Movies I haven't seen in a while: The Haunting

 

          Having sat through countless hours of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise as well as the Friday the 13th franchise, I decided in my own best interest to sit down and watch some classic horror movies just to give a nice send off for the month of October as well as the year of 2025. The Haunting was one of those few horror movies I remember watching on TCM (Turner Classic Movies), though more importantly was directed by Robert Wise a legendary filmmaker who brought to life movies like West Side Story, the latest sixtieth Anniversary of Sound of Music, as well as other latest classics like The Day the Earth Stood Still and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. While I have seen this movie it's been quite a long time, this was another one of those films I do remember feeling creeped out by.

          Dr. John Markway, an anthropologist with an interest in psychic phenomena, takes two specially selected women to Hill House, a reportedly haunted mansion. Eleanor (Julie Harris), a lonely. eccentric woman with supernatural event in her past, and the bold Theodora (Claire Bloom), who has ESP, join John and the mansion heir, cynical Luke (Russ Tamblyn). They are immediately overwhelmed by strange sounds and events, and Eleanor comes to believe the house is alive and speaks directly to her. 

           Either pre-production or post-production of West Side Story, Robert Wise who was directing the film at the time read a review of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House furthermore read the book, and was later jumped scared while reading the book moreover thought to himself "if this could scare me then this would make a great movie." There is surprisingly a remake to this film in circa 1999 staring Liam Neeson and Owen Wilson, and all I remember about that movie via watching Dish on Demand previews as well as the making of, the film and they're was one to many ghost and special effects, granted I haven't seen the movie yet though don't want to because it's just hard either way don't want to. The first time sitting down watching this creepy classic was some time around in the 2010 decade and all I remember is the creepy imagery and Julie Harris who plays Eleanor giving a great performance as well as being super creepy, when she's figuratively dancing by herself repeating the words "I'm home" and going back and re-watching this great movie I'm still terrified as well as being mesmerized by the way Wise was able to focus more on the psychological horror on the actors faces and it was fantastic as well as terrifying to relive again. If you look back at other films with the theme of a haunted house like House on Haunted Hill or Crimson Peak, they at times don't feel scared or terrifying because they try in their best to bring on more of the ghost and less of the scares and suspense that comes along with it. The Haunting by Robert Wise to me, is like a tribute to the phrase "less is more" where in this movie you don't see any monsters or ghost no sense of typical jump scares you see today, all you see are the knocking on the walls or doors and the actors giving you the belief that there is something terrifying in the house and the belief of being possessed by the ghosts in the house. Absolutely no monsters and ghosts and yet the best choice of imagery Robert Wise chooses is shooting the entire film black and white, for which I would certainly choose black and white because it gives the movie a glim and darkness to the film as well as terrifying imagery. The amazing thing about Robert Wise as a filmmaker is that this film came out at the time between shooting The West Side Story for which he won in Oscar for, and then proceeded to make another film around 1962, then later bringing Shirly Jackson's book to life, then two years later making the Sound of Music for which he won for best director as well as best picture. So, Wise was super busy between 1961 to 1968, which I praise the man for is ability to bring hit after hit, of classic films and I know that it was the sixties and you can pop out a hit of a film year after year during that decade while now you have to take some time or shoot the movies all at once but with Wise through the sixties he cranked out great musicals, an amazing horror story as well as a war movie and a romantic drama, all while winning two out of the three Oscars for best director and best picture, which again this guy needs to be given a round of applause for his strength and ability as a filmmaker crank all of those classic films. I'm not going to spoil a whole lot of the movie, because I want people to watch this underappreciative classic, but the amount of horror movies I've seen that contain a Haunted House, The Haunting is up there in one of the best Haunted House movies, another one that comes close but is not a movie is The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix to which has great scares but overacting and depressing dysfunctional family gibberish. And I don't know how you can make this film now without ghosts or cutting out the black and white format, but Robert Wise's The Haunting delivers a lot on creepy imagery, creative camera techniques that really give you an unsettling feeling about the house in general. Lord knows how I would want to make this film now, but it would be an interesting challenge even though I wouldn't because The Haunting to me, is an amazing and scariest horror movie that I again felt creeped out by after re-living this film and I would highly recommend watching this film on Hulu, though I would make the final weeks of the Halloween season, mainly because it's on Turner Classic Movies and TCM always transition their choices of film to recommend. Though more importantly if I had the time to watch this with my nephews, they would enjoy the movie from beginning to very end, mainly because the film contains no blood or sexual content involved so, I may have to pick a time to watch this with my nephews if I get the chance, though maybe next year hopefully. 

           

A Clockwork Orange

 

        

        Well, this film isn't in the category of horror or scariness for the month of October, though in the rare sense of the definition of Horror I would claim this in the psychological horror, we face in a future where free will and crime wave have become a shroud of existence. Granted this was one of the many Stanley Kubrick movies I've never seen, and I need to prove even to myself that being a fan of cinema, I must step out of my comfort zone and of all movies I knew I needed to see in Kubrick's filmography, it was most certainly A Clockwork Orange. Though granted my brother made the choice for me to watch either Dr. Strangelove or A Clockwork Orange but I trusted my gut and my gut was telling me to pull the bandage off and watch A Clockwork Orange in the month of October.

        In an England of the future, Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and his "Droogs" spend their nights getting high at the Korova milk bar before embarking on "a little of the ultra-violence," while jaunty warbling "Singin' in the Rain." After he's jailed for bludgeoning of a latest victim of his, Alex submits himself to behavior modification technique to earn his freedom; he's conditioned to abhor violence. Returning to the world defenseless, Alex becomes the victim of his prior victims.

        A Clockwork Orange is one of those Stanley Kubrick films that I remember watching a AMC special called 30 scarier movie moments, basically ranking the top 30 scariest moments though they did the same concept years back with 100 scariest movie moments, bottom line they showed me one scene where I was disturbed and never imagine I would watch this movie ever and yet now that one whole scene where Alex and his goons are gang raping a writers wife and forcing him to watch, it just still doesn't stop the edge of disturbance among the viewer's and preparing to watch the movie now I'm I was just psychologically scarred that I personally felt I was having a panic attack and granted you don't see the gang raping scene because they cut quickly but the pacing of the scene and McDowell singing the song "Singin in the Rain" is just so cruel and disturbed it's almost a homage to Alan Moore's Batman: The Killing Joke, where the Joker is forcing Commissioner Gordon see pictures of Barbara Gordon shot in the spine as well as naked, just another image that leaves a disturbing quality to it. Even after watching this movie almost two weeks ago I had to try to figure out what I watched, I felt disturbed as well as traumatized in what I'm seeing and yet I consider this film one of the greatest artistic films of the 21st Century and even though this is the most disturbing movies I've ever seen close to Apocalypse Now, yes this is one of the greatest films I've ever seen, because they have a lot of major themes that included violence, morality, psychology and more importantly society as well. And the scariest thing about this film is that this is almost five steps into the front door of today's society, I mean sure we're not even close to what the film is showing us but if you take a look at major cities around the world or even your front window, we're getting a little bit to closing in on what A Clockwork Orange is presenting us as a whole, and even I wouldn't want to live in that dystopian world hell I'll take my kids and live out in the woods like Ron Swanson. One of the many interesting aspects you can see in Kubrick's vision is nobody is good, like Alex wonderfully portrayed by Malcolm McDowell, is this pure evil teenager that does unspeakable acts of violence and gets arrested of course but tries to find a loophole in the jailing system by subscribing to a technique of making a horrible person good. Now I'm not going into much detail as to how they do this procedure because I still want you all as an audience member to watch this great movie, but they do weeks and weeks of using the character Alex see countless imagery of violence with classical music in the background, now all of that is disturbing as well, but it also brings the interesting aspect of taking away free will, where the government that is supposed to be protecting us is supporting this idea of taking away violent criminals free will to do more acts of crime and make them safe citizens so, that they can walk on the streets we as society walk on, which again that's a terrifying aspect of our own government just doing this inhuman acts on criminals when they could just simply use the death penalty or live out the rest of their days in a cell, but again this is showing proof of why Kubrick is a great filmmaker. And through the course of the movie even into the third act we see the character of Alex being released from prison after being tortured from doing unforgivable acts of violence, he gets set free and coming back into society but even he is being brutally beaten and mocked from his parents and friends as well as being beaten by his own victims and this brings the most interesting aspect to Alex and this is coming from the Bible "You reap what you sow", which explains your action has consequences. And even when you watch this movie and I urge you to watch this movie without your kids’ sneaking downstairs and seeing you watching this movie and for good reasons, IT'S NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN. But this brings a lot of interesting aspects of morality, violence as well as society and more importantly juvenile delinquency that gets you to change your own aspects as well as what you believe should happen in the world you live in. I'm pretty sure I covered everything about the film, other than this was for certain one of the second best in the Stanley Kubrick films I've seen so far, Full Metal Jacket still reigns supreme in my book but the thing about what makes this film amazing other then what I just described, is after finishing 2001: A Space Odyssey, upon which he went over budget through the course of making the film around 1968 and 1969, the producers of Warner Brothers simply told Kubrick about making a low budget film because he wanted to make a film about Napoleon Bonaparte furthermore producers couldn't necessarily finance is Napoleon movie so, he had to prove that he can make a low budget movie and A Clockwork Orange became his next project and the way he was able to portray a dystopian England is just beautifully created a side from the many phallic statues in the movie but the lighting though the course of the movie is so, great that you can't take your eyes off of the scenes you see. I saw this movie almost two weeks ago and I still can't get the imagery of the movie out of my mind and for sure this movie scares me, psychologically and deeply disturbed after watching the film. And yet this film gets you to think as well as change your aspects of life moreover I felt like I needed to change aspects of my own life. Yes, this movie is disturbing and well leaves you traumatized upon what you just seen, and yet I would highly recommend everyone to see this movie to be understood on what the film represents. Now having watched this film, would I watch this film many times maybe again, for inspiration soon but a bunch of times? Well, I'll give you a simple answer to that, NO! For many good reasons I need a good fifteen years maybe twenty years to get back into this f**ked up movie, and I remember hearing this guy talking about watching A Clockwork Orange fifteen times and still being disturbed and I'm saying to myself "what nut job watches this movie fifteen times?" Look the bottom line is, this film is nowhere on the streaming service and for good reasons but I'll promise you this for all movie fans and people who've never seen any of Stanley Kubrick films, this film is for certain worth the watch, but I would highly recommend not watching this when your kids around more like watching this film when your kids are fast asleep and making sure there not coming downstairs, that way you can hear them and turn the film off and get back to your kids, moreover that's probably the best way to watch this film if you have kids or not.

                   

           

Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives

 

        

        Ladies and gentlemen, the impossible has happened just when all hope seemed lost and was almost close to giving up along comes a one true slasher film that is a trillion times, ah hell a zillion times better than Friday the 13th 1-5. Jason Lives is the Friday the 13th movie that everyone deserved but not the one movie everyone deserved to see. And yet this was the movie that established the lore of Jason Voorhees, moreover, took six movies to realize that we need to make Jason into a walking corpse. Which feels like the development of Friday the 13th film feels like the writers, producers and directors had no clue on what to do with the character of Jason and yet with this movie they found a winning formula and yet took six movies to happen. Though with this movie producers at least learned from their mistakes.

        Years ago, Tommy Jarvis (Thom Matthews) killed infamous hockey-masked killer Jason Voorhees (C.J. Graham), and the intensity of the experience has landed him in a mental institution. To end his torment and achieve a level of closure, Tommy escapes from the hospital and heads to the graveyard where Jason is buried, intending to dig up the body and cremate it. But, before this total annihilation can occur, a freak electrical accident resurrects Jason from the dead, and the terror begins anew.

        Like the Nightmare movies where the odds are better movies than the even films, the fourth film and the sixth film in my logic are the best ones out of the Friday the 13th franchise and I can give the second film at least some credit because there are some interesting and intriguing storylines when it comes to creating the lore but the odds are strangely the worst ones out of the franchise, and I'm not trying to slam to much of the first movie because it was trying to be a Halloween movie but adding a lot of shock and gore so, in all fairness I would certainly recommend watching the first movie out of the sense of what it was trying to be and then the rest of the series was just trying to find it's grasp but at times shooting itself in the foot with the horrendous 3-D effects to not including him in the fifth movie. Basically after the fifth installment's release sure it was successful but everyone didn't like it all because of the fact that this was a copycat killer and Jason wasn't in the movie and so, the producers decided out of the best interests of the fans that they would go back to basics and director of Jason Lives, Tom McLoughlin wanted make the film more like a gothic horror from the old Universal studio monsters for which really out of all the directors that made the Friday the 13th films, Sean Cunningham and Tom Mcloughlin were the only ones to have a true enough vision to at least make these movies a real movie and that's the most effective complement I can give out of the entire franchise. Like the first and second film I can say watch those if you want to have a more experience Friday the 13th movie watching experience because you get to see a more humanized version of Jason the same with the fourth film in a strange sense because as of right now I stopping the Jason movie bash till next October so as of right now you can always watch those films I can recommend those films and the greatest Jason movie of all time, Jason X. The thing personally in what makes the sixth film great is that you have a Tommy Jarvis character that makes more sense than the fifth movie despite he wasn't talking much and suffering from PTSD and towards the end becomes a killer, which is fine? But, at the end of the day it the ending that I really don't want as an audience member because I'm trying to get out of lamest trend of stupid teens making piss poor choices and with four and sixth movie these are at least compelling because you have a character that wants to have closure and has the chance to redeem himself and more importantly you have kids in the movie so, really makes the suspense worthwhile and you feel more for the human characters than just wanting to watch Jason kill everyone and have a great time seeing it just like in Jason X. When it comes to the month of October with the Halloween season coming up I never thought in a million years I would go on this bizarre journey of eighties slasher movies, with their franchises sequels and really they're a treat in itself, granted the movies are at times a bit boring but I watched three Friday the 13th movies in a row and went to bed at a decent time which in all fairness is a better way at getting some sleep then trying to watch the Lord of the Rings, Extended Edition in a row for which I'm way too old to dive into that idea of wanting to do for a bucket list. Either way, the Nightmare movies and the Jason movies all together are a treat to watch you'll learn a lot of things from them granted their not perfect but you get some fresh ideas with each of the movie's when you watch them and their all under 90 minutes so you can finish two movies at a time and still have a good time watching them. But deep down I haven't finished all the Jason movies, the same with the Nightmare films but I'm going to wait till next season of Halloween for an opportunity complete them, and for good reasons when you finally found a good and decent movie you have to close the book mark on a chapter in your life and at least feel good about them almost like Michael Jordan winning game sixth of the NBA Finals despite the fact he was tired of dealing with management. So, in conclusion, if you want to have a great Jason Voorhees experience, I highly recommend watching the first two Friday the 13th movies to get a good grasp on the Crystal Lake lore and proceed to watch Friday the 13th, four and six to complete your closure of experiencing the whole aspect of Friday the 13th. But more importantly also watch Jason X because if you want to know what's the GOAT out of all the Jason movie franchise Jason X is the greatest one of all, though the sixth film is a winner in my book. 

            

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

 

        Well, we're moving right along with the fifth installment to Friday the 13th franchise, a movie that has some compelling elements as well as sympathizing with some minor characters but at times feels a bit over the top at times in terms of what its concept is trying to follow. More importantly was this the best way they could adapt in terms of creating a new beginning or again making the sole survivor after being either crazy or trying to face his own fears. But we should also answer the biggest question in the entire franchise, and that's, what's up with people's problem with fat people?

         Years after Tommy Jarvis (John Shepard and Corey Feldman) murdered? Hockey-masked serial killer Jason Voorhees, he resides in a mental hospital and struggles with the trauma of the experience. As the body counts grow, Tommy begins to question his sanity and wonders if Jason has risen from the dead. But, to determine the killer's identity, Tommy will need to survive.

         To be truthfully honest I can understand what the studios at Paramount were trying to accomplish with A New Beginning, basically trying to create a new slate that doesn't have Jason Voorhees as the main antagonist of the film and create a copycat killer, though sure that can work but when you create an iconic character like Jason it kind a leaves a bad taste in the mouth moreover feels like you've been ripped off and I can almost relate to all of the audience members going to A New Beginning, because you're paying money to watch a movie where Jason is going on a rampage of stupid people and yet the biggest reveal is that he's not the killer but only a copycat. And I've had my fair share of going to movies that I felt ripped off, though granted movie tickets forty years ago weren't so expensive as they are now but the feeling of being ripped off is still there personally when you look at some movies now, as well as forty years ago.  I will say through the course of part three to five, everyone hates fat people, and it's almost like everyone are such a-holes to them I mean the fat guy in part three sure, he was being annoying almost like he's in desperate need of attention for which I would of passively/aggressively tell the guy "look it's cool to scare people but when you do it over and over again it gets annoying", but yet again the women in part three are way too sensitive so, deep down all the characters in part three are all the worst so, technically doesn't matter. Then when you get to part four, a fat female hiker is trying to get a ride, but the group of friends say "where are we going to fit her?" and declines her as well as insults her, but then you get to part five sure it's a typical concept of a fat guy who just wants to help but everyone is being a-holes to him to the point where a psycho is so mad, that he just kills him. And look, when you have Al Bundy making fun of fat women because they're being so, obnoxious because they never accept what shoe size they truly are, but come on they at least deserve it but with these movies they're just being way to much a-holes, to the point where even I'm a fat guy and movies like this show, how much I hate people even to now because they're so, obnoxious as well as acting like they're took good, hell I don't know either way this is the eighties, where teens are always at times unlikable. I will admit there are some fun elements in A New Beginning, a surprising notion is the stranger with the Fedora who bestows young Indiana Jones with the fedora in the Last Crusade is in the movie, he plays the doctor in the movie, and when I find out I had to make sure and that's was a cool notion in the movie. The other thing is we have this strange hillbilly Norman Bates and his mother just reporting to cops and the hillbilly Norman Bates is getting beat up by teenage Jarvis furthermore vents while driving his bike around his house and you see close ups of him moreover I was mildly entertained because him after getting punched in the nuts he's just walking it off and then he gets killed off which is a great kill, either way found it entertained. This movie does have its ups with one of the kids including the main character Tommy Jarvis trying to confront his demons as well as, having a young Bill Walton trying to flirt with the girls, not in the best way but either way you feel bad because the girls are treating him like crap but when you tell a girl he wants to make love with you, eh not a good idea to tell a girl slick. And even after all these ups, you still have the downs where the character of Jarvis tries to face his demons, but they end it in the worst way possible, which is a letdown in my opinion. Although with the sixth movie, Jarvis does come back so maybe we might find the best Friday the 13th movie, because right now movies 1-5 are in the range of okay to meh if you ask me, until then TO BE CONTINUED! 

    

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

 

         Well everyone I'm traveling on the quest of possibly and hopefully finding the best Friday the 13th film, in the entire franchise and even though it's been a slow start out of watching the first three films on Peacock, but with luck on my side I was able to find the more Friday the 13th movies all on YouTube for FREE, though with ads as the obvious catch of the whole evil shenanigans. Staring a young Corey Feldman, before Gremlins and Goonies he was a young kid interested in special effects. Also starring Crispin Glover a year before he became famous for being Maty McFly's dad, George McFly moreover infamous for Hot Tube Time Machine in my opinion.

          A carefree lakeside vacation is interrupted by the re-emergence of killer Jason Voorhees (Ted White). After he escapes the morgue, leaving bodies in his wake, Jason travels to camp Crystal Lake where a group of friends is staying. As a group of teenagers engages in drunken debauchery, their numbers begin to dwindle, and pieces of the past resurface.

          Now I will argue and say that The Final Chapter is way better than the third film in the franchise granted there's some special moments in the third film such as the bikers that I regretfully didn't mention, and Jason finally getting his recognizable Hockey mask but I don't know, mainly the 3-D effects of the movie and one to many unlikable characters that turned me off, mainly though there's a lot of unlikeable characters but at least in the second film there were some decent characters. With this movie you do have some likeable characters such as the nice divorce mother and her kids, which in all fairness that's what you need at times with a kiss of some typical sluts especially one of them who is trying to seduce a boyfriend who's typically cheating on his girlfriend but realizes it's all wrong, then the slut is going after Crispin Glover and later is holding on to her panties which of course is comical because let’s be honest we can all agree men can be pigs but women at times can be sluts and with this film you have the best of both worlds. The interesting aspect is the Final Chapter came out in 1984 of the month of April and then about eight months later in 1984, we get Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street so when you think about the decade of slasher films Voorhees was being the top dog and later we'd all realizes that Freddy Kruger becomes competition for him for which we can all for see, would later in 2003 lead us to Freddy vs. Jason. Even though Corey Feldman was the youngest member in the entire cast, filled with partially naked women hanging around which you'd image if you were Feldman, he'd be thinking the set is paradise moreover beginning to realize he like girls. Though the coolest fact I found about the movie is actors Kimberly Beck who plays Feldman's oldest sister and Erich Anderson actually became good examples for him and covered his eyes from the nudity and during shooting in October took the young Feldman on a Halloween night out of trick or treating, for which let's be honest sure when you’re a teenager sure you'd want to have fun but when you got a young kid in the movie there comes a time when you have to be a better person as well as being a good example to the youth. All and all, I give this movie some credit this has a blend of both family togetherness although the mother strangely appears and disappears, the same with the family dog appears and then decides he just wants to get out of the movie (which I declare is a smart dog). So, getting back to topic this film has a good blend of family ties and teens making terrible choices which is always a great thing to have with the cheap scares and thrills but more importantly we get to see a creepy side of Corey Feldman that I never expected to see in this life time but still the film alone has it's good moments hell at least far better than the third film if you ask me. 

  

October Recommendation: Freddy vs. Jason

       I knew while watching the first dozen Nightmare on Elm Street films and the first three Friday the 13th movies, I knew firsthand that this iconic face-off movie for the ages would be my monthly recommendation for the month of October. Freddy vs. Jason was one of the very first ever, movie grudge matches of the ages, literally long before Batman v. Superman or even Captain America clashed with Iron Man in Civil War. I've mentioned Alien vs. Predator almost a year ago now and having re-watched this incredibly amazing and entertaining, slasher film I have to say that Freddy vs. Jason is defiantly one of the greatest crossovers, grudge match films of all time better than Alien vs. Predator and a hundred times better than Batman v. Superman.

       Two horror icons face off in this supernatural movie. Disfigured serial killer Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund), who if you haven't seen the Nightmare films he kills kids in their dreams, has lost much of his power since citizens of his town have become less afraid of him. Enlisting the help of fellow violent murderer Jason Voorhees (Ken Kirzinger), Freddy orchestrates a new killing spree. However, when Jason can't stop killing Freddy's intended victims, the two ghouls start to battle each other. 

        This film was no-doubt my first introduction into the character of Freddy Kruger and his ability to be a dream weaving killer, while this was my second film of Jason Voorhees hence Jason X, and being a high school student in the 2003, this film was on cable TV numerous times and I would watch this film constantly mainly getting ready for the fight scenes between Freddy and Jason but again growing up with numerous slasher films like Scream and I know what you did last Summer as well as Jason X, I wasn't really caring a whole lot of the human characters because let's be honest slasher films from nineties to 2000's, the human characters never made the wisest choices and that's always been the typical horror/slasher aspects of the these movies. And sure the movie was scary-ish especially with this movie, there were some elements where either the dad is being terrifying or Robert Englund doing what he does best does give some frights but with this movie, you for sure have the best of both worlds with scares, comedy and action either way I love the way this movie turned out and even re-watching the film now is like a breath of fresh air, and for me growing up in the nineties and 2000's, this was amazing to watch. This was Robert Englund's final performance as Freddy Kruger, and this man delivers the performance of a life time, like sure he was amazing in the first Nightmare and was scary, but through the course of the sequels he really wasn't in all of the films and was a bit meh if you can look at some of the sequels, but with this movie it's like he told the director Ronny Yu, that this was his final movie and I'm going to have the best time of my life. Moreover Englund delivers both a scary portrayal of his character especially in the intro of the movie but through the course of the movie you can tell he's delivering a comedic performance as well and the guy did a good portion of the stunt work so, he was in his mid-fifties and really that man was no doubt in the best shape of his life, either way this movie was a great send off or a great dropping of the mic and leaving the character he's played for a long time. If you replaced Robert Englund's portrayal of Freddy Kruger I don't think you would get an entertainingly, guilty pleasure, you just can't especially at that time I mean if you replaced Englund then all the fans would go on a riot. But with the character of Jason I mean if you just cast a tall guy to play that role then you're all set, but even after the short lived reboots these characters are like past movie ghouls and nobody cared for them which in all fairness Freddy vs. Jason was no doubt the best send off for both franchises and delivered in the best way possible. The other thing in what makes this film great is that it has a storyline that any audience member who has not seen a Elm Street or Friday the 13th film can get into it, though I'm not say to dismiss watching all the Nightmare franchise or Friday the 13th films I'm just say for people who don't know a whole lot about these characters, the story takes care of itself by explaining them in the best way possible by explaining Freddy's backstory from the previous films and Jason well he's a walking zombie who loves his mother. But more importantly the writers developed a good solid story with combining a list of good source material from the third Nightmare film to make the storyline more interesting and the police force such horrible human beings to which really if you watch this film you'll slowly see how bad and horrible the police force are to their citizens, moreover shows the scary notion of the cops not protecting their own citizens. Look all I can tell you is that it's been a long time since I watched Freddy vs. Jason and this film alone brought back amazing memories when these types of films were made to be a guilty pleasure and for me personally this film ages like fine wine especially when it was an hour and thirty-five minutes long movie. If you're looking for a movie that gets straight to the point with combination of horror, comedy and action Freddy vs. Jason I would highly recommend watching on Hulu and HBO Max for the month of October for which, was a great treat to watch especially since this was Robert Englund's final performance as Freddy Kruger and really you can't top a better sendoff performance especially when it comes to Robert Englund's film career. And really movies like this, sure it’s goofy and ridicules but you have to look at it for what it is, and it’s not supposed to be a serious movie or highly scary or disturbing furthermore if your looking for a movie like this then just watch Craven’s first Nightmare film, but if your looking for a movie that you can turn your brain off and just have a good time watching dumb humans making bad choices when it comes to serial killers coming after you. Moreover you can’t have your kids watch this movie but when they get older to like a teenager age then they would for sure be entertained by this great, guilty pleasure. 

 

 

Friday the 13th Part 3

 

          

         One Nightmare ends another Friday continues, and the greatest miracle of all time since the St. Louis Blues winning the Stanley Cup has finally come around as in the latest Friday the 13th movie, we finally get to see Jason receiving his first Hockey mask. Which hopefully won't be the last time considering there maybe six more movies to go. While I watched this latest Friday, the 13th film on Peacock, what I slowly didn't realize was the film alone was shot in 3D TECHNOLOGY! Honestly, since the beginning of the 1950's technology has its potential but later becomes annoying when it becomes a popular idea for producers. 

          The third installment picks up on the day after the carnage from the second movie with Jason Voorhees (Richard Brooker) stealing clothes as well as killing the store owner and his wife. Meanwhile Chris (Dana Kimmell) hosts a lake house with her teenage friends. Despite a run-in with a local biker gang, they enjoy an amiable weekend together -- that is, until Jason begins to knock off kids and bikers alike. 

           The most interesting thing about the film is Martin Jay Sadoff, the films 3-D effects supervisor, is the one man responsible coming up with Jason's trademark hockey mask. Sadoff always kept a bag full of hockey gear on set and for good reasons, he was an avid hockey fan. While testing potential masks to use for Jason, he pulled out a Detroit Red Wings goalie mask for a test. Upon which, Steve Miner, director of the film, loved the look and, after some modifications to the mask, decided to use that for the film. So, to all Jason Voorhees fans if you want to thank a person for being a Jason fan, thank Martin Jay Sadoff for proposing the Hockey mask idea as well as giving Jason an identity we can all remember and love. I would love to say that the movie has some great moments and sure the bikers do have some good funny moments, but the film alone just has some mediocre and boring moments and the main problem with the movie is that no recuring characters return from the second movie. And one of the original storylines, consist of actress Amy Steel returning for the third installment, though turned it down for which haunts her later in life. And not even the 3-D effects helped the movie out, which is strange to say but 3-D through the years had its moments but later became annoying when wanting to see a movie. Hell, Hollywood tried adapting 3-D effects to a John Wayne movie and it just wasn't great to watch at all despite it's a good John Wayne movie. Furthermore, when you see the film alone on Peacock or without the 3-D effects, some of the effects where a yo-yo or machete is pointing at the screen just becomes sad with the consideration that people in Hollywood thought that this was a great idea when it should have just stayed at Disney parks. Out of the three Friday the 13th films I've seen on Peacock the second one was the decent movie to watch while sure the first film was trying to take the Halloween aspect and take the kills to a whole new level but at times was okay, and the second movie has some good moments as well as some decent characters, but yet some of the characters in the third movie were just unlikeable as well as wanting to see more Jason than the characters. Like the Nightmare films the three films are just an hour and thirty-five minutes in length so, in all fairness it's not a huge pain but deep down I would like to at least have some potential of these movies being worth the watch because as of right now I'm still saying Jason X is still the best one. I would highly recommend watching all three Friday the 13th movies on Peacock while they’re still on Peacock for the month of October because you should always give these movies a worth of your time no matter how bad or good the films are. As of right now I'm not going to give up on finding a Friday the 13th movie worthy of Jason X, mainly because I found four and five on YouTube for free, so as of finding a good Jason movie other than Jason X, the search continues.

    

A Nightmare on Elm Steet 5: The Dream Child

 

        Back to what maybe that last of the Nightmare on Elm Street marathon as well as concurring my last Nightmare movie to watch for the whole month considering Nightmare on Elm Street 6 and 7 aren't on Hulu or HBO Max. A Nightmare on Elm Steet 5: The Dream Child is thankfully not about abortions.  Although there are some weirdness going on in the movie but thankfully it has nothing to do with abortion which if it was then I would block this movie out of my mind. Luckily this movie in my opinion was left with the most intriguing aspects as well as bringing back Freddy Kruger's back story which to me is always what makes the sequels interesting to watch.   

        The fifth installment of the Nightmare franchise focuses on Alice (Lisa Wilcox), a survivor of the fourth installment, who believes Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund) has been eliminated for good. She optimistically hopes to start a new life with fellow survivor Dan (Danny Hassel). The nightmares begin soon enough, though Alice learns she's pregnant. When her friends start dying, Alice suspects that Freddy is using the fetus within her as a weapon. Can she fight the demon while protecting her child? The answer is obviously YES!

        Here's the interesting thing about all the Nightmare sequels from 2 to 5, if you combine them together and only the odds are the most interesting films than the events. Like the first movie is obviously the best of all the movies the second movie has some interesting aspects in making the film better, despite the film shooting itself in the foot, while the third movie is obviously the best sequel since they brought back Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon to give the movie something to cheer for but more importantly brought a lot of Kruger's backstory. The fourth installment has its moments though they decided to kill off the original characters from the third film to quickly, and we proceed to follow a new group of kids which turned me off but came back on with the Groundhog Day references log before Harold Ramis and Bill Murray had a knife fight. With the fifth movie you get to come back with a bit more of Kruger's backstory for which includes his mother and granted I don't want to spill anymore details but when you included Freddy's backstory that's always the most interesting thing I would love to watch mainly because we don't know a whole lot about Freddy Kruger, other than the man use to be a child murder and he's now able to kill his victims in their dreams, and that's literally all the answers we got nothing more but when you bring more about his mother being a nun then things for me get to be more interesting. Continuing with past directors and writers that went on to do great or decent movies growing up like Chuck Russel, Frank Darabont, Brian Helgeland and? Sure Renny Harlin, I mean the guys remembered for something. We have Stephan Hopkins directing the fifth installment, who in case anyone not familiar with Hopkins (and that's everybody besides me), he actually went on to direct the most underappreciative sequel of all time Predator 2, which really is always a major step and really with this movie he got his big break at least, until a year later he was mostly forgotten which now I want to rewatch Predator 2 because that movie was defiantly a good and entertaining movie from beginning to very end, more importantly Hopkins deserves a lot of credit for being able to handle Gary Busy's insanity. Now having watched, mostly all of the Nightmare films from beginning to the fifth installment, I never quite imagine the strange impact I would get out of watching all of these movies, for sure the first is the best and the sequels are obviously not perfect movies but deep down there's something special about these movies potential to be good and the writers and directors doing the best they can with what they had. And more importantly the films are all under a 90-minute length so it's not like you’re destroying your own brain cells in watching something that has a blend of scary comedy for which in all fairness it can't be worse than watching a scary movie that consists of three hours. For a first time viewing the Nightmare sequels, I enjoyed every minute of them moreover they were each a great treat to watch for the season of Halloween, and more importantly they all have a great way to let yourself have a great time at home after suffering from a bad day from your normal day of life. Though keep in mind these movies are all on Hulu and HBO Max, hence make the month of October the best month of your life. 

       

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Master

 

             Moving right along into the continuation of the Nightmare on Elm Street marathon of madness. We continue with another group of Dream Warriors-ish, but only this time Freddy Kruger finally becomes the DREAM MASTER. After the success of the third installment, New Line Cinema, finally took some good notes on what made Dream Warriors a box-office success and acquired new blood of writers and directors in Brian Helgeland, mastermind behind great classics in L.A. Confidential, Payback, A Knight's Tale and 42. But more importantly is directed by a man who killed Geena Davis career as well as other movies especially one I do remember watching in the theaters.

             I'm just going to make this short and sweet, Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund) returns to haunt another set of kids in their dreams despite Freddy has pretty much killed almost everybody but try telling that to other murderers who kept on killing even when they went to the prison. 

             Wes Craven presented his own pitch for fourth Elm Street, sadly New Line turned it down and producers Sara Risher and Robert Shaye with the original Dream Master that succeed Dream Warriors. In Risher's own words, she explains "I approached Wes for an idea for the fourth film. I always go to Wes first each time. His idea was illogical. It was about time travel within dreams that broke all the rule of dreams." make a long story short they decided to go to a different approach for which lead to the Dream Master now, and really when you think about it this movie is much better than Wes's idea as much as I want to take the producers side in this scenario. Brian Helgeland was recommended Robert Englund after penning his first script for Englund's directorial debut "976-Evil", and so Helgeland took the entire Christmas back at his parents penning the entire script and then latter FedExes the script to New Line for which made his deadline a success, for which really we as a society evolved from packaging our scripts to Hollywood, when now we can just simply pen our scripts on our laptops and email it to the producers with email, all within two seconds. With Brian Helgeland penning the script you also have a director in Renly Harlin who directed a lot of mediocre movies that I strongly doubt anyone has even seen but if you want to talk about memorable movies he's directed, the man directed Cutthroat Island for which killed his wife Geena Davis's career. Not a whole lot to discuss because I'm making a point to let you all watch and enjoy these movies, but they do have a crazy Groundhog Day where the survivors are trying to race against time but are trapped in a strange time loop, in which strangely is funny. Of all the Nightmare films besides the original, Dream Master had the biggest box-office opening for which really, they must of did something right. All the sequels as a whole are not the most perfect movies you can watch and if that's what you’re looking for then you can just watch the original movies and call it good but really if you just binge on two movies together at a time, these movies are a treat to watch for many reasons you can have a good time watching dumb kids trying to stop terror that can't be stopped and the important factor is that all of these sequels last for 90 minutes which is always a treat when watching these movies on Hulu or HBO Max during the month of October as well as celebrating Halloween. 

        

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

 

              

          Moving on to the dream world of Freddy's nightmare party, I've finally stumbled upon a third installment that may be the better sequel out of all the Nightmare on Elm Street movies so far. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors follows a group of kids in a insane asylum which runs by returning Nightmare survivor Heather Langenkamp, and Larry Fishburne aka Lawrence Fishburne. This good slasher film brings back a lot of the old and new characters but more importantly brings back Wes Craven in the writer’s circle along with Frank Darabont, writer and director behind the greatest classic Shawshank Redemption and a surprising writer and director who made an early nineties Jim Carrey movie that you never realized would have directed it. 

          During a hallucinatory incident, young Kristen Parker (Patricia Arquette) has her wrist slashed by dream-stalking monster Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund). Her mother, mistaking her wounds for a suicide attempt, sends Kristen to a psychiatric ward, where she joins a group of similarly troubled teens. One of the doctors there is Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), who battled Freddy some years before. Nancy senses potential in Kristen to rid the world of Freddy once and for all. 

          After the critical failure of Freddy's Revenge, New Line Cinema was unsure whether to continue with the series or dismantle it. Craven, who written and directed the original, didn't want to participate with the sequel and for good reasons he didn't want the original to evolve into a franchise. Even though Craven came on to co-write the script and following the success Dream Warriors New Line Cinema was able to continue with a series franchise, for which let's be honest and everyone should know this and that's producers are always addicted to illegal drugs, and they need movie money to pay off their dealers. With this latest installment, they actually improved with the second film despite the film being not so bad, and really what makes the film way better was that they cast back Heather Langenkamp to reprise her role as Nancy for which she does a great job being a supportive doctor to all of these trouble kids and even casting back her dad, John Saxon back into the movie for which they do a great job playing the dysfunctional father and daughter where they don't want to relive the horror, each of them endured. The other thing in what makes Dream Warriors a much better is that we dive deeper into Freddy Kruger's backstory and what made him into this monster and get more insight of how the man died especially for which you do get a little more in intro part of Freddy vs. Jason but with this movie is a whole lot better in my opinion. The other thing that makes the movie great is that you have some good writers besides Wes Craven, into making a better story, the fact that you have Frank Darabont who went on to make great movies like Shawshank Redemption as well as The Green Mile. And not just Wes Craven and Frank Darabont helping to improve the script, but you also have co-writer and director of the film, Chuck Russel who also went on to make Jim Carrey's The Mask as well as launching The Rock's acting career with The Scorpion King for which I remember watching at the movie theaters, and let's just say was one of the many movies in my youth was the reason I love chicks and boobs. The surprisingly good fact about the movie is actress, Jennifer Rubin who plays a sort of punk rock patient, was told by some of her fans that her character in the movie caused them to quit doing drugs after the movie's release, for which really is the coolest thing about the film and something Rubin is very proud of even to this day. Dream Warriors is still on HBO Max and Hulu in the month of October so, if you ever need a scary movie night to turn your brain off Dream Warriors is by far the better sequel you can watch after the original Nightmare on Elm Street.

      

Friday the 13th Part 2

         I never expected the month of October to be a theme of the slasher genre but, when you do a double feature of two sequels for iconic 80's slasher films franchise. Well, then you might as well continue one with the next two Friday the 13th movies since the first three are all on Peacock. The interesting thing and I didn't realize this at first but the central character from the previous movie may have broken Janet Leigh's record of the main character getting killed off early in the movie. Now Leigh in Psycho gets killed off in a good thirty minutes into Alfred Hitchcock's classic movie and Adrienne King may have been killed off at least five minutes considering I wasn't expecting that.

         The second entry in the long running series focuses on a new group of teenagers rebuilding camp Crystal Lake. While everyone hears the story of Jason Voorhees (Warrington Gillette), a boy who drowned at Crystal Lake while his mother took revenge on the teens. Despite everyone not taking it seriously, until Jason goes on a kill crazy rampage then it becomes a kill or be killed for all the teenagers. 

          What really makes the films interesting in a fair sense is that we as an audience member are finally introduced to the infamous machete wielding killer in Jason Voorhees only this time, he's more human in sense compared to him being a walking corpse we all know in later movies. Now I'm a grown man who can admit in being an a**hole who doesn't care a whole lot about the human races especially when it comes to watching slasher movies but I'm a normal man who loves dogs and cats more than I love humans and with this movie I've actually never been more concerned about a cute puppy dogs life when the pup comes across Jason then the rest of the other characters combined and in fact when I saw the dog survived I felt a good sigh of relief when the cute puppy dog came into frame, than the others dumb teens. For which you can tell this is a human Jason and a respectful Jason because he wouldn't dare kill an innocent dog for which I respect a lot from the fictional Jason despite this was my first time viewing the movie. Like the first movie, this is of course a typical sequel repeating the same things from the last film but in all fairness when Jason finally appears that's when the Friday the 13th movies finally gets more interesting especially when you see more characteristics of Jason as a character who kills to avenge his mother but you do get to see some good conflicts to his personality and with this movie you get to see some new and interesting things. At least with this movie you do see a sort of love interest with one of the girls and a guy in a wheelchair where the woman is in love with the guy whose crippled, for which I actually feel a little on the jealous side because I wish I can tell a woman I have epilepsy and takes anti-depressants and she's erotically turned on by me, but I guess I'll have to get her drunk for which there's no point for good reasons why it wouldn't work is simply too much work. Like, the previous film, it's only 90 minutes and there's not a whole lot to expect but with this movie you finally get to see Jason in action so, to me that's always worth the watch because when watching the first movie I, at times find disbelieving in knowing Betsy Palmer at her age in 1980 can hid well especially when hiding all the bodies. And so, with Jason making the killings it makes a whole lot of sense personally. So, look all three Friday the 13th films are on Peacock and so, if you have a subscription I would highly recommend watching a triple feature, while the month of October is still in our grasp hell, now I'm actually wanting to know if he grabs the hockey mask in Part 3 as well as his infamous machete, till then I guess it will be a "to be continued". 

            

 

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

 

                   

          Well since I took the time and watched the original Nightmare on Elm Street movie, I decided in my own right to sit down and give my balls a tug furthermore go down the rabbit hole of Freddy Kruger's dream world. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge? Takes some interesting ideas of possessing a kid or using him to kill his victims but as usual sequels go, they just end up shooting itself in the foot. And let’s be honest there really shouldn't be Freddy’s Revenge when it's all about new kids right. On a plus side to the sequels is that they're all consisting of 90 minutes so, in all fairness, is it not all bad right?

           Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) moves with his family into the home of the lone survivors from a series of attacks by dream stalker Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund). While suffering a series of nightmares, (quote, unquote) Freddy needs a host body to carry out his gruesome vendetta against the youth of Springwood, Ohio.

           The funny fact behind Freddy's Revenge is that the studios of New Line Cinema didn't ask actor Robert Englund to return as Freddy at the start of production. And so, after a good two weeks of filming, Robert Shaye (who Green lit first Nightmare) realized how bad a mistake he made when hiring a stuntman to play Freddy, upon which Shaye quickly fired the stuntman, hired Englund and gave him a pay raise, to which at first didn't want to pay him during pre-production. For which let's be honest Shaye made an honest mistake but in Englund's defense he's got to pay bills since he's going to be playing Kruger for the rest of his life. I'll admit I had no interest in experiencing the rest of the Freddy films though I was convinced that slasher movies like these need to be experienced no matter how bad it is, and in all honesty this movie wasn't all bad. The film alone actually has some unique and creative ideas flowing through the story and this is without Craven coming back to write the sequel, and what I like most about the movie is simply they introduce a new set of teenagers set in the not to short and distant future after the events of the first film, and I like the fact that it's a different teen that's living in same house that Nancy use to live in and experience the same torment that she experienced. The other thing in what makes the film interesting as well as intriguing is that Freddy is trying to manipulate a teen into killing the victims or doing a sort of devil possession either way it brings interesting aspects of instead of Freddy normally killing his victims it's a teen being brain washed into believing he's killing these people and although yeah it gets confusing no doubt, but while watching the film it does have the intriguing ideas that makes the film interesting to watch especially when Robert Englund is returning to the role of Freddy although he claims in his memoir in 2009 that Freddy's Revenge was his least favorite movie, in which I can't blame the guy. The biggest plus about the movie is that the film consist of 90 minutes in length, and it continues with the nightmares without a whole lot of explanation so, it can't be worst than a two hour and forty-nine minute movie and a length like that is the reason why I refuse to watch that movie with Florence Pugh about Norse cults in Sweden. Again the thing that makes this movie, worth the watch is simply you can see the potential of this movie being a good movie granted this film sadly shot itself in the groin but you can see how to make this film better if you change the title of the film and maybe focus more on the scary moments, even though expecting a different result can be a bad case of madness. Either way if you're looking for a slasher movie to watch or have a double feature of scary movies, Freddy's Revenge is on both HBO Max and Hulu so, deep down if you got nothing better to do or want to turn your brain off then this I would highly recommend watching on Halloween night, hell watch it while it's dark just for fun unless you're that scared.

             

90th Anniversary of The Bride of Frankenstein

 

         

               

           One of those late nights on Amazon Prime, just finding something to watch to go in sleep mode. Luckily enough I stumbled upon the sequel to the original Frankenstein. The Bride of Frankenstein surprisingly has surpassed its 90th birthday after realizing the film was released in 1935, for which is surprising and yet still holds the test of time as one of the first ever sequels in movie history. Furthermore, Boris Karloff's finest performance as the Frankenstein's Monster, and if you’re a fan of Young Frankenstein you'll begin to experience a ton of references while watching The Bride of Frankenstein, it's crazy considering it's been a long time since I watched the movie. 

            After recovering from injuries sustained in the mob attack upon himself and his creation, Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is later manipulated by his former mentor, Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), who insists the now-chastened doctor resume the experiments in creating new life. Meanwhile, the Monster (Boris Karloff) remains on the run from those who wish to destroy him without understanding that his intentions are generally good despite his lack of socialization and self-control. 

            Universal considered making a sequel to Frankenstein as early as the original films preview screenings, following which the films original ending was changed to allow for Dr. Frankenstein survival. James Whale, who directed the very first Frankenstein movie at first refused the idea of making a sequel, but after the success of his 1933 film The Invisible Man, producer Carl Laemmle Jr. realized that Whale should be directing the sequel and so I would imagine he paid Mr. Whale tons of depression era money. The interesting thing and I may have discussed this in past reviews, but making movies in the thirties aren't like making movies today where it would take multiple years to make a movie, back then you can make a movie done close to a few days because majority of the films are made in California or in the back lot of Universal Studio's so, if you look at director James Whale's filmography you'll see that he made movies back to back films that came out every years and I believe it's basically filming a good portion of the films in the back lot of Universal Studio's and realize they can use these sets multiple times so, in all fairness it's a quick way to make a big buck and proceed to movie on to the next movie. Going back and re-watching this great classic I soon realize how great of acting Boris Karloff does in the movie and through the course of the film sure he doesn't say a whole lot of lines but through the course of the you really see the emotions embodied by Karloff and you really sympathize with the Monster almost a sense of similarities to the Monster as well as how you almost relate to the character in a sense especially when the monster meets with the blind hermit and begins to take care of him as well as teaching him to speak for which is amazing to watch for many reasons the first two films really examine what it means to be human and the sense of understanding, either way I love the way it turns out and look forward to watching the Son of Frankenstein. The other great thing about the movie is you have a villain in actor Ernest Thesiger who plays a doctor that manipulates both Dr. Frankenstein and the Monster to achieve his own personal goals that both men who are both enemies in each other's eyes begin to forgive each other and really is something beautiful acting, in both Boris Karloff and Colin Clive. Both Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein are to me one of the greatest monster movies of all time and really one of the greatest movies of all time if I had to make a list in the top 100 greatest movies. Both films deliver in every sense of the word but more importantly is a great human story of trying to create life but soon realizing the consequences of wanting to create life, though in the end what makes the sequel amazing is Boris Karloff being granted much more character development to bring more life to the monster of Frankenstein for which is great to relive. Now if you're big in the Golden Age of Monster movies, The Bride of Frankenstein is still on Amazon Prime so, if you’re looking for some good nostalgia, I would highly recommend this first ever sequel in movie history.

   

An American Werewolf in London

 

          January was my first time experiencing a John Landis movie in, the Blues brothers with Dan Akroyd and John Belushi. While back in June I took the time and watched what maybe one of the greatest comedies in Animal House in fact it was so amazing I watched it multiple times till I had to stop watching it back in August also Landis's greatest achievement. Now in the month of Halloween, I decided to sit down and watch John Landis's first ever script he's written long before he made a name for himself. An American Werewolf in London, is again one of the many movies I have never seen but is one of those many movies I personally felt that I needed to watch to be a true cinema fan.

          David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne), two American college students, are backpacking through Britain when a large wolf attacks them. David survives with a bite, but Jack is brutally killed. As David heals in the hospital, he's plagued by violent nightmares of his mutilated friend, who warns David that he's becoming a werewolf. When David discovers the horrible truth, he contemplates committing suicide before the next full moon causes him to transform from man to murderous beast. 

          John Landis came up with the story of American Werewolf in London while he worked in former Yugoslavia as a production assistant on the film Kelly's Heroes (1970). According to Landis, he and a Yugoslav member of the crew were driving on location, while driving came across a group of Romani people. The Romani people took them to see this grave site of a person buried in the strangest way possible, and although they thought it was funny they begin to ask questions for which leads the idea of American Werewolf. To the movies credit the film has does deliver a lot of new ways in making a werewolf movie, but more importantly brings some realistic tone of how would a person being bitten by a werewolf, would change into a werewolf moreover it brings some interesting ideas that we as an audience member have never seen and this movie really brings a creepy feeling of how a man would change into a werewolf and you'd see how painfully and scary it would be. The other thing I also like about the movie is seeing your latest victims who are still alive in the werewolf's mind but are dead but are fatally wounded. Almost like a person being bitten by a werewolf is slowly losing his mind and the victims he's killed are coming back to haunt him, for which brings in interesting aspect in what it means to be a werewolf as well as how much of your humanity is slowly going away. Yes, this is for sure your typical average werewolf movie and if you've seen many werewolf movies like I have you would slowly realize that this movie is a little on the average side, though in all fairness this film does deliver some interesting ideas, and if I were making a Werewolf I would take the approach of the victim seeing his victims everywhere he goes as well as they either are lying down or sitting down and are just looking at him for which give a haunting aspect to being a werewolf. At times I wish this movie didn't have a comedic tone to the movie because then you'd slowly get confused as to whether the film is serious at being scary or is funny. Or you can always turn this into a scary dark comedy, either way the movie does have those moments of meh to really good ideas to approach in a werewolf movie. And An American Werewolf in London, has all of those elements you'd want in a werewolf movie and the best thing is that it was on Tubi and for me Tubi does deliver in finding some really good movies to watch on the month of Halloween so, if you’re looking for a decent horror movie I would highly recommend watching this movie and really you sometimes have to try new things because you never know when you'll find a perfect scary movie to watch on Halloween night.

       

Friday the 13th

 

        

          Since I was already going back and revisiting the excellence of the first Nightmare on Elm Street movie, I suddenly realized I must make a point in my miserable life to finally sit down and watch the original Friday the 13th movies at least watch the first-three films since they're only on Peacock streaming service. Now I don't know if I was depressed watching all of Alien Resurrection but for some odd, I felt extremely bored from beginning to the very end of the movie. Granted this film took all the concepts of John Carpenter's Halloween and took them to a whole new level of slasher movies that we all know and love, and sure this movie isn't all perfect and part of me wants this movie to be fun and great but yet at the same time the kills wasn't all the great in my opinion.

          Crystal Lake's history of murder doesn't deter counselors from setting up a summer camp in the woodsy area. Superstitious locals warn against it, but fresh-faced young kids pay little heed to the old-timers warning (as all young kids do-basic human nature). They later find themselves stalked by a brutal killer (not Jason). As they're slashed, shot and stabbed, the counselors struggle to stay alive against a merciless opponent. 

           Sean S. Cunningham who produced and directed the original Friday the 13th, was inspired by John Carpenter's first Halloween movie, and wanted to make a movie that was shocking, visually stunning and make you jump out of the edge of set, for which really this movie has all the elements in the very first Friday the 13th film, though sadly doesn't have that jump scare, either that or I'm just way to old and feel like I'm seeing every horror movie I've come across. Granted this movie has a small budget of 550,000-650,000 dollar budget and sure it introduces some shocking and gory aspects to it, as well as premarital sex scenes in the movie so if you’re a young boy now and want to watch something with naked women this was one of those movies that you'd want to watch but you can't tell you own parents. And that's the interesting aspect is you can look at this movie from the time of the film’s release and every generation to now, the kids today would discover nudity through watching these movies without parents telling you not to watch them while my generation our parents would tell you not to watch and you want to watch those movies and try to find sneaky ways to watch the movies while you're parents are either not watching you or went to bed early. Full disclosure I actually had a double feature by accident after watching Alien Resurrection and proceeded to watch Friday the 13th and may have some sense of boredom and frustration when watching Friday the 13th and wanted to hate it, but deep down this movie isn't all bad just has some boring scares as well as not a whole lot of jump scares, which at times I wish would have it but doesn't though granted the movie is 90 minutes so it at least gets to the point and not waste a whole lot of time with character development. To the movie's credit, prosthetic make-up artist and stunt performer, Tom Savini who's infamous in numerous films with makeup and special effects as well as stunt work but also remembered (in a sense) as Sex Machine in From Dusk till Dawn. Furthermore, has done a lot of the gory kills like the infamous Kevin Bacon kill with an arrow to the through the neck is impressive but more importantly works and Tom Savini gets a lot of credit for making a ton of those shocking kills that gives this film the edge it deserves, and we all love today. This film alone consists of 90 minutes in all fairness you can have your own personal slasher movie double feature and can still be entertained from beginning to the very end. The movie alone is not perfect, which a lot of movies aren't these days but there are times, I admit that I need to turn my brain off and act like I haven't seen a movie before. So, if you're looking for a fun Halloween double feature late at night, I would recommend watching Friday the 13th although if you haven't seen the first Scream, don't before you sit down and watch Friday the 13th first.

             

                             

Alien Resurrection

 

           

        Continuing with Alien films I haven't seen, and this is strangely the least depressing of all the Alien movies. Now I liked Alien 3 there were surprisingly really good ideas and some interesting concepts even though director David Fincher got fired 3 times, upon which I don't know that that works considering Fincher and the producers got into more fights almost like a dysfunctional married couple fighting then seconds later apologizing. Look, more importantly, I will argue and say that between Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, I would choose Alien 3 in a heartbeat even though the Alien in Alien 3 still looks awful on the wide shots of the movie.

        The saga continues 200 years after Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) sacrificed herself for the sake of humanity. Her erstwhile employers long gone, this time it is the military that resurrects the one-woman killing machine through genetic cloning to extract the Alien from within her, but during the process her DNA is fused with the queen and then the alien’s escape. Now Ripley must decide where her allegiance lies.

         The surprising factor about this movie and granted this is the only surprising factor, is that former creator of Buffy, and Firefly as well as the first ever Superhero team-up in movie history Avengers, Joss Whedon long before he was charged with workplace harassment. The studio of 20th Century Fox was impressed by Joss Whedon's screenwriting with the success of his first script Buffy the Vampire Slayer, though initially, Whedon's screenplay for Alien Resurrection had five versions of the final act of the film and yet none of his five versions of Joss’s final acts didn't make the cut for the final movie. I think the movie takes me out of liking the film is that Ripley simply fell in a huge burning furnace and yet for some reasons the company was able to clone her with her own blood but I don't remember Ripley ever bleeding through the final act of the movie so, I don't understand how they were able to clone her and the main problem is Whedon doesn't even explain how they were able to clone her. And really what makes Alien 3 decent for me is that they at least close the chapter in the Alien franchise, but yet, 20th Century Fox for whatever reasons needed a fourth chapter where we focus on a cloned version of Ripley who is insanely weird and frequently sexualized with some of the Aliens especially the last one in the movie and I would understand that she has a connection with the Aliens since she had in Alien inside of her but wasn't affected, either way nothing was logically explained. Danny Boyle, Bryon Singer and Peter Jackson were actually approached to direct this movie and yet this guy, Jean-Pierre Jeunet directs this movie and made it just way too weird to explain especially in times where I feel like Ripley is making love to a Xenomorph, as well as having weird incest to some of the Aliens especially at times where it feels like she's acting like them in fact having the same hunting traits almost like Paul W.S. Anderson making Alice in Resident Evil films being a sole survivor and then in the next movie she becomes a bad-a** action star, which I guess Cameron started that whole shenanigans and yet 20th Century Fox wanted to repeat that concept. Now after watching Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection I can understand why these films are somewhat forgotten because all they do is rehash the same concepts from the first-two Alien films and don't create anything fun or exciting (although Alien 3 tried) but just losses the same feel and fun as the first-two movies, and this movie I would rank as the worst of all the Alien films. Granted I would recommend watching Alien 3 because it's at least having interesting concepts and this movie just sucks the fun out of it, almost a thief of joy. All the Alien films are all on Hulu and Disney Plus so, if you’re feeling the need for any Alien movies, I would highly recommend watching all of them except for Alien Resurrection, you can just simply skip that movie unless you have a good sense of adventure.