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Post by undeadwillfeast on Aug 17, 2006 16:25:10 GMT -5
I gave this a 5. There's just no denying this movie. It doesn't try to be anything special. Just a brutal, bloody slasher flick. And thanks to it's success we got The Burning, The Mutilator, The Prowler, Maniac, Pieces and a ton of other slasher classics. Savini's fx are, as usual, brilliant. The arrow through the throat, axe to the face, the infamous decapitation climax. Classic stuff.
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Post by GL on Aug 18, 2006 11:05:01 GMT -5
Not a bad write-up. Couldn't have said it better.
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Post by Dr. Butcher M.D. on Dec 18, 2007 12:44:22 GMT -5
Just a fun slasher. Love watching promiscuous teens get what is coming to them.
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Lazario
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Post by Lazario on Jan 31, 2008 17:48:56 GMT -5
I'm a huge fan of this series. I've seen each of the first 8 films at least 15-20 times all the way through. I know them amazingly well.
But at the same time, I'm a realist. I can only give the films what they deserve and not an inch more. Friday the 13th is the 4th best of the series and I gave it a 3, which it deserves. The film works on the element of atmosphere which it has in spades. Apart from that, it's not a very good movie. It's okay at best.
What it does have that separates it from the rest of the series and I will say is probably what makes it stand up with so many other famous horror movies which are better than it, is that: It starts out pretty badly and gets better as it goes along.
The actors are really just wretched. None of them appear to have even the slightest skill or talent at all. Especially Mark Nelson who seems to be frozen at every stage of his performance. "Woah, feeeeeet don't fail meeee no-hoah-how." He is embarrassing like a little brother who imitates the "big kids" is- can't quite seem to do it right, so he compensates for his inexperience by doing it loudly. The special effects are okay, but you can see the make-up used to color in the areas around the effect are obvious.
But soon- the movie does something very smart... It narrows the number of people down. They start to go off on their own, less screechingly awful performances, less horribly written "sex comedy" dialogue. Then you start to see how well the film works as an atmosphere film. The dark, cold, stormy night. Rain, wind, that dark-blue sky, the big green trees. And Harry Manfredini's score is among the greatest horror film music scores of all time. When those shrill strings really start to swell, it's like sawing into the viewer's brain. And it just works well for those scenes of Alice running away from the killer and barricading herself in the room. And those amazing scenes of the killer chasing her.
And then, the best part of the movie - Betsy Palmer's performance as Mrs. Voorhees... it's so good, it sends chills down your back. She's the only good actor in the whole stinking movie. But she's good enough to raise that ending to another level. And then, well - those final scenes on the lake, in the canoe, on the beachfront / sand, in the hospital... Are just the only moments in the movie that are of masterpiece quality. Though, you look back in earlier scenes in the movie and you realize how good other scenes were. Like Annie in the woods, running. A very suspenseful scene (though ripped off from Phyllis's running scene in Last House on the Left - it's still mildly effective).
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Post by GL on Feb 1, 2008 11:05:19 GMT -5
One of the best slashers in the genre, and highly effective in it's later stages for the great stalking, as you mentioned.
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Post by Lazario on Feb 1, 2008 13:23:06 GMT -5
They might have learned how to do this sort of thing from influences like Halloween and Bay of Blood, but I think Cunningham managed to surprass Bay of Blood as a slasher film, and separate itself in style from Halloween.
If nothing else than for coming up with the now-classic summer camp setting, this film is an original. And now a classic in the genre. Not a masterpiece, but it warrants its reputation.
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Post by The Walking Dude on Feb 1, 2008 22:28:59 GMT -5
Sometimes us Aussies can be a lucky bunch,for as anyone who has the R1 boxset From Crystal Lake To Manhattan would have seen, on the extras disc there is a section called Tales from the Cutting Room floor- in which 3 key sequences are shown in both edited and unedited versions simultaneously. Here's the thing when i first watched it i was expecting, to see some extra gore - imagine my suprise when the unedited version turned out to be the very same footage that has been on every copy of Friday that i have ever owned . It may only amount to seconds but it is a big and noticeable difference, from now on i'll be sticking with my R4 version whenever i watch this film. Plus as an added bonus it also has a much better doco on the making of the film including an interview with Harry Manfredini on the origin of the now immortal Ki Ki Ki Ma Ma ma sound effect. I might add though that The Final Chapter was absolutely butchered on the Aussie releases....win some lose some i guess.....
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Post by GL on Feb 2, 2008 11:27:37 GMT -5
I've always prefered Bay as the superior film, but I'm basing that on quality of kills and the fact that there's more nudity in it. It took me a couple watches to finally get it, as it's not exactly the most coherent film in the world, but based on my specifications, Bay is the better film.
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Post by Lazario on Feb 2, 2008 14:49:39 GMT -5
I've always prefered Bay as the superior film, but I'm basing that on quality of kills and the fact that there's more nudity in it. I remember being unimpressed with the "kills" in the movie. The nudity kind of didn't bother me. Because if I'm not mistaken, the scene was played to some very cool music. Anyway, the most progressive thing I can say now is- if I were judging this movie based on the hype I've heard about it, I would have to consider it a failure of a movie. Because I was told it was very gory and it was only moderately gory. And yes, I saw the full uncut version. But thankfully I don't listen to hype, and thought the movie was good enough. I didn't like it personally because of all the damn "money" motivations for the killers. I like my slasher films to be fairly free of conspiracy. I like my psychos to actually be psycho. But I don't hold the movie accountable for my preferences. As for which film is better... Choosing the better film would depend. The Friday the 13th series (Paramount films only) seems more valuable when compared to Bava's films collectively if we're picking from slashers. For whatever approach Bava was going for (I understand he's very gothic as a filmmaker but I don't know- I didn't see much gothic about Bay of Blood), I'm sure he did that better than Friday. Bay doesn't feel very cold. Except in the morality of human characters of the film. But Friday is much purer as a slasher film. And single-handedly revolutionized the entire (North) American slasher subgenre. Each film has its own legacy. I find myself consistently more satisfied with Friday the 13th. But that's just me.
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Post by GL on Feb 3, 2008 11:38:59 GMT -5
Seems fair, as I do feel the same towards the enjoyment factor. Friday is a more tense and suspenseful movie, and it doesn't have the convoluted human problems that Bay has in spades, but Bay's the inspiration for all the American slashers to come, plus it's gory and more bloody than Friday, which goes a long way to impress me, a feat mainly for slashers. Friday does get more rewarding, but in the areas where I find more enjoyment from slashers, Bay is the better one. It is a toss-up on most days, at least.
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Post by FireStar on Sept 19, 2009 22:25:19 GMT -5
I love this one a 5 from me all the way, this film had a huge impact on me as a kid. I can still remember the first time I watched it when I was 9 and I have been hooked on the series ever since.
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