Watching the Friday the 13th Franchise, with Jason

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Yeah....Final Chapter and Final Friday are VASTLY different lol.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Since I can't watch Shudder, onto Jason Takes Manhattan


Whenever someone tries to make Jason move slow as he's killing, like Suzi here in the opening, I think the director THINKS they're being suspenseful, but for there to be suspense, you gotta have substance first. I think this is the one where Kane started getting fond of *slowly* killing people.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Kelly Hu is a doll though. One of my favorite F13 crushes.

[Jmac Attack]

Kelly Hu is a doll though. One of my favorite F13 crushes.

Fine as fuck.

[Jason]

No fans of that alternate theory, I take it? :p

[zombie]

Yeah....Final Chapter and Final Friday are VASTLY different lol.

not such different subtitles. it's an easy mistake to make. i always call the ninth film jason goes to hell. and final chapter is a much better movie.

[Monster]

Jason Lives. Been looking forward to this all day.

[Monster]

Man Behind the Mask, not quite Dream Warriors, but not too shabby.

[Jmac Attack]

Man Behind the Mask, not quite Dream Warriors, but not too shabby.

Agreed.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Man Behind the Mask, not quite Dream Warriors, but not too shabby.

Man Behind The Mask has better vocals, imo, but Dream Warriors better musicianship.

Still would like to hear the original Man Behind The Mask before they synthpopped it. The final version is not how Alice intended.

[Jason]

Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter (1984)




The review you've all been screaming for! I'm going to preface this by saying that this is not only my favorite film of the franchise, but among my all-time favorite horror movies ever made, possibly even #1. It is the quintessential slasher film, and will never be outdone.

As with every Friday the 13th sequel thus far, we get a flashback to the previous film. This one includes flashbacks of all the previous three films, and that's a really underappreciated aspect of movie sequels. All too often we'll see sequels to a movie with a reshooting of the flashback using different actors, settings or even different themes altogether. It doesn't always hurt the film, but it is nice to get a genuine flashback to a movie, even if the brush-up isn't necessary. We get to relive the exceptional campfire tale from part 2 to really settle us into the movie.

The film takes place the day after the incident in part 3. We get an awesome action-style shot of the helicopter to open the movie and some morbid paramedics cleaning up the scene. Assuming Jason is dead, they stuff him in the ice box at the morgue and you can see the cold vapor of Jason's breath as the door closes. Really nice touch. A couple of genuinely good jump scares. Axel creeping up on the nurse as she's watching the news story of the murders Jason just committed, Jason's hand falling out of the gurney and touching the nurse. That is how a jump scare should be utilized in movies. Quick, to the point, not ridiculous and never overdone. Much unlike what we see today. Jason in Jason fashion takes out Axel and Nurse Robbie and heads off to the woods.

Something about the Jarvis family feels really genuine. Maybe the character personalities just match the overall tone of the movie, but I get a real family vibe from the three of them and Gordon, the family dog. The Final Chapter brought a completely different perspective to the slasher genre with this idea, adding a real human element to the movie and proving that not all campy slashers have to be about teens in a cabin. So we get the best of both worlds and are now introduced to all the party characters, who rented a house for the weekend near Crystal Lake, which happens to be the house next to door to the Jarvis Family. This is where we get to meet the greatest teen duo in horror movie history, Ted and Jimbo! I have never been so transfixed over two minor characters in a horror movie who we all know won't be making it to the end. You cannot get more entertaining than these two. This could've been the real Dumb & Dumber prequel. They were that great of a duo. The "Dead Fuck" moniker is one of the funniest things I've ever heard.

As night falls, Mrs. Jarvis is seen for a brief split second reading a front page headline before turning it over. The headline reads: "Mass Murderer's Body Missing", with a picture of the gurney wheeling Jason away earlier in the film. The fact that the film-makers put in the effort of printing a full newspaper for a less-than-one-second shot of the front page headline that most people likely didn't even notice on the first viewing is a testament to how far they will go for this franchise. It is almost paramount () as to what makes me love this franchise so much. They do so many little things that go unnoticed by so many people. It makes me love the franchise more, knowing that the people involved in creating the franchise love it just as much as I do.






Next we get to see Tommy doing a great impression of every red-blooded, heterosexual male as he watches Judie Aronson get undressed from his bedroom window. This is one of my favorite Tommy moments. Corey Feldman doesn't even look like he's acting. This is an 11 or 12 year old Tommy Jarvis at his very essence. But as we all well know, he'd soon never be the same again.

The group of teens meet local twins Tina and Terri who join the group. The next thing you know, everyone is skinny-dipping at Crystal Lake. We see that Ted, behind all the ribbing he does with Jimmy, doesn't seem to have all the answers to attracting women, as he and Jimmy are the only two males of the group not in the water, despite being invited in by the twins. Ted, because he is ultimately timid when it's time to come out of the shell. And Jimmy because, well, "we have no suits!" The quote doesn't do the comedy justice, Jimmy's delivery throughout this entire movie is pure gold in every sense of the word. Every time Jimmy swears, it just feels so hilariously wrong.

We now get to meet Rob as he is hiking through Crystal Lake, claiming to be hunting bears despite no bears being in the area according to Tommy. He helps Tommy and Trish get their car fixed and gets a ride back toward the house. By now, nothing of much relevance as far as action goes has happened in the movie. Aside from the escape from the hospital and the quick killing of the hitchhiker, we've got nothing but plot development. I've already written nearly a dozen paragraphs about the movie thus far, and nearly no action has happened. This is how a slow burn works. Friday the 13th had the masterful ability of drawing you into a movie, only to make you forget what you were even there to see. It already works as a movie without Jason, and by the time Jason arrives, we're nearly as blind-sided as the poor teens who are soon to be whacked.

Finally, night falls and we're treated to the greatest jam session you might ever see, with Jimbo working up the courage to dance with one of the twins, not to be mistaken for an epileptic seizure. The song of choice, "Love Is A Lie", by Lion, was superb, by the way. Confession: I dance to that song like Jimbo does. Friday the 13th has already established pure greatness in so many aspects, and now they're about to takeover for some of the best music in a franchise. As Jimbo's rockin' the dance moves, we get to see that opinionated Teddy really doesn't have the answers to wooing a woman. Though, "wanna give ol' Teddy Bear a kiss?" is a pretty good line. Both seem to strikeout with each twin respectively, and Ted is back to the Dead Fuck moniker.

Jason has finally arrived and begins to start whacking the teens. Another pattern we're seeing is the killing of the teens while in the middle of a conflict or development with another character. Sam is killed in the raft on the lake after leaving the party in a jealous rage when Paul showed no reluctance to dance with one of the twins. Immediately after Sam is killed, Paul heads out to find her and make up, only to be killed immediately after Sam. Sara and Doug are killed separately after Sara decides she is ready to move on to a sexual relationship with Doug. There is still more to be had with these characters as they are killed off. Friday the 13th has made a pattern of this, and always does it properly.

After Tina and Jimmy start to develop a bond, Terri leaves and is killed by Jason outside. Meanwhile, we pick up in the woods outside Rob's tent as he comes back to find that somebody shattered his gun and shredded his map. While maintaining the mystery through the slow burn, it is shown that Jason is constantly on the move and is either aware that Rob is there to kill him, or just happened to stumble on an empty tent. Either way, Jason shattered the gun so the camper would have no form of defense, and shredded the map so the camper would get lost long enough for Jason to find him. This is a different kind of slasher.

The last moment Ted and Jimmy share together is when Jimbo comes downstairs after a sex session with Tina. The roles are reversed, and now Ted is the subject of ridicule. My favorite thing about this encounter was that despite having to take the ribbing from Jimmy now, Ted was genuinely happy for Jimmy. This proved to me that despite the constant ribbing, the friendship between the two was authentic. The celebration is short-lived, as a corkscrew-cleaver combo is delivered to Jimmy as he tries to open a bottle of whine, and Ted is knifed in the back of the head through the rear of the projection screen. Thus, ending the greatest teen duo in horror movie history.

Trish and Tommy arrive home, unaware their mother was killed by Jason earlier in the night. Trish goes outside and finds Rob in the woods. We now get the answer to the phony bear story that Rob gave us earlier in the movie. He is actually on the hunt for his sister Sandra's killer, who, if you've been paying attention, was impaled in bed in part 2 by Jason. The hunt for Sandra's killer also serves as the essential plot for the remake in 2009, with a few minor tweaks to it. The inclusion of Rob is another brilliant move by the film-makers. Each film does a lot of little things to keep them close to each other, almost as though you're watching one long story. I get the vibe that part 6 Tommy was born through Rob's influence on him in part 4. Tommy took a strong liking to Rob, showing him his room and his hobbies. I think a part of Rob stayed with Tommy and that is kind of who we're seeing in part 6, although Erich Anderson's strong demeanor and bravery as Rob were unmatched by Thom Mathew's version of Tommy Jarvis.

Sooner rather than later, bodies are discovered in the house next door and we get to see Jason on a rampage. I'd like to take this moment to give my most sincerest thank you to CGI. We have been so overly exposed to CGI and all the terrible special effects in this modern era of movies, and it only makes me appreciate the practical effects even more than I already do. Doug's head caving in by the force of Jason compressing it through the tile wall, the cleaver to the face of the literal Dead Fuck and then Jason ripping through Dead Fuck's body that was nailed to the back entrance of the house. Outstanding effects, not for the squeamish.

Rob's dying moments gave Trish the extra time needed to get away from Jason as she heads back home to Tommy, who discovered Rob's newspaper clippings about Jason. After seeing an artist's description of a young Jason and reading about Ginny's moment with Jason where she confused him about his mother, he got the idea to try the same confusion technique to mimic what Jason may have looked like. The idea works, as Jason is distracted away from a struggle with Trish, giving her enough time to grab the machete and whack Jason in the face with it, only to knock his mask off. Trish is now frozen with fright, as Tommy jumps into action and takes it to Jason, giving him a brutal whack with the machete just underneath the brain, then follows up by hacking him even further, officially killing the character of Jason in Friday the 13th.

Let's go back a moment. Immediately after Jason's mask is knocked off and his face is revealed to Trish, she begins letting out wild, panicked shrieks much like Chris let out in part 3 after she saw Jason's face and saw that he was still alive after the hanging. In my part 3 review, I provided the theory that the panicked shrieks from Chris may have been the indicator that showed the breaking point of her sanity. I am of the opinion that these panicked shrieks were deliberately put in to show the moment the character loses sanity. In the official ending of part IV, there is nothing else to really indicate that Trish lost her sanity, but there is a lost ending that was removed, which was a dream sequence that Trish had of discovering her mother's dead body upstairs, only for a maskless Jason to show up and butcher her right before waking up in the hospital. The film-makers weren't quite happy with it and just decided to end it with the hospital scene between Trish and Tommy. Personally, I would've approved that dream sequence. It fits with the other ones that had been in every Friday the 13th movie at this point.

Four movies in, and what do we learn? We learn that Jason is more than just a killer in a horror movie. He is a man who can be cut and killed, but he was also a young boy who survived drowning and went mad after seeing his mother killed. Both he and his mother broke bad, but surely weren't always bad. Mothers have spoken out to Betsy Palmer about her character, saying they loved her so much because "we know why you did it". If all you want out of this franchise is a bloody good time, then there is probably no better name in horror than Friday the 13th to fill that need, but if you want even more, it's provided in ways that no other horror franchise has ever replicated.

The final shot of the film leaves us with a still-frame of a crazed-looking Tommy Jarvis staring into the camera, ending the the greatest slasher film in horror history and perhaps the greatest horror movie ever made.




The Gordon Theory:
Part of the Friday the 13th community is torn on what happened with Gordon. He is seen running upstairs in a frightened panic and then flying through the second story window of the house next door. Many believe he jumped, others believe Jason threw him out the window. This one is a pretty simple fix, in my opinion. We see Rob going down to the basement level of the house, walking down the stairs quietly. We then see Trish is on the floor level of the house behind Rob as Gordon runs past her up to the second level and immediately goes flying through the window. Trish goes upstairs and finds nothing but the bodies, while Rob is still in the same room as Trish runs down to find him, only for Jason to come out of hiding in the room that Rob was in the entire time. If Gordon was killed by Jason, then after throwing Gordon through the window, Jason would've essentially had to teleport two stories from the top floor to the basement level of the house directly into the hiding spot without Rob or Trish noticing him.

It is pretty clear to me that Gordon jumped through the window. If you watch it in slow motion, the dog is literally coming up from the floor and aiming for the glass. Had he been thrown, he would've been at least four feet in the air as he went through. The outside shot of Gordon going through the window shows that he is trying to scurry out of there. Looking at the scene, it is pretty obvious that the dog jumped through the window. Analyzing it frame by frame only further confirms that Gordon himself jumped through the window. Dogs sense danger, and it fits in with the insanity pattern of the franchise.

[zombie]

i lost interest in watching after seven.

favorite final girl: ginny
favorite jason: hodder in new blood
favorite film: a new beginning

[Jason]

Part Fuh- Fuh- Fffffffive tonight.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Part Fuh- Fuh- Fffffffive tonight.

Wrong 5, but I'm sure you knew that

[Jason]

Part Fuh- Fuh- Fffffffive tonight.

Wrong 5, but I'm sure you knew that

I'm referencing the dude who couldn't score during the movie scene. :p

[Monster]

Part Fuh- Fuh- Fffffffive tonight.

Wrong 5, but I'm sure you knew that

I'm referencing the dude who couldn't score during the movie scene. :p

He wasn't trying to though. He didn't mean it, remember?

[DancesWithWerewolves]

lol, here my head went to the boy in Halloween 5.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Interesting both 5's had stutterers though.

[Jason]

Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)




Now that Jason is officially dead, we've entered a new paradigm shift in plot and the approach of the franchise. It does a great job of tying itself to Part IV, because I remember my first viewing of this movie so many years ago, when in that final moment as young Tommy looks into the camera, wondering if maybe he could take over as the potential killer in the franchise. But I was born about 10 years too late to truly experience the franchise as it evolved, so I new Jason would somehow be back, but little did I know that part V would be the second film that does not feature Jason as the killer.

With the paradigm shift in progress, we still get recurring themes from the past movies. Nightmares and hallucinations continue for Tommy, just as they did with Alice, Ginny and Chris, the survivors of the previous Voorhees massacres. Now it's Tommy's turn, and we get a front row seat into how he's dealt with these nightmares of Jason after five years. I appreciate the effort that John Shepherd put into his role as Tommy Jarvis. He actually rehearsed for the role at a state mental hospital. His role was very memorable, despite only saying 24 words in the entire movie.

Unbeknownst to a first-time audience, Joey's death was the major event that set the whole movie into progress. We see Roy, the paramedic, completely disturbed by the scene as he picks up Joey's body, and the movie hints at potentially unfinished business with the Roy character. The franchise provides another great cast of characters with unique traits and tremendous humor. Ethel and Junior are so believable as two backwoods hicks who are completely out of touch with modern society in 1985. Pete and Vinnie could've potentially rivaled Ted and Jimbo in The Final Chapter if they only had more screen time. They had one of the funniest scenes in the franchise. But my favorite character is probably Demon. If not for those God damn enchiladas, he and his girlfriend might've survived the movie. Hey, baby... Ooh, baby...

I am not sure what audiences suspected at this point in the movie. It is blatantly hinting at Tommy Jarvis being the killer of the film. He has a scuffle with Eddie, one of the residents at the halfway house. Eddie is poking around at Tommy and Tommy explodes, letting him have it. Once Eddie is on the ground, Tommy begins punching Eddie. The angle we see Tommy punching Eddie is from the same angle where we saw Tommy chopping Jason in The Final Chapter. "Ki Ki Ki, Ma Ma Ma" derives from the "Killer her Mommy" line in the original film. In this film, we begin hearing "Ki Ki Ki, Ta Ta Ta". The trail of insanity that follows the Voorhees family is a pretty remarkable streak, missing no survivor in the franchise, at this point. Tommy, however, seems to be the only one who may be suppressing his own urge to kill.

Tommy's hallucinations about Jason seem to be real, as people are now being killed by someone in a hockey mask. The look is clearly off compared to the Jasons of the past. This Jason is much cleaner, thinner and smaller than any other Jason we've seen at this point. And in the final showdown, it is revealed that Roy was the impostor all along, and his motive was inspired by the killing of Joey, who was his son.




Final Thoughts:
Despite the paradigm shift, we're still seeing patterns throughout every film in the franchise at this point. Did anyone else pick up the similarities in motive between Roy and Pamela Voorhees? Both went completely mad at the loss of their son and took to murder to exact their revenge. Although we don't know what happens to Joey's killer, Vic, I like to believe that Roy made Vic his first victim.

As for the mixed opinions of the movies, I can understand both. On one hand you have the people who enjoyed the movie for what it was, on the other hand you have the people who dismissed it because Jason wasn't involved. I can understand the latter, because Jason Voorhees had become the definitive icon in the slasher genre and everyone was there to see Jason. It's understandable that many people feel hosed or suckered into the movie because the guy they came to see wasn't even in the movie. I'm of the opinion that the movie was excellent for what it was, and while falling just barely short of the tier of the first four movies, it still held up tremendously and provided a truly great slasher experience in Friday the 13th fashion.

5-for-5, with five home runs. No franchise in the history of cinema has achieved greatness like this.

[Jmac Attack]

Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)




Now that Jason is officially dead, we've entered a new paradigm shift in plot and the approach of the franchise. It does a great job of tying itself to Part IV, because I remember my first viewing of this movie so many years ago, when in that final moment as young Tommy looks into the camera, wondering if maybe he could take over as the potential killer in the franchise. But I was born about 10 years too late to truly experience the franchise as it evolved, so I new Jason would somehow be back, but little did I know that part V would be the second film that does not feature Jason as the killer.

With the paradigm shift in progress, we still get recurring themes from the past movies. Nightmares and hallucinations continue for Tommy, just as they did with Alice, Ginny and Chris, the survivors of the previous Voorhees massacres. Now it's Tommy's turn, and we get a front row seat into how he's dealt with these nightmares of Jason after five years. I appreciate the effort that John Shepherd put into his role as Tommy Jarvis. He actually rehearsed for the role at a state mental hospital. His role was very memorable, despite only saying 24 words in the entire movie.

Unbeknownst to a first-time audience, Joey's death was the major event that set the whole movie into progress. We see Roy, the paramedic, completely disturbed by the scene as he picks up Joey's body, and the movie hints at potentially unfinished business with the Roy character. The franchise provides another great cast of characters with unique traits and tremendous humor. Ethel and Junior are so believable as two backwoods hicks who are completely out of touch with modern society in 1985. Pete and Vinnie could've potentially rivaled Ted and Jimbo in The Final Chapter if they only had more screen time. They had one of the funniest scenes in the franchise. But my favorite character is probably Demon. If not for those God damn enchiladas, he and his girlfriend might've survived the movie. Hey, baby... Ooh, baby...

I am not sure what audiences suspected at this point in the movie. It is blatantly hinting at Tommy Jarvis being the killer of the film. He has a scuffle with Eddie, one of the residents at the halfway house. Eddie is poking around at Tommy and Tommy explodes, letting him have it. Once Eddie is on the ground, Tommy begins punching Eddie. The angle we see Tommy punching Eddie is from the same angle where we saw Tommy chopping Jason in The Final Chapter. "Ki Ki Ki, Ma Ma Ma" derives from the "Killer her Mommy" line in the original film. In this film, we begin hearing "Ki Ki Ki, Ta Ta Ta". The trail of insanity that follows the Voorhees family is a pretty remarkable streak, missing no survivor in the franchise, at this point. Tommy, however, seems to be the only one who may be suppressing his own urge to kill.

Tommy's hallucinations about Jason seem to be real, as people are now being killed by someone in a hockey mask. The look is clearly off compared to the Jasons of the past. This Jason is much cleaner, thinner and smaller than any other Jason we've seen at this point. And in the final showdown, it is revealed that Roy was the impostor all along, and his motive was inspired by the killing of Joey, who was his son.




Final Thoughts:
Despite the paradigm shift, we're still seeing patterns throughout every film in the franchise at this point. Did anyone else pick up the similarities in motive between Roy and Pamela Voorhees? Both went completely mad at the loss of their son and took to murder to exact their revenge. Although we don't know what happens to Joey's killer, Vic, I like to believe that Roy made Vic his first victim.

As for the mixed opinions of the movies, I can understand both. On one hand you have the people who enjoyed the movie for what it was, on the other hand you have the people who dismissed it because Jason wasn't involved. I can understand the latter, because Jason Voorhees had become the definitive icon in the slasher genre and everyone was there to see Jason. It's understandable that many people feel hosed or suckered into the movie because the guy they came to see wasn't even in the movie. I'm of the opinion that the movie was excellent for what it was, and while falling just barely short of the tier of the first four movies, it still held up tremendously and provided a truly great slasher experience in Friday the 13th fashion.

5-for-5, with five home runs. No franchise in the history of cinema has achieved greatness like this.

It's the best!