Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1968)
(I decided to take a break from the happenings at Crystal Lake to watch the last of the Hammer Dracula films that I'll be watching this month...)
My dog accidentally erased the post I had for this movie (don't ask, he's a lummox), and I don't feel like retyping it. This is the 3rd sequel to Horror of Dracula, and I liked it just as well as the others I have watched (other than Dracula AD 1972), for the same reasons (Lee as Dracula, the settings, etc.). There are still other Hammer Dracula films I need to see, but the month is winding down and I am getting Dracula'ed out, so this will be the last one (I can save the rest until the 2011 Horror Fest).
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
This is the installment of the series where it crosses over from old school, early 80's slasher film to campy horror. In addition to the acting being over the top (a given for this type of film), the characters are now over the top as well (especially the white trash family that lives next door to the halfway house). Also, they do away with the slow build of tension that the earlier films employed. The focus is now on trying to cram as many killings in as they can, and to make them as gruesome and outlandish as possible.
At least New Beginning attempted to shake things up a little, plot-wise. Here, we move away from a summer camp setting to a halfway house for mentally disturbed teens. Tommy, the kid who finally was able to put Jason out of his misery at the end of the last film, is 5 years older and is sent to the halfway house as he has been warped by what he was forced to do to take care of Jason. Of course, killings start again, leading people to think Jason has been brought back to life (he hasn't). This film (as you can tell by the title) was an attempt to take things in a different direction, and eventually have Tommy take over for Jason as the killer. People didn't care for that, so it it wasn't long before Jason was back for good...
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
In fact it was only 1 year later. Jason is ressurrected right at the beginning, and he is front and center the whole film. The makers of this movie knew what the people wanted - no more lurking behind trees and using POV camera shots to show when the killer is around. Its all Jason, all the time.
There really isn't much to say about the film, other than it is my least favorite of the series. There is nothing to distinguish it from the other Friday the 13th films (at least New Beginning had a different killer, and Part VII has a girl with psychic powers - more on that below). Its pretty bland.
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
New Blood takes place 10 years after Jason Lives. There has to be these huge jumps in time between the films to explain why ANYONE would want to spend any time at all in the same area where, by this point, 5 different brutal slayings have occured (New Beginning was the only one that took place away from Crystal Lake or, as it was renamed in Jason Lives in an effort by the townspeople to move on from the killings, Forest Green). Unlike the last installment, this film at least tries to add a new twist to the (by now stale) standard plot of getting a bunch of teens together to allow jason to wreck havoc - the main character Tina has psychic powers. Its her powers that inadvertantly ressurect Jason from his watery grave, and also play a part in Jason's final demise. The rest of the film is what you'd expect, but at least some attempt was made to change things up a little.
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