Yeah, reasonably fun, but with long sections with too little Jason or Freddy, especially in the first half. When they actually were either fighting or terrorising the kids, it was decent enough, but a little more Freddy humour would have been nice. Decent turn in a minor role by genre great Katherine Isabelle (her from the Ginger Snaps trilogy, and American Mary).
Tag Archives: 3/5
Friday the 13th 9: Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday 3/5
Completely bonkers Jason tale, that deviates wildly from the usual formula of kids in woods + Jason into a tale of body-jumping Jason hunting down a new body. Mixing elements of The Omen, Dog The Bounty Hunter, The Hidden and Child’s Play, this is bananas. But entertaining.
The Quatermass Experiment 2005 3/5
A very interesting experience, a live broadcast reworking of the original Quatermass story. I like Jason Flemyngs interpretation, but stagey (by design) and a little too old fashioned for its own good.
Mark discussing Quatermass on the Talk Without Rhythm Podcast
Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan 3/5
Decent entry into the Jason tales, with some creative deaths and a little tension, but needed to spend more time in Manhattan to be properly fun. Enjoyable enough though. Best kill: Jason punching a guy’s head off.
Macabre (1980) 3/5
Odd Italian thriller/horror that suffers the usual problem in Italian horror, in that the motiviation and speech of the characters seems slightly skewed compared to the narrative drive. The main actress was pretty committed, and the ending was pretty good (except the last 5 seconds), and it was fun, with a few atmospheric moments. The central relationship between a woman and a severed head doesn’t bear too close an examination.
Friday the 13th 6: Jason Lives 3/5
A definite improvement on all the sequels (especially the terrible 5th one), this has some talent, wit and decent ideas going on, with some nice tension and jumpscares. I liked this Frankensteinian Jason, who walked fast, and seemed relentless.
Logan’s Run 3/5
There was a slew of interesting, thought-provoking scifi made in the lull between 2001:A Space Odyssey and the juggernaut of movie scifi that was Star Wars, that for many years made movie sci-fi==movie sci-fantasy. Stuff like THX 1138, Omega Man, Soylent Green, The Last Warrior, Silent Running, Dark Star. Logan’s Run comes near the bottom of the pile. It’s got a wonky script and the actors are not directed well, but even coming near the bottom, it’s still worth a watch. The beautiful Jennifer Agutter disrobes a lot (and is easy on the eye when clothed too), and Peter Ustinov’s turn as a cranky old guy spouting T.S.Eliot is fun, as is a mad robot obsessed with freezing people.
The world-building is also quite interesting (if a little star trekky), and I think this one would be a good candidate for a remake.
King Kong Vs Godzilla 3/5
Ignoring the shockingly bad DVD transfer, this is one of the most fun godzillas for me, with both beasties smashing up trains and cities, and watching Kong’s arms change length throughout. I’m sure there was a bit where Kong swings Godzilla round and round by the tail, but I only saw a snatch of it in this version. Also Kong’s face looks terrible in this, as do the blacked-up Japanese island natives. FUN.