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Friday 29 June 2012

The Friday the 13th movies.















Come with me on a journey to Camp Crystal lake. The Friday the thirteenth franchise has to be my favorite slasher franchise ever.

Having been introduced to Jason at an early age, I was incredibly surprised when I  watched the original Friday the thirteenth and at the end of the movie, to be introduced to someone called Pamela Voorhees who happened to be Jason's mother. Anyway, I'm going to give my thoughts on each movie and again, I'm going to avoid any spoilers (but then again, if you are a horror fan and you haven't seen these movies, where have you been)?

FRIDAY THE 13TH.

Here is where it all began. The murder, the sex, the beginning of Kevin Bacon's career all started with this little horror movie.

I have to say, I love this movie. Although the murders aren't as brutal as later entries, or as frequen , the film manages to build up suspense like none of the sequels do. Not to forget Tom Savini's magic special FX giving life to some amazing death sequences even though one was obviously stolen from Mario Bava's Bay of blood.

The ending has to be seen to be believed, because in my opinion, Betsy Palmer brings the mother we all know and love, and turns her into something that is seething with hatred and crying out for revenge.

Body count:- 10.

Friday the 13th part II

This is my least favorite Friday the thirteenth movie, with only two murders that have stuck in my mind and also with very little gore (it's amazing to know that Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark contains more gory scenes than Friday the 13th part 2) .

In this movie, we are introduced to Jason Vorhees, but its just a shame that the kills or the suspense from the first movie aren't here and it really seems to drag in the second act when the friends are at a bar.

Body count:- 11.

Friday the 13th part III.

In this one, the first thing that shocked me was the theme tune. Gone were the screeching strings of the original, only to be replaced with a disco version of the original theme. Friday the 13th part 3 was also the first (and only, to this date at least) of the franchise to be filmed in 3D, and it's also famous for introducing the hockey mask, the thing which makes Jason so recognizable (amongst a slew of other masked horror movie boogeymen at least).

Here, the gore is upped and the kills are a little more brutal, There is the added coolness of a biker gang being pitted against Jason, which is a lot of fun .

Body count:- 13.

Friday the 13th part IV: The Final Chapter.

This is where the series hit its stride again. Maybe it was due to the return of Tom Savini, or having the guy who previously helmed The Prowler direct this sequel, but in this movie, everything is back. The gore, the brutalit , even a young Crispin Glover. Without a doubt this is, and probably always will be my favorite Friday the thirteenth movie, and the FX at the end of the movie have to be seen to be believed.

Body count:- 16.

Friday the 13th part V: A New Beginning.

This one puzzled me as a youngster and is hated by many fans of the franchise, but for what it is, it isn't all that bad. There isn't much I can say about this one without giving too much away, other than this movie is a lot of fun, and again, if you don't expect too much, you'll have a great time watching it.

Body count:- 16.

Friday the 13th part VI : Jason Lives.

In this movie, Jason is a zombie. There is an undercurrent of self awareness and some moments of genuinely funny comedy. That's not forgetting what we all watch these movies for, and you get murders by the bucket load!! Jason really is unstoppable in this movie, and it also contains one of my favorite kills from the franchise. Just watch when the girls cop father is murdered. You'll see what i mean.

Body count:- 18.

Friday the 13th part VII : The New Blood.

Something is different in this movie and although it is heavily cut leaving it almost gore free, the end battle between Jason and his telekinetic enemy is amazing!! This is also the first Friday the thirteenth movie that had Kane Hodder playing Jason. The look of Jason in this movie also has to be my favorite, as everything that has happened to him in previous movies is shown in the make-up.

Body count:- 16.

Friday the 13th part VIII : Jason takes Manhattan.

Or not, as is the case as most of the movie is set on a boat going to Manhattan. Again , this movie is a lot of fun, but it does get a little too much to take with some scenes showing Jason to be in two different places in a matter of seconds, and having an ending that is strange in the least. Again, it's fun to see Kane Hodder don the Jason make up again and bring the screens most prolific killer to life.

Body count:- 19.

Jason Goes to Hell : The Final Friday.

Here we have a strange body swapping horror movie that contains very little of the iconic Jason, at least looking like he normally does. This movie does contain a cameo from Kane Hodder without make up, and it does contain some brutal kills, but it also contains what I consider to be the most homoerotic shaving scene ever committed to celluloid.

Body count:- 21.

Jason X.

Jason in space. I know what you are thinking. But amazingly it works, and it works well. Again we have Kane Hodder playing Jason, and we even have a cameo from David Cronenburg (who is killed off in the first 10 mins).Also, it contains a new look for Jason and even contains what I consider to be the greatest kill in the entire franchise (watch for the way Jason dispatches the blonde female scientist). A fun movie, it even has touches of humor again, and is the only film I can think of that has Todd Farmer in wearing clothes.

Body count:- 28.

Friday the 13th ( Remake ).

Platinum Dunes. A production company that strikes fear into the heart of many horror fans. In all honesty, they didn't do a bad job with Friday the thirteenth. The kills are good if not a little more realistic than previous films, and Jason is played with new ferocity by Derek Mears. A good job, even though I felt incredibly let down on my first viewing, I watched it again on TV one night and enjoyed it a lot more than I had previously.


Body count:- 15.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts.

Darkest regards........Dani.

 

3 comments:

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  2. Wow that was an awesome review. I was planning on doing a Buffy review of all the seasons like you did with all the F13 movies. Good job.

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