BONUS REVIEW: FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES (1986)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

6

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, once, in September of 2019

BEST SEQUENCE

I'm gonna go with the RV sequence. The RV bathroom kill is great, and the shot of Jason standing on top of the overturned RV is epic

BEST LINE

"So, what were you gonna be when you grew up?"

- Small talk between one endangered kid to another

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

56%

- Second-highest score after the very first one, by the way

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Friday the 13th: Part VI - Jason Lives indeed brings back ol' Vorhees, along with a sense of serviceable braindead fun."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"Tommy Jarvis exhumes Jason Voorhees to cremate his corpse, but inadvertently brings him back to life instead. The newly revived killer seeks revenge, and Tommy may be the only one who can stop him."

DIRECTOR

Tom McLoughlin

MAIN CAST

Thom Mathews, Jennifer Cooke, David Kagen, C. J. Graham

THOUGHTS

• I didn't remember much about this movie, so in looking it up before rewatching it, I was surprised to see that it's ranked pretty highly among fans and critics alike. Some even call it a precursor to the Scream franchise, and it definitely has a fun level of self-awareness, with some very meta jokes that generally land
• That said, and possibly related, it also didn't entirely feel like a part of the same franchise that I've been rewatching. I was surprised to see that this was rated R, because it feels more PG-13. There are some good kills, but it still feels a little tame. I generally liked the change in tone, but when a movie breaks the fourth wall like this one does it also undercuts the scares because it makes it more obvious that this is all fake and not really happening (and incidentally, I'll be reviewing Scream eventually, and it's one of the best examples of a self-aware horror movie that's also still pretty scary)
• Also unique about this movie, and kind of jarring, this is the only one so far to have children campers present at the camp. They're not really in danger at any point, but still
• Best kill: I do like the RV bathroom kill I mentioned above, but I think I have to go with the sheriff getting folded right in half by Jason
• Again, I watched this with friends, and these are their one-sentence reviews:
• Analisa: "Uh-oh"
• Ashley (my wife): "Needs more boobs"
• And speaking of Ashley and Analisa, the group of us decided that it's very fun to have a regular viewing of the Friday the 13th movies every time a Friday the 13th rolls around, but it would be nice to incorporate some other long-running slasher franchises as well. So, with that said, I'm happy to announce two new traditions: every Friday the 12th will be Nightmare on Elm Street day, and every Friday the 14th will be Halloween day. I'll probably write up reviews for them as well, and maybe eventually we'll get to other long-running horror franchises, like Scream and Saw
• But, back to the man of the day, Jason Voorhees. Happy to see you again, fella, welcome back from the grave, and looking forward to catching up with you in November

#36: BULLITT (1968)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

7.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never

BEST SEQUENCE

The famous car chase is really tremendous. More about that later

BEST LINE

None worth mentioning

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

98%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Steve McQueen is cool as ice in this thrilling police procedural that also happens to contain arguably the greatest movie car chase ever."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A nonconformist San Francisco cop is determined to find the underworld kingpin who killed the witness under his protection."

DIRECTOR

Peter Yates

MAIN CAST

Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset, Don Gordon, Robert Duvall

THOUGHTS

• Believe it or not, before I started doing these reviews I didn't realize how much I personally appreciate a great car stunt or driving action sequence, especially as someone who doesn't really drive and doesn't care or know anything about cars. A good car stunt, though, has me on the edge of my seat. Bullitt is famous for a roughly 10-minute-long car chase scene, and not only is it exciting and thrilling in its own right, it was also extremely influential as one of the first modern car chases in cinema
• Bullitt is set in San Francisco and the car chase makes incredible use of that city's hilly streets, in a way that really reminded me of the amazing final car chase in One Battle After Another
• It's also very cool that Steve McQueen, an accomplished race car driver in real life, did a lot of his own driving for this sequence
• Outside of the car chase, though, the rest of the movie didn't make much of an impact on me. I was excited to see Steve McQueen in this. He was my favourite part of The Magnificent Seven and he's excellent in The Great Escape, another movie we'll be talking about eventually, but as Frank Bullitt I actually found him to be pretty bland (despite the great character name). Zero personality. Maybe this was on purpose, to emphasize that he's a guy who's always cool-headed in the face of danger, but ultimately it made his character very forgettable
• There's an interesting twist late in the movie, and the climax has some good action, but that's about all I have to say about this one! If it wasn't obvious, the car chase goes a long way towards me giving this as high a score as 7.5/10, so if you're intrigued, I say go ahead and just watch the car chase. Here it is:
• And lastly, if you do watch that video, you'll see Robert Duvall right at the beginning playing a cab driver, fairly early in his career. As of this writing, he passed away just a few weeks ago. Rest in peace, Mr. Duvall, and we'll be seeing you again eventually in a little movie called The Godfather

Up next: Hold on to your butts, everybody, because we're going to Jurassic Park