Friday the 13th (1980) - Blu-ray Review

Review:

*Originally written November 14th, 2018*

Friday the 13th is one of those franchises I really want to love, but just end up finding them extremely poor. This is by far one of the better entries in the series before getting more and more absurd with each new film that delved into self-parody as it progressed. It's just a shame that a series that's as well loved by horror fans peaked with this completely uninspired and derivative slasher.

I do appreciate the simplicity of the original. Much like the Halloween franchise, the sequels focused on creating more and more convoluted reasons at the why the killer is the way they are. This is much more simple: Someone is slaughtering horny teenagers one by one at a summer camp. It's that simple. Nothing more, nothing less. If you want characters with depth or even personality, then look elsewhere, because they are just meaningless fodder that either get killed, go topless or both.

The most interesting thing about the characters ends with the fact one of them is Kevin Bacon. It's fun to see him in an earlier role before he hit it big and a sick joy to see him inevitably get picked off (I assume the killer saw the future and knew about those EE ads). Aside from Bacon, I really could not tell you a single thing about another character in this slasher. 

Some of the kills are at least very gory and brutal. I read this film received a lot of criticisms for its violence, which I can see. By today's standards and how desensitised by blood and gore I am at this point, it's arguably tame, but I can see how in 1980, it's seen as a bit much. The kills and score are probably the only thing that makes Friday the 13th at least watchable. 

Aside from the pretty decent twist that reveals who the killer is and their motivations. I really do like how the first film in this franchise revolving around Jason Vorhees and his iconic hockey mask, doesn't even make an appearance here. He doesn't appear until the sequels. It does create some questions as to how the killer was able to overpower and kill these teenagers, but hey ho, this is a dumb slasher film. I'd be stupid to argue about logic in a series where the killer is able to transfer his conscious into other people who a demonic slug. 


There's so little to pick apart here. It's a derivative and forgettable slasher with some fun kills and a surprising twist. Nothing more, nothing less. I do want to revisit the sequels at some point, but from aside from funky opening titles to Part 3, I have very little desire to go there. 

5/10 Dans

Friday the 13th is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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Cannibal Holocaust (1980) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written October 5th, 2017*

An assault on the senses? Yes. Provocative? Certainly. Gory? You bet. I'm not entirely sure why I didn't like Cannibal Holocaust as much as I did, it definitely got a reaction out of me, which is more commendable than films I like, but that reaction was more one of disgust and hatred towards what I saw. I love animals, so seeing them die in front of me, for real, for the sake of an audiences entertainment just rubbed me the wrong way. Helped no further by the graphic and disturbing way these animals were killed. I can't think of anything worse than having to watch that turtle scene again. I nearly threw up. 

Then there's also the issue of the treatment of women in this film. Maybe it's the point, but it was not interesting to watch constant graphic rapes and torture of women for no real point. There was one horrible scene early on where a women is raped with a bit of wood, then has a rock shoved in her vagina, then has her head caved in. It's not pleasant.

It's a criticism I hate using as it can rarely be further explained or expanded upon, but I was mostly bored during Cannibal Holocaust. It's a film I've had hyped to me for years and I thought, hey ho, whatever, I'll finally go for it this October. Like I said, it really earns its stars and stripes in graphic content, it's just not a lot else did anything for me. At no point during this would I say I was "enjoying" it. Which is fine, you don't need to enjoy a film for it to be good. That sounds like a weird thing to say, but do you find 12 Years a Slave or Schindler's List "enjoyable"? Exactly.

I can see why this film has inspired a lot from it. I imagine it was sort of The Blair Witch Project of its time. The fact some people thought this was real and the crew were actually killed, meaning the director nearly faced trial is awesome. I was amazed to see this also made $200 million. No matter what I thought of the film, that's still remarkably impressive. Even with inflation, a film like this would never make anywhere near that much money today.

I appreciate the themes of civilisation vs the uncivilised and who truly is the "civilised" ones. It's not nice to see that times really haven't changed in 37 years. Privileged white people are still destroying the homes of foreigners for their own benefit. So hey, at least there's some resonate social commentary here. I also liked some of the found-footage aspects, which is pretty original for its time, or at least this is the earliest example I've seen.

I won't say I hated Cannibal Holocaust, but I definitely didn't like it. I see why people do. It just didn't do a lot for me. While I am repulsed by the actions the filmmakers took in making this film, I do have to commend them for going as far as they did, as sick as it made me.

4/10 Dans

Cannibal Holocaust is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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