NEW BLOOD: WISH UPON

WISH UPON
Broad Green
2017 color
89 Mins.
Horror/Thriller
Joey King, Ryan Phillippe, Ki Hong Li, Mitchell Slaggert, Shannon Purser and Sydney Park  star.
Written by Barbara Marshall
Directed by John R. Leonetti
Rated PG-13 for language, violence and gore.

So... I'm embarrassed to admit it but I kinda liked this movie. Now I know most of you will be rolling your eyes as I would have before I saw it but it's really pretty good and pretty bad but in the right ways. Now the setup is quite familiar girl finds haunted object makes wishes, those around her have to pay the price for them. Some of the wishes consists of making a girl rot, dating the school's hunk, making her dad less embarrassing even though that involves a ridiculous Saxophone and popularity of course amongst others. Some of the prices involve a garbage disposal, a chainsaw and a very large statue with very big horns amongst others.  Although it's really just a longer Tales from the Crypt episode "Wish" offers a fair amount of solid entertainment even though there's not much depth to it all.

 Leonetti of the recent overly mediocre Annabelle directs. He fares much better with teen horror and even amps up the suspense in a few spots, One in particular involves someone on an elevator mixed with someone fixing a car. Leaving the audience wondering who will meet their gory demise. There are of course some unintentional giggles throughout from some of the forced character building moments, some PG-13 edited death sequences and one hell of a ridiculous looking final kill. Now, you have to understand I really went in with the lowest of expectations I mean I didn't hate Annabelle but it's hard to deny that it was a bad movie. I also had a shot before seeing this and that might have helped as well. However, I do believe that the film's two saving graces are the death sequences, some of which are surprisingly violent for it's rating and it's solid cast.

Joey King is really impressive in the lead and even when her character is doing horribly selfish things, she's easy to root for. She's gives her character some much needed depth and manages to side step some of the more horrid dialogue by conveying a true sense of genuine ownership of the part. Not an easy commitment but she nails it. Also impressive are her friends Shannon Purser a.k.a. Barb from  Stranger Things and Sydney Park from The Walking Dead. Both have some great moments and Park is spunky and memorable in her role. All of this merits a light recommendation. Wish Upon doesn't reinvent the genre or even make a solid dent in it. But as teen popcorn horror it's quite entertaining even when it results to making Ryan Philippe play the saxophone repeatedly and coming off supposedly cool like this is a late 80's cinemax after dark flick. But it's in that goofiness that the film remains oddly endearing because it's both pretty good and unintentionally funny in spots. It's a blend of Final Destination and Mean Girls  mixed with Wishmaster, it does however fare much better than the latter and much better than Annabelle and presents a tasty if forgettable offering for Horror fans desperately in need of a theatrical outing. ***.25/5

KILLER FRANCHISE: FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980)

In celebration of my current obsession which has turned me into a 13 y/o boy Friday the 13th the game. I have decided to marathon my beloved childhood franchise of which I have grown up on. And with that I have decided to blog some reviews of them. So without further ado let's start with the brilliant original Friday the 13th aka the one where Jason's Mom is the killer, which is a much deserved classic in my humble opinion.

FRIDAY THE 13TH
Paramount
1980 Color
1 hr. and 30 Mins.
Horror/Thriller
Adreinne King, Kevin Bacon, Betsy Palmer, Jeanine Taylor, Robbie Morgan, Harry Crosby, Mark Nelson, Laurie Bartram, Peter Brouwer and Walt Gorney star.
Written and Directed by Sean S. Cunningham
Rated R for language, violence, gore, drug use, sexuality and nudity.

I never got to see the original film in theaters. I actually didn't see the original film til I was in my teens. I believe my first trip to see Mr. Voorhees was the seventh film and than backtracked from there fleshing out my horror palate. Upon seeing it I was confused as to where Jason was until that horrifying ending which still stands as one of the creepiest twists ever. Now years later I have recently revisited it and can honestly say that it is a brilliant film and it's cult/classic status is well deserved. Although Initially the makers of Friday the 13th decided on a horror film only after the success of Halloween. Made for a now paltry $550,000 the film went on to make $39.7 Million which if adjusted for inflation would be over $100,000,000 now. Like Halloween the film was met with negative reception at first but has earned more positive reviews from modern critics. In the years following the success of the original film Paramount has always been kind of embarrassed by the franchise sadly never giving the franchise the treatment or acclaim it deserves, even though it helped them build their empire. The film centers around a group of camp counselors who are setting up a camp with an infamous past and end up being stalked by and Murdered off gruesomely one by one by Jason's Mother played by a disturbing Betsy Palmer.

 Adrienne King is the final girl and never really went on to do much after the first two films. Although she's taken her cult status and opened a winery in upstate new York with f13 themed wines (look for the link below). The film also stars a young Kevin Bacon in extreme studliness as a one dimensional horny hottie who gets killed off after doing the deed. The film features loads of gory executions trimmed down for an R release of course which include an axe to the face, a slashed throat and a decapitation.

The film is a lot of fun and has an unrelenting pace that culminates nicely. What's most impressive about this classic is how unique it is. It was a very rare thing to have a female villain back than, hell it's even rare now. It's also pretty cool how the film is laid out, it presents itself as a schlocky run of the mill slasher entry seeing a faceless killer throughout the proceedings who you assume to be a man and to be a grown Jason. But when it turns out to be his Mother it adds a whole new dimension to it at all. Because now it's become about a mother's love, overcome by grief and loneliness who has a few screws loose, a psychotic streak and wants revenge for the senseless death of her deformed son. Friday the 13th is such a corner stone of the genre. So many movies have taken from it from it's setting to it's villain and to the way in which horror clichés have formed. I mean how many films have we seen about a psychotic killer in the woods. And this was pretty much the first of the bunch. There's been lots of imitations and a ton of sequels but there's only one original still setting the standard 37 yrs. later for films of it's type. all hail Jason Voorhees!*****/5