TR reviews horror franchises: "Friday the 13th"

[Jiren]

rossamania said:

cropsy13 said:

I just finished watching ALL the Halloween movies (Even Zombie's)

You were able to get ahold of a copy of 6?

I've had Curse of Michael Myers for years but i got the "Producers cut" not long ago

[Lick Ness Monster]

cropsy13 said:

rossamania said:

You were able to get ahold of a copy of 6?

I've had Curse of Michael Myers for years but i got the "Producers cut" not long ago

Just out of curiosity, where did you get it and how much will it run me? I've always wanted to see the fabled producers' cut.

[Lick Ness Monster]

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3
1982
Director: Steve Miner

These movies are what they are - they're slasher films, existing for one purpose - entertainment. They are not deep social commentary or any other sort of telling reminder or comment on our times, and the first two "Friday the 13th" films are perhaps two of the most entertaining films of all time.
"Friday the 13th Part 3" lives up that billing. It's a competent slasher film, well-directed at times by Steve Miner, and has a few genuine scares (the best being the final sequence in the barn). However, there are a few flaws in this installment that drag its rating down a bit.
First and foremost is the acting. While no one expects Oscar-caliber acting in these kinds of movies, we do at least expect a degree of competency in our actors, and, as Leonard Maltin put it, the acting in this movie is amateur night. Dana Kimmell might be the worst heroine in the entire series and Tracie Savage (now a news reporter in Los Angeles) is barely believable.
Some of the supporting characters are also quite tack-on and unneeded just for additional kill scenes (seriously, why would two ex-hippie stoners be hanging out with high school kids?), and the bearded grizzled man in the beginning is nothing more than a shoddy replacement for the legendary Crazy Ralph of Parts 1 and 2 (seriously, why did they need to kill him off?)
However, Part 3 does feature human Jason in some of his most scary moments. The movie is at its best in the kill sequences, which are this series' bread and butter, and this movie doesn't disappoint in that regard. The final twenty minutes are thrilling despite the fact that you're practically rooting for Jason to shut up Dana Kimmell, and the 3D cheesiness can be overlooked now.
And one more thing - Shelly, played by Larry Zerner, is one of the top three characters in the entire history of the series. Well-played, sympathetic, and even very funny to boot. I used to post regularly on the F13 message boards, and occasionally Zerner himself made visits over there. He's just as amicable and funny in real life.

*** (out of four)

[Deleted]

thomasrigby said:

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3
1982
Director: Steve Miner

These movies are what they are - they're slasher films, existing for one purpose - entertainment. They are not deep social commentary or any other sort of telling reminder or comment on our times, and the first two "Friday the 13th" films are perhaps two of the most entertaining films of all time.
"Friday the 13th Part 3" lives up that billing. It's a competent slasher film, well-directed at times by Steve Miner, and has a few genuine scares (the best being the final sequence in the barn). However, there are a few flaws in this installment that drag its rating down a bit.
First and foremost is the acting. While no one expects Oscar-caliber acting in these kinds of movies, we do at least expect a degree of competency in our actors, and, as Leonard Maltin put it, the acting in this movie is amateur night. Dana Kimmell might be the worst heroine in the entire series and Tracie Savage (now a news reporter in Los Angeles) is barely believable.
Some of the supporting characters are also quite tack-on and unneeded just for additional kill scenes (seriously, why would two ex-hippie stoners be hanging out with high school kids?), and the bearded grizzled man in the beginning is nothing more than a shoddy replacement for the legendary Crazy Ralph of Parts 1 and 2 (seriously, why did they need to kill him off?)
However, Part 3 does feature human Jason in some of his most scary moments. The movie is at its best in the kill sequences, which are this series' bread and butter, and this movie doesn't disappoint in that regard. The final twenty minutes are thrilling despite the fact that you're practically rooting for Jason to shut up Dana Kimmell, and the 3D cheesiness can be overlooked now.
And one more thing - Shelly, played by Larry Zerner, is one of the top three characters in the entire history of the series. Well-played, sympathetic, and even very funny to boot. I used to post regularly on the F13 message boards, and occasionally Zerner himself made visits over there. He's just as amicable and funny in real life.

*** (out of four)

I know I was hoping Jason would kill her, I just thought she was annoying. I actually liked the Crazy Ralph replacement, how could anyone not like the cheesiness of him holding an eyeball and saying "I have waned thee" get it? "Eye have warned thee". Actually, I can see how someone would think that was stupid. ;D

A few things i'll always remember most from Part 3 is that funky disco song in the beginning and the debut of the hockey mask. Another thing to thank ol' Shelly for. And Jason getting axed in the head and still reaching out and coming after Chris.

On another note, Tracie Savage was one of my favorite F13 girls in my younger days. Sure her acting sucked, but I thought she wasn't too bad looking.

[Kevin Hamilton]

part 3 was the first Jason movie i saw. scared me so much i didn't even wanna go downstairs by myself. later on i realized the awesomeness of these movies. in college i wrote a paper on this movie for my Women in Horror Films course. i watched so many movies at ETSU for credit. it was awesome. i did get an A on that Jason paper.college was great. my fav F13 movie is part 8, how can u not love Jason in Manhattan.

[Lick Ness Monster]

FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER
1984
Director: Joseph Zito

From the first shot of this movie, you could tell that Paramount had really started to notice the success of this series, throwing a lot more resources and talent in the production department to these cheesy little slaher flicks. The movie opens with this awesome helicopter shot, slowly scanning down and through the carnage in the farmhouse from the previous film, eventually winding up at Jason, the axe still embedded in his head. Awesome, awesome opening.
The rest of the movie isn't quite as good, but it's damn close. First off, the performances and characters in this movie are excellent - by far the best since the original. You've got Corey Feldman in his first screen role and the phenomenally underrated Crispin Glover in the same movie? That alone should be enough to have this released on DVD with commentary from God himself (to steal a joke from X-Entertainment).
Putting aside the major plot hole of Jason being pronounced dead and brought to the morgue at the film's opening sequence before he suddenly pops back to life, this is a phenomenally entertaining film. It's also more humorous than the previous, especially Jimmy and Ted's dialogue (still funny after all these years), as well as the usual gratuitous nudity and sex (although this time it's a little tongue-in-cheek). And Crispin Glover's dance sequence is legendary for a reason - which looks something like this...

Ah, the '80s...
And as for the actual horror film itself? Tom Savini himself returned to this movie to do the legendary F13 makeup effects (to "kill off what he had created" - if only he had known how far this series would actually go), resulting in excellent and horrifying death scenes. Actually, I believe that this movie is very scary because you actually don't even really see Jason that much - until the requisite final chase scenes, he's practically nonexistant on-screen.
This is a well-directed, well-written and primal slasher flick - and one of the most entertaining horror flicks of all time.
And it features legendary dancing Crispin Glover.

**** (out of four)

[Lick Ness Monster]

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V: A NEW BEGINNING
1985
Director: Danny Steinmann

Most movie franchises have a black sheep, and this holds very true for horror films. "Halloween" has that weird-ass third installment with Tom Atkins and the deadly masks. "Nightmare" has "Part 2," with its male protagonist and all of the weird sexual undertones. "Puppet Master" has Toulon's Revenge. And "Howling" has...the Marsupials and everything that came after that. This would be F13's black sheep, and I believe it's the worst of the lot.
It is the worst film in the series because it is truly the only one that I am actually embarrassed to watch in the company of other people. To start:
(1) I can live with the absence of Jason. I'm not that fanboyish. However, would it be too much to ask for there to actually be some degree of mystery over who the man in the mask is? "My God, there' a homicidal maniac on the loose!" "You talkin' to me, Sheriff?" I know it doesn't sound like much, but trust me, when you see it, it jumps right out at you.
(2) Tommy Jarvis is one of the best characters in the entire series, but John Shepherd's portrayal of him is awkward and unconvincing.
(3) The supporting cast is horrible. Yes, we do like some character development in these films to have emotional stock in them, but that doesn't mean we want to sit through ten minutes of horrible dialogue before the deaths. Examples: the scene at the diner, the two pseudo-greasers out in the woods, etc.
(4) As another aside, *SPOILERS* Why would Roy Burns kill most of these characters, anyway? The diner patrons, the greasers, and the hick family (my God, how annoying were they?) living near the sanitarium had nothing to do with his son's death. *END SPOILERS*
(5) Nude scenes featuring not very good looking women. Never a good thing.
Essentially, this movie opens with a stylish, scary nightmare sequence, and then quickly degrades into an illogical, poorly-written mess that was best forgotten by every film that followed it in the series - complete with the long-planned supposed "passing of the torch" moment to Tommy Jarvis at the film's close that never amounted to anything.
Avoid this one like the plague.

* (out of four)

["Magic" Mark Hurr]

damn i made an extended gif of Glover dancing a few moths ago and erased out of my photobucket a last week. ARG!

[Brain Of F'n J]

thomasrigby said:

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3
1982
Director: Steve Miner

These movies are what they are - they're slasher films, existing for one purpose - entertainment. They are not deep social commentary or any other sort of telling reminder or comment on our times, and the first two "Friday the 13th" films are perhaps two of the most entertaining films of all time.
"Friday the 13th Part 3" lives up that billing. It's a competent slasher film, well-directed at times by Steve Miner, and has a few genuine scares (the best being the final sequence in the barn). However, there are a few flaws in this installment that drag its rating down a bit.
First and foremost is the acting. While no one expects Oscar-caliber acting in these kinds of movies, we do at least expect a degree of competency in our actors, and, as Leonard Maltin put it, the acting in this movie is amateur night. Dana Kimmell might be the worst heroine in the entire series and Tracie Savage (now a news reporter in Los Angeles) is barely believable.
Some of the supporting characters are also quite tack-on and unneeded just for additional kill scenes (seriously, why would two ex-hippie stoners be hanging out with high school kids?), and the bearded grizzled man in the beginning is nothing more than a shoddy replacement for the legendary Crazy Ralph of Parts 1 and 2 (seriously, why did they need to kill him off?)
However, Part 3 does feature human Jason in some of his most scary moments. The movie is at its best in the kill sequences, which are this series' bread and butter, and this movie doesn't disappoint in that regard. The final twenty minutes are thrilling despite the fact that you're practically rooting for Jason to shut up Dana Kimmell, and the 3D cheesiness can be overlooked now.
And one more thing - Shelly, played by Larry Zerner, is one of the top three characters in the entire history of the series. Well-played, sympathetic, and even very funny to boot. I used to post regularly on the F13 message boards, and occasionally Zerner himself made visits over there. He's just as amicable and funny in real life.

*** (out of four)

Gotta disagree on Dana Kimmell. I think she did an excellent job playing a fragile, mentally unbalanced heroine. It was a nice contrast to the mousy heroine of the original and the girl-next-door-with-an-inner-toughness heroine of part two.

It's the heroine in part four that bugs me. Ugh.

Jed Shaffer
~They need to bring Dana Kimmell back and wrap up what happened to her character, dammit!

[Corporate H]

thomasrigby said:

cropsy13 said:

I've had Curse of Michael Myers for years but i got the "Producers cut" not long ago

Just out of curiosity, where did you get it and how much will it run me? I've always wanted to see the fabled producers' cut.

You can watch it on YouTube, I believe. I have it burnt onto a DVD somewhere.

EDIT: This guy has it in ten parts:

www.youtube.com/user/HouseMD721987

[Jiren]

I said on youtube but it got deleted

*Note* Downloading "Producers cut" is not illegal

[ghostgrabber]

i've always been partial to the fat chick and her banana in part 4..one of my favourite moments of the series.

[-Lithium-]

Its funny how they call it "Parts" instead of just saying Friday The 13th 2. I guess "Part Two" makes it look likes its actually a part needed to complete the series or something like that...

[plushtar]

The first 5 were all scary. 4 & 5 seemed to have been building up some sort of curse that gets passed on leading to another killer in Crystal Lake. Tommy Jarvis could have fullfilled that role as the new killer, but sadly Paramount went down the MTV route and created a zombie.

[Lick Ness Monster]

plushtar said:

The first 5 were all scary. 4 & 5 seemed to have been building up some sort of curse that gets passed on leading to another killer in Crystal Lake. Tommy Jarvis could have fullfilled that role as the new killer, but sadly Paramount went down the MTV route and created a zombie.

If you want to get extremely nerdy with it, here's a little fun fact for ya: the script for part three was originally going to be, essentially, what part five became, except with GINNY, the survivor in part two, in the Tommy Jarvis role. So yeah - if they had gone according to plan, Jason would have died and been gone forever after just the one movie. In fact, they did keep a lot of the elements, as you'll notice some similarities between three and five - the lakeside house, the finale in the barn, etc. - with a mystery assailant and Ginny supposedly becoming the killer at the end and being the dreaded stalker in part four.
However, Amy Steele turned down the role at the last minute (which she says now she regrets doing), leading to another "okay, let's set up a crazy survivor" movie for part three (and it's not subtle, as Chris clearly does go nuts at the end of part three). Except Dana Kimmell wasn't quite the horror movie buff they thought she was, so she quickly rejected coming back for part four.
So, they had to do yet ANOTHER "set up crazy survivor" movie. And in TFC it was done quite skillfully, as Tommy Jarvis has parallels to Jason (the absentee father, the fascination with the macabre), especially the ending - "you're me, Jason."
So then they finally did Part 5, and everybody knows about the ending of that movie, and they were all set to go with Tommy Jarvis being the killer for the remainder of the series. The problem was, in doing all those earlier movies, the fans had gotten used to Jason and just wanted him back - causing the retcon of Tommy Jarvis' crazy turn at the end of Part 5.
My little lecture for the day is this, something I find quite hilarious: if Amy Steele hadn't turned down the returning role in Part 3, the series would have turned into Ginny the Killer, or Chris the killer, depending. FREDDY VS. GINNY - book it!

[Jiren]

Just like Halloween

People moaned about Micheal not being in III (He died in 2) so they brought him back with the crappy Thorn angle.

4 was a good movie but it planted the seeds of the Thorn story (Which came full circle in part 6 producers cut)

[plushtar]

thomasrigby said:

plushtar said:

The first 5 were all scary. 4 & 5 seemed to have been building up some sort of curse that gets passed on leading to another killer in Crystal Lake. Tommy Jarvis could have fullfilled that role as the new killer, but sadly Paramount went down the MTV route and created a zombie.

If you want to get extremely nerdy with it, here's a little fun fact for ya: the script for part three was originally going to be, essentially, what part five became, except with GINNY, the survivor in part two, in the Tommy Jarvis role. So yeah - if they had gone according to plan, Jason would have died and been gone forever after just the one movie. In fact, they did keep a lot of the elements, as you'll notice some similarities between three and five - the lakeside house, the finale in the barn, etc. - with a mystery assailant and Ginny supposedly becoming the killer at the end and being the dreaded stalker in part four.
However, Amy Steele turned down the role at the last minute (which she says now she regrets doing), leading to another "okay, let's set up a crazy survivor" movie for part three (and it's not subtle, as Chris clearly does go nuts at the end of part three). Except Dana Kimmell wasn't quite the horror movie buff they thought she was, so she quickly rejected coming back for part four.
So, they had to do yet ANOTHER "set up crazy survivor" movie. And in TFC it was done quite skillfully, as Tommy Jarvis has parallels to Jason (the absentee father, the fascination with the macabre), especially the ending - "you're me, Jason."
So then they finally did Part 5, and everybody knows about the ending of that movie, and they were all set to go with Tommy Jarvis being the killer for the remainder of the series. The problem was, in doing all those earlier movies, the fans had gotten used to Jason and just wanted him back - causing the retcon of Tommy Jarvis' crazy turn at the end of Part 5.
My little lecture for the day is this, something I find quite hilarious: if Amy Steele hadn't turned down the returning role in Part 3, the series would have turned into Ginny the Killer, or Chris the killer, depending. FREDDY VS. GINNY - book it!

All I can say is wow! All of these would have worked well. That would have made a great action figure set.

[Lick Ness Monster]

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES
1986
Director: Tom McLoughlin

While it's generally noted that Part V marked the beginning of the end for GOOD Friday the 13th flicks, that's definitely not to say that there weren't highlights. Of these, Friday the 13th Part VI is very entertaining in its own right, and an interesting speed bump along the way that the series gradually took toward the overtly cheesy.
Writer-director Tom McLoughlin deserves kudos for the way he handled this movie; gladly choosing to ignore the events of Part V outright, his main focus was putting on a captivating tale of Tommy Jarvis vs. Jason, and this movie works extremely well in that regard. Tommy Jarvis ended up becoming the Nancy Thompson of the Friday series, beloved by fans. This movie itself gives a nice sense of closure to the character.
And overall, it's just a very fun, amusing movie. This is definitely the most humorous of all the Friday films; I love the changing of the town's name, the male camp counselor character's lecture on trails, and the smiley face in the tree after Jason slams a man's head into it. Cheesy, yes - but still funny.
And of course this movie marks the introduction of undead zombie Jason - although I think this is easily the best incantation of the character. He's big, bad and menacing in ths movie, compounded with the fact that virtually nothing seems to hurt or stop him. C.J. Graham does a fantastic job with the movement and body language of this Jason and should be commended.
The climax is thrilling, the jokes are funny, and Tom McLoughlin concocted a very good tale in the series with this installment.

*** 1/2 (out of four)

[Deleted]

Jason lives is in my top 5 F13 movies. Part of it is the cheesiness, and part of it is me being a Thom Matthews mark. Something I always laugh at is the "Smiley face" kill. Jason ends up tearing the guys arm off and when he's looking at it, you almost expect him to qoute Ron Simmons. Oh, and the Sheriff kill kinda makes me cringe.

And I just watched part 5 again today. One positive thing I can say about that one is that the dream sequence Jason looked pretty awesome. Just out of curiosity, will you also be reviewing Friday the 13th: A NUDE Beginning? ;D

[Jiren]

Part VI is actually a decent fun movie

Plus it's got Alice cooper in the sountrack.

Now if Paramount got off their arses and release the damn things uncut.