Horror by Harrison

  Every October I host a month-long horror marathon wherein I watch at least one horror movie a night and my friends have an open invitation to drop in for any of them (this year’s will be the 8th year running). One year I followed that up with a day of bad horror movie sequels on November 1st, which consisted of what is considered the worst entries of four horror franchises ( Halloween: Resurrection , Freddy’s Dead: The FInal Nightmare , Jaws: The Revenge , and Jason X ).  At the time I hadn’t seen any of those films and only knew of their reputation. Over the course of the evening we only successfully got through Freddy’s Dead due to an ill-advised drinking game (drink everytime something stupid happens) that left us to inebriated to continue. It was a few years before I finally actually saw Jason X and I learned that I was wrong to include it on the list because this film is a BLAST! Jason X was written by Todd Farmer ( My Bloody Valentine ) and directed by James Isaac ( ...

What the fuck is this movie? Seriously, this makes Jason X (coming next week!) look normal. Once again, I applaud the franchise’s desire to experiment with formula but it’s not entirely successful (though more successful than Jason Takes Manhattan ).  Jason Goes to Hell was written by Jay Huguely ( Street Justice ) and Dean Lorey ( Major Payne ) and was directed by Adam Marcus ( Let it Snow ). Jason Goes to Hell was made on a budget of $3 million, made $7,552,190 upon opening, and made $15,935,190 worldwide. It was released on August 13th, 1993 to negative reviews. Jason (Kane Hodder, House ), whose resurrection after his death in Manhattan is unexplained, returns to Crystal Lake where he is killed by FBI agents who set a trap for him. His soul begins jumping from body to body to continue his killing spree. He can only be stopped by Jessica (Kari Keegan, Mind Games ), the daughter of Jason’s previously unmentioned sister Diana (Erin Gray, Silver Spoons ). Honestly, it’s a m...

  This movie makes two fatal mistakes. First is marketing itself as taking place in Manhattan and then spending most of its runtime on a boat. The second is making the actual Manhattan section of the film excruciatingly boring. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan was written and directed by Rob Hedden ( Clockstoppers ) and was released on July 28th, 1998. Jason Takes Manhattan was made on a budget of somewhere between $5.1-$5.5 million, made $6,251,310 upon opening, and made $14,343,976 worldwide. Jason Takes Manhattan received overwhelmingly negative reviews. Jason Takes Manhattan follows a group of teens, including aquaphobic Rennie (Jensen Daggett, Home Improvement ), on a graduation cruise from (the previously landlocked) Crystal Lake to Manhattan. Of course, Jason (Kane Hodder, Hatchet ) makes his way onboard and begins slaughtering his way through the cast. Truthfully, the boat sections of the film are pretty good. Is Rennie the blandest of protagonists? ...

  As we head into the latter half of this franchise, things are going to start getting weird(er). You have to give it credit, Friday the 13th really took some swings with these later entries. Not all of them are completely successful but at least they weren’t content to just repeat the same formula from before. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood was written by Daryl Haney ( Mockingbird Don’t Sing ) and Manuel Fidello ( Michael vs. Jason ) and was directed by John Carl Buechler ( The Dungeonmaster ). It was released on May 13th, 1988. The New Blood was made on a budget of $2.8 million, made $8,245,038 upon opening, and made $19,170,001 worldwide. Per the usual for this franchise, it received largely negative reviews upon release. Shortly after the climax of Jason Lives , young Tina (Lar Park Lincoln, Knot’s Landing ) accidentally kills her abusive father by drowning him in Crystal Lake using her telekinetic abilities. Seven years later, Tina and her mother (Susan Blu, Tra...

  We’ve got a Friday the 13th coming up so that means it’s time for our second theme month, starting where we left off in November with Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives . As the title would suggest Paramount Pictures simply couldn’t let Jason (or his lucrative box office returns) stay in the grave. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives was written and directed by Tom McLoughlin ( One Dark Night ) and was released on August 1, 1986 (exactly 35 years and 1 day ago). Jason Lives was made on a budget of roughly $3 million, made $6,750,837 upon opening, and went on to make $19,472,057 worldwide. Unlike the other sequels, Jason Lives largely received positive reviews upon a release and is a fan favorite to this day. Jason Lives picks up some time after the events of A New Beginning and features Tommy Jarvis (Thom Mathews, The Return of the Living Dead ) on a mission to destroy the body of Jason Vorhees (CJ Graham, Highway to Hell and Dan Bradley, Independence Day ) in an attempt...