JASON X

Not sure whether this was meant to be serious or more poking fun at the series, or maybe it was meant to be the final nail in the coffin of the Friday 13th series but it left me with a bitter taste in mouth for some reason. 

The movie had some potential and if it featured another villain... like say someone we didn't already know and love this movie would have been quite reasonable as a veg-out watch or something to do when hungover..  hell, its kinda fun, as far as B Grade horror goes, but as far as a movie that befits one of the most iconic horror characters of all time its a definite fail. 

Basically the pot revolves around a future team of space scientists (yes the movie is set in the space of the future) that stumble upon a cryogenically frozen Jason Vorhees and a would be victim from the early 2000's and the then proceed to thaw out the young victim who warns them about the potential horror Jason could unleash if brought back to life. The captain of the starship of course sniffs a few dollars out of Jason's corpse and decides to keep it. As you can probably guess the frozen corpse of Jason thaws out and he comes back to life to wreak havoc on the space cruiser. I have to say the film is shot quite well and the horror / sci-fi effects are actually pretty cool. Someone took some reasonable time, and spent some reasonable money on this film, its just the plot is quite undigestable to anyone who's followed the series...  the ship security team proceed to hunt down Jason onboard the ship and blast him to kingdom come, many times over which brings me to the next question, is Jason now immortal? he seems to regenerate at the drop of a hat, (sort of like the liquid terminator in T2) so basically you can amputate limbs or shoot him in the head, and he falls over but regenerates within minutes to start killing again. This does not sit right with me. Again if this was another character I didn't already know, maybe I could suspend disbelief but with Jason its hard.

Anyway this is one of those "If you see it cheap" at a flea market or download it for free type things... but unless you're a Friday 13th Collector, I wouldn't pay big $$ for this film,  As I've said with other Friday 13th installments I really think its best you the viewer go back to the start of the franchise to really get a feel for the legend that is Jason Vorhees before you worry about watching this film


For more great horror movie reviews and stuff be sure to check out http://www.gorenography.com on a regular basis!

Also check our reviews on:
Friday 13th 
Friday 13th Part 2
Friday 13th Part 3
Friday 13th Part 4
Friday 13th (remake) 

FRIDAY 13th Part 4

With Friday the 13th upon us it is of course time to throw on another installment of the Friday the 13th series.

One of the biggest horror franchises in history returns for another trip around the block. The movie opens with another recap of the last movie where Jason is carted off to the morgue... and another group of over sexed teenagers descend on to Camp Crystal Lake to party and carry on as they do in these films. Among the usual assortment of teenagers another family takes up residency there with a young Corey Feldman as Tommy the 12 year old kid of the family.

The box office takings from the third installment were surprisingly good, so good in fact, that Jason somehow resurrects himself from the massive injuries and escapes from the morgue to start wreaking havoc on Crystal Lake once again. If you can suspend disbelief long enough to believe that he could recover get through that what you have is a quite enjoyable teenage slasher film in the tradition of the 3 that preceded it. Heaps of attractive females and some cool killings keep things moving along nicely. Despite the sarcastic tone of this paragraph, I have to say I did enjoy this movie and would again recommend to any fans of the first 3 movies. If you haven't seen a friday the 13th film, I'd suggest you go back to the beginning and start from there, as this is one series that's much more enjoyable in chronological order.

Anyway you guys have a great friday 13th whatever you're doing ... and if you're looking for more horror reviews always check out http://www.gorenography.com

for other Friday 13th movie reviews check out:
Friday 13th
Friday 13th part 2
Friday 13th part 3
Friday 13th (2009 remake)

FRIDAY 13th PART 2 (1981)

It's Friday the 13th here in Australia, so what better way to celebrate the occasion by watching a Friday the 13th movie? Friday the 13th (along with Halloween) set the standard for all slasher flicks  to follow ... So how does part 2 stack up? To be honest I can't really remember, it was so long since I've seen this one, but it was great to pull out the box set and relive the follow up that I watched so long ago.

If you haven't seen the original I strongly recommend you do so as it is a classic but not necessary to enjoy this film in my opinion. Either way whatever you decide to do It's pretty easy to follow this film (though this following review could ruin the plot for you if you're one of the few horror fiends on the planet that still haven't seen it.)

Part 2 opens up with a dream sequence recap of the first movie through the mind of the lone surviving teenager, Alice (which makes it easy for newcomers to follow the plot) who is obviously messed up from the whole affair and 5 years after the event is still having nightmares regarding Mrs. Vorhees and the boy in the lake which she's sure she's seen. Meanwhile, camp Crystal Lake has reopened for a new bunch of teenagers to experience the joys of the great outdoors.

Whilst obviously Mrs. Voorhees had been decapitated in the first film it turns out the body of her supposedly drowned son had never been found, or confirmed dead. Somehow he'd been surviving in the woods on his own (no mean feat for a mentally disabled lad... not really what I'd call a plot hole, but the only hard to swallow aspect in an otherwise quite reasonable plot sequence) and wants revenge for the death of his mother and begins to take it out on the camp inhabitants one by one starting with the death of the old crazy dude from the first film

Whilst the first film was an all time classic this is a more than worthy follow up and definitely worth watching as it is really here that the legend of Jason Vorhees really starts to develop. Overall it's not really that much of a thinker, but more of a genuine slasher film which can be enjoyed on your own or with friends but either way its great fun and a cool watch!

For more great horror movie reviews be sure to check out http://www.gorenography.com

FRIDAY 13th (REMAKE 2009)

Producer Michael Bay (despite being a big time hollywood guy) was always going to have a huge task ahead of him remaking one of the greatest horror films of all time. I don't think he did a particulary bad job of it, its just that remaking the first film for anyone who's seen it would be a pointless affair as the plot relied on the major twist at the end (you know what I mean) and rewatching another version of it when you already know the ending just wouldn't have any effect.

With that said the film moves fairly fast through the territory covered by the first film and then the second and seems to land somewhere in the territory covered by the third film, where its spends the rest of the film as a standard slasher film from the point where Jason dons the hockey mask for the first time and the classic representation of Jason Vorhees is now able to be used. Lets face it, this is the way most people (except hardcore afficionado's) will remember Jason and it really does up the commercial appeal of the project.

As a slasher flick its pretty good actually, the horror effects are great and the acting is good enough to get it over the line. It's actually not a bad flick at all, but inevitably the question will be asked 'How does it compare to the original' and it doesn't. The original is one of the greatest horror movies of all time and this is what I'd call a solid slasher flick at best, definitely worth a watch and I'd take a punt it would be aimed at the younger horror fans who maybe wouldn't be inclined to watch the original series of films, maybe with the intention of getting them to go back and watch the original films which I could totally see it doing.

Easy to follow plot and lots of topless babes, and some righteous killings make it an easy to follow plot as well if you're having a few drinks or watching it with friends.

Be sure to check out our review of the original film here FRIDAY 13th FILM REVIEW

Don't forget to check out more great horror reviews at http://www.gorenography.com

FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980)

One of the greatest horror movies of all time, without question. And the film responsible for introducing a whole generation (of then)  teenagers to discover the simple joys of the slasher flick. And paving the way for many horror franchises to come.

Set in the present time (of 1980 ish) a group of hormone filled teenagers volunteer to work at a summer camp in a newly re-opened Camp Crystal Lake. Upon arrival to the nearest town the teenagers are warned of a mysterious drowing death in 1958 and a couple of violent killings that took place at the camp the following year in 1958. The camp was shut down soon after and the murders never solved, only to be re oponed again 20 odd years later under new management.

In true horror movie style nobody heeds the warning of the locals and one by one the the teenagers start getting killed.

Most of you will have probably seen this movie but for the few people on the planet who haven't yet had the pleasure (or are lucky enough to be too young to have seen it)  I won't spoil the plot beyond that. Needless to say there are some excellent plot twists which makes the movie quite unique for its time, perhaps reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" in some ways.  I will say however that this film is well written and beautifully shot.I have it on DVD so I'm not sure if my version has been remastered but its a great watch and holds up well to this day, the actual horror while not considered over the top by todays standards, I think would have been considered pretty confronting for the time (aside from the more extreme films like Dawn of the Dead and the wave of Italian horror/cannibal flicks surfaced around the same time) as the death scenes do look fairly realistic.

Anyway for me this film is considered to be an all time classic and still receives a regular rotation on my DVD player once every couple of years at least. More than worth anyone's time to check it if you haven't seen it or a good one revisit if you haven't seen it in a while.

I couldn't find a full version of the movie on you tube (which is fair enough as the movie still probably sells well) but it shouldn't be too hard to buy and its worth it or if you can find the 8 disc box set and get the first 8 films its a box set worth having, or hunt it down at any second hand haunts you may have I'm sure you'll find it somewhere

Also be sure to check out our reviews of:

FRIDAY 13TH part 2
FRIDAY 13TH PART 3
FRIDAY 14TH PART 4
JASON X
FRIDAY 13th (2009 remake)

for more great movie reviews and recommendations be sure to check out http://www.gorenography.com regularly!

FREDDY VS JASON (2003)

This one came across as a pretty cheesy idea, crossing over 2 of the most legendary horror franchises in all history was always going to guarantee some level of success for the film but was going to further bury franchises that had seemed to lack in any real ideas towards the end of the series or generate a new level of interest in the older films?

The film opens with a kind of introduction to the worlds of both protagonists meaning that the to at least some degree you don't have to have seen the other films (of either series) to be able to watch this film so maybe the idea was to funnel new fans into old franchises (which are now all available in box set form and proudly displayed in my collection) 

As usual the comeback scenario's are a little dubious, Freddy is in hell and has no power as any memory of him has been erased from the collective conciousness of Elm Street and Springvale, So his idea is to resurrect Jason from the dead to wreak havok amongst the town folk and put the fear of Freddy Krueger back into the town giving him  a means to worm his way back into the dreams of the teenagers of the town. But it works well enough and the rest of the film from there onwards seems to flow rather well. Its well shot and keeps the viewers interest from start to finish and I will go so far as to say not only is it a worthy sequel to both franchises it is better than some of the later ventures into both series. Should also note that it has a pretty heavy soundtrack too featuring Machine head amongst others.

Over all, a great watch and some cool creepy imagery keep this rolling along nicely and it has me fired up to watch the collective works of both series one more time! (which i'll post up here in due course)  

For more great horror movie reviews check out http://www.gorenography.com