Horror Fight!: Between Rounds

Hello again, Fright Fans, and welcome back to Horror Fight!: Between Rounds. Your mid-fight breather where the Spooky Bois regroup, swap cinematic blows, and gear you up for the next main event. I’m MeZ, your loyal corner man in the Horror Fight arena, taping your gloves, icing your cuts and loading up your watchlist with deadly precision.

In this week’s issue, we have friends of the pod sharing their love for the FRIDAY THE 13TH Franchise, the second half of Corey’s deep dive into Black Gloves and Boobs. JAPANuary with MeZ and our spring schedule is unveiled.

Quick note: We use neon borders to help differentiate which spooky boi is talking. Pink=MeZ. Green=Corey. Blue=Pat. Purple=Daddy John. Yellow=Dr. Daddy Armando..

Out of all the Friday the 13th movies, part 6, otherwise known as Jason Lives is my personal favorite for a number of reasons. 

Being the loud and proud homosexual that I am, CJ Graham's ass is a BIG reason for this. And it’s okay for me to say this because I told him so myself at a horror convention, so don't @ me!  CJ Graham is the favorite Jason of the gay community. There, I said it! Come at me, bro! To his credit, CJ Graham thought this to be hilarious and was proud to be appreciated by the gays. Seriously though, the man has cakes for days. Jason's khakis are positively filled to the brim with man meat, which is always a plus for daddy John.

Besides that, Friday 6 is funny! It is even considered as one of the forerunners to Scream for its use of comedy throughout the film. And in the same way SCREAM romanticizes HALLOWEEN, FRIDAY PART 6 is a love letter to FRANKENSTEIN. Jason is resurrected from the dead accidentally when stupid Tommy Jarvis impales Jason's corpse with metal rods in an attempt to destroy his body. Instead, a storm quickly gathers with lightening catching the metal rods (a la Victor Frankenstein in the 1931 classic), thus bringing Jason back to life. The filmmakers then use this opportunity to not only bring Jason Vorhees back from the dead, but to make him supernatural as well. The lightening imbues him with superhuman strength and agility and renders him unkillable for the rest of the franchise. 

Besides all that, there are numerous nods throughout the film referencing Frankenstein like the sign for "Karloff Supplies" and "Teenage Frankenstein" playing during the motor home rampage scene, just to name a few. Gotta love self-referential horror. 

This is also the first Friday to have kids at the camp! Finally!!! 

A good Giallo should have more than one item from the checklist. You don't need to have them all, but there should be at least two or three. There's no mask or black gloves here, and it isn't all that colorful. What we do have is an all time theme (that plays incessantly throughout,) a great murder weapon (the clicking of the razor blade as it extends!) and some visceral, upsetting murders. Naturally, and perhaps unfortunately we also get a good old fashioned problematic ending reveal.

Lamberto Bava is not his old man, or his old man's good pal Dario, but he belongs at the cookout, perhaps at the kids table with Soavi. A BLADE IN THE DARK is an upper tier mid tier late era Giallo with some great sweaters.

This was a first time watch of the theatrical cut for me, which runs about 20 minutes shorter. I think it's Argento's best Giallo, and would recommend the tighter theatrical cut for folks who like a little brutal violence and misogyny in their impeccably crafted mysteries.

MY DEAR KILLER sits firmly on the more procedural side of Giallo. The first ten minutes are so ludicrous that I thought I was in for a real treat. It settles into standard territory after that, before a sufficiently nutty finale.

From the fabulously dressed swarthy heroin smuggler we meet almost immediately, to the beautiful landscape marred by a stray barking dog, there is no doubt that you are in ITALIA BABY!

I enjoyed this one more than I should have. It's a fairly standard, almost tame yarn about a bunch of young folks visiting a mansion and, you guessed it, people start dying. They smoke cigarettes, dance to swinging rock music, smoke cigarettes, explore the grounds, smoke cigarettes, and bone. It is not particularly well shot, the score is ho-hum strings or cheesy smooth jazz, but it makes good use of its location. It feels a lot older than its 1977 release would suggest, that is until the tamely spooky proceedings are punctuated with spurts of gruesome violence and soft core sleaze. Is it a traditional mansion set weekend murder whodunnit? Is it sleazy trash? Is it almost a porno? IT'S A GIALLO BABY!!

Reappraisal is an odd duck. Sometimes, it is warranted. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE and THE THING were critical and popular failures. SHOWGIRLS is another misunderstood film that comes to mind. 

This movie is certainly not a masterpiece on par with the aforementioned films, but it is a perfect version of what I assume it set out to be: A torture porn infused American Giallo. I like to imagine both Bavas, an aged Dario, Sergio Martino, Lucio Fulci and Brian De Palma sitting around a table smoking cigars and sipping grappa, smiling while they enjoy this pitch perfect piece of shit homage.

Friday the 13^th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan is not my favorite of the franchise. Nor do I think it’s the best. And the ending is so nonsensical that it actually upsets me. However, it is the first horror movie I remember seeing theatrically. The movie was released on my 8^th birthday, July 28th, for your records and gift-buying reference.

At the time, I loved it. It had Jason, the rough streets of my hometown NYC ( c/o Vancouver), a problematic anatomy lesson, a boat going from a lake to the NYC shoreline, and a dude getting his head punched off.

Rewatches are not kind to this film, but on July 28^th, 1989, you could not tell me this was not the second greatest horror film of all time. Fast forward about 18 years later, which is also about 18 years ago, and I am at San Diego Comic-Con where Kane Hodder was doing a “Behind the Mask” panel. In addition to being the first horror movie I remember seeing theatrically, Jason Takes Manhattan also has one of my favorite teaser posters of all time: Jason slashing the classic I <3 NY imagery.

Working at a movie poster store in my teen years, I’d previously purchased (stolen) the poster, so I brought it with me from NYC to try to get it signed. After the panel, a band of future incels rushed the stage ahead of me to get Kane’s autograph. Kane had to rush to his scheduled meet-and-greet, but he patiently signed for all except for the last person on that line, you guessed it: your boy Dr. Daddy Sex Fiend. Feeling bad, Kane said, “Why don’t you come with me and cut the meet-and-greet line so I can sign your poster?” So now, I am walking around Comic-Con side by side with my new best friend Kane Hodder as he’s telling me about how crazy these events are for him but how grateful he is for the fans. We get to his meet-and-greet location, where I cut this massive line and get my beloved poster signed by the kindest and most grateful machete-wielding, mask-wearing serial killer you will ever meet.

While combine Letterboxd for more movies to watch, I stubble upon a list for a themed month of Japanese movies. JAPANuary! I loved this idea, and immediately formed a list of movies I watched to tackle. Sadly a busy month of work, and me diving deeper into Carpenter than I originally thought, means I didn’t really get to as many movies as I wanted. But fear not, I plan I continuing this in February. Here is what I did get to watch:

What a banger! Great action and buckets and buckets of blood! Tarantino didn’t even try to hide it. Straight up copy and pasting.

One of the main reasons I wanted do to this theme month because of this man. I have loved Asian cinema since I was a little boy watching Godzilla and Kung-Fu flicks on TV. As I got older an explored more, I focused on the silly stuff. Over the top action. Over the top gore. And of course the horror movies. So believe it or not, I have never seen a Kurosawa movie :gasp!: And to no one’s surprise, I loved this. Having seen countless imitations of this movie over the past 80 years of cinema, it was cool to see the original.

Takashi Miike and me go way back. I was able to grab a copy of AUDITION when it first hit DVD and boy did that movie change my life. One of my favorite things in media, is when you’re watching (listening) to one thing and then it takes a turn and becomes something so different. Of course AUDITION wasn’t the first to do that but it was my first time experiencing that. Since then I try to take down as much Miike as I can, which is pretty fucking hard if you’ve ever looked at his IMDB. (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0586281/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_4_nm_4_in_0_q_miike). I recently watched the two Carpenter MASTER OF HORROR episodes, and decided it was finally time to check out Miike’s. Boy oh boy! This did not disappoint (and it was in a RASHOMON style of different POVs!!)

My boy Corey needs to see this shit ASAP!!!

I’ve been circling this one forever. Even almost put it on before our Werewolf episode. I’m glad I decided to watch something else, because as much as it was a good time, it definitely would not have made a list. Now if I had seen it for my animals attack episode, that might be a different story. THERE’S AN INVISIBLE TIGER IN THIS MOVIE!!!

I don’t remember when I put this on my watchlist. I’m sure it was when I heard the premise. A single shot time loop movie, sign me the fuck up! And let me tell you folks, this is the goods!! I loved it! Like restore my faith my movies, love. From coming up with the idea to being able to actually turn that into something watchable. Bravo! The only knock I can give it, is it takes a while to really get going. The first bits are just seeing how the time loops works. It’s on tubi… check it out!!

My favorite FRIDAY THE 13th movie is 2001's JASON X.  If you think about it long enough, I assure you it is yours as well.  As noted in our franchise fight episode, none of these movies are any good, but a handful of them are great.

The thing about JASON X is that it is not misunderstood, or underrated, or in need of a reappraisal.  It is exactly what it sets out to be: a colossally stupid piece of shit. Jason gets cryogenically frozen, shipped to space,  and turned into a murderous cyborg.  There is no subtext here.  

2001 was a dreadful time for horror.  Post-Scream, our beloved slasher genre had winked and nodded itself to death.  All of our beloved 80s franchises were on their last legs or swimming in the depths of direct to video mediocrity (HELLRAISER FRANCHISE FIGHT COMING SOON!)  JASON X comes along.  It does not reinvent the character.  It does not deepen the mythology.  It is not a rumination on violence in America, or a satire of the genre.  Jason goes to fuckin' space and kills robots and shit.  

Jason has finally been captured, but naturally he cannot be killed, so he is cryogenically frozen.  Makes perfect sense.  Naturally, this plan goes wrong. Jason wakes up, murders everyone in the facility, and accidentally gets re-frozen along with a doctor. Cut to the year 2455. Humanity has abandoned Earth, now referred to as “Old Earth.” The survivors live on a new planet called Earth 2.

EARTH. 2.  What an admirable lack of effort.  

It has the best kill in the franchise (head smash,) and an acceptable number of boobs.  JASON X rules.  

Here is our Spring schedule. We have our Oscars type show The Blairs to kick things off. We still haven't decided how to tackle sequels. Only part 2s or any sequel. Which would you guys prefer? Please let me know. Replay to this newsletter, or hit us up on our socials (@HorrorFightPod). Well be topical for our 3 episodes in April. Horror Comedies for April Fools, Folk Horror for the start of Spring a HELLRAISER Franchise Fight for Easter. We finally wrap it up with Female Directed!