During a local fishing contest, people are being mysteriously dragged into the lake and killed by a giant fish hook.
For a D-list film revolving around "Muskie Madness" and a fishing rod wielding killer, Blood Hook is a surprisingly satisfying (and unsurprisingly hilarious) adventure. Shot in 6 weeks with a cast and crew of non-professionals, the film looks like crap but is campy fun and a testament to the independent spirit. It's no surprise the director, Jim Mallon, went on to be part of Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Blood Hook is the exact kind of film those guys love to trash. Yet at the same time, it manages to be aware of the inner-workings of the genre, subverting some of the slasher flicks most timeworn cliches, including characters like the idiotic punk-rock teen, shell-shocked war vet, among others. While the plot may be completely ridiculous and full of Midwestern inside jokes, information is never revealed too quickly, and the story keeps you guessing up until the very end. Far more intelligent than it looks, Blood Hook is perfect for anyone who loves well thought out, shoe-string DIY horror trash.
A group of young adults discover a boarded up Camp Crystal Lake, where they soon encounter Jason Voorhees and his deadly intentions.
Not so much a reboot or remake as it is a sequel of sorts, the new Friday the 13th amalgamizes elements from the first three Jason movies to create a 'fresh start' for the series. Continuing where the original Friday the 13th left off -- with Jason's mother being brutally beheaded whilst her son watches in the darkness -- the film quickly dispenses its ludicrous plot involving a weed heist and starts the killing almost right away.
While Jason and his victims may have never looked as stylish or sexy as they do in this entry to the series, they've also never been so damn boring. The strength of a slasher always rests on the creativity of its kills, something this entry severely lacks. Most of the death scenes rely on run of the mill pop up/jump 'look out behind you!' scare tactics, or even blatantly rehash kills from early Jason flicks (ie: the famous jump through the window scene from Part II). Several key story elements, such as the manipulation of Jason's mommy complex, are all lifted from earlier Jason flicks. As a result the whole flick has a been there/done that, I-saw-that-coming-from-a-mile-away type feel.
Rather than amping the creativity of the kills and the omnipresent nature of Jason's character, the film relies on and retools the worst slasher cliches: annoying, bratty, stupid teens and their sick vices. While I commend the filmmakers for managing to get Willa Ford naked and showing an ample amount of breasts, it's hard to sit through a flick where the main characters keep saying "bro" and pound beers till they vomit. Truly they are better off dead. The stupidity and immorality of the victims has always been a major thematic point for these kind of flicks, but I'm not sure if they've ever been quite as vapid or abhorrent.
It would be nice, for a change, to see some relatively decent people go up against the monster that is Jason. Or, perhaps even better, some actual camp counselors. Why does the series always move away from the camp idea? Wouldn't it be more terrifying to see some teenagers dealing with young children as well as a masked psycho killer? Balancing responsibility with survival? Camp Crystal Lake is barely present in these films anymore (at least beyond an overgrown forest/murder scene), and it would be nice to see it return.
Ultimately this reboot/rehash/whatever was all about streamlining the inconic killer and making a version that adhered to our modern technical standards. On that level it succeeds. But as entertainment it's completely inept. Amping all the intolerable cliches and lacking any real creativity, Friday the 13th is a truly awful representation of the slasher genre. Hearing that the guys responsible for this are planning a Nightmare on Elm Street reboot sends shudders through my spine...
Alice, having survived the previous installment of the Nightmare series, finds the deadly dreams of Freddy Krueger starting once again. This time, the taunting murderer is striking through the sleeping mind of Alice's unborn child. His intention is to be "born again" into the real world. The only one who can stop Freddy is his dead mother, but can Alice free her spirit in time to save her own son?
A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of my favorite horror flicks of all time. Combining slasher scares with meta-physical reality, Wes Craven crafted an original and truly scary film that took advantage of the 80's gore effects boom. It also spawned a slew of knock-offs and an obsession with altered-reality/dreams/paranormal activity that dominated 80's horror.
The sequels all tinker with the nightmare formula a little bit - Freddy's abilities to haunt and scare and the definitions of the dream world are all a bit fluid - but one element always keep these films from being a predictable slasher flick: the kills. Freddy Krueger murders are always an excuse for outlandish, over-the-top effects, and the crazier the better.
In this film, the fifth in the series, Krueger returns in an attempt to inhabit the soul of Alice's unborn child. The precedence for Freddy's soul-stealing was set in the second film - which is universally hated, I believe, for having gone astray from the original formula - and is no less ridiculous here.
Neither are the kills, which range from a ridiculous comic book style slashing to Seven-style force feeding to the infamous "Freddybike". This film is all about the effects, which take a cue from the works of Rob Bottin (The Thing) and feature a lot of flesh mutation and slippery tendons.
By this point in the series, Freddy had developed a strong personality too, which also separates it from many other slasher flicks. He's given some hilarious quips and says the word "bitch" a lot.
Look out for a great scene that addresses the subject of abortion (if Alice just got rid of the damn baby, Freddy couldn't keep killing). The dialogue is priceless.
Tommy Jarvis battles the infamous Jason for a third time after returning to his grave and accidently bringing him back to life.
The original Friday the 13th is basically a Halloween rip off with Kevin Bacon and a few twists. This film, the sixth in the series, wears the whole slasher killing sexy teens formula on its sleeve so much that it doesn't even bother to explain Jason's return. His corpse just gets struck by lighting and suddenly the slaughter begins.
I guess it's good that they cut to the chase. And some of the slaughter is sweet. The scene where Jason punches straight through the dudes heart is pretty kick ass.
Overall though this shit pales in comparison to the effects heavy Nightmare on Elm Street stuff, or the works of John Carpenter & David Cronenberg several years earlier. Maybe it's not fair to compare, but I still think there's room in slasher flicks for some pretty hefty visceral gore.
