The Thing (1982)

Tagline: “Man is the warmest place to hide”
Running Time: 109 minutes

Film Quality: 5/5
Gore Content: 3.5/5
Entertainment Value: 5/5
Originality: 3.5/5

Introduction

Having already established himself as a masterful director with a small budget, John Carpenter was given a shot at the big time with a wodge of cash from Universal Pictures and a script from Bill Lancaster, son of Hollywood legend Burt. Heavily influenced by H.P Lovecraft, Carpenter didn’t collaborate with Lancaster with the writing and, as with previous films ‘Halloween’ and ‘Assault on Precinct 13’ chose to put his own stamp as an auteur with some almost unbearable claustrophobic tension. Equally as impressive as a character study in paranoia and as a body horror, many consider what was an almighty turkey on release to be Carpenter’s masterpiece.

In a Nutshell

A fatal encounter with two Norwegians at a US research outpost in Antarctica encourages the team to find out what persuaded these Scandanavian scoundrels to start shooting at an Alaskan hound. Bringing back a badly burned, deformed corpse and footage showing something unearthed in the ice, a shapeshifting alien lurks within the camp. But who is really human and who can they really trust in order to survive?

So what’s good about it?

Why beat about the bush, Rob Bottin’s practical effects work in this film have gone down in cinematic history as some of the finest ever committed to film. The sequence with the defibrillator penetrating Norris’ chest to bite off a colleague’s arms, only for a monster to burst out of it, all whilst Norris’ head slowly detaches itself from the rest of his body to sprout legs and scamper off is utterly jaw-dropping. One of the characters sums it up sublimely by staring at the spider-head to utter “You’ve got to be f*cking kidding”, echoing our thoughts. That’s just one of many highlights including the dog reveal, the blood serum test and the brilliantly conceived deformed bodies.

But this is so much more than a gorefest. Carpenter uses the alien’s shapeshifting capabilities to create an ever escalating feeling of paranoid tension. MacReady even records this in his notes, saying ‘Nobody trusts anyone anymore’. The testosterone flying around amongst the all male cast renders the arguments and confrontations perfectly believable and Carpenter makes absolutely the right decision in keeping us out of the loop in terms of who is infected and who isn’t. We don’t trust anyone either meaning we can’t side with a particular character…even Kurt Russell’s weary hero MacReady acts irrationally, strapping himself to a flame thrower whilst holding several sticks of dynamite. This tension is made explicit with the blood serum test where we finally get to find out who’s human and who’s not without having any idea as to what will happen – the way it is filmed and scripted suggests the characters don’t know either.

The outpost was a constructed set and Carpenter makes incredible use of all of the dark corridors and corners. We see figures walking past doorways, shadows on a door as the dog enters someone’s room but who is it? We never get a true sense of the geography of the place, adding further layers to our confusion and increasing the sensation of being trapped in a maze from which there is no escape. In many ways it’s reminiscent of Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’ with the added element of not knowing who’s on your side OR what the alien looks like.

The film sank like a stone in cinemas and reviews were terrible, one of the elements attacked was the characterisation which I find odd. I think the characters are well written with their own distinct personalities. You have the volatile Childs, mild-mannered Norris, slightly disturbed Palmer, the leader Garry amongst others. These characteristics come to the fore in such elevated states of confusion and self-preservation in what I consider to be a very believable way. The acting is spot on throughout and reactions to situations range from taking control or looking for inspiration to blind panic and each character steps up to his given characteristics.

In an unusual move for him, Carpenter chose not to score the film himself, instead enlisting the not inconsiderable talents of Ennio Morricone. His score is subtle, simmering away underneath the surface, just like our character’s emotions and alien’s identity. Apparently Carpenter got married to Morricone’s music which was the primary reason for wanting him to score one of his films, and what better opportunity than with Universal’s backing?

No phoning home for this alien

What about the bad?

They couldn’t have picked a worse time to release it! Steven Spielberg had just introduced the world to one of the cutest and most lovable aliens that ever wanted to ‘go home’ in a decade that was full of optimism, colour and happy endings. So, along comes Carpenter’s tale of a seriously pissed off alien full of pessimism, paranoia and distrust with an ending completely at odds with Spielberg’s tearjerker. Factor in that it was released on the same day as Ridley Scott’s other sci-fi classic ‘Blade Runner’ (also a flop, also dark and brooding) and it never stood a chance.

My only other complaint is more a testament to the brilliance of the rest of the film and that is that the final special effect reveal is overshadowed by almost every other special effect in the film. It’s not that it’s particularly bad, far from it, but it doesn’t compare with the defibrillator scene and is something of an anti-climax. Of course it does pave the way for the brilliant final moments with MacReady and Childs and we can all give thanks that a happy ending, insisted upon by studio execs, was never used (take note ‘Blade Runner’!) and hasn’t even seen the light of day as a blu-ray extra…at least not yet!

Any Themes?

Self-preservation

Paranoia, madness and the effects of isolation. As part of what Carpenter refers to as his ‘Apocalypse Trilogy’ (also including ‘Prince of Darkness’ and ‘In the Mouth of Madness’) this is an incredibly nihilistic film. The end offers very little hope and throughout the film, at the very moment that the characters need to stay together they push each other further apart as relationships completely break down and they quite literally kill each other.

Picking up on similar themes explored by the 50s version of ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’, the film explores the notion that trust is ultimately fruitless as, when it comes down to it, self-preservation is our strongest basic desire. Others’ wellbeing and looking out for each other is meaningless when compared to our own wellbeing so, when we think others are putting their own wellbeing above our own, trust in those others breaks down and paranoia kicks in. Call it survival of the fittest, kill or be killed or dog eat dog, it boils down to plain old survival instinct and once trust is lost it’s almost impossible to get back.

Release history

No censorship issues in the UK, although a US TV version was created that removed some of the potty-mouthed parley (full marks for political correctness to the genius who dubbed ‘motherf#cker’ with ‘monkey fella’!) , some of the more gruesome effects and featured a voiceover at the beginning of the film. It also introduces most of the characters via voiceover and features an additional shot at the end of one of the dogs running away and turning back to look (possibly a repeat of one of the opening shots) which more explicitly implies that The Thing has survived and escaped. From memory the TV version shown on 80s TV in the UK was virtually uncut, apart from some of the swearing.

Cultural Significance

Massive! Despite bombing like a Lancaster it has been reappraised countless times and is now not only regarded as one of Carpenter’s best but one of the best of the 80s full stop! It is also considered a reference film for practical special effects, how they should be done and a prime example of a film that uses its effects, not just for shock value but also to propel the plot.

A prequel of sorts was released in 2014 which suffered by comparison to the original but enormous effort was made to pay respect to the original. This included creating an exact replica of the room where The Thing escaped its ice block, using Kurt Russell’s height as a reference point, explaining how the deformed bodies came to be and even explaining the axe in the wall that Macready and Doc come across. It’s such a shame that they felt the need to ‘touch up’ the practical effects, why go to all that effort to create such effects only to hide them behind CGI? Will Hollywood ever learn???

It should also be mentioned that ‘The Thing’ was a clear influence behind Quentin Tarantino’s wonderful ‘The Hateful Eight’, even using unused parts of Ennio Morricone’s score that featured as music on the menu of the original DVD. Both films star Kurt Russell in the lead role, they both feature a group of, in this case largely, male characters trapped in an isolated space by a snowstorm, both play significantly on the paranoia and breakdown of trust because a person or persons unknown aren’t who they appear to be. Tarantino is a known admirer or Carpenter and an expert in reusing themes, scores and entire scenes or sections of dialogue to pay homage to classic films and this, to me, is his best since the equally paranoid ‘Reservoir Dogs’.

Final Thoughts

Considered by Carpenter to be his love letter to H.P. Lovecraft’s monumental novella ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ and visiting a number of the themes covered in that classic piece of literature is has quite a heritage. Just as relevant as a paranoid thriller as it is a sci-fi body horror it works on so many levels that it’s quite astounding that it was considered a flop upon its theatrical release. That it has been reappraised as a classic of the decade and genre is testament to those that love it and turned it into a hit on VHS and one in the eye for the critics who got it horribly wrong.

Memorable Quotes

Garry: “I know you gentlemen have been through a lot but, if it’s alright with you, I’d rather not spend the rest of the winter TIED TO THIS F@CKING COUCH!”

Palmer (as Norris’ head sprouts legs and walks off): “You’ve got to be f@cking kidding.”

Palmer: “I was wondering when El Capitan was going to get the chance to use his pop gun.”

MacReady: “Trust’s a hard thing to come by these days.”

You’ll like this if you enjoyed…

‘Alien’, ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’, ‘Species’, ‘Lifeforce’

Jaws (1975)

Tagline: “The terrifying motion picture from the terrifying number one best seller”
Running Time: 124 minutes

Film quality: 5/5
Gore Content: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 5/5
Originality: 4/5

Introduction

When Universal producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown independently read Peter Benchley’s ‘Jaws’ they could have had no idea that they were about to change the direction of cinema. Settling on the, at the time, unknown and still in his 20s Steven Spielberg to direct it was to prove a masterstroke of fortune that would lead to the creation of one of THE greatest films of all time. Plagued by trouble during production, escalating budgets, technical problems, re-writes and a bloated shooting schedule, this is a lesson in putting faith in a talented director who can work around problems and make the best of a situation.

In a nutshell…

A young girl is killed in a suspected shark attack at a seaside resort reliant on the tourist trade during the holiday season. As more bathers perish at the fins of a Great White Shark, the leviathan must be destroyed before it threatens the town’s livelihood and the lives of its residents and holidaymakers.

So what’s good about it?

When you think of ‘Jaws’ it’s nigh on impossible to shake the two musical notes that escalate and reverberate throughout the film, signalling the deadly menace and intent of Spielberg’s monster. John Williams’ score is simply incredible, so much so that it’s easy to forget that you don’t see the shark until well into the second half of the film! Its’ effectiveness is enhanced almost by mistake as, due to multiple problems with various mechanical sharks, the decision was taken relatively early to use the music as a replacement for the real thing. This decision worked out wonderfully, ratcheting up the tension to Hitchcockian levels and leaving us all with that deceptively simple, heartbeat-esque, rhythmic tone in our heads whenever we go for a swim!

Spielberg very nearly walked away from production, fearing he would be typecast, largely due to the similarity between this and his amazing debut TV movie ‘Duel’ – ironically the reason his interest was piqued in the first place. He has shown time and time again how good he is at building tension, suspense and relentless momentum with an eye for the set piece. I still remember the first time I saw this film and the scene that scared me most was the two fishermen looking to catch the shark at the end of a jetty (above, right). His use of substitution is just incredible. The music and the broken jetty both double for the shark as sound and vision, the panic in the two men’s voices as the driftwood gets closer and the music gets louder. I found it almost unbearable as an 8 year old, it gave me nightmares, despite the adrenalin release and ending on a jocular “Can we go home now” just to ease the tension.

In a sense that scene sums up the entire movie which is very much split into two halves. The first half sets the scene by dangling out the Sunday Roast as we see a number of kids and holidaymakers as bait for the shark. Then the film moves away from the jetty for the second half of the film out at sea as our three ‘odd trio’ characters of world weary Flint (a scene stealing Robert Shaw), marine biologist Hooper (a brilliantly vulnerable and understated, almost comic performance from Richard Dreyfuss) and our hero Chief Brody (Roy Scheider going against type as a modestly competent police chief).

This dynamic in the second half perfectly complements the carnage of the first. On the beach the solution is obvious, don’t go in the water, and it would be all too easy (as we saw in Joe Dante’s surprisingly good pastiche ‘Piranha’) to keep the film at the shore for maximum shock effect. But what Spielberg and co-writers Carl Gottlieb and Benchley do is take it away from that and create a microcosm of suspense and tension between three characters who all have different motivation…Quint’s in it for the money and challenge, Hooper is in it for the research and Brody simply wants to keep people safe. It also hems them in. If you’re in the water, just get out…but where do you go if you’re already in the water and miles from shore? It all becomes ominously claustrophobic when you’ve overfaced yourself and Brody’s ad-libbed “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” is a classic moment in cinema when reacting to our first proper glimpse of ‘Bruce’.

But let’s just take one scene in particular out of context, I’m talking of course about Quint’s Indianapolis monologue. Shaw is an accomplished writer as well as an actor and re-wrote the monologue to deliver one of the standout pieces of dialogue in any film. For a brief moment we forget about the menace outside and witness one of the characters internalise a struggle with an inner demon that influences his actions right up to the end of the movie. I challenge anyone to start up a conversation or put a crisp in their mouth during this speech, you simply can’t let yourself be distracted as you’re pulled into his world, his experience which you absolutely believe has happened to him and shaped the persona that he brings to the screen. Apparently Shaw worked with a local fisherman who taught him to walk and talk like a man with sea legs; Spielberg gave him a small part in the film as Ben Gardner, the character whose head pops out of the boat in the infamous ‘jump scare’ (above, right).

So much has been said about all of the various aspects of the film, it works on almost every level but its biggest legacy is that it served as a blueprint for the archetypal summer blockbuster. One of the first ‘high concept’ movies which can be described in a single sentence, it marked a move away from historical epics and sweeping romances to action-based movies aimed at a mass market. Though the formula has become more cynical over time, recycling itself (‘Armageddon’ and ‘Deep Impact’, ‘Independence Day’ and ‘War of the Worlds’), the huge amount of money thrown at advertising and its release as a summer movie, in the US at least (it was released in the Winter outside of the US and Argentina), continues to this day.

And what about the bad?

It’s almost the perfect blockbuster but, have nit, will pick! There is one scene that has always bugged me and I’ve never found an explanation for it. When Hooper carries out the autopsy of the young girl, the scene seems to cut to a shot of Hooper picking up the severed arm whilst in mid flow and he says “So this is what happens” before it cuts back to him carrying on his frantic autopsy. I can only assume it’s down to sloppy editing which is surprising as the rest of the film is so expertly put together. If anyone out there knows why this scene plays out the way it does then I’d be more than happy to be enlightened!

Any themes?

The book plays heavily on the class divide and, although this is largely excised, key elements remain. Quint is the tough, working class man with a chip on his shoulder, holding Hooper’s hands and telling him “You’ve been counting money all your life” whilst Hooper is the privileged, educated gentleman who has inherited his fortune and uses technology as his tools, replying to Quint “Hey, I don’t have to put up with this working class hero crap”. Brody, essentially classless in his role as police chief, acts as mediator between the two which means it must fall on him to destroy the shark to show the failing of the class system and its ultimate reliance on authority figures.

It’s also a classic horror about nature fighting back against humanity in the form of a giant and monstrous creature, a theme we’d seen many times before with the likes of ‘King Kong’. This runs alongside his own TV movie ‘Duel’ which pits an everyman against an unstoppable assailant, this time on dry land with a truck instead of at sea with a shark. Both films play on the primal fear of being hunted, reversing man’s natural role as the predator and showing up our own vulnerabilities, foreshadowed in the shot of the three men leaving on their quest with the boat framed in the jawbone of a long dead shark. The sound effect at the end of ‘Jaws’, as the remains of the shark sink to the bottom of the ocean, is an altered version of the noise the truck makes at the end of ‘Duel’ as it drives over the cliff top.

Release history

Other than the usual edits for language and gore to allow TV channels to show the film in the early evening (although even then it’s frequently shown without cuts), there has been very little censorship of the film. There are extended TV versions to allow US networks to pad out the running time to three hours with adverts but these simply reinserted deleted scenes that can be found on DVD.

However, the 30th anniversary edition does have one very odd cut for language. Close to the end, as Brody squeezes the trigger to kill the shark, his final line is shorted to “Smile you son of a…”. Very odd given that the film retains all other bad language and gore. The special edition VHS released in the UK in the early 90s was briefly withdrawn and recertified from a ‘PG’ to a ’12’. This is down to the documentary that followed the film which features the ‘F’ word and presumably wasn’t spotted…naughty BBFC!

Cultural impact

Massive in that, as mentioned earlier, it spawned the modern blockbuster. It also spawned a whole host of imitations, parodies and pastiches. It was most likely responsible for the shark vs zombie tussle in Lucio Fulci’s ‘Zombie Flesh Eaters’, such was the propensity for Italian horror movies to shoehorn in anything that had gone down well in the US! Movies including ‘Piranha’, ‘Tremors’, ‘Alligator’ and ‘Orca the Killer Whale’ to name a few owe a huge debt of gratitude to ‘Jaws’.

One unpleasant result of the film is the public perception of sharks, particularly ‘Great Whites’, as man eaters when in fact most attacks, not that they’re common, are cases of mistaken identity. The creatures, which are incredible examples of evolution, have been demonised to the point of being listed as a vulnerable species. This decline in numbers has happened since the 70s which may be a coincidence but these beautiful, fearsome creatures only has two natural predators…killer whales and man.

Final thoughts

Despite being a family film, there is no doubting this features most of the tropes you would associate with a horror film so could conceivably be regarded as one of, if not THE most successful horror film of all time in terms of box office. It’s also a perfect example of relentless tension and taut direction to deliver appropriate scares and suspense levels approaching critical. In today’s era of CGI and mega bucks stars it sometimes takes a reflective look at where the modern blockbuster started to see that the best of them all had neither of those, now key, elements. They might not quite make them like that anymore but ‘Jaws’ is still essential viewing and remains as effective now as it was then BECAUSE of that fact.

Memorable Quotes

Brody: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

Quint: “Here’s to swimming with bow legged women.”

Quint: “This shark, will swallow you whole.”

Quint: “Ten thousand dollars for me by myself…for that you get the head, the tail, the whole damned thing.”

You’ll like this if you enjoyed…

‘Alligator’, ‘Piranha’, ‘Deep Blue Sea’, ‘Tremors’, ‘Arachnophobia’

Five of the Best: Dario Argento Films

Dario Argento has been terrorising, entertaining and surprising audiences for almost 50 years and, though his best years are far behind him, his legacy is one that any horror director would be more than proud of. His early work in particular is astounding in its consistency, how many filmmakers can boast a debut as assured as ‘The Bird with the Crystal Plumage’? Few can argue that his finest work lies between that astounding opening statement to the world of cinema and ‘The Stendhal Syndrome’ which, to me, is his last truly memorable film (although ‘Sleepless’ had its moments, particularly the superb opening set piece). We all have our favourites so I’ll share my ‘Five of the Best’ Dario Argento films, in no particular order…

Suspiria (1977)

I doubt there’s an Argento fan amongst us who wouldn’t include this in their top five! Dripping with style and oozing colour from every frame it resembles a waking nightmare at times. Entire scenes are inexplicably bathed in primary colours as characters are engulfed, surrounded and saturated by the nightmares those colours betray. Like an adult fairy tale, characters and creatures are consumed by the Mother of Sighs’ will to do her bidding and even the geography of buildings appear altered, most notably in the opening scene where our eventual victim, Pat, is chased along walls and into crawlspaces that they couldn’t possibly access.

Argento wrote the film with the main characters as children, changing them to adults to avoid censorship but retaining the same innocence and clumsy dialogue of the characters. This does much to add to the fairytale analogy, in fact the story was inspired by an old folk tale Daria Nicolodi’s Grandmother used to tell her as a child. The almost complete lack of plot isn’t to everyone’s taste and marked a shift in Argento’s work away from more conventional storytelling to the supernatural.

Most ‘Argento’ moment? The scene where Sara is chased through the dance academy by a razor wielding assailant. She thinks she has found salvation through a small, window sized door yet, despite looking, jumps straight into a room, bathed in the glow of electric blue lighting and filled with barbed wire coils. As she struggles to escape the room, our killer toys with her by agonising over opening the lock, lifting it slowly and deliberately with the razor. We’re then confronted by that most nightmarish of concepts…being chased but unable to escape. Unbearable tension and the dreamlike absence of cause and effect combine to create one of Argento’s most memorable set pieces.

Opera (1987)

One of Argento’s most commercially successful films, it also provided us with one of his most iconic singular images…needles taped under the eyes to force our heroine to watch the bloody mayhem. Argento invented this device after becoming frustrated that audiences would close or cover their eyes during his carefully staged set pieces. By forcing Betty to watch the bloodshed, we feel compelled to do the same…Argento is punishing the one we identify with, therefore punishing us for not paying attention.

The film itself has a number of flaws but Argento outdoes himself with the stylised nature of his camerawork and the sheer audacity of what he throws at us. He built a giant rig to simulate the flight of the ravens, he cuts open a stagehand’s throat post mortem because she accidentally swallows a vital clue, there are flashbacks and the visualised ramblings of an insane madman, even going so far as to show his own pulsating brain. It’s almost as if he set out purposely to outdo himself in every respect and for most part he succeeds in what could well be the most insane and ballsy giallo ever to come out of Italy.

Most 'Argento' moment? Daria Nicolodi’s Mira questions the identity of a policeman at the door as she stares him down through the peephole. The ‘cop’ pulls out a gun and pulls the trigger as we follow the bullet in slow motion down the chamber through the glass of the peephole, through Mira’s eye, out the back of her head and into the telephone at the back of the room. Only Argento can make something as barbaric and formulaic look as breathtakingly beautiful and original as this. A remarkable moment.

Deep Red (1975)

This was the film that cemented Argento’s growing reputation as a genuine talent and reportedly gained the attention of Alfred Hitchcock who remarked ‘This Italian fellow is starting to worry me’! Scripted by Argento from his original story, this is proof that Argento wasn’t all style over substance, coming up with a very coherent and well written giallo. With a twist that doesn’t cheat (just watch the opening murder again), it’s Argento’s most satisfying film, purely from a story perspective. It’s also the first time we see him play with the supernatural by introducing us to the psychic Helga, a theme he would revisit with a larger slice of horror in ‘Phenomena’.

Though we had seen flashes of style and directorial flourishes before, ‘Deep Red’ was where we witnessed Argento come of age as a director of considerable visual talent. Right from the opening flashback, the whipping open of the curtains to reveal the psychic demonstration and the Goblin scored, dreamlike moment where the camera pours over items representing our killer’s madness we know we’re in for a different type of giallo. Subtle foreshadowing and doubling, intricate character development, uncovered images that blur the distinction between Marc Daly’s current reality and our killer’s past trauma add up to a surprisingly complex and well thought out film.

Most 'Argento' moment? There can be only one! As psychiatrist Giordani begins to piece together the puzzle he hears a sound from the corner of his room. Thinking nothing more of it, a door flies open and a creepy mechanical doll bursts out, walking towards him laughing. Stabbing the doll, Giordani realises too late that it’s a warning as the killer delivers a blow to his head, smashes his teeth into the fireplace, than again onto the corner of a table before laying him down and impaling him onto the table as the camera follows the blade up and then down into his neck.

The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970)

This was where it all started with a loose adaptation of Fredric Brown’s pulp 40s novel ‘The Screaming Mimi. An incredibly assured debut, the film was both an international hit and responsible for re-igniting popularity for the Italian Giallo, a style of thriller with a whodunit element, elaborate, stylistic set piece murders and demented plot twists. It introduced us to a number of Argento’s signature moves, including the black gloved killer, protagonist associated with the arts, witness as stalked victim and an eye for the unusual character.

What Argento achieves is an almost constant level of tension, the plot moving along at a breathless pace with plenty of twists and turns. Through reputation we also find Argento’s frustration with actors, regarding them more as part of the scenery than people with lines to say. That said, Argento displays a real talent as a screenwriter, something that frequently gets overlooked over his directorial flourishes and eye for the fantastic. This is a film that both looks AND sounds good as well as being one if his most coherent movies in terms of plot and character development.

Most 'Argento' Moment? Without a doubt the scene where Sam’s girlfriend, Julia, is stalked and terrorised in her apartment. The killer threatens and goads her through the locked door, trying to gain entry as she tries desperately to escape, all the while knowing that Sam can’t be far away but will he get there in time. It’s a scene he repeats in other films, including to Marc Daly in ‘Deep Red’, Betty in ‘Opera’, Sara in ‘Suspiria’ and Anna in ‘The Stendhal Syndrome’.

Tenebrae (1982)

Reinventing the Giallo for the second time, this time creating the neo-giallo, Argento disregards the primary colours of ‘Suspiria’ and ‘Inferno’ for a more washed out, traditional look. He also removes any and all references to the supernatural, effectively going back to basics to relay the story of a murder mystery writer, Peter Neal who finds himself right in the middle of a situation that he could well have written himself. The idea came from a very real experience he suffered with an obsessive fan that took a sinister turn when he began to blame Argento for his own life problems.

Another technically and stylistically brilliant film which introduces us, admittedly not for the first time in Italian horror history, to the notion of the dual killer. Doubling and rhyming scenes play significant roles, particularly in the climax where a potential victim is crucially misidentified and an incredible shot where the Inspector kneels down to reveal the killer standing directly behind him. Taught pacing, some wonderfully ‘of the time’ disco music from Goblin and further proof of Argento’s eye for the set piece, he gave us another landmark Giallo.

Most 'Argento' moment? The infamous crane shot where Argento’s fluid camera thoroughly explores the outside of a building for nearly two minutes to the backdrop of Goblin’s pounding score. The camera then enters the building as the soundtrack is discovered to be a record being played by one of the women who lives there. She then struggles with her clothes before the razor wielding maniac perfectly frames her face through a tear in her t-shirt, blood spurting onto her terrified face - another victim claimed.

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Tagline: “When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth”
Running Time: 125 minutes (theatrical version)

Film Quality: 5/5
Gore Content: 5/5
Entertainment Value: 5/5
Originality: 4/5

Introduction

Struggling to get the financing for a follow up to the seminal ‘Night of the Living Dead’ word got back to a young, up and coming Italian horror director by the name of Dario Argento that George Romero was trying to get backing for a sequel to one of his favourite movies. Inviting Romero over to Italy, the pair worked on the screenplay and Argento agreed to produce, retaining the rights to edit and distribute the film across Europe, Romero would do the same in other territories. With the pairing of those two names there should have been no doubt about the success of the film but what was finally created was the ‘Ben Hur’ of horror films!

In a Nutshell

The world is beginning to change in the early stages of a zombie outbreak with society corroding and anarchy setting in. A helicopter pilot, journalist and two members of a SWAT team decide to run, hijacking the radio station travel chopper they happen upon a shopping mall. Realising they have a chance to survive there, they must also face up to a menace every bit as dangerous as the undead…mankind.

So what’s good about it?

What a stroke of true genius to make a shopping mall the location. Romero uses it to create an absolute juggernaut of a satire in which he is able to commentate on our society on so many levels from consumerism and greed to gang warfare and issues of race and gender. The zombies represent mankind, blindly going about their business, completely oblivious to what’s happening around them other than an unquestioning need to consume. Next time to you find yourself in a shopping mall, grab yourself a coffee, stand on the top level and look down...I guarantee you will be presented with a scene from ‘Dawn of the Dead’.

The film has a running time that, at a glance, may appear bloated but Romero crams an awful lot into that two and half hour running time. His pacing is so unerringly accurate that we don’t notice that it takes a good 45 minutes before they even arrive at the mall. That’s because Romero is also interested in exploring the world within which this film takes place. That means plunging us into a world of chaos and an all-out assault on the senses for the incredible first 20 minutes where we see TV interviews desperately trying to make sense of what’s happening, people running around like headless chickens and a SWAT team assault on a tenement building. It paints a picture of a society clinging on to itself and very quickly losing its grip. We also see gun-toting rednecks enjoying themselves, treating the zombie apocalypse like a shoot-a-duck stall at a fairground and a deserted aircraft hangar, looted for anything of worth. It’s apocalyptic in its execution and presents a world from which you would want to run, putting us firmly on the side of our four protagonists.

It’s very easy to forget that this was only Tom Savini’s fourth film as a special effects artist. He puts in one hell of a shift here with some truly breathtaking practical effects that include rib cages getting ripped out, bodies ripped entirely to pieces, the machete in the head scene (left) and an unforgettable exploding head. The word ‘legend’ is bandied about far too often but it is impossible to overestimate the impact Savini’s effects have on this and many other films.

‘Dawn’ is rightly revered for its effects but for me it’s Romero’s direction that truly ‘makes’ the film. There’s a very intentional comic book look and feel throughout the film that cleverly balances the violent excesses. When the fake blood arrived and it wasn’t what you might call a natural colour, Romero stayed with it, against Savini’s initial wishes, as he felt it would heighten that appearance of a graphic novel on film. Remember the scene where one of the bikers falls his bike escaping from the mall and starts firing his gun towards the camera as the zombies close in behind him (left)? There are no zombies in front of him; that shot is specifically set up to look like a comic book frame. I really can’t enthuse enough about Romero’s direction at turning out a two hour plus zombie film that never once outstays its welcome. There is so much happening and it’s done with such style and finesse that we should thank our lucky stars that Dario Argento fronted up the money to allow this man to helm such an incredible movie.

Stephen finds his way home

The zombies are also further developed and we move a step closer to ‘Bub’ from ‘Day of the Dead’. There’s the ‘Hare Krishna’ zombie who is smart enough to realise that there are people upstairs, the zombie that stares wistfully at Francine through the shop window, the zombie at the end that is more interested in Peter’s gun and of course Stephen who remembers the way home after his death. It’s that subtle continuation and evolution of the zombies, continuing in ‘Land of the Dead’ with ‘Big Daddy’ that makes Romero’s universe so intriguing.

What about the bad?

Francine isn’t given a huge amount to do but then again she is pregnant, my main issue with that is that not enough is made of it. Other than that I can’t think of a damn thing! You could perhaps argue that not all of the acting is what you might call top notch and some of the 70s fashions and haircuts leave something to be denied but can you really grumble? This is a monumental movie and ANY attempt by me to belittle it would be little more than nitpicking.

Any themes?

This has been covered to death and it’s been well documented elsewhere that Romero’s film represents a savage commentary on the nature of consumerism and greed. The Mall setting was the catalyst for Romero to hold a mirror up to ourselves to show us that we’re drawn blindly and almost subconsciously to shops with a desperate desire to consume more and more whether we need it or not. Combine this with the literal metaphor of mankind eating itself and the film serves as a pitch perfect analogy for what actually happened in the 80s! A society that favoured wealth, possession, status and opulence over morality, substance and meaning with a blinkered, overoptimistic outlook on life.

There’s some racial and class subtext as well with the opening SWAT team raid on a Puerto Rican settlement and how their outlook on life and the dead differs from ours in terms of respect and treatment. We also see it very briefly with the ‘good ol’ boys’ having a great time shooting the undead as if it were a game with no concept of the danger and context of the upcoming apocalypse. Their love of guns and the feeling of invincibility that holding a firearm gives them is in sharp contrast to the reality that it’s ultimately meaningless and they’re completely oblivious to the true fragility of mankind.

Release history

In the climate this film was released it’s a surprise the film wasn’t placed on the nasties list, such is the level of gore on display. It’s certainly more gruesome than ‘Zombie Flesh Eaters’ which suffered the wrath of the authorities, however that isn’t to say that it wasn’t given a rough ride. A total of 55 separate cuts were requested totalling just under two minutes. The subsequent resubmission saw Romero’s masterpiece suffer further requests to edit a total of 3m 46s of Savini’s splatter to leave a theatrical release and pre cert VHS from Intervision clocking in at a knat’s knob over 120 minutes. Shots removed included the exploding head, screwdriver in the ear, machete in the head and an incredible 19 shots of a biker having his intestines removed and eaten!

It’s worth pointing out here that the censors relayed their dismay and dislike for the film which for me is disgusting and suggests that their personal taste for the film dictated their treatment of it. Why should their complete lack of understanding and comprehension for a film prevent the rest of society from watching the complete film. This group of bell ends considered themselves educated and sophisticated yet were completely unable to see past the onscreen violence to what the film was really about, completely missing the point. They even believed that cutting the film improved it, James Ferman had the audacity to say so in a letter to the distributers accompanying the requested cuts. For me this goes over and above the remit for a ‘classification service’ and just highlighted what an outdated and patronising authority it had become.

As well as doing the effects, Savini plays one of the bikers

It gets worse!

In 1989 Entertainment in Video submitted the same truncated version to Ferman’s BBFC and their attitude to the film hadn’t been diluted. They requested a further 12 seconds of cuts, relatively small but still accounting for seven separate edits…this absolutely beggers belief!

Thankfully (sort of), a reappraisal of the film followed in the 90s when BMG VHS submitted a new, extended version (dubbed the Director’s Cut) which the BBFC passed with just six seconds of cuts. We were still missing the shoulder bite and exploding head from the opening SWAT raid along with the shooting of two zombie children in the airport hanger. To be fair to the BBFC that final scene would most likely have remained in the film but, coming so soon after the Dunblaine Massacre, it was considered culturally inappropriate to explicitly show the children being shot so the scene was shortened rather than edited out completely.

It wasn’t until 2003 when a full uncut version was finally passed, also released by BMG, along with the Argento Cut, a separate edit totalling 114 minutes that was prepared by Argento for many of the European territories removing several scenes of dialogue, adding much of The Goblin score and quickening the pace significantly.

There are five known versions of the film. The 114 minute Argento Cut, the 125 minute theatrical version, 139 minute Directors or Extended Cut, a 142 minute ‘Perfect Cut’ released in Japan and a 149 minute bootleg version, a composite cut which pretty much includes everything present in each of those other four versions. Romero reportedly prefers the theatrical cut, his first edit, although Argento’s Cut was the first to be released in terms of worldwide chronology.

Cultural Significance

Despite the cult hit that was ‘Night of the Living Dead’, there really hadn’t been a massive influx of zombie movies. If ‘Night’ sowed the seed as the first film to feature flesh eating zombies, and there had been a few since then to pick up the batton, most notably ‘The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue’ and Armando D’Ossorio’s ‘Blind Dead’ series (although they were less zombies in the Romero sense and more ghosts in skeletal rotting flesh form!), then ‘Dawn’ was the sunshine and rain that allowed the jungle of zombie movies that followed to flourish. It was the runaway critical and financial success of ‘Dawn’ that really opened the floodgates and it was only fitting that Romero was at the helm to realise that.

The sheer number of Italian knock offs that ranged from the piss-poor (‘Zombie Creeping Flesh’) to the really very good (‘Zombie Holocaust’) echoes that sentiment. It also ushered in a couple of unofficial sequels with Dan O’Bannan’s ‘Return of the Living Dead’ positing that the original ‘Night’ was based on a real event and Lucio Fulci’s ‘Zombie Flesh Eaters’, retitled ‘Zombi 2’ in some areas to mislead people that it was a sequel to the similarly titled ‘Zombie: Dawn of the Dead’, an alternative title in some countries.

Romero’s zombie-lore is still adhered to today, though some films favour Usain Bolt-esque versions of the undead, and as popular as ever in the guise of ‘The Walking Dead’ on TV and ‘World War Z’ in both literature and movies. Quite simply, along with ‘Night’, this one of the most influential movies of all time.

Final Thoughts

This is the ‘Citizen Kane’ of zombie movies and can lay a claim to be the best horror film of the 70s, facing very stiff competition from the likes of ‘The Exorcist’, ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ and ‘Halloween’. A triumph in almost every area of film making it is one of the few examples of a sequel that surpasses the original in almost way, despite the original also being considered a ground breaking classic.

Peter: "Scary, isn't it?

Memorable Quotes

Peter: ‘When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth.”

Stephen (talking about the Mall): “A memory, some kind of instinct…this was an important part of their lives.”

Dr Foster: “Every dead body that is not exterminated becomes one of them and gets up and kills. The people it kills get up and kill.”

Priest: “When the dead walk, senores, we must stop the killing or lose the war.”

You’ll like this if you enjoyed…

‘Night of the Living Dead’, ‘Day of the Dead’, ‘The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue’, ‘The Crazies’

Class of 1999 (1990)

Tagline: “It’s the last lesson you’ll ever learn”

Duration: 99 minutes

Film Quality: 2.5/5
Gore Content: 3.5/5
Entertainment Value:4/5
Originality: 2/5

Introduction

Having shown himself to be a competent director of action and genre films with the Schwarzenegger vehicle ‘Commando’ and King adaptation ‘Firestarter’, Mark L. Lester returned to his most notorious feature. ‘Class of 1984’ caused no little controversy upon its release, particularly in the UK where it was heavily cut for cinema release and then refused a video certificate, not seeing a release until the next century. Its raw social commentary was too much for some so he had another go, this time injecting an element of fun, his ‘Evil Dead 2’ to its troublesome older brother if you like!

In a nutshell

“The year is 1999…and there is no law” screams the opening robotic monologue where society has crumbled and police have abandoned certain areas as lawless ‘free fire zones’. As a pilot project, government cyborgs have been introduced to schools to help restore order, coinciding with the release of some of the less troubled criminals from prison…if they break the terms of their release, which includes school attendance, they’re back inside. The trouble is that the cyborgs think this is a war, and there are always casualties in war!

So what’s good about it?

It’s one of those films that you know is crap whilst you’re watching however, give it its due, it is HUGELY entertaining! Lester displays some very taught direction and paces the film excellently, rarely letting a moment go by without a violent attack, chase or explosion which, in the main, are executed pretty well. The budget was fairly modest at close to $6million and it does retain an element of grittiness, particularly in the gangland scenes which genuinely look like areas you wouldn’t want to stray into. Highlights include the battle between rival gangs the Black Hearts and Razor Heads in the middle of the film, the opening car chase and an excellent confrontation between Black Hearts leader Cody and Mr Bryles in the gym.

Lester managed to recruit some pretty impressive acting talent, somehow persuading Malcolm McDowell to give up two days of his life to the production – to be fair he looks a little bored during most of it. He was originally considered for the role of Bob Forrest, which eventually went to Stacey Keach, who looks like he’s having a ball playing the amoral albino agent, delighted that he’s secured a contract worth millions and not at all bothered by the collateral damage. Pam Grier is suitably dangerous as the seductive Miss Connors, Bradley Gregg puts in a solid shift as the partly reformed Cody Culp, Patrick Kilpatrick is excellent as the unhinged Mr Bryles but it’s John P. Ryan’s wild-eyed performance as the psychotic Mr Hardin (above) who steals the show. Whether it’s hamming it up, force feeding a drug overdose to an addict with a cheesy grin, or a dead eyed stare delivering corporal punishment in front a group of stunned students, he sets the tone for the gleeful violence that always stays the right side of playful.

A quick word on the mixed bag that is the special effects. It’s frustratingly erratic but the gore effects are actually really very good. My personal favourite is the moment Hardin’s hardware splits its way through his arm and propels forwards to force his, now redundant, hand across the room revealing a clawed metal appendage that contains a drill, subsequently thrust through a student’s head. All three ‘teachers’ undergo a gruesome transformation, whether it’s ripping off an arm, ‘Terminator 2’ style (the comparison ends there!), to reveal a rocket launcher or opening up a rib cage to unleash a flame thrower, it’s never short of entertaining.

The second half of the 80s and early 90s featured a huge number of ‘Terminator’ rip offs, within which ‘Class of 1999’ certainly qualifies, before Cameron blew them all away with his own mega-bucks sequel. Many of them were a horrendous, boring mess that looked like they were filmed on a rubbish dump. For me this is where ‘Class of 1999’ stands out from the crowd, it abandons the social commentary that made ‘Class of 1984’ such a powerful film, and adopts much of what made ‘Commando’ so memorable. It’s such great fun that you can forgive it for its flaws…well…most of them!

What about the bad?

These cyborgs were meant to be reprogrammed war machines that have malfunctioned and reverted back to their original programming. But they’re clearly relishing the murder and mayhem, laughing, smiling and even wise-cracking their way throughout the second half of the movie (“Time for a little driver’s ed?”). You could argue that it adds to the movie’s sense of fun but any attempts at making a serious point of an over-reliance on technology as security and the level and troublesome nature of gang violence is reduced to cartoonish silliness.

I mentioned earlier that the special effects are variable. The gore effects are pretty good but it’s plainly obvious that they ran out of money towards the end. The ‘Terminator’ style robotic effects are beyond terrible and, coming as they do, towards the end of the film, really do dampen the effect of the climax. Again, this is partly saved by the slightly camp and jovial atmosphere but I think this is more luck than judgement. By and large, the production values of the film are pretty good but the shot of the completely robotic Bryles walking down the corridor must rank alongside the worst effects of its kind. Shame really although the film, by this point, has descended into the realms of silly pastiche as it looks like it tried desperately to replicate the ending of Cameron’s iconic film.

It also falls into the trap that a lot of futuristic films do by setting a date for itself. One of the reasons ‘Mad Max’ has not dated quite so horribly as others is that it is set ‘A few years from now…’. ‘Class of 1999’ kind of looked out of date within about three weeks of its release and, being set what is now 18 years ago doesn’t help suspension of disbelief. The fashions, cars, music, hairstyles, pretty much everything is so rooted in the late 80s that it’s dated more than most.

The logic, actions and decisions taken by the characters relies on pretty much every single belief you hold to be suspended. Our female lead Christie is quite happy to team up with the guys who tried to rape her earlier in the film. Also, they figure out what’s going on in two sentences with a simple “Why would Hector go to school if he didn’t have to?”…”Jesus, it’s the teachers!”. That’s without the complete lack of self-awareness that they’ve ALL been dutifully going to school when they didn’t have to! So may flaws…so little time!!!

Any themes?

There’s an attempt to comment on the gang culture permeating US society in the 80s and its associated drug problem. The emergence of Cocaine and its distribution from the Columbian cartels to the US market had contributed to a growing culture of gang violence. ‘Class of 1999’ reflects this view of society and runs with that timeline to see where it would end up with two rival gangs fighting it out whilst high on ‘Edge’. Rather than tackle the issue though, the film has fun with the universe it has created and doesn’t pretend to do otherwise, presenting it as a backdrop to the action.

Release History

The theatrical release was delayed by nearly a year due to the folding of Vestron, eventually coming out courtesy of Taurus. The film suffered from some censorship in the UK to several scenes, including reducing the number of ‘elbow to the chest’ blows and the neck break from the violent attack in the gym and the drill through the head scene. It also lost a couple of other neck breaks and some knife play, a total of 15 seconds from the Vestron and Cinema Club VHS releases. The Columbia and Lionsgate DVD releases saw all cuts waived with the ‘Full Uncut Version’ emblazoned proudly across the top.

Cultural Impact

None, although it did spawn a dreadful sequel of its own with one of the worst titles in direct to video history…’Class of 1999 2: The Substitute’.

Final thoughts

Let’s be honest, it’s a popcorn flick, and a highly enjoyable one at that, but it really isn’t a good film. I remember watching it when a friend recorded it from SKY TV in the early 90s after becoming intrigued by the trailer. I’ve always had a soft spot for it since then because it did what any sci-fi/horror/action hybrid should do and that is completely hold my interest for a full 90 minutes. I very much doubt it’s in anyone’s top ten list but if you haven’t at the very least enjoyed it, for all of its faults rather than despite them, then you have a very dark soul indeed!

Memorable Quotes

Cody: “I’m going in there to waste some teachers, who’s with me?”

Cody: “It’s like a f@cked up, George Jetson nightmare.”

Langford: “They’ve been waging war with my students.”
Forrest: “But isn’t that what all teachers do?”

Cody: (After destroying the Chemistry lab) “Well I guess I blew that class.”

Hardin: (Before drilling a hole in a student’s head) “I like to mould young minds.”

You’ll like this if you enjoyed…

‘Robocop’, ‘Chopping Mall’, ‘C.H.U.D.’, ‘Class of Nuke ‘em High’

Friday the 13th (1980)

Tagline: “They were warned…they are doomed…and on Friday 13th, nothing will save them.”
Duration: 95 minutes

Film Quality: 3/5
Gore Content: 3/5
Entertainment Value:4/5
Originality: 2/5

Introduction

Riding hot on the coat tails of John Carpenter’s masterpiece ‘Halloween’, producer  Sean S. Cunningham secured the rights to the title ‘Friday 13th’ before making the film, aiming to cash in on the date-themed title of Carpenter’s film and the dark connotations surrounding that particular time of the calendar year. Taking many elements of Carpenters’ film and borrowing heavily from other genre classics, most notably Mario Bava’s ‘Bay of Blood’, he perhaps unwittingly created an absolute juggernaut of a film that is still out of control, crashing into cinemas and blu ray releases to this date.

In a nutshell

A group of teenagers descend on an abandoned summer camp with the intention of reopening it 21 years after the death of two camp councelors following the tragic drowning of a young boy. Despite warnings of a death curse they proceed with their plans, only to be picked off by an unseen madman…could it be that Jason Vorhees has risen from the grave to exact his revenge on the camp counsellors responsible for his death?

So what’s good about it?

Despite a very low budget of just over half a million clams, the film does boast some pretty good slayings – some, unfortunately, falling victim themselves to the censors snips. Whereas ‘Halloween’ was restrained with its onscreen offal, Cunningham puts most of the kills right up there front and centre and we’re treated to a throat slitting, an arrow through the neck, a full on decapitation and, most impressively, an axe to the head (left). I remember watching this film one Halloween night in a cinema as part of a quadruple bill and the crowd erupted with cheers and applause at that, admittedly, excellent set piece.

The music is also highly effective and very well executed as part of the editing process, becoming ‘Jason’ in the same way John Williams’ score becomes Spielberg’s shark. Henry Manfredini used the musical cues as a substitute for the unseen killer and, rather than the piano and synth score used by Carpenter, went for the rather more shrill and harsh strings and violin. You’ll notice that the music only appears when the killer is close by, similar to ‘Jaws’, just pausing briefly before the big scare to maximise the jumps. It works a treat, lulling you into a false sense of security before the big pay off. It also gave us the iconic ‘Ki Ki Ki….Ma Ma Ma’ sound effect which was created by Manfredini voicing the words ‘Kill Mommy’ and then manipulating the result. Incredibly effective, a ‘Friday the 13th’ film just wouldn’t sound right without it.

The acting can be hit and miss but the chemistry between the group is pretty good. Some of the actors already knew each other prior to filming, having appeared in soaps together, in fact Cunningham reportedly said he wanted actors who would act naturally around each other and for the most part he succeeded. Yes, there’s not much requirement other than screaming, stripping off to go skinny dipping and creeping quietly around abandoned buildings, but you don’t leave the film necessarily with a bad actor taste.

Now, I’ve been in two minds about whether or not to put this next bit in the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ section but it takes the tropes introduced in ‘Halloween’ and effectively turns them into rules. Whereas the kids in ‘Halloween’ are alone for a reason, here they go and investigate strange noises alone, they get killed for having sex, the unstoppable, possibly supernatural killer avenging a wrong, the omnipresent killer. Yes, it’s all there in ‘Halloween’ but it seems so much more deliberate in ‘Friday the 13th’. Perhaps that’s because the endless sequels repeat the trick ad nauseum but this seems so much more like your typical slasher than Carpenter’s film. It’s like comparing Christmas Dinner with a Sunday roast…the ingredients are the same but whereas one feels like a special occasion, the other is routine and ‘by the numbers’.

There may be some of you reading this who haven’t seen the film so I’ll try and keep this last bit a surprise but the film does pull the rug from under your feet in a great double finale that provides a bigger jolt than anything in ‘Halloween’. It might lack the sophistication of Carpenter’s flick but in terms of box ticking with gore (thanks largely due to the ever-reliable Tom Savini), excellent jump scares, irritating teens, creepy abandoned buildings and nudity it’s tough to knock it.

And what about the bad?

If the comments in the above section haven’t expressed my view enough, it is a poor man’s ‘Halloween’. Whereas Carpenter directs the movie with a sure hand, achieving film noir levels of light and shade, Cunningham throws subtlety out of the window in favour of sledgehammer editing and direction. Looking back through 21st century eyes it really does look quite amateurish at times and pedestrian in terms of its pacing with none of the mythology and intrigue that its predecessor brings to the table. Perhaps some of that is down to the fact that it hasn’t had anywhere the attention and care of a good restoration that it deserves (despite my reservations over the films quality, there’s no denying its influence) as much as the generally below average talents of those involved.

Any themes?

As with most slasher films it’s a thinly disguised morality tale. Take a look at my review of ‘The Burning’, which is pretty much the same film, for my comments but characters who drink, have sex or do drugs are killed whilst the pure and lily white virgin can see exactly what’s going on and is aware of a sinister presence right from the start. It’s also a tale of revenge where the teenagers of today are made to pay for the sins of the teens of yesterday.

Release History

Not many people realise that this movie got caught up in the video nasties panic with the uncut 1982 Warner VHS seized by police. This panicked Warner who, as a big company rather than an independent happy for the attention, were not pleased with the controversy and gave no resistance to requests to remove the 10 seconds of cuts demanded by the MPAA, a relief to the BBFC who were happy to pass this version. Don’t forget that during this bizarre time period their collective chests were puffed out towards anything with a bit of girls and gore. Four scenes suffered the wrath of the censor’s scissors including the infamous axe to the head, the opening throat slashing, Kevin Bacon’s throat being on the receiving end of a rather large spear and the climactic decapitation. It all looks a bit crap actually with two of the cuts achieved with very clumsy looking white outs.

The axe to the head was, strangely, restored for Warner’s 1995 release and it was finally released uncut in the UK in 2003 meaning that the pre-cert Warner release was the only uncut VHS print released on these shores. The Friday the 13th series in general has suffered massively from MPAA cuts which means that completely uncut versions of most of the original eight movies don’t exist. That’s a real shame because some of these sequels, particularly the fourth and sixth, are actually very good films that surpass the original comfortably.

Cultural Impact

‘Halloween’ set the scene but ‘Friday the 13th’ got dibs on writing the blueprint for so many of the slasher movies that followed. We saw so many of them set in summer camps (‘The Burning’, ‘Sleepaway Camp’) or the woods (‘Body Count’, ‘Madman’) that all took their cues from Cunningham’s film rather than Carpenter’s. It also inspired, albeit from part three specifically, the hockey masked killer…much scarier than the sack Jason wore in the second part! It also picked up the baton for date-related horrors which brought us ‘Graduation Day’, ‘Mother’s Day’, ‘Happy Birthday to Me’ and countless others. And of course it led to the denouement of that wonderful opening scene in Wes Craven’s ‘Scream’.

All slasher movies effectively take their cues from the two films mentioned most frequently in this blog…it might not be a critic’s favourite but there’s no denying that it helped to usher in a golden period of horror films, for better or for worse!

Final Thoughts

Far more exploitative and raw than Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’ despite costing more to make it, it might not win many fans for its subtlety and professional appearance but it packs a punch. It made a horror icon out of Jason Vorhees despite him barely making an appearance and started one of the most enduring horror franchise not penned by George A. Romero. Let’s face it, he’s been decapitated, buried, drowned, on a cruise, in space, had a bit of a barney with Freddy Krueger and is slated to appear in ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here’ later this year…probably! Influential and derivative in equal measure it’s a must-see piece of iconic horror history.

Memorable Quotes

Mrs Vorhees: “Jason was my son…and today is his birthday.”

Officer Dorf: “We ain’t gonna stand for no weirdness out here.”

Crazy Ralph: “It’s got a death curse.”

Ned: “He neglected to mention that downtown they call this place Camp Blood.”

You’ll like this if you enjoyed…

‘The Burning’, ‘Halloween’, ‘The Mutilator’, ‘Madman’