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The MONTH of HORROR - Day 29: Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter

If you're going to create a "final chapter" to a successful horror series, you certainly can't go wrong by casting Crispin Glover in your film because if you want to go out with a bang, he's a presence that will definitely help it go out in a big, weird way. He's not strung out on drugs trying to roundhouse kick anyone, nor is he cackling that fantastic George McFly laugh at any point but he sure can take a meat cleaver to the face like a pro!

I've had quite the internal debate with myself so far this month, trying to figure out which franchise I prefer, and why: 'A Nightmare on Elm Street', or 'Friday the 13th'. The decision that I have ultimately arrived at, after much deliberation, is that Jason is my man. Sorry, Freddy, you're cool, too but sometimes you just try too hard! There is something about the 'Friday the 13th' series that I just find eminently more enjoyable, and I find I can return to any entry time, and time again (well, maybe not Jason Goes To Hell, that one blows) that repeat viewings never lose their lustre on me. Hell, even the remake was leaps and bound better than what we got out of 'Nightmare'.

The stories here are essentially all the same, and that's part of what adds to the charm of this franchise. The characters are basically all stock, and we anticipate seeing them meet gruesome ends, and this entry is no different. Of course, it's great to see Crispin Glover but you know he's going to bite it as soon as he has sex in the film, and he even meets his death moments after finishing, too--ooh that Jason, he's just so puritanical! Events are initially picked up shortly after the end of the previous movie, as authorities are cleaning up the last bloodbath left in Mr. Voorhees' wake, and they really should have double (or triple? Quadruple?) tapped his corpse because of course he's going to come back to life in the morgue and get his stab on! We soon follow another group of horny teenagers on their way to a rental house near Camp Crystal Lake to party hard, drink like champions, and get lucky. This is no Daft Punk tune though, no one stays up all night til' the sun because most all get viciously dispatched before those morning hours can break.

I love 'Friday the 13th', just about all of the entries (okay, Jason X also blows), and it's not that they're particularly well made movies but when you throw one on, you know what you're going to get. If you're down with the slasher genre, if seeing dumb teens get their blood splattered everywhere gets your blood pumping, and if that classic Jason music (ch-ch-ch-ha-ha-ha) breaks a smile across your face then how can you go wrong? Well, there's always 'Freddy Vs. Jason'...

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