Poltergeist

I can't remember the last time I had seen this movie.  High school, I guess.  Considering I graduated in 1998, that was a long time ago.  I remembered the very end - what happened to the house - but that was it.  Pretty much every other detail escaped me.  I even forgot that Carol Anne was taken, and that's one of the central plots of the movie.
So, while I had seen this movie, it felt like I was watching it for the first time.

There were some odd goofy moments, and some of the special effects felt dated, but I thought this movie holds up pretty well.  It wasn't quite as creepy as I had remembered it, but there were still a number of moments that made my skin crawl.

A solid movie.  I won't wait 15+ years to watch it again.

Zombie Lake

Description from Netflix:
During World War II, a group of villagers ambushed and defeated a band of German soldiers and threw their bodies in the nearby lake.  Now, the Nazis have returned as angry zombies, preying on unsuspecting teen swimmers and skinny-dippers.

My thoughts:
The above description should tell you just about all you need to know.  Especially the part about skinny-dippers.  Oh man...for a lake as filthy as this one, it's amazing how many skinny-dippers there are.  Young women find their way to the lake and immediately think, "I need to take off all my clothes and get in there as soon as possible."  And they do.

Within seconds, every girl in this shot was naked

While all this gratuitous nudity was going on (I'll estimate that 30% of this movie was naked ladies), there was a backstory about one of the Nazis and his daughter.  While he was stationed in this town, he knocked up a resident.  He was then killed, because he was a Nazi, and that's what you do to Nazis.  So, on top of killing nude co-eds, he also wanted to reunite with his daughter.  Because, even though he was a zombie, he still held his memories he had while living (like Colin or Bub).

Let's get some ice cream or something.  I mean...arrrrrrggggggghhhhhh

Needless to say, it was a terrible story.  They writers decided it really wasn't worth their time to flesh out any of the characters or their motivations or anything.  Am I asking too much of a softcore-zombie-porn?  Probably.

There were a lot of laughable parts of this movie (on top of the obvious nudity, which I feel has been covered pretty well).  The make-up was atrocious.  Like, visibly-rubbing-off-during-scenes bad.  Check that picture above: the make-up on his arms is rubbing off at the end of the sleeve.  And take a look at the neck on the picture below:

That's human flesh, my friends.

Most of the zombies walked around like regular people, if a little slower.  But this joker thought he was Karloff or something.  Seriously.  No other zombie moved like this.

"We belong undead.  Hey.  Hey!  Did you guys hear what I said?!"

This is one of my favorite pictures from the movie.  Look how bored that zombie on the left looks.

He's like a depressed, zombified Kyle Gass.

To say this was a terrible movie would be about the best review I could give it.  At times, it was borderline unwatchable.  Honestly, I felt a little uncomfortable watching it at times (that had less to do with the nudity and more to do with the fact that it felt like it was made by a Nazi sympathizer).  The handful of laughs didn't make up for the rest of it.

If you're looking for a good Nazi zombie movie (and who isn't?), I highly recommend you go with Dead Snow.

Underwater zombies, I know, I know, they're serious

Rating: 1/5

Zombies: they seemed to be pretty standard zombies.  No super-strength or anything like that.  Regular gunshots didn't seem to stop them (although I can't vouch for headshots, because I'm not sure any of them were actually shot in the head).  However, the thing that separated these zombies from your Romero zombies was the fact that fire killed them.  Anyone who knows zombies knows you should never set one on fire: it won't kill them, and now you have a flaming zombie to contend with.  But it seemed to work for these guys.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

Description from Netflix:
In the final chapter of this popular 1980s horror franchise, Freddy returns to target his old nemesis, Alice, in hopes of entering her unborn child's soul and being "born again" when the child enters the world.  Alice must stop Freddy -- stronger than ever and once again ready to terrorize the teens of Elm Street -- by freeing his dead mother's spirit so she can rise up and defeat Freddy for good.

Notable actors: Robert Englund

My thoughts:
First of all, I love that the Netflix description references this as "the final chapter".  They can't update that?  At this point, we know it's not the final chapter, because they made movies after this.

Once again, Freddy finds some way to haunt the dreams of teenagers.  Alice - our heroine from the last movie - is now pregnant, which somehow gives Freddy an entrance back to the world of dreams.  Even worse, he can now harm people through the dreams of Alice's unborn child.  Since a fetus sleeps 75% of the time (I'm not sure if that's accurate, but that's what the baby-doctor said in this movie), that means Freddy can strike pretty much any time.

It's not a bad movie, but it's definitely the weakest of the series so far.  The cheese factor gets taken up another notch, complete with us seeing the birth of Freddy, then seeing a Freddy-fetus run across the floor like a slimy burned rat.

As far as I know, this movie marks the only time in the series that teenager survives through 2 movies.  A handful of them make it to another movie (Nancy, Kristen, Joey, Kincaid, etc.), but they never survive that second movie.  Alice is able to pull off that rare feat.  Because she's awesome.  And a Dream Master.
(It should be noted that I don't count Nancy from 1 & 3 and Heather Langenkamp playing herself in New Nightmare as the same character.)

It's enjoyable, but not great.  Like I said, definitely the weakest of the series so far.  But, if you enjoyed 1-4, you'll enjoy this one.

Rating: 3/5

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

Description from Netflix:
Resurrected from the depths of hell, Freddy returns to kill the remaining teens on Elm Street.  But even after he murders the last kid, Freddy still isn't satisfied and looks for other ways to continue his sinister murdering spree.  He soon discovers the perfect person for him to victimize: Alice, a girl gifted with the special power of bringing other people into her dreams.

Notable actors: Robert Englund

My thoughts:
In the last film, they didn't really talk about how he came back.  They actually show how he was resurrected in this one, although perhaps they should've left it out.  A dog urinates fire onto his grave, and that uncovers him and allows him to continue his murdering ways.  First up are the last of the three Elm Street kids: Kristen, Kincaid and Joey.  Kristen's best friend (Alice) is pulled into Kristen's dream and sees her being killed.  This somehow allows Freddy access to the dreams of Alice and her friends, even though their families had nothing to do with his death.  (I told you the link was a bit more tenuous in this film.)

This is also the movie where the series turns into Freddy's show.  Sure, we still cheer for the victims to survive, but Freddy is absolutely the star of the show.  He has more lines.  More jokes.  More personality.  It gets pretty cheesy, but it's still enjoyable.

At this point in the series, even when Freddy is defeated, we don't really believe he is defeated.  As he says at the end of this movie: "I am eternal."

Rating: 4/5

Final question: the guy in the middle.  He's definitely what the creators of Buffy were going for when they were trying to find a look for Angel, right?

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors

Description from Netflix:
It's been many years since Freddy Kruger's first victim, Nancy, came face-to-face with Freddy and his sadistic, evil ways.  Now, Nancy's all grown up; she's put her frightening nightmares behind her and is helping teens cope with their dreams.  Too bad Freddy's decided to herald his return by invading the kids' dreams and scaring them into committing suicide.

Notable actors: Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Patricia Arquette, Laurence Fishburne, John Saxon

My thoughts:
This is where is starts to get cheesy.  Not full-fledged.  Not yet.  It goes full-fledged in the next film.  This isn't necessarily scary, but there are some good scenes in here.  The first dream sequence, in particular, is one of the better scenes in the series.

I also really like the idea that the kids can be whatever they want in their dreams.  Super powers, so to speak.  Sure, they're not great, but this is the first time where the kids realize they also have power in dreams, and try to use that against Freddy.
Of course, he also uses his powers against them.  And he knows what he's doing a little more than they do.

We also find out a little more about Freddy's backstory from a mysterious nun.

They don't really explain how he came back in this movie.  It seemed like they had finally put him to rest for good at the end of the second movie, and they make no attempt to explain how he's back in the world of dreams.  Part 2 came out in 1985, and this one came out in 1987.  Maybe they thought the audience wouldn't remember (or wouldn't care) how the last one ended.

The link between movies works fairly well: all the kids in this movie are "the last of the Elm Street kids".  That connection grows a bit more tenuous in the next movie, but there's still a strong connection here.

Overall, I really like this one.  The series is starting to go in a different direction, but that's okay.  The skeleton fight-scene at the end was a bit dated (to say the least), but it's still an enjoyable movie.

Rating: 4/5

A Nightmare on Elm Street II: Freddy's Revenge

Description from Netflix:
It's been five years since Freddy Krueger tormented those hapless Elm Street teens with his razor glove and maniacal sense of humor.  But he's back for revenge, with his sights set on another innocent victim he can torture and possess.

Notable actors: Robert Englund, Lyman Ward

My thoughts:
A little different from the first one.  Where that one found Freddy killing a bunch of kids in their dreams, this one finds him trying to "get back into the game", as it were.  A family moves into Nancy's old house, and Freddy immediately begins to take over the body of the boy (Jesse).  He needs a host to bring him back.  Or, in the words of Freddy, "You've got the body, and I've got the brains."

While it's a different movie, it has the same kind of feel as the first one.  There's something weird going on, and no one will believe him.  He's dating the girl next door (Lisa), and she begins to believe him after reading Nancy's diary.
Jesse begins to find himself in strange places, witnessing Freddy murdering people.  But he slowly discovers that Freddy is using him as a vessel to kill these people.  For Freddy, the eventual goal is to take over the body of Jesse.  I'm unclear as to whether he would still be able to terrorize dreams, or if he would just exist in the real world.

I like this movie.  It's not quite as good as the first, but it has a lot of great moments.  Jesse's screams are legendary.  Check this one out (the good stuff comes in around the :50 mark):



I was a big fan of Grady, Jesse's enemy/best friend/overall jackass.  Their relationship was confusing, but he had the best lines of the movie.

And, of course, I need to give a shout out to Jesse's girlfriend, Lisa Webber.  She goes above and beyond the call of duty to help Jesse.  Would you make out with a serial killer for your significant other?  You wouldn't?  Then you're not as good as Lisa.

There's a large homosexual subtext that runs throughout this movie that is impossible to miss.  But I won't delve into that here.  I'm fairly sick at the moment, and it's all I can do to throw up these slap-dash reviews.  If I were to get into that, it wouldn't end well.

Rating: 4/5

Last but not least, look at what Jesse's sister is eating for breakfast.  Fu Man Chews!

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Description from Netflix:
Years after being burned alive by a mob of angry parents, child murderer Freddy Krueger returns to haunt the dreams and waking hours of small-town teens in this spine-chilling slasher classic from director Wes Craven.

Notable actors: Robert Englund, Johnny Depp, Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss, Lin Shaye, John Saxon

My thoughts:
Whenever I watch the sequels, then go back and watch this one, I'm always surprised by how much different this is.  In the later movies (starting with part 3, really), Freddy is a likable, wise-cracking killer.  You're not exactly rooting for him, but you are drawn to him.

Not so with this movie.  He doesn't have many lines, and he certainly isn't cracking any jokes. He's a menacing, stalking child-killer.  It's a dark movie, with no room for jokes or laughs.
It feels a bit dated at times (the scene with the long arms looks especially cheesy), but, overall, this movie still holds up remarkably well.

I never saw this series as a child, so I know it's not nostalgia that keeps drawing me back to these movies.  While I can't say that this ranks as high as the original Halloween on my list of horror movies, it certainly isn't too far off.

Rating: 5/5

What I'm Watching: 10/5/12 - Part II

The description from Netflix:
A small-town disc jockey and an embittered Texas Ranger team up to put an end to the murderous affairs of the Sawyer family in this sequel to the cult favorite.  The ranger, whose son was killed in the first movie, is determined to get revenge, and the DJ has a tape that may be vital to his search.  The pair follows the killers' trail to a slaughterhouse underneath an abandoned amusement park, which has become the Sawyer family hideout.

Notable actors: Dennis Hopper, Bill Moseley

My thoughts:
One point of contention with the Netflix description: The Texas Ranger ("Lefty") was the uncle of the Hardestys, not their father.
I had never seen this before, and I honestly didn't even know much about it.  It was definitely different from the original.  Much goofier, while still being really gory and pretty unsettling.  There were parts that drug on for too long, but, overall, I really liked it.
Also, we got an all-time great final girl in Stretch.  Sure, she made a handful of dumb decisions, but she went through a lot of torture, and a lot of messed up stuff (like wearing her friend's face), and she came out on top.  Did she lose her mind a bit at the end?  Probably.  But she fought hard and she survived, and that's what makes a good final girl.

Rating: 4/5

What I'm Watching: 10/5/12

The description from Netflix:
When secretive new neighbors move in next door, suburbanite Ray Peterson and his friends let their paranoia get the best of them as they start to suspect the newcomers of evildoings and commence an investigation.  But it's hardly how Ray, who prefers drinking beer, reading his newspaper and watching a ball game on the tube expected to spend his vacation.

Notable actors: Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, Bruce Dern, Corey Feldman, Courtney Gains

First of all, that description is ridiculous.

Second of all, this movie is amazing.  I have seen this dozens of times, and I love it a little more every time.  One of my all-time favorite movies.

Rating: 5/5

Deadly Blessing

I watched this for Final Girl’s film club.  I had actually never heard of this movie before, despite it being an early Wes Craven movie.  This movie came out 4 years after The Hills Have Eyes and 3 years before A Nightmare on Elm Street.  By looking at the cover, I didn’t know what to expect.  Something sexy with Sharon Stone, probably.

I was even wrong on that front.

The basic story is simple.  Martha and Jim live on a farm (titled “Our Blessing”) next to an extremely conservative religious group called the Hittites.  It is said that these Hittites “make the Amish look like swingers.”  (I have been around quite a few Amish in my day, and I don’t believe that statement to be true.  Moving on…) 

One night, Jim hears a noise in his barn.  He goes out to check it out, and is promptly run over by his tractor.  His death is chalked up to an accident.  Apparently tractors often start themselves up and run people over?  Like Christine, but much slower.

The leader of the Hittites (a man named Isaiah, played with crazed fanaticism by Ernest Borgnine) tries to buy the farm off of Martha.  She says no, and he calls her “the incubus” (which he does a lot of in this movie).  He’s very angry and pretty threatening.  It’s clear that we are to believe that he is the killer.

Martha’s city friends (Lana and Vicky) come out to visit/console Martha.  Vicky falls for one of the Hittites (John, who is one of Isaiah’s sons), but it appears to be a lost cause, as he is already engaged to his cousin.  Ah…young love.

El Amor Prohibido

Lana doesn’t have anywhere near as much fun.  She gets trapped in the barn with the killer, has the corpse of Jim fall on her, and has recurring nightmares of having spiders crawl into her mouth (thus the cover, now decidedly unsexy).

Weird stuff happens around the house, and it is clear that someone (or something) is trying to kill them.  Or, rather, trying to kill Martha. 

It has the feel of a slasher movie: a shadowy figure hiding in dark places, stalking pretty girls.  A pretty standard stalk-and-kill movie, but with a slightly different feel.  For the majority of the movie, it was not clear if the killer was an actual person or a supernatural being.  That adds a bit more mystery to the events of the movie.

Overall, I didn’t love this.  It wasn’t overly long (100 minutes), but it was really slow in parts, which made it feel much longer than its actual running time.  The story really seemed to drag at times.  I know there were multiple times where it didn’t feel like anything was happening.  I was bored quite often while watching this.

Still, it wasn’t all bad.  There were a number of entertaining parts: some intentional, some not.  I laughed pretty much every time Isaiah called someone “the incubus”.  I laughed at the ridiculously skimpy outfits that Vicky wore around the extremely conservative Hittites (because when your friend’s husband was quite possibly murdered by an extreme religious group, the smart thing to do is provoke them).  And I laughed at the final jump scare, which seemed out of place but also kind of fitting.

There was one scene that I found really interesting.  Martha is in the bathtub, and the killer releases a snake into the bathroom.  It finds its way into the tub, and, while Martha has her eyes closed, raises its head above the water between her legs.  Craven would use this exact same scene 3 later in A Nightmare on Elm Street.  It is the exact same shot (with Freddy’s claw substituted for the snake, naturally).

I guess I’m glad I watched this, but I can’t say I really enjoyed it too much.  I didn’t hate it, but I wouldn’t choose to watch it again, and I would really recommend it to anyone.

Rating: 1.5/5

Pieces

At the beginning of the movie, we see a child murder his mother with an axe for daring to pull him away from a naked-lady puzzle, then gleefully saw her head off and put it in the closet.  He then continues to put together his puzzle because…hey!  Naked lady!  When the cops show up, he hides in the closet and pretends to cry.  The cops – finding the boy in a closet covered in blood – assume someone else killed his mother (probably because the cops in horror movies are usually pretty inept).

 Fast forward 30 years or so.  A killer is running loose at a college, murdering pretty young girls and chopping off body parts with a chainsaw (if I’m not mistaken, the first victim is having a little “picnic for one” and ends up losing her head).  These kinds of scenes are interspersed with the killer putting together the naked lady puzzle.  We quickly realize that he’s putting together a human puzzle from the “pieces” of the women he kills.  A head from one.  A torso from another.  An arm from another.  And so on.  So he’s trying to put together a Frankenstein monster, but without the whole “making it come alive” aspect.  Since he kept his mothers shoes and dress, it seems pretty clear that he’s trying to put his “mother” back together.  Of course, it’s also quite feasible that he just wants a cobbled-together naked lady in his closet.  Whatever works, I suppose.

Apparently the cops in this town are all really busy, so they enlist the help of a college student named Kendall (even giving him access to confidential police files, based on the “he seems trustworthy” logic) and a female tennis pro named Mary (who works undercover with the police, and goes into the college under the guise of being a tennis instructor).  This leads to one of my favorite scenes in the movie, when we actually see her playing tennis.  It looks as though she has never actually played tennis a day in her life.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find a clip.  But I guess that just means you'll have to watch the movie for yourself to see it.  Trust me...it's well worth it.

Mary is also responsible for one of my other favorite scenes in the movie.  Kendall and her – getting ready to play tennis after a long day of not searching for the murderer – find another dead body in the locker room (a girl that was cut in half).  This does not make Mary happy.  Please watch this clip.  Then watch it again.  And again.

Throughout the movie, the police just seem mildly annoyed by the murders.  Even when they find out who the killer is (and they realize that Mary is over at his house), they do an awful lot of standing around when they should be running.  Of course, I guess I shouldn’t be judging their department too harshly.  A police department that brings in a college student and a tennis “pro” on to help with a brutal murderer is obviously hurting for funds.

Also, for some reason, a karate guy in a jumpsuit pops attacks Mary in the middle of the movie.  There really isn’t any reasoning given for this.  Or perhaps there is and I forgot it.  Because “random karate guy” is a lot more fun than “explained karate guy”.

The last scene was tremendous.  I don’t want to give anything away (apparently I’m loathe to spoil the ending of a movie that came out 30 years ago), but Kendall makes this face: 

There were so many fantastic characters (the groundskeeper who gives everyone the stink-eye, the professor with the pencil moustache, Kendall’s nerdy werewolf-mask-wearing best friend, etc.) and a ton of terrific quotes.  Here are some of my favorites:

“The most beautiful thing in the world is smoking pot and f***ing on a waterbed, at the same time.”

“I guess I'm so used to bodies...dead ones...that I'm callous.”

“Professor Brown – you see – is a homosexual.”

This movie was terrible, but very, very entertaining.  I loved it.  It was pure 80s b-movie schlock, with rampant nudity and gore.  And it was wonderful.  I can see myself re-watching this many times.  It seems like a fun one to sit around and watch with friends.

Rating: 5/5

He looks like this in every single one of his scenes

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

So here we are, at the end of our little journey.  I know this isn’t the end of the series, but, as I mentioned at the start of this, most of the movies after this don’t really interest me (except Jason X, which is amazing).

It should be noted that it is in this movie that the nudity really ramps up.  Pretty much every character (other than the Jarvis’) get naked.  Most of them early and often.

For the opening sequence in the movie, we see Paul (from Part 2) talking about Jason around the campfire, along with a montage of a bunch of the deaths from the previous 3 movies.  It’s a great opening.  Even without the name of The Final Chapter, the opening gives you the feeling that this would be the last movie.  But money always wins out in the end, and the series continued after this movie.

The movie shifts to show the barn from the end of Part 3.  The paramedics are loading Jason’s body into an ambulance.  They take him to the hospital and deliver him Axel, the horny morgue attendant.  But, as we already know, Jason can’t die, and Axel is his first victim.

Our characters:

Trish Jarvis: Our survivor girl.  I certainly like her better than Chris from Part 3.  She’s nice, and she likes to have fun, but she also loves her younger brother and would do anything to protect him.

Tommy Jarvis: Trish’s little brother (played by Corey Feldman).  He’s a geek who makes his own monster masks.

Mrs. Jarvis: Trish and Tommy’s mother.  She disapproves of their new neighbors and all the nudity.

Rob: He runs into Trish & Tommy when their car breaks down.  Seems like a nice guy.  They set him up as a love interest to Trish pretty quickly.  We find out a little later in the movie that his sister was Sandra, who was killed in Part 2.  As a reminder, this is how she died:

When they meet him, Rob says that he’s a hunter.  As it turns out, he’s hunting Jason.

Terri & Tina: Slutty twins.  And they ride bikes…just like the Doublemint Twins.

The rest of these characters all came into town together to stay at a cabin next door to the Jarvis’.

Jimmy: He’s an oddball (and extremely uncomfortable to watch), which is not surprising, considering he’s being played by Crispin Glover.  He has apparently just been dumped by a girl with the nickname of “BJ Betty”.  Sounds classy.  There’s a scene where he dances, and it’s the most spastic dance you have ever seen in your entire life.

The good stuff starts 35 seconds in.

Sam: Has a reputation of being a slut, a reputation she claims she picked up “in the sixth grade”.

Paul: Dating Sam.  He’s tall and he wears hats.  However, even though he wears a hat in 95% of his scenes, I couldn’t find a picture of him actually wearing a hat.  The internet can be a frustrating place sometimes.

Ted: A total turd.  I hate him completely.  There’s a long scene where he sits in the living room, gets high, and watches an old black and white stag film…and he laughs like an ass the entire time.  He also refers to himself as “Teddy Bear” on more than one occasion.

You can practically hear him braying in this picture.

Sara: A nice girl.  Cute, shy and virginal.  She’s good friends with Sam, who keeps trying to get her to be a little sluttier.

Doug: I honestly didn’t remember seeing this guy through the first 45 minutes of the movie.  He’s either not very memorable, or he just wasn’t in the movie much up to this point.  He’s dating Sara.  (Fun fact: he is played by Peter Barton, who played Jeff in Hell Night.)  I searched for 30 minutes and couldn’t find a picture of Peter Barton in this movie where he wasn’t in the shower.

The killer:

Jason Voorhees: As I mentioned in my last post, Part 3 really sets up Jason as the unstoppable killer that we know throughout the rest of the series.  We definitely see that Jason here.  He’s not fast, but he doesn’t stop.  If he gets knocked down, he gets right back up.  He’s a killing machine.

The deaths:

Axel, the horny morgue attendant.  He’s watching a women’s work-out video by himself.  Jason takes a hacksaw to his throat, then twists his head backwards.

Nurse Morgan had been getting frisky with Axel in the morgue.  She left, but Jason found her anyway.  She gets lifted off the ground, and gets a knife in her chest, then sliced down to her belly-button. 

A hitchhiker with no-name, but is lovingly referred to as “Banana Girl” by Final Girl.  She’s looking for a trip to Canada (and love, apparently).  When a car passes her by without picking her up, she flips them off, then sits down to eat a banana.  With a piece of banana in her mouth, Jason stabs her in the back of the throat.  She gurgles and dies while banana slobber runs down her chin.  It’s…not pleasant.

Sam gets mad at Paul for dancing with one of the twins, so she gets naked at night and gets into a little rubber boat on the lake.  As she lays there, waiting for Paul to come after her, Jason shows up and sticks a knife into her stomach and through her back.

Paul, feeling bad about dancing with another girl in front of his girlfriend, goes out to look for Sam.  He swims out to the boat, finds Sam dead, and frantically swims back to the dock.  He gets a spear in his crotch and is lifted off the ground as he screams.

While Tina hooks up with Jimmy, Terri decides to leave (apparently watching the aforementioned black and white stag movies with Ted isn’t the laugh-fest he seems to think it is).  She puts on a raincoat, walks outside to her bike, gets a spear through her back and is pinned to the house.

After having sex with Tina, Jimmy goes downstairs to get some wine.  He gets a corkscrew through the hand and a butcher knife in the face.

Tina puts on a shirt and walks around upstairs.  She sees that her sister’s bike is still there.  As she’s looking out the window, Jason grabs her and throws her out of the window.  She lands on top of a car.

Ted is still watching the stag film in the living room.  He walks up to the projector screen to fondle one of the actresses.  He gets a knife in the back of the head.

Doug and Sara are in the shower together.  Sara gets out to go to the bed.  Doug stays in the shower and gets his head crushed by Jason. 

Sara, wearing only a towel, goes back to the shower and finds Doug dead.  She screams and tries to run out of the house, only to get a flying ax in the chest.  Next time, you should keep your pants on.

Rob & Trish head into the cabin next door to try to find Mrs. Jarvis.  The power goes off and Rob goes into the basement to investigate.  Trish finds Doug’s body and runs through the house screaming that Jason is in the house.  Jason appears, pins Rob against a wall, and beats him to death with a hammer. 

At this point, Trish tries to get out of the house, only to have dead bodies blocking her every turn.  She finally pushes her way past a dead body blocking a door.  She runs back to her cabin, where Tommy is still waiting.  They nail the door shut, but they don’t bother with boarding up the windows (there really wouldn’t be much time for that, anyway).  Rob’s body comes flying through the window, with a hammer stuck in his head.  Jason bursts in and grabs Tommy.  Trish fights Jason off with a hammer, and he drops Tommy.  Jason chases them through the house, and they barricade themselves in Trish’s room.  Jason uses an ax to chop through the door.  Trish smashes Jason’s head with a TV, and he falls to the ground.  They try to walk past him, but he gets up and chases Trish back into the cabin next door.  She escapes by running upstairs and jumping through a window, landing on her back (it doesn’t look all that dissimilar to the way Michael Myers lands at the end of Halloween). 

She gets up and runs back to her cabin, but Jason isn’t far behind, and she fights him off with a machete.  She even manages to slice his hand down the middle.

Meanwhile, Tommy shaves his head, changes his clothes and puts make-up on his face to make himself look more like Jason at the end of Part 1 (the version that pulled Alice into the water). 

He comes downstairs as Jason is about to kill Trish.  He tries to get inside Jason’s head by repeating, “Remember, Jason.  Remember.”  Trish is able to knock off his mask while he’s distracted by Tommy, and his face looks worse than ever.  As Jason looks at Trish, Tommy takes the machete and embeds it in Jason’s face.  He falls to the floor, and the machete slides further into his face, taking part of it off.  Tommy picks up the machete, and hugs Trish.  As he looks down, he sees that Jason’s hand is moving, so he brutally hacks at Jason’s body and repeatedly screams, “Die”.  It’s in slow motion, and it’s terrific. 

The movie ends with Trish in the hospital (she messed up her shoulder in the fall).  Tommy comes in to see her.  They hug.  As the camera focuses on Tommy’s face, his eyes open and we see a crazy look in his eye. 

 

We never actually see Mrs. Jarvis die (nor do we ever see her body), but she is assumed to be dead.  At one point we see her go outside, look up at something and scream.  The camera cuts somewhere else, and we never see her again.  So I guess she died, but I’m not sure how, exactly.

Following the survivor girl:

Not much to report, really.  There was a lot of nudity/sex/drug use in this movie, but it was all taking place at the cabin next door.  We do see her play the role of the protective big sister a number of times, even if that “protection” is only to shield Tommy from the nudity of the teens next door.

Overall, I liked this movie.  Where Part 3 set up Jason for the rest of the series, I feel like this movie set up the victims for the rest of the series.  For the most part, this was an anonymous set of victims.  A couple of them had personality, but I didn’t really care about any of them.  I wanted Trish and Tommy to live, but I had no connection to the other ones.  That’s quite a difference from the previous three movies, where there were at least a handful of characters I was sad to see die.

And that brings us to the end of this run.  We were able to see the evolution of Jason…from a young child in a lake, to a sack-headed murderer, to the hockey mask-wearing killing machine that we know in future movies: we were able to see all of that throughout the course of these four movies.  I hope you all had as much fun reading these as I did writing about them.  If you haven’t watched these movies yet, I hope this inspired you to do so.

I found a couple of sites dedicated to this series that I’d urge you to check out.  They can be a lot of fun.

A list of all Friday the 13^th deaths.

Friday the 13^th wiki page.  This has characters, a timeline of events in the series, etc.

As always, we’ll end with Final Girl’s take on the deaths.