31 Days of Halloween - Day 23: Friday the 13th (2009)

For the last few years I always do a 31 days of Halloween month. The past few years I re-read all the original Goosebumps books and before that I'd watch 31 horror movies. However I realized every single time I watched 31 Horror movies I exclusively picked ones I enjoyed. I decided to do something slightly different. I composed a list of every horror movie I owned and put them in alphabetical order. Then using a random number generator I generated 31 numbers and watched the movies that corresponded with those numbers. Some are great films and others… well… are less than fun let's say. I hope you enjoy!

Day 23: Friday the 13th (2009) (Movie #190)

Of all the big name slashers (Freddy, Jason, Myers, Chucky and Pinhead) I've only ever seen two of them on the big screen (Halloween H20 and this). So for that reason alone there will probably always be a special place in my heart for this remake that most people hated.

Let me start off the bat by saying I by no means think this is a great or even a good movie, but I do defend it. The reason is that it's not a terrible remake. In fact to compare it to last week's Nightmare on Elm Street this film is at least enjoyable.

The thing that helps this movie is that while it's a retelling/revamp/reboot/whatever you call it the film works as a sequel. They rush through the first film in the first 30 seconds (the same way basically every F13 sequel before it has) and the only elements ripped from previous films are the burlap sack and hockey mask. Unlike some other sequels that try to recreate moments from the original series this film at least treats itself like it's own movie with it's own unique version of Jason.

This is usually referred to as Jason and the Pot Farm due to the plot lines of "kids trying to find an infamous strain of weed" and the fact that Jason is more of a "stay off my property" killer than a "driven by a blood thirst" killer.  While I won't say this isn't a fair complaint I simply can't say this is the worst Jason movie ever. This may be stupid, but it's still better than Jason Takes Manhattan.

Matt Kelly is the host of the popular podcast The Saint Mort Show, a frequent contributor to Geekscape.net, the founder of Chords for Cures and the co-writer/co-director of the upcoming comedy Describing the Moon. He also loves it when people surprise him with purchases from his Amazon Wishlist… just saying.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 9: Freddy vs Jason

For the last few years I always do a 31 days of Halloween month. The past few years I re-read all the original Goosebumps books and before that I'd watch 31 horror movies. However I realized every single time I watched 31 Horror movies I exclusively picked ones I enjoyed. I decided to do something slightly different. I composed a list of every horror movie I owned and put them in alphabetical order. Then using a random number generator I generated 31 numbers and watched the movies that corresponded with those numbers. Some are great films and others… well… are less than fun let's say. I hope you enjoy!

Day 9: Freddy Vs. Jason (Movie #180)

I've said before that Scream was the Horror movie that made me a horror fan. After that film opened the door for me I started to track down every title from the obscure to the well known. I befriended people who were horror fans who would introduce me to films. Basically everything I did was to allow my horror knowledge to grow and grow. It was my friend Joe who showed me Nightmare on Elm Street.

Now I didn't live under a rock or anything. I was well aware who Freddy was. The commercial for Freddy's Dead was one of the many things that give the elementary version of myself… nightmares. However watching the first movie for the first time was huge for me. Up until that point I had never seen anything so unique and bizarre. I was never a massive fan of Jason, in fact it really wasn't until a year or two ago that I developed an appreciation for anything other than parts 1 and 6 of that franchise.

Regardless of my lackluster opinion of Jason when Freddy Vs. Jason came out I wanted to see it. Proving themselves to be the worst friends ever my circle of friends at the time all went and saw this in theaters when I was working (despite the fact that they were moderate horror fans at best). I ended up missing the theatric experience of this movie but I bought it immediately upon it's Home-Video/DVD release and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

I've heard in interviews and podcasts a fairly negative perspective on this movie. That always bothered me. The fact is that pairing this two against each other doesn't really make much sense. It's basically fan fiction fodder at best, but what they were able to make out of that premise is impressive. Like many of the sequels before it, yes there were hundreds of drafts and different plot ideas, some possibly bette than what we got but this was pretty fucking good.

The kills are fun, the gore is over the top and the humor works most of the time. The only real issues I have with this movie is (a) the wanna be Jason Mewes character and (b) the over usage of CGI. But in the grand scheme of things this a fun little action/horror flick that I've enjoyed (and will continue to enjoy) for years.

Matt Kelly is the host of the popular podcast The Saint Mort Show, a frequent contributor to Geekscape.net, the founder of Chords for Cures and the co-writer/co-director of the upcoming comedy Describing the Moon. He also loves it when people surprise him with purchases from his Amazon Wishlist… just saying.