Showing posts with label friday the 13th. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friday the 13th. Show all posts

July 26, 2017

Horror in the Woods: Friday the 13th

It's a controversial opinion, but the first Friday will always be my favorite. You want to know why? I'll tell ya:


Everyone is playing true to age. There are no 40 year olds playing teenagers in this movie, just a bunch of people in their early 20s playing characters roughly the same age.

It's basically a who-done-it murder mystery with gory kills. A couple times this film utilizes the classic murder mystery setup of POV killer murdering people who know the killer personally, but also someone who the audience is never introduced to, so not only do you get the spear through the fucking neck style never-saw-that-coming kills, you also get the "oh, it's you, what are you doing here" kills! Best of both worlds.

It's a slow burn with a substantial on screen body count. There's lots of atmospheric stalking and misdirect-style character building, interspersed with people getting axed to the head.




[Spoilers, skip the rest of this write-up if you've not seen the movie.]

It's kind of the horror movie version of an old joke. There's an old joke that goes something like this: A father and son are in a car crash. The father is killed instantly but the son is rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. As the boy is wheeled into the operating room, the surgeon exclaims, “I can’t operate—that boy is my son!” The punch line? The surgeon is the boy's mother. Lots of people break themselves in half trying to figure that simple joke out, and it says a lot about people's gender bias. The revel of the killer's identity at the end of this film doesn't necessarily speak to the audience's bias (see the who-done-it point above) but it does make you think back and wonder if you missed clues because you'd never considered the killer could be female.

There's no supernatural element. In the later installments of this franchise there's consistent supernatural elements bringing Jason back to life, but in this one it's just a lady who wants the camp to stay empty. You don't have to suspend much disbelief to get on board!









May 1, 2017

Theresa is Rad: The Soap Factory

Theresa has hosted film screenings in some pretty fun places besides the Trylon, and although her patio series is always on point, her haunted basement screenings at the Soap Factory were on another level! Sadly for the Tape Freaks household, October is always our busiest month so we regrettably didn't make it out to a single on of these, and it haunts us to this day... Here's the KILLER lineup we still kick ourselves for missing back in October of 2015:



Sleepaway Camp: If you've not seen this movie, there's a lot to unpack: it's filled with homophobia, there's a death by rape scene, and an incredibly problematic portrayal of gender identity issues. But, this film is also undeniably a classic 80s horror movie. It's (serious) problems aside, the execution of the horror effects, the production value, and a "twist" ending (that registers just above Scooby Doo on the there's-no-way-we-could-have-figured-that-out scale) makes this movie especially memorable. (And although I'm not super bummed to have missed this one, I bet the after-viewing conversations would have been very interesting to participate in.)











The Burning: A strange blend of an urban legend and Jason Voorhees' origin story, this film is truly under appreciated in the summer camp slasher genre. Some asinine kills, effects by Tom Savini, and appearances by very young Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter and Fisher Stevens make this a must see if you've not already.


















Friday the 13th Part IV: The Friday the 13th franchise might be our favorite, and the fourth installment doesn't disappoint. A young Cory Feldman steals the show, but that's actually saying a lot considering that a young Crispin Glover gives him a run for his money in the few scenes he appears in. Combine that with a higher body count, effects by Tom Savini and one of the best "they brought him back from that?!?!" Jason death scenes, and you've got a pretty solid installment in a overall stellar series!













Motel Hell: This movie has it all, so much so that I'm always surprised by something I had forgotten on each viewing.  Cannibalism, torture, someone wearing a pig head as a mask, these things only scratch the surface of what this movie offers. It's also a horror-comedy that features some really strange (but also really good) cameos and stars some heavy weight actors that approach their slasher roles seriously, which makes the villainous stars that much more enjoyable to watch. Of all the films Theresa screened in that series, this was the one we REALLY regret missing. 



The Haunted Basement itself: Theresa wasn't just programing an epic film series for the Soap Factory, she was also helping the haunted basement experience behind the scenes! Seriously, is there anything she doesn't make cooler in the Twin Cities? 

October 19, 2014

Halloween Spirit

We've finally got some time to get into the Halloween spirit! To start off the season right, we thought we'd make a list of some of our favorite movies to carve pumpkins to:



Halloween III: Season of the Witch:
We got around to watching this movie one year while carving pumpkins and we've probably watched it every year since! It features Tom Atkins is at his finest and the best song to sing during the Halloween season. (If you haven't given this one a chance, check it out on Oct 23rd on the big screen with a Q&A with Tom Atkins after the screening!!!) 



The Beyond:
One of our favorite Lucio Fulci movies in partial thanks to Germano Natali's amazing effects work (he also had a hand in such gems as Deep Red, Suspiria, and Starcrash). Heads melt, dogs attack people, eyes are gouged, spiders kill a guy, and the heroes keep forgetting that head shots kill the zombies every time they change locations... It's pretty much everything you could need in a horror film!




Friday the 13th:
I prefer the first in this series, but Tim always goes for five when we have pumpkins in hand. The first Friday the 13th is probably my all time favorite horror movie, it's fun while maintaing a sense of realism, it portrays creepy in-the-middle-of-nowhere very accuratly, and it has some of my favorite simple kills of all time. The fifth Friday is basically a slaughter from start to finish, people are introduced solely to be killed and we're A-OK with that! Plus it features Miguel A. Nunez Jr. one of our favorite b-movie actors to spot in a flick!



Evil Dead:
We're suckers for the original with all it's crazy make-up, well executed low budget effects, loads of cheese and gore, and of course the indomitable Bruce Campbell.




Dawn of the Dead:
Our favorite of the Dead series; a mall filled with zombies in bad make-up, drips with social commentary, features non-zombie bad guys, and a spectacular soundtrack.




Trick 'r Treat: 
A seriously underrated modern horror anthology we've grown to love. Creepy kids, re-imagined werewolves, crotchety old men, and some pretty great twists on some old ideas. And then there's the fantastic cast: Dylan Baker (Happiness), Anna Paquin (True Blood), Brian Cox (everything), Tahmoh Penikett (Supernatural), Brett Kelly and Britt McKillip (both from Dead Like Me).



But really, this list could go on, (Night of the Creeps, Halloween) and on, (The Fog, Cabin in the Woods, Deep Red) and on, (Omega Man, BloodFeast) and on....