Today I watched Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986) for the first time. I had seen parts 1 till 5 before and my favorites of those are definitely the original and Part 2. The rest felt either just good (Part 4) or just utterly bad (Part 3). While I did hear a lot of praises about Jason Lives I wasn’t that sure if I’d love it as well. Well I’ve seen it and its suffice to say that it’s one of my favorite entries in the Friday the 13th franchise! In my opinion its MUCH better than 3, 4 and 5.

This installment definitely took me by surprise since I noticed a downward spiral ever after Part 2 of the franchise. It was fun, campy and I loved the characters and especially the deaths. The performances weren’t exactly mindblowing but I am willing to admit that Jennifer Cooke as Megan became one of my favorite Friday the 13th final girls! A very sassy and likeable character that you gotta love. Also Thom Mathews as Tommy Jarvis was fantastic, my favorite ‘Jarvis’ performance of the three actors that portrayed the character from 4-6. Much better acting abilities and let’s not forget about his very charming looks! This sequel totally justified Jason Voorhees as he strikes back with a vengeance. The dark humor in this sequel was on point and I love how little I knew about this installment which made the whole experience even more awesome.

The soundtrack is superb with the highlight being the ‘He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)’ song by Alice Cooper! Loved this sequel from beginning to end, from the rad ‘Jason Bond’ opening credits to the jamming end credits. It had some minor flaws but none too drastic. Highly recommend this slasher sequel to anyone, I was blown away by its awesomeness!

Wanna read some more reviews of mine? Visit Ferdi’s Movie World and you can find plenty of more!

–Ferdi Akkulak

The slasher sequel Urban Legends: Final Cut follows the story of Amy (Jennifer Morrison, Once Upon A Time), a young film student who, after hearing the story of the events which took place in the first film, comes up with the idea to make a film based on Urban Legends. However, as the film begins shooting, a mysterious killer begins picking off Amy’s cast and crew one by one. Amy soon realizes that her script has become reality and the horror isn’t staying on her script page.

I found this to actually be a very strong sequel, Although nowhere near as good as the first, it still manages to keep the eeriness of the first plus it has much bloodier kills. The acting, like the first, is pretty good mainly because you have relatively known actors such as Joey Lawrence (Blossom, Melissa and Joey), Eva Mendez (The Place Beyond the Pines) and Matthew Davis (Legally Blonde, The Vampire Diaries) adding their acting chops to this low budget sequel.

I found that this film had a lot more humor in it compared to the original. This made for a different tone in the film and separated it from its predecessor, which actually worked quite well in this sequel. The main thing for me which stuck out for the film was the fact that this one only received a 15 rating from the BBFC when the original was given an 18. It felt as though this one was much bloodier than the original. This got me thinking about horror films and their ratings, but also what goes into a film rating. After rewatching the first Urban Legend recently it crossed my mind that possibly the 18 was given for the threat more than actual on screen violence. For the most part many of the kills in the original were off screen.

Urban Legends Final Cut is possibly one of the better “recent” horror sequels. Although it has its connections to the first, it could be watched as a stand alone film. However, as a fan of the original, it is possible to imagine that many fans would possibly have liked to see or at least know what had happened to the characters in the first film. To be fair, in this sequel, they do try and pass the first film off as an Urban Legend story.

Overall I would highly recommend this film. As previously mentioned you do not have to watch the first to enjoy this film, although I do advice that you do as it is a great slasher film. Urban Legends: Final Cut is widely released on DVD and should be easy to get. In the UK it is also on Netflix.

–Ross Wilcock

Yesterday I saw Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988) for the first time. I had previously seen the original Sleepaway Camp (1983) and I found that a pretty good slasher with a noteworthy twist ending, which still manages to shock and controversy to this very day. Going into the sequel I had modest hopes, obviously the character of Angela Baker was portrayed by Pamela Springsteen this time around instead of Felissa Rose. Other than this character, there are none recurring characters in the sequels of Sleepaway Camp. I wasn’t sure about the swap of actress at first but wanted to give it a chance since I’ve been hearing great things from friends and slasher fans.

I have finally watched ‘Unhappy Campers’ and while it lacks in shock value and thrills the original Sleepaway Camp obviously had going for it, this comedic sequel takes a perfect direction with even bloodier and gorier kills as the body count has raised. Pamela Springsteen truly did a bang up job as Angela, I loved her line delivery and comedic chops. Her portrayal is slightly better than Felissa Rose but not by much. Still a very refreshing take on this special character. I also really liked Renée Estevez and Tony Higgins in this sequel. The characters were fun but very over the top and there were many parts that cracked me up. The nice references, touches and winks to classics like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre were totally on point. As far as watchability goes, the sequel is more watchable than the original in my opinion. Characters were fleshed out better and the acting was a slight improvement over the original. The dark humor in this was spot on but its not considered scary or surprising in my books as opposed to the original.

Still a fun and campy comedy slasher with cool death sequences, a fantastic 80s soundtrack, a hilariously good Pamela Springsteen, fun characters and some witty dark humor. Not a movie I would consider ‘great’ by any means as some is left to be desired, like the non-effective ending but it does offer exactly what it promises and then some. I was not bored for a second watching this movie and would highly recommend it to everyone!

–Ferdi Akkulak

Yesterday I saw Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) for the first time, also as part of the ‪#‎80sHorrorWeek‬. I have seen the first four Friday the 13th movies before this. 1 and 2 were fantastic entries in the horror genre, 3 was very mediocre and 4 was only half good. Well I’ve seen ‘A New Beginning’ and while its not as good as ‘The Final Chapter’, it still left a better impression on me than Part III did. The storyline, while different this time around, was interesting enough. I know most fans weren’t pleased with the approach the franchise took with this installment but I didn’t mind it to be perfectly honest with you. However, this doesn’t mean that I loved this installment as it was very by-the-numbers and filled with cliches.

The acting performances were pretty much awful. Melanie Kinnaman (as Pam) might be one of the prettiest final girls of the Friday the 13th franchise but her acting is very over the top and flawed in a lot of parts. John Shepherd (Tommy Jarvis), Carol Locatell (Ethel) and Tiffany Helm (Violet) were very solid in this film. The characters weren’t very likeable in this installment as most weren’t even trying to achieve that level. And the kills, while high on body count, were decent but pretty much bloodless. The soundtrack is pretty good, just as in the other installments. The plot twist at the end was surprising and wasn’t a letdown whatsoever, it only made up for most of the film. There aren’t many ‘scary’ scenes in this installment and the suspense is also hard to find. I did love all the scenes with the character of Ethel and the ‘robot dance’ scene with Violet was awesome! (the soundtrack ‘His Eyes’ by Pseudo Echo is my favorite of the entire franchise!)

Overall, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning isn’t one of the better Friday the 13th movies but its definitely fun to watch and I enjoyed this 80’s slasher for what it was, even though it was nothing I’d call outstanding either.

–Ferdi Akkulak

The third installment of the Urban Legend series follows the story of Samantha (Kate Mara, House Of Cards). After being kidnapped with two of her friends, she begins to believe that the mysterious killings in her town are connected to her kidnapping. After investigating a case of a missing town girl from the 1960’s, Sam realizes that the truth may be closer to home than she thought.

This film did not come very highly recommended to me as many fans of the series do not like this threequel compared to the previous two films (Urban Legend 1998, Urban Legends: Final Cut 2000). The film was pretty poorly acted for the most part but considering it was a direct to DVD release, this is not surprising.

I was reminded while watching this of Halloween III as a “stand alone film” that had nothing to do with the other installments of the Michael Myers’ franchise. Sadly, I didn’t find this film to be very comparable. Although I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought, it was still disappointing as an Urban Legend film.

The one redeeming quality of this film were the kills. Although only achieving a 15 certificate in the UK, it was still enough to allow the film to show pretty imaginative kills. This alone suggests that the film is worth a watch at least once if you are a horror/slasher fan.

I was overall disappointed in the finished film. However, if you are looking for a film that passes the time and has decent kills, you could do much worse than this one.

–Ross Wilcock

I am excited to return to another Slasher Studios feature film! My first experience was taking a ‘test run’ up to the set location so I could easily find it the first morning of filming. My traveling companion for this test run was ‘Don’t Go to the Reunion’ cast mate, Kaleb Shorey. As we ventured into the northwoods of Wisconsin, the GPS directions took us farther and farther down one lane, dead end snow covered roads with hills, twists and turns, and seemingly, no cabin in the woods. This was already turning into a scary adventure and the movie has not even begun! Finally, we came across two fellows carrying snow shovels. I called out ‘are you making a movie?’ and lo and behold, this was our Director, Austin Bosley and DP, Jordan Hiller. They were coming to the rescue of some of the multiple cast and crew who would find themselves stuck in the winter wonderland. Another mile down the trail I had my first look at the film set. A rustic vacation home on a secluded lake. This was going to be where the magic happens. No one for miles around….just frozen Wisconsin tundra. And no phone or internet service.

Filming the movie was everything and more than I expected. The cast was amazing. Full of up and coming young actors from across the country with incredible talent. I also was reunited with people I worked on in DGTTR, like Zach, Kevin and Johnathan. The crew for this movie was outstanding. I met so many cool people! Viewers are in for a special treat! The lighting, sound recording, film work and attention to detail by the script supervisor will make this slasher one to remember! The crew had to endure the longest hours in below zero temps to bring you the best of holiday slashers, but it will be so worth it! Austin and Kevin definitely had a vision of how this story should be told, complete with blood and gore and action packed with excitement.

The cast, even though many were from warmer climates, did an incredible job of tolerating the weather. I do have to say the fireplace was running 24/7 to dry out mittens and boots and keep us warm. Due to the treacherous roads leading to the cabin, once we were there, we were there to stay, except for one night when we were done early and packed 18 people in 3 cars to have dinner at Nutzy’s, the local bar and grill. Other nights we were treated to home cooking courtesy of Scott, our AD. Nights were spent watching classic horror DVDs. A great thing to experience surrounded by people who know so much about film and are schooled in slasher movies.

This film also gave me a chance to work on some of the pre-production work with Zach and Andrew. I enjoyed helping out and providing the details and design to some of the scenes. It was also a chance to contribute my skills as a FX makeup artist, another horror passion of mine. My favorite and last memory from the set was the magical feeling of spending nearly two weeks in a house decorated for Christmas. While real life Christmas decorations are packed away, we had the chance to enjoy staying in a house decorated from top to bottom for Christmas.

Thank you to everyone for sharing this experience with me!

–Marla Van Lanen

Today I watched Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004) for the first time. I have seen both Ginger Snaps (2000) and Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed (2004) before and both were definitely outstanding in their own ways. Great and refreshing entries in the horror genre. With a prequel that was shot back-to-back with the first sequel it was interesting to see what approach the makers of the Ginger Snaps franchise were taking.

Well I have watched the prequel and I must say that it kind of disappointed me. Sure, the movie looks good. Its well shot, the cinematography is outstanding, the locations look great and the performances by Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins were as strong as usual. The werewolves looked scary and were overall an improvement over the previous installments. Also this is quite possibly the bloodiest entry in the Ginger Snaps franchise. The soundtrack is good, but not as moody and effective as in the first two movies. The story looked interesting on paper and I held my breath with the entire ‘prequel’ idea and it completely backfired and flawed in my opinion. This ‘prequel’ works FAR better as a standalone film with the original cast members or even as a remake of the original with a different time setting, this is in NO way connected to the first two Ginger Snaps movies, or as part of the ‘Trilogy’.

It does not make sense and it rather felt like the original film in a different jacket and with less than stellar returns. This was very dumb and lazy on the part of the writers. I also thought this movie had a slow start and suffered from a lack of genuine scares. Its great that the biting humor of the first two movies was still present here, especially for the time setting. The chemistry between the sisters were strong as ever, and while I didn’t hate this movie the ‘prequel’ card it played was unnecessary and confusing to the viewer. I still recommend it, especially if you were a fan of the first two movies and/or the cast. Just watch it as a standalone film to avoid confusion.

–Ferdi Akkulak

I have finally watched Black Christmas (1974) for the first time. I had seen the 2006 ‘remake’ a few years ago and thought it was fun but very cheesy. It definitely didn’t take itself seriously which made it ‘so bad its good’ in my opinion. I still like that movie for the actresses and the beautiful and bright Christmas setting. I was always curious to see how the much praised 1974 original would turn out to be like. I probably own the DVD of the original for almost two years. Well I’ve finally watched it and I gotta say it is one of the, if not THE scariest horror movie I’ve ever seen.

The amount of tension through out the entire movie was crazy, I was definitely creeped out and disturbed at some parts. Such an atmospheric, startling and original horror classic. The acting performances were all around top notch with a tour-de-force performance by the beautiful and lovely Olivia Hussey who was the heart and soul of this movie. I also really liked Margot Kidder, John Saxon, Marian Waldman, Andrea Martin and Lynne Griffin in this classic. The characters were everything I was expecting AND more! So resourceful, fun and fantastic in their own ways, the character developments were superb. This movie feels like the perfect combination of drama, comedy, slasher, thriller and mystery. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and hooked from start to finish. The directing by Bob Clark was splendid and the cinematography was really outrageous. The soundtrack is very effective and does its job perfectly. The movie manages to have a lot of frightening scenes, together with emotional scenes and hilarious moments. That’s a pretty rare feat for a horror movie to pull off.

Not gonna make any comparisons to the 2006 remake because the original is far superior and the stories and setting can’t be compared with each other. The remake is fun but it works more as an homage to the 80’s slashers than as a direct remake to the original Black Christmas. This movie sent chills down my spine, even though there are some slow parts its interesting to solve this big mystery and to see the multiple ‘suspects’. Also props to the witty but well written script! The ending is perfect and leaves the audience thinking for themselves what will happen next. I highly recommend anyone to watch the original ‘Black Christmas’, I am definitely re-watching this movie every year around Christmas time! Happy holidays!

–Ferdi Akkulak

Last Friday I finally saw 7500 for the very first time. I literally waited almost three years to see this movie. I was so pumped after I saw the trailer way back in early 2012, the anticipation was killing me. It sucks that CBS Films put this one on the shelf for two whole years. At some point I thought this movie would never come out. The studio really dropped the ball with this movie. Well I finally saw it and let’s just say that I now get why it got shelved for so long.

The concept might’ve looked interesting on paper and had potential but the execution is rather disappointing. There were so many possibilities with the story and the outcome felt very far fetched. I also thought that the CGI looked pretty bad but that is to blame on the small production budget. I also loathed the ending, it felt rushed and completely made me forget everything I had seen before. The running time is a shameful 76 minutes and I honestly thought it should’ve been longer.

There were, of course, some positive things to note. Although 7500 didn’t meet my high expectations, I still thought it was an entertaining horror flick. The suspense is really well crafted and characters are well written and developed. The standout performances definitely belonged to Scout Taylor-Compton, Jamie Chung, Leslie Bibb, Ryan Kwanten, Amy Smart and Christian Serratos. The directing was solid and the great shots in the airplane made the experience of watching more intense. This movie also has a great score.

I’m glad I’ve finally seen this movie but it was a tad disappointing and wasn’t really worth the 3 year wait. However, I highly recommend it to hardcore horror fans for the star studded cast and director alone.

–Ferdi Akkulak

Patrick is an Australian horror remake of the 1970s cult classic starring You’re Next star Sharni Vinson (Step Up 3, Bait). The film follows the story of a young nurse Cathy who comes to work in a hospital full of comatose patients. When she is introduced to a patient named Patrick her life changes forever. She slowly begins to realize that Patrick has some very special abilities. His obsession with Cathy grows his powers also grow causing Cathy to fear for her life.

Patrick made its UK Debut at Glasgow Fright Fest in November 2013 with a direct to DVD release in August 2014. I went into this film hoping it would be a really intense and creepy thriller and because of the spectacular performance of Vinson in her previous horror hit You’re Next which was outstanding. However, sadly, this film fell flat on its face with very minor and clichéd jump scares.

The film was definitely one to wait for a Netflix release or a TV viewing. It had its moments where I thought that it could improve but, then again, it fell flat. The only positive I can give to this film was that the story was strong enough that I wanted to see where it ended plus the fact that the film runs just over 90 minutes long was also in its favor.

–Ross Wilcock