Ten Movies To Watch on Halloween.

By: Sweetreviewer

In case you decide to stay home on Halloween or have some extra time to spare before you hit up a Halloween bash here are some horror movie suggestions to get a Horrific fix on All Hallows Eve. This list includes slasher films,vampires,zombies,witches and films that will compel you to psychosis.

1. Halloween (1978)– No horror lover can go on Halloween without watching this classic. This film by John Carpenter gave birth to slasher films. Michael Myers Haddonfield’s serial killer will terrify you. You will enjoy this movie because of his psychological nature. Plus Jamie Lee Curtis came to stardom as Halloween’s Scream Queen.

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Zombiemania Documentary Review.

Zombiemania Documentary aired yesterday Oct 13th on Starz. This was definitely an interesting one because it really got into depth with the Zombie genre. Throughout the documentary they mention alot of fun facts that you may or may not know. We'll get more into depth later on. It started with the question What is a Zombie? and we all know is the dead brought back to life. Hence their dubbed name 'The Living Dead' (1968) George Romero mentions that he was inspired for 'Night of the Living Dead' by reading the Classic Novel by Richard Matheson "I Am Legend" as he states he ripped it off. Except 'I am legend' was about vampires and Romero wanted to create a new creature. A creature where the dead aren't staying dead and they eat live flesh.

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An In Depth look Into The Films of Freddy Krueger.

THE FILMS OF FREDDY KRUEGER (ALMOST)
by Chris Ward

Given the way that everything we hold dear is being given a 21st century makeover, it was only a matter of time before that wickedest of movie boogiemen - Freddy Krueger - was given an updating, although we won't get to see the results until next year. So, as I trawled through my vast collection of box-sets and various franchises, I decided to re investigate the original exploits of the red-and-green sweatered dream demon.

For the benefit of those not up on the back-story (there must be somebody!), 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' was written and directed by Wes Craven (Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes) and centres around a group of middle-American teenagers - Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), Tina (Amanda Wyss) and their respective boyfriends Glen (Johnny Depp) and Rod (Nick Corri) - who are all having the same realistic dream about a horribly burnt man who wears a red-and-green striped sweater, a fedora hat and has a glove with knives instead of fingers, who tries to take them to a boiler room to kill them. Although they are all having the same dream, none of them realises until Tina confesses at school.
Nancy realizes she has been dreaming about the same man so when Tina's parents leave town for the night, Nancy and Glen decide to sleepover at Tina's. After Rod shows up unexpectedly, he and Tina disappear to the bedroom where, after making love, Tina falls asleep and begins to dream about her mystery man, who then appears in her bed - although only Tina can see him - and slashes her to pieces. Of course, Rod panics, escapes and, after meeting with Nancy to protest his innocence, is arrested by Lieutenant Thompson (John Saxon), Nancy's father. It is then things start to unravel, as each of the teens is stalked by the twisted stranger, until Nancy manages, in a dream, to grab the man's hat and bring it out into the real world, identifying him as Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), who, she learns from her mother (Ronee Blakley) was a child killer in the local area some years before. After he was caught and let off due to a technicality, the parents of the neighborhood kids tracked him down to the boiler room where he worked and set fire to the building, trapping Krueger inside. As an act of revenge, Krueger now haunts the dreams of the children of the people who killed him.

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What is Fewdio?

We love sharing info with fellow Horror Fans and this is a must do when we say "Check out Fewdio". What is Fewdio you ask? It is only the first horror site dedicated to horror shorts. Fewdio Consists of a group of filmakers/horrorfans John B.Crye,Drew Daywalt,Paul Hungerford,David Schneider,Kirk B.R.Woller,Marshall Carr and Todd Sharp.

Their Motto "We Create Nightmares" and that my friends is what us horror fans/lovers long for ---To watch something that will make us cringe and to make it impossible to go to bed at night as old as one may be. Well this is what Fewdio does: They tear your heart out,make you panic and they inculcate more anxiety in a shorter amount of time than it would take a major horror film to do so.

They aren't all about creeping you out though they also embarked in a little horror comedy featured in their shorts.

Check out some videos that we obtained from their youtube page where they have a good variety of shorts for your viewing pleasure. You'll be blown away with the quality of the work.
DIRECTED BY DREW DAYWALT

DIRECTED BY KIRK B.R. WOLLER

DIRECTED BY DREW DAYWALT

DIRECTED BY DREW DAYWALT & DAVID SCHNEIDER

Directed by Paul Hungerford

Three of their films have been chosen nationally as part of the top ten films for Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights Film Fest with Chiller TV. Mr. Drew Daywalt is also working on a horror web series of his own called 'CAMERA OBSCURA' which will launch in the fall.
We are looking forward to reviewing their DVD Collection

By the way,'Bed Fellows' is the fave so far. Literally said out loud "What the F is that?!" And that last one Comic-Con Horror 'Baby Sounds' really creeped us out!!
You can view the rest of them here. Also don't forget to go to Fewdio.com Check out their site for more shorts and the NightMareHouse Vol 1 collection.

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Comparing 'Night of the living Dead' (1968) and (1990) Version.

Original Released in 1968 Directed and written By: George Romero alongside John A Russo (Screenplay)

Later Released in 1990: Directed by: Tom Savini

‘Night of the living Dead’, the black and white version is definitely the one that started the entire zombie craze and still remains a classic till this day. The 90’s version stays somewhat true to the original but there are a few changes including the ending. In the original film Barbara and her brother Johnny are visiting their father’s grave and Johnny starts scaring Barbara telling her that the dead are going to come for her. Suddenly there’s a man approaching Barbara; he tries to attack her, instead Johnny gets killed ---Johnny later returns as a zombie. Barbara tries to take off in her car and crashes it. She then runs towards a house encountering Ben and others.

There are a lot of differences in the characters in the 90’s film. These changes appear to be better for the latter film. In the black and white version Barbara appears to be in shock during most of the movie, she doesn’t even attempt to help Ben out. Ben is the main character; he appears to be tough and won’t take shit from no one. In one scene Barbara is demanding from Ben that they must go look for her brother. Ben tells Barbra her brother is dead and Barbra slaps him. Without hesitation Ben returns the slap. Barbra is then knocked out unconscious for a while. (Barbara becomes the main character in the latter film.)

In the 90’s version Barbara is a lot tougher, she is willing to help out. She isn’t scared except for the beginning when she’s asking her brother to stop teasing her. She even knows how to use a shotgun and does a mean job by killing off the zombies and shooting them in the head. Ben is more sensitive and understanding towards Barbara.During the film there’s a couple people that come out of the Basement Harry, his character remains the same; a kind of asshole that only thinks of himself and isn’t willing to help the rest of the people in the house.

There’s also Harry’s wife Helen and his daughter whom throughout the movie is unconscious and later rises as a member of the undead. In the original the daughter repeatedly stabs the mom in the chest. This was something amazing to watch because it demonstrated that although horror has evolved, it all started somewhere and this zombie movie shaped every other zombie movie there is. Even for a black and white film George Romero didn’t care if it was going to be brutal for audiences assuming during that time this movie scared many. Now not so much, it just helps one appreciate classic horror.

The 90’s version became slightly humorous when you look at it now. The zombies had more makeup and we preferred to watch the original where the zombies looked a little like humans and slowly evolved into the undead near the end of the film. Two other characters also appeared alongside harry and Helen which were Tom and Judy. In the original Judy seemed more willing to do whatever was asked of her although she didn’t help out much. In the remake Judy was very annoying to watch as a character always yelling and screaming but definitely helped out in boarding the house. We forgot to mention that Harry’s wife Helen is feistier in the remake and stands up for herself opposed to where she has to listen and do as she is told by Harry in the original.

Overall, the original was the best even though the 90’s version of the characters and story were a little more developed and there was more explanation. The actors were also more believable as characters. Tony Todd (Candyman) played Ben in the 90’s version and did a great job. We enjoyed watching the remake, but the 1968 version was the one that initiated it all and showcased the zombies as vicious and inhuman. There was more concentration in showing the zombies really eating flesh in the original version ---something that was slightly shown in the remake. The ending was also different but I won’t give anymore away. If you haven’t seen them you should and decide for yourself which one is your favorite.

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Rob Zombie's H2 Massacre.

By: Sweetreviewer

What can I say about H2? I watched it opening night in the Chinese theater in LA. I was very excited because I expected it to be as good if not better than the first --- as a lot of people did. But I guess I should have known better since in the first movie Michael Myers was shot multiple times and Dr. Loomis had his head squeezed till he bled from his eyes given them up both for dead. And yet, here they were back in h2. Not to mention Debbie Myers ‘comeback which I will get into more details later.

This film wasn’t bad for a Rob Zombie film because we all know if you’ve watched his movies his characters are all trailer trash psychopaths, well that’s what Michael turned out to be as did the other characters, but that wasn’t the problem. I understand that he was re-imagining, hence re-inventing the entire movie, but there’s a difference between having a different concept of how a remake of a movie will be played out to be different from the first. Regardless of the reinvention it’s still a remake. Rob zombie completely changed the characters. If he was going to change the entire movie then he should have came up with his own serial killer character and not tried to make money of H2. It’s harsh but true. I’m a fan of Rob Zombie but an even bigger fan of Michael Myers.

It was devastating to see it wasn’t Michael Myers at all. I didn’t mind the fact he had Michael in a hoodie as a bum. Although Michael always wears his trademarked mechanic jumpsuit .Where did he get the hoodie? What bothered me the most was Michael Myers is a character known for his lack of emotion and for his darkness. That’s what had us Halloween fans glued in to all the sequels. We loved the mystery. This is what got us to watch Rob Zombie’s Halloween. In H2, there is emotion. Michael Myers is portrayed full of anger and Zombie tries to include Laurie Strode Michael’s sister into the whole anger management issues. In the past we saw Michael breathed in his mask, it was light enough to scare but strong enough to hear. In this movie Michael sounds like a dog breathing heavily. He kills by screaming, with every single repeated stab at his victim. We didn’t get any suspense at all besides Michael‘s temper tantrums and rage. We longed to see Michael surprise us with a kill. This time what was going to happen was so predictable.

Debbie Myers returns as a ghost in a white dress and Michael’s former younger self returns as a different actor. The actor that played Michael as a boy in the first Rob zombie Halloween was more believable as a character. This character lacked emptiness. Michael Myers supposedly went crazy therefore, he just kills, he’s empty and has no emotion he is the definition of evil ---this is what he was in the Halloween films. I’ll say it again this is what scared us and what had us.

I really was trying to put things together, as to why Debbie Myers came back as a ghost. I thought perhaps Rob attempted to show a reason why Michael killed. That perhaps in his mind his mom sent him to kill and the little boy was his conscience and that Michael felt as though he was still a child.
Then Laurie Strode starts to see the mom and the boy, and it’s all in her mind as well. Rob tried to show that Michael’s problem is hereditary and now Laurie suffers from it. It didn’t do it for me.

I'm no psychologist, but a person that is overly emotional angry,also cries and shows sadness and depression and speaks. That’s the only thing that was left for Michael to speak. Thankfully he didn’t, perhaps Rob will try that in h3. I apologize for being so harsh but it was such a butchery of the whole movie and characters.

Lastly, Dr. Loomis is known as a eloquent psychologist. In this one he’s portrayed by Michael McDonald as a hack and he’s made a mockery of by people. Michael McDowell is a good actor but the character was murdered. It wasn’t the character's fault they did what they had to do for the way the director wanted the portrayal.

 I won’t give anymore away but in the end the movie was left as if there was going to be another sequel.
Rob zombie could have just made another completely different character and movie to show and do what he wanted with it. The way Michael was portrayed was bad but it would have been sadistic for another character it would have been liked in another movie.




Stills: AceShowbiz

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An Overview of Friday The Thirteenth Films.

Review By: Chris Ward

Being the age that I am (early thirties, if you must know), it's quite hard to remember a time before there were any 'Friday the 13th' movies, as they have been such an integral part of my movie viewing life. Back in the good ol' early eighties there was always a 'Friday...' video leering at me from the shelf of my local movie nirvana (in this case, Videographic in East Grinstead - no longer there but I managed to buy most of their stock when they closed down!), but as I was only a wee pup, I was only allowed to watch Hammer movies and the odd Freddy Krueger film (?); I think my mother went on the theory that as long as there were no weapons or graphic pictures on the box then it was okay - I could watch '...Elm Street 2' as it only had a drawing of Freddy and a school bus on the cover, but anything with a bloody machete on it was out.

Anyway, it was always the title that intrigued me and one day I managed to (with a bit of convincing the guy behind the counter that my mum would be okay with it as she'd let me watch '...Elm Street 2'!) get my hands on 'Friday the 13th Part 3' and that was it, I was hooked. From then on, it was my mission to seek out all the 'Friday...' films (bear in mind they were still making them regularly then), which I did, and I have been a massive fan of Jason and his Camp Crystal Lake world ever since, so here's one fan's critical eye giving an opinion over what is arguably the best slasher series.

Directed by Sean S.Cunningham (Last House on the Left), 1980's 'Friday the 13th' ushered in the new decade continuing the theme of holiday-based slashers set by 'Black Xmas' and 'Halloween' during the previous decade. The story involves a summer camp called Camp Crystal Lake, that has been closed for many years, reopening it's doors. A group of young camp counsellors looking for the camp are warned by the local village weirdo to keep away, but, of course, they choose to ignore his warnings about the 'death curse' and other townsfolks stories about a young boy who drowned there back in the fifties, and the murders that took place soon after. After arriving at the camp, though, they soon find something is up as one by one, the counsellors start disappearing. All hope seems lost as only one survivor remains, but help soon arrives in the shape of Mrs. Voorhees, a friend of the camp's owners, who may not be quite as helpful as she first makes out...

This original 'Friday...' still ranks as the best of the lot. Taking it's cue from Carpenter's 'Halloween', but with added gore, this really is a suspenseful little shocker that, although suffering from a slightly weak script, still holds up today. Starring Betsy Palmer as Mrs.Voorhees, plus an appearance from a young Kevin Bacon, special make-up effects by the genial Tom Savini, and featuring an ending borrowed straight from Brian DePalma's 'Carrie', this may not be the most original movie of all time, but it is one of the most effective.

The inevitable sequel, imaginatively titled 'Friday the 13th Part 2', followed a year later and carried on the story quite smoothly. Cunningham was no longer involved but the film follows the style of the original nicely, due to a lot of the original crew being used. This time, the camp next door to Crystal Lake is opening up and a new group of counselors are gathering to get ready for the new season. Again, they are warned about previous events that have happened but they ignore it all - will they ever learn? Although the killer was apprehended at the end of the first movie (oh alright, it was Mrs. Voorhees killing the councellors in revenge for letting her son Jason drown in 1957) we are now introduced to Jason properly for the first time, as apparently he saw his mother being slaughtered and wasn't too happy about it, so he now lives in the woods and kills anybody who dares enter. Whoooooa!

All in all, this isn't a bad movie at all. There's a nice pacing to it so it never gets boring, and the counselors are all fairly likeable characters, although maybe a bit more one-dimensional than the ones in the first movie. Jason isn't in it a great deal, but when he does finally fully appear he fills the screen (literally), and the legendary hockey mask is still nowhere to be seen! A decent stab (!) at a sequel that doesn't quite hit the mark of the first movie, but still has enough style and suspense to carry it along.

And pretty much the same could be said for 1982's 'Friday the 13th Part 3', as again a lot of the same crew were involved. Supposedly carrying on where part two left off, Jason moves from Crystal Lake to the nearby Higgins Haven, where he terrorizes a new bunch of youngsters who are staying at the property. One of the group, Chris, was attacked in the nearby woods a couple of years earlier by Jason and has returned to try and confront her fears - which, of course, she does. Big time!

By now, plot was giving way to formula as far as these sorts of movies go, so to add an extra bit of excitement this movie was originally done in 3-D. And it must have worked because '...Part 3' was the most successful of all the 'Friday...' movies (apart from 'Freddy Vs. Jason' but that isn't a fully-fledged 'Friday...' movie). This is the one where Jason first puts on the hockey mask, and he was yet to have been butchered beyond belief so his movements were quite fast, instead of the lumbering zombie he was to become. There's no standout performances and the ending was a little contrived, but it's still a lot better than the other imitation movies that were starting to appear and it's by no means the worst of this series. But all in all, it seemed that the makers were out of ideas on the originality front, so...

'Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter' appeared in 1984, proving that maybe the best thing to do was end it before it became a joke - ha! Different director, different writers and a returning Tom Savini (who came back as he thought it would be 'the final chapter') but still the same old Jason, whose body has been taken to the local morgue. Unfortunately, he isn't dead, so up he gets and carries on slaughtering. He returns to his old stomping ground of Camp Crystal Lake, where he finds the two properties on the site, one occupied by a group of sex-mad, partying teens (shocker!) and the other by horror movie mad Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman), his mother and sister. Naturally Jason gets pretty mad and starts hacking them all up - until young Tommy finds a way to stop him in his tracks.

Even though the plot was wearing a bit thin, and a whole flurry of similarly themed movies were appearing left, right and center, this fourth installment is actually pretty good. It may lack the feel of the earlier movies in terms of it's look, but the pacing is frenetic, the acting not too bad for this sort of movie and, naturally, Savini's effects are superb and easily the best so far. Still not too sure what the final shot is supposed to be suggesting, but all in all a great slasher film. So that's it then...

Oh no, I nearly forgot - we then get to 'Friday the 13th: A New Beginning'; looks like Mr. Savini got it wrong! As did the makers of this movie. We begin with a now grown up Tommy Jarvis (John Shepherd) having a dream that Jason has risen from the grave and is out for revenge. We then learn that Tommy has been sent to live at a foster home for other disturbed young people in the middle of nowhere. Of course, it isn't long before bodies start piling up, but if Jason is dead, who is doing all the killing? Well, spoiler alert, it's...a paramedic, dressing up as Jason, whose son was murdered at the foster home by another patient who didn't want a candy bar! Durrh!

In an attempt to add a new twist to the bog-standard slasher formula, the makers decided that a 'whodunnit' was the way to go. Either this movie was ahead of it's time or it was just dumb - I'd opt for the latter. In all fairness, apart from the lame 'twist' and an awful performance from Shepherd as Tommy, there are some plus points to be had. The murders are still pretty good (love the guy getting his head strapped to a tree!), 'Tour of Duty' star Miguel A.Nunez puts in an amusing turn as a poor mans Michael Jackson called Demon, and there's more nudity than any other 'Friday...', so the key elements are there, but when the killer isn't Jason, and the connection to who it is is about as desperate as it gets, then it's time to look elsewhere for your slasher thrills. And again, the very last scene is a bit odd!

And it seems even odder when you see 'Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives' as Tommy (Thom 'Return of the Living Dead' Mathews) returns to Jason's grave to make sure he's dead. He is, so he should have just left it, but, in a sort of homage to 'Frankenstein', Jason is brought back to life by a bolt of lightening, and it's up to Tommy to convince the local sheriff that the young kiddies at Camp Crystal Lake need protecting. Sounds easy, but you know it never is in these movies.

There are two ways to look at part six- it's either writing off part five and attempting to bring the series back to some sort of basic level, carrying on from part four and bringing Tommy's story full circle, or...you can shut your brain off, put the ending of part five down to the writers not having a clue and carry on watching regardless. Either way, this is probably the dullest of them all. There's nothing inventive, the plot is boring, Thom Mathews does what he does in '...Living Dead' but without the charisma and Jason gets killed (!) in a very dull way. All in all, and I'll use the word again, very dull. Well, tell a lie, there is a slight bit of amusement to be had in the James Bond-style opening credits, and C.J. Graham is probably the most intimidating Jason yet (now that he is officially a zombie!), but in the year that gave us the excellent 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 2' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2', Jason's latest offering was looking very pedestrian.

So maybe another twist was needed - or not! Now seemingly desperate for ideas to make 'Friday...' stick out from the pack, we were given 'Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood', where this time Jason was brought back from his watery grave by a girl with telekinetic powers (yes, I know!), who has come back to Crystal Lake as that was where she used her powers to accidentally kill her abusive father many years before. Under pressure from her sinister doctor to try and harness her powers, she gets in a rage and - you''ll never guess - manages to unwrap Jason from his chains, and with the other house on the lake occupied by those 'sex-mad, partying teens' (TM) so begins another killing spree.

Of course, it's complete drivel but, strangely, time does seem to have been kind to it (this used to be my worst one, but after revisiting it again recently it wasn't too bad). The pacing is reminiscent of part four, and the murders are pretty cool to watch, particularly the infamous 'sleeping bag smacked against a tree' death (side note: has anybody else noticed that when Jason swings the sleeping bag, it is the feet end that hits the tree but when he opens the bag it's the head that's split open? Still cool, though!). This movie was also the first of the series to feature Kane Hodder as Jason, who went on to play him in next three movies and has since become synonymous with the role. Ignore the crass 'Carrie' rip-off plot and just enjoy Jason killing people in inventive ways again.

Which brings us up to 1989 and the excellently titled 'Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan'. By now, horror movies had moved on slightly, with the surrealist 'Hellraiser' and the just utterly bizarre Frank Henenlotter moving to the forefront of the genre, so I guess the makers of the 'Friday...' series decided to go all-out hokey and see what happens - and what happened was still a pretty decent slasher. Receiving another electric shock, Jason reanimates once again but this time he manages to steal his victim's boat (stay with me...) and travels upstream where he finds his way aboard a ship full of graduation students on their way to New York. One of the students, Rennie (Jensen Daggett), was pushed into Crystal Lake when she was a child by her strict uncle Charles (Peter Mark Richman), who was trying in his own way to teach her to swim. She was held under the water by a young Jason, who was still living in the lake (!), so obviously the big J is after her now. Rennie, Charles and a few stragglers escape the doomed voyage and manage to get to New York, unaware that Jason has followed. So the Big Apple had better beware, as there's a new psychopath in town...

Any sense of realism or even just sensible ideas had long gone by now, but based on it's basic merits, '...Manhattan is a pretty good slasher. Again, Kane Hodder is a very menacing screen presence and the deaths are still great - I still love it when Jason punches off the head of one of the kids who has just tried to take him on in a boxing match - and there really is very little credibility to this movie, but it's still fun. In a moronic way. Which doesn't say much about me, really...

And that was it - until 1993! Although many regard '...Manhattan' as the last proper 'Friday the 13th' movie, somebody thought a proper ending was still needed so, moving from Paramount to New Line (home of the 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' franchise), 'Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday' came forth to give us the definitive Jason movie. And did it work? Well, not really. The origins of Jason's longevity are revealed to be down to a supernatural demon that can travel from body to body, creating killer zombies as it goes - which begs the question, why did it stay in Jason's rotten, thirty-five year old corpse rather than seek out fresh new bodies? Is it a throwback to the ideas presented in part five? Anyway, the movie begins with Jason being blown up by a SWAT team (even though he was left as a child at the end of part eight - oh dear, I've spoiled it again!) and his body is taken to the morgue; he must have his own parking space by now! During the autopsy, the coroner, for some unexplained reason, gets the urge to bite Jason's heart and - lo and behold - he is now possessed by Jason's supernatural conscience, and off he goes on a killing spree. Meanwhile, bounty hunter Creighton Duke (Steven Williams), who has been tracking Jason for years (allegedly, 'cos I don't remember seeing him in any of the other movies!), has discovered Jason's secret and knows the only way to destroy him - 'Through a Voorhees he was born, and through a Voorhees he can be destroyed' - and, as luck would have it, Jason's last remaining relatives live nearby. Bet you didn't know there were any left! So cue lots of macho fight scenes and special He-Man swords to kill Jason with.

As you can probably tell, I'm not really taking this one too seriously. Much like part eight, this is a movie you put on for shits and giggles when you get the lads round for a few beers. Unlike the other movies, though, there is a really nasty tone throughout and overall it's a bit of a mess. Steven Williams (a poor man's Carl Weathers) is a fairly lame 'hero' and there's very little sympathy for any of the characters. The scene with the coroner (played by 'Rocky V' actor Richard Gant) is just odd, and the 'Frankenstein'-style walking that all the Jason-possessed zombies do is just plain laughable. It's actually a bit of a relief when Jason (again played by Kane Hodder) appears at the end for the final showdown, and you'll probably give a little cheer - even though he's the baddie! And any urges to shout 'BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL' when the magic sword appears should be kept in check! The very final shot of Jason's mask being dragged into the earth by Freddy Krueger's gloved hand (do you see what they did there?) is a nice touch, and gives an indication of what's to come, but a solid entry in the long-running series this is not, despite original 'Friday...' director Sean S.Cunningham coming in as producer.

But fear not, because it wasn't over just yet. In 2001, as the new millennium dawned and horror movies were garnering mainstream acceptance again, thanks to Wes Craven's self-knowing 'Scream' series and the influence of Japanese cinema, New Line gave us 'Jason X'. Now normally, when a series of movies gets to the 'set in space' stage, it means that all credibility will be thrown out of the window...but luckily the 'Friday...' series threw it's credibility out of the window sometime in the mid-eighties, so hardcore fans were quite prepared for this sort of nonsense. The movie begins in 2008 where Jason has been kept prisoner in a military research facility, so that scientists can try to find out why Jason won't die (they obviously didn't watch 'Jason Goes to Hell'!). Rowan (Lexa Doig) is preparing Jason to be cryogenically frozen so he'll pose no further threat, but Dr. Wimmer (a great cameo by David Cronenberg) attempts to override her, thus causing the main man to escape confinement. After a scuffle, Jason and Rowan end up getting frozen until they get discovered by a team of science students - five hundred years in the future! By now Earth has become inhabitable, so aboard their spacecraft the young scientists thaw out their discoveries, unaware of the danger that Jason will do aboard the confines of a spaceship.

No doubt you'll know by now whether you're going to watch this or not. Is it any good? No, but if you switch your brain off it is quite enjoyable in a 'drink lots and see what's on' kind of way. Being set in space gives the makers a chance to invent some new ways to die - look out for the virtual reality Camp Crystal Lake scene where there's a nice nod to part seven - and this is purely the only reason to enjoy this movie. Jason even gets a futuristic makeover when his corpse gets reanimated by the ship's computers, although he still prefers his trusty twentieth century machete when it comes to the job in hand. The acting throughout is fairly terrible - only Cronenberg's brief appearance and the reliable Kane Hodder being engaging in any sense - and the effects are good but not mind-blowing, as they could have been given the setting, but at least it's a bit more fun than the previous entry and it never takes itself seriously. At all.

Is that the end of it all? Of course not, because in 2003 there was the inevitable 'Freddy vs. Jason' that was hinted at back in 1993, but as that isn't a proper 'Friday...' movie it shall be scrutinized elsewhere. There has also been the obvious remake/reboot/re-imagining (delete as appropriate) released this year, but, again, that shall be looked at on another occasion, as there's not enough room to put down everything that's wrong with it here.

And there it is. All the original stories of Mrs. Voorhees little boy looked at under a microscope and given to you to investigate and make up your own minds. All are readily available on dvd and, if you're feeling naughty, I can recommend inviting closing the curtains, locking the doors and giving yourselves a weekend to enjoy them all. Happy camping!

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Horror Remakes talk.

by: Sweetreviewer

As we all know, there's lots of talk about upcoming horror remakes; some are good ideas, some bad, and some we just have to wait and find out how they turn out. Recently, we saw Friday the 13th remake and it turned out to be alright, I mean my 11 yr old brother enjoyed it. The same cliche remained, if you watched the 1st one. Halloween on the other hand to me, it was not a remake but a reinvention by Rob Zombie. The original Halloween, by: John Carpenter can never be replaced. Although, the effects are so 1978 but, the psychological effect that movie caused and causes on everyone that has never watched it, still remains. That being said, I don't believe Rob Zombie killed that movie. Everyone loved it so much that he's creating Halloween 2, this time in his own style completely.

Rob Zombie's version was loved so much because he created a bigger and badder Michael, he gave him a story, not only that he was a psychopath serial killer, but he portrayed why Michael turned out that way. Rob Zombie brought the scariest fictional serial killer back to life. This is why Halloween 2 will most likely turn out well, and will be well received by audiences.

Another remake that is coming up, is A nightmare on Elm street. This movie wasn't as scary to me when I was a child, as Halloween and Friday the 13th were; it was more grose to me . The truth of the matter is that Robert Englund made Freddy's character, Wes craven invented this child killer, but neither will be in this movie. We can't knock it until we see it, because it's a remake, so in order to top the original, perhaps you need new characters and a new director.

The next remake is Alice in wonderland; not so much horror, but definitely dark -- thanks to Tim Burton. I'm happy about this one, Alice in wonderland was definitely a dark story but they portrayed it as a fairy tale for kids. Many people have interpreted Lewis Carol's Books, that there was use of drugs, Freudian influences, mathematics, political satire, sex and pedophilia,nonsense, etc.- http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/alice8.html
I know this movie will turn out well with Johnny Depp and all the other characters that will be in this movie.


A movie that I have been dying to see a remake of, is Pet Semetary. A horror movie that was adapted from Stephen Kings Classic Novel by the same name. When I was a kid, I watched it over and over. Over and over I'd scare myself and had nightmares. I'd think to myself, what if there was a real pet Semetary, where you can bury people and pets and they come back to life? There's been talk about a remake for a while now. If you look at the movie now you find it funny instead of scary and that doesn't do the book justice. Last I heard Dave Kajganick (Invasion Creek) was going to write the script. He will also be writing the script for yet another Stephen king adaptation -- IT. I believe Warner Bros decided to pick up the rights after a while of floating around Hollywood.

Stephen King's 'IT" remake, I don't know what to think about it, again this was one of the movies I played over and over on my VCR when I was a kid. My cousins, who were younger would come to play with me and the weirdo horror freak that I was, I'd pop in "It" and gave them there dose of horror. They remember how scared I'd get them till this day. It's hard to imagine Tim curry who played Penny Wise the clown not being in this movie. This movie came straight to TV in the 90's in two parts. It is often referred to as one of the scariest horror movies. Penny Wise is the clown killer that the children in a 1960's town in Maine call "It." In part one, he haunts them and in part 2 they come back to defeat "IT" as adults. I love the idea of this movie because "It" represents fear, that we all have, our worst nightmares, such as death etc. They want to create a remake this time, it will have a theatrical release. Let's hope this is a good idea. I'll never forget when little Georgie is playing with his paper boat in his yellow raincoat and you see the horrible creature "It" telling him in a very scary tone, "They Float Georgie... They Float... and when your down here, with me... YOU FLOAT TOO!"

Some movies that I'd like to be remade are Salem's lot I'm currently reading the book and saw both the original movie and the 2000 remake with Rob Lowe. I think it's a time a director that has vision, and turn the book by Stephen King into another movie, newly reinvented. This time they can make it similar to the original film but update the effects and make it scarier. I don't want to go into what it is about for those who haven't' read the book or seen the movies, because when you read the book you don't find out what's going on until probably 300 something pages of the book. Although, the latest book cover does reveal the secret behind Salem's Lot.

The Wizard of Oz -- there's been talk about a 2010 release, but I hope it's dark since many have interpreted this one as an" allegory or metaphor for the political, economic and social events of America of the 1890s."-wikipedia

Child's play is rumored to be remade, apparently they're having problems with the script. Don't know what to say about this one as well, Chucky scared the crap out of children, now it's funny and the rest of the remakes turned out to be humorus aswell. Let's see how that turns out. Again, I am guilty of scaring every little kid I know especially the little bro, he had it hard. I would immitate the sweet little voice " Hi I'm Chucky wanna play?"

Children of the Corn is said to be remade not as a movie but as a miniseries, I believe the girl from "Orphan" Horror Movie, (Isabelle Farhman) will be in it playing one of the children.


A movie I don't want them to ever remake is Stanley Kubrick's version of The Shining with Jack Nicholson . This one is a classic, movie adapted from the novel by Stephen king of course. I haven't' read the novel but I heard it's way scarier than the movie. All books usually are better anyway. My memorable quote is when I believe Jack Nicholson's character is really working on his writing and his wife goes and takes a look at the stack of paper on his desk just to see "All work and no play makes Jack a Dull Boy" multiple times in every stack of paper.

The downside of remaking movies is the lack of creativity that directors have, if they know they can make it way better than the first, I say go for it, but they should also keep in mind that the Horror Genre has endured a lot of criticism for so many remakes of which most turn out to be horrible. ( ie. Amitty Ville Horror, Exorcist, The Beginning) Although, there are good remakes like Texas Chainsaw Massacre I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Any Horror Remakes You are interested in? Did I miss a an upcoming Remake? Feel free to post a comment about it.
Or, are there any Horror Remakes you don't agree with ? I'm interested in hearing your opinions.

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