Crappy horror movie review Thursday: The Forest (1983)

Two campers Sharon and Teddy are terrorized in the deep dark woods of the California wilderness by a cannibalistic knife-wielding madman. Teddy is killed but Sharon manages to escape. That same night their boyfriends, Steve and Charlie, take refuge in an old cave to protect themselves from the storm. There they meet the killer an old man wearing a beat up old baseball cap named John. He tells them the story of how he walked in on his unfaithful wife and her lover. He killed them both, and gathered his two children and ran off into the forest. Unfortunately, his kids got sick and they committed suicide. Since then, he has developed a taste for human flesh and will kill anybody who trespasses on his territory. The next morning, Charlie is drowned and prepared for the killer's breakfast. He then goes looking for Sharon, who has, unbeknown to him, teamed up with the ghosts of his two dead children. The maniac chases Sharon but just as he's about to kill her his ghost kids save her. He runs off into the wilderness to find the wounded Steve, who has broken his leg. Can Sharon save her boyfriend in time?

The Storm fan film review!

Generally these short fan films offer up a certain formula; introduce Jason, introduce victims, kill them. It's pretty rare that we have character development or even a viable plot other than putting the victims in situations where they can die fast and with the least amount of special effects.

The Storm is a simple film, however it is a well-done simple film. The plot introduces two females enjoying a midday swim. One of the girls notices that her friend just upped and left and heads back home in frustration where she is then joined by her sister and an annoying guy-friend as well as her stern cop father. Her father leaves her alone and when a thunderstorm hits the lights go out and Jason strikes killing them all- some in very familiar fashion- one by one.

The great thing about this fan film is that it was forced to follow that formula by default-- being a short, but don't let that deter you. The Storm did a lot of things that other short fan films did not, or simply could not. First off, the thing that sticks out the most is the beautiful HD cinematography. Right off the bat you know that this film was made by professionals and not just fans with a DV camera. Steady shots, close ups with an actual depth of field that we generally get with 35mm cameras. All of that aside, this movie had me constantly saying 'whoa'! The director Joe Patnaud really rolled the dice with this short film and we see that within the first minute we see a flash of T&A.

Top 10 movies on VHS that I would love to see on DVD?

Some of the most often questions I generally get from my YouTube channel is "recommend me a movie not on DVD" or "what movie not on DVD do you wish was?" Ideally, if a movie is not given proper DVD treatment (i.e. 16x9 anamorphic transfer, Dolby 5.1, commentary, uncut if available, etc) then I really am content with it just being on VHS. The only downside of the VHS format is that it deteriorates over time and in 25 years all you are left with is a fuzzy rolling picture. Now with the technology we have to back up those old VHS tapes to DVDr again leaves me with that same notion... if you are not going to give these films proper DVD treatment then fuck off! My pet peeve is shelling out $11.99 for a DVD and to realize that it's nothing more than a VHS rip on a DVD-- fuck, I can do that myself for fifty cents!

So, lately I have been doing a series of videos on YouTube of VHS tapes that I have that I'd like to see have a proper DVD treatment. So far I have chosen 50- 5 per video- but I will narrow my choices down to 10 HORROR and give you guys a brief description why.

Bohr's Part 3 "Winston" Jason bust.

I really dislike re-posting things like this from other blogs, however generally when I am do I am vague and link to the blog that I got the information from. At any rate, I really love this look that was indeed used in the film-- the entire film except for the ending, we just never saw the face. It's the concept that special effects guru Stan Winston made up as the face of Jason Voorhees in Friday The 13th Part III. At the end of the movie, when the ending on the DVD was shot they opted for something less monstrous.

Throughout the movie Richard Brooker wears this mask, and you can even see a small glimpse of it when he is watching the cabin from the barn door, when he jumps down to kill Ali and in Chris' flashback.

Jeremy Bohr did a phenomenal job on this (but I still love Crash's version more) and is a steal at the price he is selling it for. Checkout Horror Bid for more photos, price and ordering information!

DeadPit.com's rejected A New Beginning fan commentary.

It's up! Please check out DeadPit.com for the fan commentary for Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning that was going to be on the Deluxe Edition, but eventually rejected for unknown reasons. From what I hear it had some insight from some cast and crew members as well as horror and humor from the innovators of horror talk radio: Uncle Bill & The Creepy Kentuckian!

So, grab your Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning Deluxe Edition (that you hopefully pre-ordered through the link on DeadPit.com), a bowl of Old Ethel Hubbard's stew and some enchaladas and enjoy this great gift from the Kentucky-fried freaks of horror talk-show radio!

While you are on "A New Beginning" kick, check out my latest interview with Eddie from A New Beginning right here!

Check out The Hussy Of Horror!

Someone sent me this YouTube channel and thought it was appropriate to plug here since she will be doing a series of Friday The 13th related reviews. Check her out and don't forget to sub her!

Questions with A New Beginning's John Robert Dixon.

A short while back John Robert Dixon contacted me pertaining to another interview I posted on here. John kindly obliged to answer some questions himself...


What got you into acting and how did you hear about Friday The 13th: V (a.k.a. Repetition)?
Actually my mother was involved in the industry during the mid 1960’s and being a “Hollywood” kid I was actually in an episode of General Hospital (I think it was GH) when I was about 7 years old. I also did some acting in school etc. musicals and such, most notable was the part of Fagin in the musical “Oliver”. None of this, however really lead me to become an actor and ultimately to be cast in Friday the 13th. As a teen and into my early twenties I was much more interested in music (wanted to be a rocker) and surfing. It was a girlfriend, who did some modeling that got me moving down the path that resulted in my eventual roll in Friday the 13th Part V.

As far as “how did I hear about” it, I was sent to an audition by my agent and never really knew what it was until after I had the part.

Cute Cut-out Jason

My buddy xBilliamx sent this to me- it's a cute little print-out, cut-out Jason figure.

Gallery for the fan edit of 'The Final Chapter'

Here are some screen grabs of the footage I edited into it in case you are curious. Instead of putting all of the photos up, just go here for an Image Shack gallery.

Tom Morga: the iron man of slasher icons!

Tom Morga as Jason with Dick Warlock on set

So,this post the other day made me think about Tom Morga and how he has pretty much been the Jack-of-all-trades of slashers. A lot of slasher fans may not know this, but Tom has donned the hockey mask as Jason (and Roy), the dead-skin mask as Leatherface and the white mask as Michael Myers putting him into an elite group of people to have done that-- just one (him). Kane Hodder has come close; he portrayed Jason himself and did a good amount of Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre III.