We're staying at camp for today's blogathon post folks, and I couldn't possibly think of anything better to follow Friday the 13th Part II than to check out another esteemed early 80s slasher with the same setting, and this time it's one I hadn't seen before... bonus! Before we get going though, I just wanted to say that I'm frankly indebted to a certain extremely generous person (who will remain nameless here, unless they wish otherwise of course!) for being able to watch this movie (and a big bunch of others I'll also be looking at this month) at all... So thank you again sir! You really have gone above and beyond the call of duty in helping to encourage my exponentially growing love for the horror genre. I don't know too much about this movie but everything I'd heard had been positive so I was obviously psyched to see it. So without further a do, let's take a look...
The hour was late when I watched this, so my memory of the plot is pretty patchy in places, but generally speaking I really enjoyed it. Admittedly the set-up is as basic (or archetypal if you prefer, and I do) as they come, but in a slasher this is not necessarily a bad thing, and hell, this is from '82 (or could be '81 according to the credits I think), so to be fair this is probably before such things were considered clichés. And furthermore, even if this had been made many years later, I still wouldn't find this a problem... like they say, it's the execution of the actual thing that matters.
There's only one word that sums up what sold me instantly on this movie, and that's "atmosphere". From the opening tales-round-the-campfire scene (where one story is hilariously half-sung/half-intoned) and onwards, I was completely transported. This is easily one of the most visually appealing slasher films I've yet seen, and for sheer enveloping thickness, its cozy (and at the same time paradoxically chilly) autumnal ambience is perhaps even on a par with Halloween. What this movie does seem to have which Carpenter's doesn't though, is a thin sliver of cheese, and again, I don't mean that as a criticism. What I do mean is that there's some ever so slight silliness thrown in here briefly, but it's so fun and lightly embedded into the whole that it's nothing that hurts the movie, in fact quite the opposite as far as I'm concerned.
Just a couple of quick final things. Firstly, it was good to see Gaylen Ross (of Dawn of the Dead fame) in another movie, though in the interest of full disclosure I'll confess that I only actually realised it was her sometime today, hours after seeing the film... though while I was watching it I was struck by a strange sense of familiarity whenever she was onscreen... so that explains that one! I don't know what it was that threw me off (especially as her voice is quite distinctive), but I'd say she looks quite different here, and probably younger than she did four years earlier in Romero's movie (though her character is pregnant in that one I suppose). I wouldn't say I'm particularly enamoured of her screen presence or anything, but she certainly does a fine job, and is reasonably likeable and sympathetic. And finally, I just wanted to say that I loved the end credits theme song. After watching this, Friday the 13th Part VI and at least two of the Nightmare on Elm Street sequels, I'm convinced that every slasher should have one... well, apart from Halloween I guess...
I thought I was done for a moment, but I guess I should say a few words about the killer, Madman Marz. Now, I'm not sure whether I'd put him in the pantheon of iconic slasher movie villains (though obviously this being my first watch it's really too early to say about such things), but I did generally like the approach that was taken with him, especially the emphasis on his feral nature, that has obviously been heightened by his extended seclusion in the woods. The way he takes to the trees at times and generally stalks around reminds me of a cross between the Predator (and I don't care what anyone says, that movie is a slasher as far as I'm concerned, but that's a discussion for another time...) and say, Bigfoot. I'm not totally sold on the make-up, but like I say this was a first viewing and everything is always open to re-evaluation... At any rate, I highly recommend this to all slasher fans.
Best as I remember, Gaylen Ross wasn't credited under her real name. And this was the same year she appeared in Creepshow. She somewhat looks like that blonde girl in the Muppets.
ReplyDeleteAh, that somewhat explains why I didn't notice her... I'm normally pretty eagle eyed during opening and closing credits for these things. I didn't realise she was in Creepshow either until I looked at her IMDb page earlier... though now I think about it I think I watched that with the commentary once and Romero obviously mentioned her... can't remember where she appears off the top of my head though, has been a while...
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm drawing a blank on the Muppets comparison... we talking one of the movies or a show? For some reason when I first read the comment, I thought (for a millisecond) you meant Miss Piggy, but surely that can't be right....