Halloween 2021: September 23rd

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

I suspect the executives at Paramount had few expectations for the original “Friday the 13th.” They probably figured it was a cheapie exploitation flick that they scooped up for a bargain, make back its investment in a week or two, and then be totally forgotten. Instead, the movie made 59 million in 1980 dollars, becoming the biggest horror hit of the year. Thoughts immediately turned towards a sequel and I mean immediately. The first “Friday the 13th” came out on May 9th, 1980. The sequel came out a few days shy of a year later on May 1st, 1981. While the idea of turning “Friday the 13th” into a horror anthology series, with each film telling a self-contained story, was briefly considered, it was decided early on that Jason – Mrs. Voorhess' supposedly dead son – would become the antagonist of the sequel. And horror history was made.

But that brings up a good question: How is Jason still alive? “Friday the 13th Part 2” seems to go with the theory that Jason survived his supposed drowning and has been living in the woods around Crystal Lake for thirty years. This raises far more questions than it answered, mainly why did Pamela Voorhees think her son was dead?  “Don't think about it too hard” is probably the best answer. Instead, the sequel runs with the clever idea of Jason becoming a campfire legend. His story is related literally around a fire. Later, a cop briefly spots Jason streaking across the road, like he's Bigfoot or something. That moment is mirrored later on, when we see the killer running in the woods through a window. Before then, Ginny discusses Jason's psychology while out drinking. The legend of “Camp Blood” has grown over the intervening years, with Jason being elevated to mythic status. Jason is an icon now and the sequel could seemingly look into the future and see that, making the masked murderer a legendary figure within its own story.

The iconic status of Jason is really what draws people to the “Friday the 13th” franchise, I think, It's not like the stories have much novelty. “Part 2” functions on the unlikely idea that some jerk named Paul has opened a training ground for camp counselors near the notorious Camp Crystal Lake, which seems like a bad investment. From there, the sequel more-or-less repeats the first film's structure. Characters wander off or get distracted being horny. Nobody notices the bodies are piling up until only one or two people are left. Both films end with a slightly nonsensical jump scare. When not copying the original, the sequel rips off other movies. Jason's appearance is largely taken from “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” while two kills are stolen outright from “A Bay of Blood.” Both of those movies are better than this one and make better use of the pilfered elements. 

While the characters in the first movie were, at best, archetypes, I still found myself relating to their desire to have fun in the summertime. The sequel expands the cast, in order to create a bigger body count, which leaves little time to develop anyone. There's a prankster character named Ted, who the movie seemingly forgets about before it ends. Paul, ostensibly the movie's hero, is as bland as possible. Otherwise, the young characters are defined solely by their desire to get laid. Couple Jeff and Sandra are all over each other. Vickie has her eyes set on wheelchair bound jock Mark and does everything she can to seduce him. Terry – introduced with a lingering shot on her ass in some Daisy Dukes – spends the whole movie worrying about a dog before deciding to randomly go skinny-dipping at which point some creep named Scott steals her clothes. I'm pretty sure that would be classified as some form of sexual assault in 2021!

The point is none of these guys are that interesting or endearing. I guess complaining about the characters in a “Friday the 13th” sequel being indistinct or mildly annoying is besides the point. (Even though the first movie made its vague characters kind of work.) Obviously, the murder scenes are the main draw here. And it must be said that director Steve Miner – who was the first movie's assistant director – knows how to engineer a murder sequence. The opening generates a grim sort of suspense, as Jason steps through a puddle and slowly closes in on Alice, the sole survivor from part one. After that, Miner makes sure the gore hit the audience just right. Whether that be a spear penetrating two fucking teens, a machete buried deep into someone's face, or a litany of stabbed legs or slashed throats, it's all delivered with maximum zest. 

The sequel never quite captures the creepy sense of isolation that worked in the first one's favor. Henry Manfredini's score, composed once again of non-stop shrieking strings, fills most of the quiet places. Miner throws in a thunder storm to build some tension but it doesn't quite work. However, once it's just Jason and final girl Ginny, “Friday the 13th Part 2” picks up a little more steam. Jason's sheer unrelenting quality makes him a viable threat. He drives a pitchfork through the roof of a car or into a door. Sometimes, he just smashes through a window himself as he searches out his intended victim. I'm not anywhere as attached to Amy Steel's Ginny as a lot of fans are. But I do admire her fighting spirit, picking up a chainsaw to take Jason on at one point. Even if she does, inexplicably, piss her pants at one point. That moment always struck me as gross and not in a fun way. 

Jason, as a character, was still solidifying at this point. And not just because he hasn't donned his iconic hockey mask yet. Compared to the stocky stuntmen who played him in the sequels, Jason looks kind of scrawny here. He also repeatedly gets his ass kicked. He stumbles to the ground, snaps his pitchfork in two, and even gets hit in the balls by Ginny. Paul knocks him to the floor as well. Compared to the unstoppable juggernaut of murder he would someday become, Jason here is a dork that is kills mostly by catching his victims off-guard. Even though he figured out how to track down Alice with minimal information in the opening, a sweater is apparently enough to fool Jason at the end. 

Among slasher aficionados, “Friday the 13th Part 2” is pretty well regarded. Many fans list it as their favorite film in the long-running franchise. I've never quite gotten the hype concerning this one, as my middling previous reviews can attest to. Miner does a good job directing the gruesome stuff and Ginny makes for a resourceful final girl. Otherwise, this copies the first one without grasping what made it work and features a Jason Voorhees that is only half-formed. If it wasn't the second part in the eighties' most beloved horror franchise, this would be a stock parts slasher flick with limited charm. But what do I know? [6/10]

Death Line (1972)

Gary Sherman, perpetually the most underrated of the great underrated directors, was born in Chicago. He got his start making commercials and industrial films like still a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology. And yet, this thoroughly Midwestern American made a movie – his first movie, no less – so British, that most people just assume it was made by a British person. Sherman lived for a time in London after graduating and it was during this period that he made "Death Line." The film was well received by critics upon release in 1972 but was largely overlooked by audiences, especially in America. In more recent years, the film has acquired a reputation as a cult classic. 

James Manfred, part of the Order of the British Empire, enters the Russell Square subway station in London looking to pick up a prostitute. Instead, he's attacked by an unseen man. Later, his body is discovered by American student Alex and his British girlfriend, Patricia. They report the incident to the police but the body disappears before they return. Acerbic inspector Calhoun investigates the case but can't conceive of the truth: That a cannibal, hungry for human flesh after the last member of his family dies, is living in the London Underground.

There are long scenes in "Death Line" devoted to nothing more than establishing its setting. The camera crawls through the huge, empty tunnels of the subway station. The funky score takes a break during these scenes, so the only sounds are the far-off dripping of water and the creaks of the structure. The slow pans over the stone walls, broken boards, and decomposing corpses provide a desolate, creepy mood. The London Underground is such a great setting for a horror movie, that I'm surprised more movies haven't utilized it. It's very easy to imagine someone getting lost down there and never resurfacing. 

Inside this place lives the Man, a villain so sympathetic that he hardly qualifies as a villain. He sobs uncontrollably as his partner dies, pathetically attempting to bring her back to life by dripping blood from a recently slit throat into her mouth. He gets beaten viciously, blood gushing from his ear and sore-covered face. His language is composed solely garbled repetitions of "mind the doors!"  Hugh Armstrong – after Marlon Brando supposedly dropped out, a factoid so crazy I actually believe it – plays the part like a desperate, lost animal, broken and alone and doing anything it can to survive. 

Presumably to make the audience sympathize more with the film's monster, who brutally kills people with a shovel or broom handle, Sherman provides a deeply unlikable "hero." Alex is introduced refusing to help a man passed out in the subway, despite his girlfriend's pleas that he do something. The two spend most of the movie bickering. While she's worried about the welfare of the missing man, Alex is more concerned with what movie he wants to see. When he fights back against the cannibal, he comes off more like a bully than a brave hero. We don't want to spend time with this guy and that makes "Death Line" – which has a fairly loose and meandering plot – a less satisfying viewing experience than it otherwise would be. 

Luckily, the movie has another ace up its sleeve. That would be Donald Pleasence as Inspector Calhoun. Calhoun is also kind of an asshole, introducing being annoyed with a secretary who makes tea with tea bags. Yet Pleasence is still absolutely delightful in the part. He brings a keen sense of sarcasm to every line of dialogue he has. A largely plot-free scene has him going to a pub, getting wasted, and playing pinball. There's definitely some novelty to seeing stately, serious Dr. Loomis cut loose like this. Pleasence also shares (or "shares," as they were filmed on separate days) a single scene with Christopher Lee, who is equally dryly hilarious in his cameo as an incensed MI5 agent. 

The hero being such an asshole serves another purpose. "Death Line" is obviously saying something about the class divide in London, where high society descends underground in search of cheap sex and the poor and ill get trampled. Yet the movie probably still would've been better-served if it had just made Pleasence's highly entertaining inspector the protagonist. The probable reason "Death Line" was overlooked in America is because it was retitled "Raw Meat" and given a grisly ad campaign that depicted a whole colony of cannibals. (This was despite the U.S. release cutting out most of the gore, to avoid an X rating.) The film has found its audience since then – Edgar Wright is a big proponent – and Gary Sherman would go on to make "Dead & Buried," his masterpiece. I wish I liked the film more, though Pleasence's performance still makes it worth seeing. [6/10]

Creepshow: Pipe Screams / Within the Walls of Madness

“Creepshow” alternates gross-outs and cosmic dread in the fourth episode of its second season. “Pipe Screams” has a cruel landlord hiring a plumber to fix the pipes in her apartment building, after enough tenets complain. He uncovers the building still has illegal lead pipes but is blackmailed into fixing them anyway. Soon, he discovers an ambulatory glob of hair and grease is living in the plumbing system. In “Within the Walls of Madness,” a man awaits trial after murdering several people at an Arctic research center. He maintains that a race of extra-dimensional entities – summoned by an ancient flute the scientist discovered – performed most of the killing. He tells this unbelievable tale to his court-assigned lawyer, who doesn't believe him... But will soon get plenty of evidence.

“Pipe Scream” has one of the more disgusting monsters I've seen in a horror story lately. A drain clog becoming a living thing is a nauseating riff on the blob monster premise. The special effects brilliantly bring this nasty critter to life and the way it interacts with the plumber, tearing the skin off his hand or launching itself at his face, is probably skin-crawling. Yet “Pipe Scream” is ultimately about a more human type of monster. A gloriously bitchy Barbara Crampton plays the landlord as inhumanly evil. She refers to her tenets as animals or simply by their apartment numbers. Since this is “Creepshow,” which operates under E.C. Comics logic, it's obvious she'll be punished. Her role as a landlord – preeminent symbols of the evils of capitalism – adds some more George Romero-style social commentary here. Joe Lynch's direction is stylish and uses lots of neon colors, making this an overall strong segment.

As for the second segment, I'm mostly surprised it took until the second season for “Creepshow” to do a Lovecraft homage. Considering his popularity, prominence, and influence on the “Weird Tales” style of horror. “Within the Walls of Madness” is a pretty standard riff on Lovecraftian themes. We have a protagonist on the verge of insanity, who has glimpsed things man was never meant to see. There's tentacled Old Ones pushing on the walls of reality, trying to get in and put humanity in there place. A giant, rubber Cthulhu head puts in an appearance at the end. What's most interesting about “Within the Walls of Madness” is seeing how it tackles its cosmic themes on a TV budget. The interdimensional horrors are mostly kept off-screen, most of the episode being devoted to terse conversation between actors. (Including a stern Denise Crosby.) It's not the worst approach, considering Lovecraft's unspeakable horrors are more effective when left unseen. It's still a fairly standard rewarming of these classical ideas, leaving little room for surprise or suspense. [Pipe Screams: 7/10] [Within the Walls of Madness: 6/10]

Godzilla Singular Point: Gadabout 

“Gadabout” is “Godzilla Singular Point's” driest episode yet. Mei is invited by Professor Li, the Chinese scientist that reached out to her last episode, to attend a conference in Dubai. There, she is presented with material made with Archetype, a hypothetical molecule with properties that break the rules of physics. Yun and Kato begin to suspect Misakioku, the company that contacted them in the first episode, has been knowingly attracting monsters. They investigate the sight where the dead Rodans are being kept... And find that one of the corpses are missing. Some sort of giant animal has dragged the carcass into the woods and eaten it. In the episode's final minutes, this creature – seemingly a version of Anguirus – reveals itself. 

Like I said, “Gadabout” ladles on the technobabble in a big way. The first third of the episode is devoted to Mei and Pero-2 trying to decipher a string of code with a MD5 hash function. I can't remember the plot significance of that right now. All the talk about hypothetical molecules and physics also goes over my head a little bit. It's apparent to me that “Singular Point” is building towards the idea of its giant monsters coming from another dimension. Trying to justify all of that with increasingly convoluted science feels unnecessary. 

Yun and Kato investigating the dead Rodans is a little more interesting, especially once it begins to hint at the presence of a new monster. However, Yun accurately guessing that Misakioku is hiding a giant dinosaur skeleton in their basement is another example of his deductive reasoning skills being a little over-the-top. We don't even get much in the way of cute character interaction here, as the cast members are mostly in different locations. This episode also introduces a flock of new characters, the names and faces – much less their function in the story – of which allude me at the moment. This show foregrounding the scientific technobabble while constantly teasing the giant monsters is starting to get frustrating. [5/10]