WraithTDK Blog

The best of either series so far!

WraithTDK — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:04:09 GMT

A perfect franchise match-up, as the ultimate "sport-hunter" takes aim at the the ultimate natural predator.
The film does an excellent job of merging the two legendary franchises, and even though it takes place in the present (long before any of the Alien movies), they do a great job of tieing it in to the series' continuity by having the main characters funded by Mr. Weyland, founder of Wayland Industries, better known as "The Company", the sinister organization that sent the Nostromo to capture the original Alien. This at last answers the question of how the company first found out about the killing machines.

If you are a fan of either series, I can't recommend this movie highly enough, and consider it the best of either franchise (though I have not yet seen AVP 2).

A good "popcorn movie"

WraithTDK — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:29:26 GMT

Not all that original, but still a good flick.

The best on-screen adaptation yet.

WraithTDK — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 23:36:48 GMT

If the 2003 Hulk movie featuring David Banna left you somewhat less than overwhelmed, this movie will show you exactly what that film should have been. It is a bit annoying that they completely started from scratch remaking a film that came out only five years ago, when the start of this film had the main character in almost the same circumstances that he was left in at the end of the 2003 movie, but regardless, a good movie if you're willing to disregard the last one.

Good if you don't care about details...

WraithTDK — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:13:35 GMT

This movie really got on my nerves, because it ignored the finale chapters in the evolution of both of the title characters.

It starts with Freddy resurrecting Jason, because he needs people to fear him in order to gain power, so that he could return. The thing is, he did it by just “convincing” Jason to come back, at which point Jason rose from his grave. Wait. Back up a minute. Grave? Jason Vorhees was definitively killed by a family member. Not to mention his body was blown to pieces. So how was Jason once again whole, and in a grave? And if he could come back at any time, why didn’t he? Seems like a pretty cheap cop-out way to bring him back.

Then there’s Freddy. Freddy got his power from people fearing him. That much is true. However, in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Friday, they finally revealed how it is that he keeps coming back, no matter what they do to him: he wasn’t just a restless spirit, he had made a pact with three dream demons. The pact allowed Freddy to “be forever” in people’s dreams. The thing is, Freddy’s daughter brought him into the real world, where he could be killed. He was blown up, and when that happened, the dream demons left him, and THAT is why he couldn’t come back. He no longer had his demonic “backers.” So how is he now still empowered?

Moving forward, apparently, all the adults in the town of Springwood know of and acknowledge Freddy’s existence (though, apparently, an entire town of adults remember him wasn’t enough to empower him) as a supernatural evil, but, instead of moving away from what they know to be a cursed town, they decide to cover it up by quarantining any kid who learns about Freddy, and giving them drugs that prevent them from dreaming (which, FYI, would in reality cause a person to go insane). They hid all records of any Freddy-related deaths, and none of them speak of it. Riiight.

Then there’s the comment that “Freddy died by fire, Jason by water.” Did the writers even WATCH the final movies of those two series? Really, that should be a requirement before re-launching a series. Then there’s the scene where Freddy makes Jason revert to his childhood state by pouring water on him. This happened in first in Friday The 13^th Part VIII, Jason Takes Manhattan. It was also one of the many reason I put that movie on my list of the worst sequels of all time (see the list here: http://www.flixster.com/movie-list/worst-sequels-of-all-time-2). It really didn’t make any sense, and was never explained why that actually happened. And the idea of Jason being afraid of Water seems a little strange to me, considering he practically lived in Camp Crystal Lake.

As a few people have said, the one redeeming quality of this movie was watching Freddy fight someone who, for once, he just could not kill. Someone who may not have had the versatile offensive abilities of Freddy, but who could withstand them and just keep coming. And really, the look on Freddy’s face when he’s pulled into the real world realizes that he’s now face to Face with Jason, and for the first time since he was human, he’s outclassed; that was priceless.

All in all, the movie was an o.k. horror flick if you don’t care about continuity, or haven’t watched the last chapters of Friday The 13^th or A Nightmare on Elm Street series. However, if you’ve watched them all, and you’re kind of a stickler for details, be ready for some irritating moments. Three stars. Not bad, could be better.

The series gets a mercy-killing.

WraithTDK — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:34:13 GMT

My word, it’s no wonder Wes Craven felt the need to redefine Freddy in “A New Nightmare.” By this point, he’s like a cartoon villain. The killings (while I’ve never been that guy who watches these things for them) were like watching a sicker version of Bugs Bunny. There was even cartoon sound effects! Freddy looks a little better than he did in the last movie, but not by much. He now looks more like he’s got a weird skin condition than horrible, disfiguring burns.

And the plot didn’t make a whole lot of sense, either. We start with an on-screen message that says the movie takes place ten years from now (well, ten years from 1991, when it was made. Although nothing looks different), and apparently, Freddy has killed every kid in Springwood (the town Elm Street is located in). The killings are all rules “mysterious deaths and suicides” and apparently all the adults are suffering from “mass hysteria.” Alright, so we haven’t even seen an actor yet, and ALREADY things aren’t making sense. First of all, if every kid in town was systematically murdered, and the streak went on for ten years, why the hell did people continue to live there? Call me crazy, but it seems to me like that would be the type of things that makes someone want to get out of Dodge. Secondly, after the largest string of “mysterious deaths and suicides” in American history, and this place isn’t quarantined, or under constant surveillance, or at LEAST a notorious American mystery?

Once again, we get the “Freddy’s back, but we’re not gonna make any attempt to explain HOW, since he was supposedly destroyed in the last movie” issue. At least this time we get some explanation for how Freddy became what he is (we already got the story of his twisted birth in the last two movies). Apparently, when he was killed, he was confronted by dream demons, who promised that he would live forever in dreams, as long as he did their bidding. The ultimate solution, the one that was supposed to finally kill Freddy for good (and actually DID until over a decade later in Freddy Vs. Jason) was that they had to pull him OUT of their dreams (like Nancy did in the first movie), and kill him there. Why he looked normal he was taken out in this one, when he was sill burnt up and crazy when they did it the first time is beyond me. The real question is why he didn’t just return to the dream world like he did back then? When Nancy did it, all Freddy had to do was grab someone, and collapse into the dream world, taking Marge (Nancy’s mom) with him. Fortunately, instead of just turning her back on Freddy and stealing his power (which, IMO, was a much better, much more creative way of killing him), Maggie (Freddy’s long-lost daughter) actually beat him senseless and then blew him up with a pipe bomb.

And so, my trip down Elm Street with the original series proper comes to a close. It had its up points, but for the most part, I can’t believe they made six of these things. I have to agree with Wes Craven, and many of the series fans; if Craven didn’t make it, it wasn’t good. That’s not a pretentious “loyalty to the writer” statement, it’s my God-honest review. The first one was good. The third was good. Wes Craven made both. The rest of them, including this one, just plain sucked on ice. Two stars.

A Major Disapointment...

WraithTDK — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:09:53 GMT

Take Mortal Kombat, add more characters than you have time to do anything with, and remove everything that wasn't a fight scene, and you've got Annihilation.

The worst of the series.

WraithTDK — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:08:13 GMT

Shatner: good in front of the Camera. Poison behind it. 'nough said.

The movie that spawned "The Highlander Rule"

WraithTDK — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:06:31 GMT

Widely accepted as one of the worst sequels of all time, Highlander II takes the story of an ostensibly mystical race of immortals, fighting for the prize of ultimate power, and redefines it as a sci-fi tale, where the immortals are in fact alien beings exiled to earth, with the prize being the ability to return home, or grow old and die on earth. When Connor McLoud, now an old man, kills another alien who has just been sent to earth, he is made immortal once again; and must use his abilities, along with help from Ramirez (who, apparently, Connor can bring back from the dead just by calling his name, which kind of makes you wonder why he took this long to do so), must battle an oppressive future government to save the world. This movie was so bad that it spawned what I refer to as ?The Highlander Rule?, which says that when a movie sequel reaches a certain level of awful, I simply refuse to acknowledge its existence when speaking of the franchise.

The Worst of the series

WraithTDK — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:04:41 GMT

Easily the worst chapter in the series*. Be it the lack of interesting characters, the completely, utterly incomprehensible ending, or just the fact that in a movie named "Jason Takes Manhatten", Jason only spends about five minutes IN Manhattan, this movie was just plain crap.

*It should be mentioned that since V goes off on such a tangent that it doesn't even include Jason, I do not consider to even be part of the series.

Quite possibly the worst sequel of all time.

WraithTDK — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:59:36 GMT

So I turn on Sci-FI today at 9pm to watch The long-rumored Highlander movie about Duncan's search for the origins of the immortals?!

The one that was never released in theaters? The one that I've not seen ANY ads for? It's just on? WTF?

O.k., so I watched it.

Well, now I remember why I call the Highlander rule "The Highlander rule." OMG it was awful. It was just. Freaking. Awful. It takes place in, I dunno, the future? I mean, the world had descended into complete chaos and it was all post-apocalyptic, but Joe was still alive, and he was mortal, so it couldn't be too far away. About 90% of it was done in front of terrible looking blue screen. The acting was meh. The writing was awful. Lots of random encounters with bands of post-apocalyptic crazy people. The visuals were awful. And the ending? oh. God. The ending.

Apparently, "there can be only one" does not mean that they had to kill all the others; it just meant that there was only one with a pure enough heart to pass the test of the source, and thus allow him to make a child (which immortals were otherwise not able to do).

WHAT THE HELL?! HALF STAR!