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Friday the 13th Part III

It's fun watching this series evolve over time. Part III pulls some of the best tricks from the first two films, but it also tries to pull their endings too, and it is hit or miss on characterization: some folks are actually well defined, like Shelly the pathetic jokester who suffers a lack of confidence and lashes out as a result, compared to the two stoners...who looked way too old for the rest of the cast, and whose names I don't remember despite just watching the film. As a result, it is a mixed bag and doesn't reach the quality of the second film, though at times it does come close. When it is effective, it's wonderful. Vera's death, for instance, actually made me groan out loud at the loss of a character I genuinely liked. But the stereotypical multicultural biker gang? They were a bad joke.

Part III is still a lot of fun, and it's enjoyable. But it tries too hard to copy its predecessors and stumbles as a result.



BONUS CONTENT



Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

Ah, Crispin Glover, I hope you learn how to dance someday.

I like this one a lot. It offers a big cast, but gives enough background for each character to make things interesting and throws a family into the mix. It felt more violent than the previous three films, and with Jason starting off with his mask, it also feels like the first of the "stereotypical" Friday the 13th films, or at least what we perceive them to be like: a murderous freak in a hockey mask rises from the grave to murder a bunch of folks, just because he can. I also love the brutality of having Jason killed by a child and how he goes about it. A weird child, sure, but a child nonetheless, and the way he freaks out and hacks at him? Spectacular.

Also, there are a lot of people thrown through windows in this movie.

DSH, 1,000 Corpses over Devil's Rejects? Interesting.

Trick r Treat really captures the holiday to me. Let us know your thoughts after!

1,000 Corpses over Devils for me.

Rejects over 1.000 Corpses here.

1,000 corpses up until underground sequence > Rejects

Rejects as a whole movie wins though, imho. That last 15 minutes really hurts the overall vibe of 1,000 corpses.

I'd be more interested if anyone actually liked Lords of Salem. It was too far out there for me. If someone did like it, please explain the insanity of that movie into something I can make sense of.

Lords of Salem is my fav RZ film. I love it.

noiseredux wrote:Lords of Salem is my fav RZ film. I love it.

Did you ever do a write up on it? I'm interested in a different perspective.

Trick r’ Treat



My final write-up of the Halloween season! After hearing everybody’s praise I had higher-than-average expectations. I was not disappointed.

Trick r’ Treat is an anthology of five (the back of the box says four, but it’s really five) loosely related horror stories that all happen in a small town on Halloween night.

There’s the couple that doesn’t take Halloween seriously enough, the clean-cut school principal with a dark side….



…The kids who don’t respect an urban legend, causing the idea for a prank to come back to bite them in the ass…


Time to live up to the suicide pact. Who wants to jump first?

…A group of girls looking for a good time…


Oh, Elf-boy wasn’t doing it for you? I’m shocked, sweetie.

…And finally, there’s the cranky, annoying old man that steadfastly tries to ignore the holiday altogether.


No one has the heart to tell him that “Get off my lawn!” only works on the trick or treaters, not festivities.

All the stories connect to one another in very minor ways. Certain characters from separate stores often interact with one another. And of course there’s the films mascot, Sam, a little guy who is simultaneously creepy and adorable and who makes an appearance in every one of the five stories.



Trick r’ Treat is essentially an homage to the holiday, telling short tales of fun and fear that interweave well and don’t overstay their welcome. Each tale incorporates a rule about the folklore surrounding the holiday: Why the Jack-O-Lantern should be lit all night… Why you should always check your candy… The reason behind the term “trick or treat,” etc. When the rules are broken and the holiday is not given the proper respect, the audience quickly learns that the repercussions for the rule breakers are…unfortunate.

If the film may be an homage to the holiday, Sam is sort of its physical embodiment. While he may make an appearance in every story, he’s only directly involved with the first and last entries, saving his energies for punishing those who take the ancient Day of the Dead too lightly. Blow out the Lantern too early? Bad idea. No treat? Well then, you get the trick, and believe me, it’s going to be worse than a toilet papered lawn.



All the stories were original and entertaining and contained unique and sometimes disturbing characters. There were a couple questionable plot points, but all in all everything felt well thought out.

The atmosphere too, was quite impressive. Each story had a moment when I looked at it and went, “nice,” be it through the use of color, scenery or just though sheer ambiance.



Overall, I was very happy with Trick r’ Treat. The stories all have the same narrative feel and interact with each other quite seamlessly. The film’s really more fun than scary (or maybe I’m just desensitized), incorporating quite a bit of humor, but there were some good jump scares I quite liked. The characters were likable, the atmosphere was top-notch and, while everyone is going to have a favorite, all the stories were pretty solid with no duds in sight. There were a couple of plot holes I noticed while watching it and I would have preferred they not focus quite so much time on the school bus incident, but those are small gripes to what I felt was a very entertaining film. It’s a fun love letter to Halloween and I’d recommend it to anyone who loves the holiday or anthology tales.


Now do yourself a solid and remember to keep your Jack-O-Lantern burning all night.

^ What he said...

My wife and I also watched Trick 'r Treat (2007) this evening. While it certainly was not my favorite movie of the season, it was a perfect choice for Halloween.


SEPTEMBER HALLOWEEN MOVIES:


OCTOBER HALLOWEEN MOVIES:

I'm going to do a separate post for pictures.

Here are some of the decorations we put out:



Took me forever to come up with an idea, but here's my Pumpkin carving for the year:


Hope you all had a great holiday

Now I'm off for my yearly movie ritual of Hocus Pocus and Ernest Scared Stupid.