the other films by clicking the “Friday the 13th Series” category link on the right hand side of your screen.

The last time we saw Jason Vorheers, he was in a big time fight with Paul and Ginny from part 2.  Friday the 13th Part 3 picks up closely after the events of part 2 and Jason steals some new clothes from a seriously run down shop and, of course, kills the shop owners.  He then makes his way to “Higgins Haven”, a lakefront property, to hide out in the barn and recover a bit from his romp in part 2.  Cue a van load of young people making their way to Higgins Haven in order to give Chris, the lead actress in the movie, a chance to confront the demons in her past, including being assaulted by a deformed person.  One of these future victims is named Shelly (Larry Zerner), an overweight and highly annoying guy who holds a special place in my heart for being one of the more memorable characters throughout the entire FTT series.   Shelly has a love for the grotesque and keeps scaring his friends by putting on masks and utilizing fake blood.  He also has a hockey mask that he uses at one point to scare the wits out of folks.  That hockey mask of Shelly’s will make Jason Vorhees one of the most recognizable monsters in horror history.

Attempting to elaborate on the plot is pretty pointless.  One by one, people start getting knocked off.  A group of bikers join the scene for a while also getting killed.  The various methods of murder include shooting a girl in the eye with a speargun, slicing a boy in half with a machete, electrocution by way of being thrown on a fuse box, and the squeezing of a guy’s head so hard that his eyes pop out.   The final confrontation ultimately comes down to Jason and Chris, who after taking his mask off reveals himself to be the one who had attacked her previously.  She ends up hanging Jason, but that of course is pointless.  Finally, after Jason is distracted, Chris puts a machete into his head, apparently killing Jason (and creating the famous cut in the hockey mask).

The movie ends with a nod to the original.  Chris gets in a boat and sets a drift in the lake, falling asleep.  When she awakes, she realizes she hasn’t gone very far and she is still near the dreaded barn where the carnage took place.  Jason is seen looking out the window and runs outside to get her.  At this point, in a complete rip off of the final scene in part 1, Mrs. Voorhees comes out of the lake and pulls Chris in.  Of course, it ends up being all a dream and Jason is finally seen in the barn, presumably dead.  Until part 4!

The film was released in 3-D, being the first Paramount Pictures 3-D release.  By this point, the series has established its formula of making sure a bunch of young people are at a secluded place so Jason can kill them.  Interestingly, from this point on, the series will build on people who have mental issues finding themselves at odds with Jason.  This movie is only notable for the introduction of Jason’s hockey mask and a few fun scenes.  Other than that, not too much here to hang your hat on.

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American Psycho – Review

reviewed by hallo
directed by Mary Harron, 2000
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I acknowledge from the outset that I am setting myself up for some pretty nasty comments on this review.  I have a hunch that unless you have anything but rave reviews for Mary Harron’s American Psycho, you risk being seen as “uncool” in the horror review world.  Alas, I am willing to sacrifice my apparent “cool” factor to provide what will be a sub-par review of the film.

American Psycho is the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel about 80’s corporate America and the emptiness it embodies.  Christian Bale (now famous for Batman) portrays Patrick Bateman, a successful businessman who rates his own worth based on the style of his business card and his ability to make last-minute reservations at the city’s most upscale restaurants.  Bateman looks exactly like all the other “suits” in the film, underscoring the loss of any true identity or free-thinking.  Thus, American Psycho is a satire in every sense of the word, reminding us all that our worth and value must be placed at a standard beyond the office next door.  Because Bateman actually has no real influence or meaning apart from the office competitions, he finds his influence and power in the use of extreme violence among women, prostitutes, etc.

The theme of the movie (and novel) has some merit.  And to Bateman’s credit, he provides a good performance with a script that would seem to limit his ability to give one.  The problem is that the film continues to leave the viewer wondering:  “What?”  This is a movie that depends greatly on the need for graphic, over-the-top gore and violence which provides the critical juxtaposition of Bateman’s character.  Unfortunately, the film stays away from the graphic, descriptive elements and funnels into an annoying story of Bateman losing his mind to the point where the ending makes little sense.  This movie needs to get in the hands of the great Italian directors or even a satire master like Romero.  I think then the power of the theme might make more of an impact.  As it is, I was left underwhelmed and disappointed.

If that’s not cool, please forgive me.

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Friday the 13th Part 2 – Review

reviewed by hallo
directed by Steve Miner, 1981
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Steve Miner has the honor of being one of the few directors who I consider to have created a memorable and important remake with his 2008 Day of the Dead film.  Unfortunately, he also has Halloween H20 on his resume.  Thankfully, he rebounded strong after the debacle of H20 with the classic Lake Placid.  So, for the most part, Miner is a name we can trust and it all started with a sequel to one of the most influential horror films of all time, Friday the 13th.  This review is an ongoing set as I attempt to review the entire series.

Friday the 13th Part 2 is actually a pretty creepy film.  Contra to the first movie, which provides a terrific performance by Betsy Palmer as the sadistic killer Mrs. Vorhees, the sequel gives us Jason doing his thing that will spark on “Jason mania” that lives to this day.  However, only true horror fans might know that Jason is missing a vital part of his “pop culture” fame – no hockey mask in part 2.  That comes later in the third entry.  Instead, we have simple brown bag tied over Jason’s head with one eye hole cut out – like I said, pretty creepy stuff.

The movie is about a program where soon-to-be-camp-counselors can attend and learn how to be even better counselors.  The location for the learning experience is a cabin just a little ways from the dreaded Camp Crystal Lake.  Although Paul (John Furey), who is the program coordinator, warns the attendees to stay away from “Camp Blood”, the warning just elicits a greater desire to go check it out.  Jason doesn’t really care where the teenagers are held up, he is just seriously ticked off after watching his mom get beheaded by Alice in the first film (consequently, Alice meets her end at the very beginning of the film).  So, in what is now classic horror style, the counselors start getting knocked off one by one.  Already by the second film we see the film makers attempting to become more and more creative with how the victims meet their demise.  This will ultimately lead to the franchise becoming a characature if itself, but it is still manageable in part 2.  We begin to notice that Ginny has a rather disturbing obsession with Jason, which we learn is prompted by her own study in child psychology.  Jason is actually now fully grown, but the film and the viewers assume, correctly, that he still has the mind of a child.  All of this comes into play when. . .

It finally comes down to just Jason and Alice.  By the end of the film, Alice has managed to stumble across Jason’s deteriorated living quarters where he has a whacked out shrine to his mom, complete with her severed head.  When it appears that all is lost for Alice, she turns on the child psychology, puts on his mother’s blood stained sweater (which is difficult to watch) and pretends to be Jason’ mom.  One of the more disturbing parts of this scene is that in order for Alice to get her hair just right, she gets about 2 inches from the severed head and studies how Jason’s mom wore her hair, trying to make herself look the same.  When it is all said and done, Paul saves the day, tragically (we assume) by giving up his life to save Alice.

This review, and the many to follow suit, simply comes down to this – - do you enjoy campy, cheesy slasher flicks where sexually minded teenagers are getting mutilated one by one?  If so, then this is a pretty good one.  If you are looking for a more intelligent, crafty, thought provoking film that might actually have something to say, then the rest of this series isn’t really for you.  Having said that, there is a reason why this series is so long running.  Jason is a fun, and at times scary, killer to be afraid of.  The setting of the films always lend themselves to a minimum of a good feel and a few decent scares.  And part 2 at least attempted to work off the concept of Jason being a helpless child trapped inside a raging, adult body.  At this point we do not see the “indestructible” Jason.  Again, that will come in part 3 in a very big way, where many of the cliched aspects of the series are poured in concrete.

So, I give this a positive review and certainly find myself enjoying the film every time it finds its way into my dvd player.  Haven’t seen it yet?  Give it a try.

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Friday the 13th – Review

reviewed by Hallo
directed by Sean S. Cunningham, 1980
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One of the goals of The Blackest Eyes is to review some of our favorite series in their entirety.  After all, what kind of horror review site would we be if we did not provide our thoughts on classic series such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.  The flip side of that coin is that we want to be in the business of reviewing both old and new films alike, so it may take us a little time to get through all the films of our favorite series.  Having said that, here is a review of the first film in one of the most profitable franchises in horror history, Friday the 13th.

Not surprisingly, Friday the 13th was one of the first horror movies to capture my mind and turn me toward the love for the horror genre I have today.  I can remember some of those first films so vividly, some good and some not so good.  Films like Halloween, Maniac, Pieces, Friday the 13th, Hellraiser, Nosferatu, and The Exorcist all were on my “first to watch” list.  Since those early days I have watched Friday the 13th countless times and for the most part have the script memorized.  It, like Halloween, frequently visits my dvd player and I find a strange bit of comfort just to have it playing in the background.  The film starts incredibly slow.  The first 30 minutes are pretty much pointless except to allow some town folk to speak of the curse of “Camp Blood” and to allow Crazy Ralph to make an appearance (he is worth it)!  We get to meet the ill-fated camp counselors and there is some attempt, albeit very little, to establish a report amongst a few of them.  We notice a pretty strong connection with Alice and Bill, although the former is already involved in a complicated romantic relationship with Steve Christy, the mastermind behind re-opening Camp Crystal Lake.  Jack (Kevin Bacon) and Marcie are a couple, leaving Brenda and Ned as the loners.  Officer Dorf adds a pretty good bit of humor during what is otherwise a pretty slow-moving beginning as we wait expectantly for the night to arrive.

Sure enough, counselors start dying.  However, unlike John Carpenter’s Halloween, Friday the 13th decided to actually show the deaths with a certain amount of gore.  And, when we don’t see the actual killing itself, as in the case of Ned, Brenda, and Bill, we still get to see the gruesome remains of their untimely departure at a later time in the film.  Ned is shown above Jack and Marcie on the bunk beds, Brenda is thrown through a window at the end of the film, and poor Bill is pierced to a door with multiple arrows.  The kill scenes are really not all that scary as much as they are engaging.  We can thank Friday the 13th for all the subsequent slasher films that tried to have “cooler” kill scenes.  Of course, when you keep trying to outdo the last movie, or even the last kill, ultimately you have movies that are just plain stupid.  Although Halloween certainly inspired Friday the 13th, the latter had its own bit of influence on the Halloween franchise.  Watch Halloween 2 and you will notice more Friday the 13th-esque kills.  It is interesting to note that in the original Friday the 13th there were 9 deaths.  Fast forward to Jason Takes Manhattan and there are 19 deaths.  It is indicative of what the series, and the genre to a certain degree, turned into.

There are some flat out creepy scenes in Friday the 13th.  One of the most creepy for me is when Brenda, from inside her cabin, hears the fainest of voices calling out from the woods.  As it gets louder, she notices it is a child’s voice calling for help, which is a nice foreshadowing of things to come.   So, out into the woods she goes as the voice gets louder, pleading for help.  We never hear from poor Brenda again.  But it is Betsy Palmer as Mrs. Voorhees that makes the film.  She delivers one of the most spine chilling performances in horror history, for a moment coming across as a ray of hope and safety, but quickly turning into the most horrific scare of the film.  “Jason should have been watched, every minute!”  We, like Alice, know that things are taking a turn for the worse.  We discover that this is Jason’s mom, a former camp attendee who drown in Crystal Lake while counselors were busy with other things that involve no clothing.   And the final 10 minutes of the film are worth the entire movie as Mrs. Voorhees hunts down a tired, scared, and fragile Alice.  Finally, who can ever forget the final scene of this movie?  The greatest “gotcha” of all time (rivaled only by the ending of Carrie).

Memorable moments in Friday the 13th include that whacked out song we hear more than once, both time in a cafe of sorts.  It goes something like “oh please, don’t let, your heart, belong to anyone. . .”  Of course, you have to have seen the film 3 million times to pick up on that one.  Director Sean Cunningham builds tension in a big way as we watch Alice, at the end of the film, make a cup of tea that takes what seems like 15 minutes.  She methodically pours sugar, etc, and we are the whole time aware that a crazy killer is out there, but Alice is clueless.  I love that part of the film.   No music, no nothing except Alice making tea.  Brilliant!  Henry Manfredini delivers a memorable score that stays with the series to a certain degree.

The original Friday the 13th has become a caricature of the horror genre and in many ways those concepts are unwarranted.  It is a film that is often times scoffed at for using so many “cliched horror elements.”  The problem with that way of thinking is that Friday the 13th invented those cliched elements.  You can’t fault the movie that did something so remarkable it made everyone else jump on the bandwagon.  Thus, when Friday the 13th was made, those cliched elements (such as people getting clipped off one by one in the woods) didn’t exist yet.  Also, Jason does not kill a single person in this film.  Another major fact that goes virtually unknown even by supposed horror fans.  Even my boy John Stanley who wrote “Creature Features”, the greatest horror review book, mistakenly credits Jason with the death in his review.  Thanks to the Wes Craven movie Scream, a certain generation of folks know that Jason didn’t commit the murders.  But it still goes widely unrealized.

Obviously, this movie gets a big thumbs up.  It certainly isn’t perfect and has many slow points.  But, it is a classic and a must see for anyone interested in the genre.

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