Entertainment Today and Beyond

Never Met a Zombi I Didn’t Like…

FRIDAY THE 13TH REMAKE TRAILER!

Here’s a LOOK at the first official trailer to the re-imagined, Michael Bay produced, FRIDAY THE 13th. This is a franchise that has now survived for close to three decades with the original film released May 9, 1980. I remember my friend’s older brother taking me to see it and having the feeling of being quite unnerved. At the time it was a pretty SCARY movie going experience, as it showed the type of violence that audiences weren’t used to seeing. I still remember the KEVIN BACON death scene to be one of the most shocking sequences I had seen in a movie at the time and, even to this day, it’s still quite effective. Actually, it may not pass today’s MPAA standard that would maintain an R-rating instead of an NC-17 even in today’s looser times. Friday the 13th was produced by Sean S. Cunningham (Last House on the Left) and cost just 550,000 to produce. It went on to gross 39,700,000 at the U.S box-office.  It spawned countless sequels, many which were pretty good if you like the genre, and also produced a Freddy VS Jason spin-off movie which I though very entertaining.

The biggest liberty this new film takes is that it will focus on the character of Jason Voorhess who actually didn’t appear, other than in a brief scene as a child, until the first sequel. The villain in the original film was Mrs. Voohress, well played by BETSY PALMER. In an interesting footnote, the character’s famous hockey mask didn’t actually appear until the third film in the series which was shot in 3-D. Marcus Nispel who helmed the 2003 remake of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE directs this re-imagining, so I would expect a pretty competent film. The one thing that can never be recaptured, however, is time and place and this material was more effective in 1980 than it will be in 2009. Judge for yourself when Friday the 13th hits theaters Feb 13, 2009. Of course that’s a Friday! VIEW TRAILER

October 22, 2008 Posted by Entertainment Today & Beyond | Reviews | | Leave a Comment

Will the latest SAW film continue to take a major slice out of the box-office!

Saw V

Saw V

It will be interesting to see if LIONSGATE can continue to have the type of October box-office dominance with SAW V like they have had with the previous four installments. This horror franchise, which many like to call torture porn, has been one of the most profitable franchises in movie history, with the first four films doing 554,000,000 combined worldwide on budgets reserved for the catering expense of most big studio films. The original SAW, a pretty inventive piece of filmmaking, was produced for just 1,200,000 and grossed 103,000,000 worldwide. That’s as good as it gets in the movie business! While the sequels weren’t as original, they still do the trick if you’re into this type of genre. I think it’s safe to say that the character of JIGSAW will go down as part of the fabric of America’s pop culture for this generation, the same way FREDDY KRUEGER did a few decades ago with New Line Cinema’s NIGHTMARE ON ELM ST franchise!  If you’re a big fan of the Saw series, and have the time and endurance, Lionsgate will hold a SAW movie marathon at 48 AMC locations around the country on Thursday Oct 23. They will screen the first four films in the series followed by the newest SAW V at midnight. All this for the price of a mere $15. Vomit bags not included!

October 22, 2008 Posted by Entertainment Today & Beyond | And Beyond - Trailers & News | , | Leave a Comment