Paramount has been getting into the Halloween horror spirit each October. Last year they released a group of horror films on UHD/4K and called it Paramount Scares. I didn’t get a chance to check out that set but they’re back again with a Paramount Scares Vol. 2 and we got a look at it here at the Upcomingdiscs ranch. The set includes both a Blu-ray copy of each film along with the featured UHD Blu-ray in 4K. You get some nice gifts along the way. There are patches that represent each film. There’s a glow in the dark Paramount Scares pin along with an issue of Fangoria Magazine that contains just articles on the films in the set. There’s a big sticker and a mini-poster. It all comes in a rather stylish box covered in a ghoulish collage. The films have their own case in coordinated slip covers. The movies offered this year are Friday The 13th Part 2, Breakdown, World War Z and Orphan: first Kill. Pick it up and invite some friends over for a Paramount horror marathon.
Here are the films:
Friday The 13th Part 2 (1981)
“You may only see it once but that will be enough.”
That was the marketing slogan for the first Friday The 13th film in 1980. Apparently they couldn’t have been more wrong, because most of us have seen the film countless times, and no, it was never enough. The franchise would thrive with over 10 sequels or affiliated films, taking us right up to the present remake/reboot of that very first outing at Camp Crystal Lake. No, my friends, once was never going to be enough.
“I don’t wanna scare anyone, but I’m gonna give it to you straight about Jason. His body was never recovered from the lake after he drowned. And if you listen to the old-timers in town, they’ll tell you he’s still out there… some sort of demented creature, surviving in the wilderness, full grown by now. Stalking… stealing what he needs, living off wild animals and vegetation. Some folks claim they’ve even seen him… right in this area. The girl that survived that night at Camp Blood, that… Friday the 13th? She claimed she saw him. She disappeared two months later… vanished. Blood was everywhere. No one knows what happened to her. Legend has it that Jason saw his mother beheaded that night… and he took his revenge. A revenge that he’ll continued to seek if anyone ever enters his wilderness again. And by now, I guess you all know we’re the first to return here. Five years… five long years he’s been dormant… and he’s hungry. Jason’s out there… watching… always on the prowl for intruders. Waiting to kill… waiting to devour… Thirsty for young blood.”
Part 2 begins with an appearance by Adrienne King returning briefly to the role of Alice, the lone survivor from part 1. Alice is having nightmares about her night of terror at Camp Blood. Well… you get the point, and Alice most certainly does here. Now Alice doesn’t live here anymore, the key word being “live”. With Momma Voorhees out of her head, who’s going to deliver the slice and dice? From here on out, it’s all Jason.
There’s a new campground opening along the shores of Crystal Lake. This time it’s a training camp for camp counselors. Whatever the reason, it’s going to bring more horny teens than ever to the place the locals lovingly refer to as Camp Blood. Gathering around a bonfire, the leader decides to give it to the kids straight about Jason. He tells them the story of the first film and hypes up rumors that Jason is still alive and no longer a little boy. The idea now is that he witnessed the killing of his mother and is now on the warpath. After telling the story, he declares Jason out of their system. Unfortunately, nobody told Jason that. Half of the teens head to camp for a “last night out”, while the other half remain behind. After far too much talking and not enough slicin’, the party gets started, and the teens begin to break off into their own hookups. That’s the way Jason likes them. It’s another rainy night, and Jason begins to take out the kids one, or two, at a time.
This film sported a higher budget than the first, and it shows mostly in a slicker feeling to the image. There are more teens and more kills than the first film. In an attempt to give us more of what they thought we were looking for, someone forgot to bring along the fright. What’s missing here is the wonderful skill of Tom Savini. Most of the kills here are predictable and done quickly with little love for the lingering camera. None of the kills are particularly imaginative, and there isn’t a one that leaves us with that reality punch in the stomach that makes us do a double take in our minds. They’ve replaced quality with quantity, and it’s amazing that Jason made it past this far more mundane film.
Manfredini’s score is actually better here. He improved on the creepy elements of the first film and provided less of the Psycho steals. We get plenty of that whispered menacing sound that has become as trademark for these films as Jason’s hockey mask. By the way, there is no mask here. Jason wouldn’t find that iconic piece of film history until the third film. Here he has a cloth sack over his face, until the big reveal.
It should be noted that both Sean S. Cunningham and Tom Savini were offered the film but decided to walk away. It was both of their idea that the Friday The 13th moniker should apply to a series of anthology films. They figured a new element would be used each year to keep the idea fresh. Neither man thought it was a good idea to use Jason in a continuing collection of films. Jason was merely a jump scene for the first film and never expected to carry the franchise. Watching this movie, you almost get the impression they were right. History proves otherwise, and it would be Jason, indeed, who would become the face not only of a film franchise, but for the slasher genre at large.
This might be one of my least favorites in the series. I do rather like the performance of Warrington Gillette as Jason. He seems more organic here than he will be in future incarnations. At some point he becomes almost machine-like. This is the beginning, really, for Jason. Looking something like the Elephant Man, he actually manages to get a little sympathy. It’s not a good film, but the character would evolve and grow over the years. Jason would have a lot to learn, like the various filmmakers who would bring him to life over the next two decades. We had a lot to learn as well, like “Axes, knives, lanterns, and saws, they can all be trouble”.
Breakdown (1997)
by Michael Durr
“Now, before you get any half-baked ideas about calling in the cavalry, just remember we’re gonna be watching you every step of the way. And we’ll be listening to our police scanners. And if we see anything unusual, an unmarked car or truck, or if we see you talking to anyone who even remotely smells like a cop… well, you can just keep your f’ing money, Jeff, and I’ll keep your wife. And I’ll mail you pieces of her from time to time.”
Road films are something of a passion when it comes to movies for me. It could be a movie on a ten-lane highway guaranteed to have multiple car crashes, a two-lane cross country expedition, or a one-lane dirt road going into darkness where the passengers might never return. Nothing gets me going more than films like The Hitcher, Road Games, Two-Lane Blacktop, or The Duel. It is the idea of not knowing exactly where the next turn is going to take you or what lies beyond the next hill. Characters, environments, situations all can change once you get to the next town or cross another state line. Today’s road film is the 1997 thriller, Breakdown, with Kurt Russell and J.T. Walsh, where we explore what a man must do in order to find his missing wife. As one might guess, it is one of my favorites, as it delivers one nail-biting scene after another. Let’s take a look.
A hot Utah desert, a long winding road, and a moving (possibly speeding) red Jeep. Jeff Taylor (played by Kurt Russell) and his wife, Amy (played by Kathleen Quinlan) are taking a trip from Boston to San Diego where Jeff has a new job waiting for him. The road seems monotonous as the driver reaches behind him to grab something. All of the sudden, an old dirty Ford F-150 truck pulls out in front of him and nearly causes an accident, but Jeff is able to swerve away from the accident just in time.
Frustrated and flustered, the couple pulls into the next gas station to clear their heads and grab some munchies. Jeff also buys some oil as he looks under his hood to make sure there is nothing wrong with his vehicle. As another truck and trailer peel away; we reveal the same F-150 dingy white pickup we saw previously. Out steps Earl (played by M.C. Gainey), who approaches Mr. Taylor and his brand new Cherokee. At first, our mustached cowboy is really appreciative of the car as Jeff tries to make some small talk back. Unfortunately that does not last long as the two get into a verbal joust.
It soon stops once the wife comes out, and then the couple leaves as Earl continues to stare. Halfway down the road, however, Jeff and Amy encounter more trouble as their brand new Jeep’s lights and gauges start to make noises and flashes as it slows down to a stop. The husband decides to do the man thing and check under the hood. He then tries his cell phone with no luck. No sooner than a minute later, Earl and his pickup speed past and Earl yells as he goes by. As Amy watches the truck down the road, Earl stops and turns around. The car sits at the top of a hill and waits until Jeff flags down an eighteen-wheeler.
Out of the Peterbilt steps Red Barr (played by J.T. Walsh), a long time trucker. He offers to drive them to Belle’s Diner, a restaurant that is just a few miles down the road. After thinking about it, the wife offers to go with the trucker to the diner and then make a call for a tow truck. Meanwhile, Jeff will stay with the vehicle so no one hopefully gets any bright ideas. She leaves with Red Barr down the road. Meanwhile, Mr. Taylor waits and waits and waits some more until he realizes there isn’t any tow truck, nor is his wife coming back.
Jeff takes another look at the Jeep and gets down low enough to look under the car. That’s when he realizes that there are a couple of wires that are disconnected. He puts them back together and all of the sudden, the vehicle starts right back up and is able to run smoothly. He eventually finds his way to the Belle’s Diner the trucker spoke of. Unfortunately for him, Amy is still nowhere to be found, and no one has seen the lady either. Terrified and concerned, Jeff must find his wife before she winds up missing for good.
From then on, it’s a race against time for Jeff, and we are along for the ride. An interesting thing right off the bat is that this film is almost entirely from Jeff’s perspective. Every scene, every cut is Kurt’s character as we watch every decision he has to take in order to gain his wife back. It is one of those thrillers that puts you on the edge of your seat and does not let up until the final credits roll. The villains truly create an atmosphere where you hate them for what they are putting this couple through, and we want Jeff to make the right decisions so he can save his wife.
Furthermore, Kurt’s character doesn’t gain some superhero-like powers and even makes a few minor mistakes along the way, so this helps to create a believable scenario that we want to follow until the end. In addition to the couple and the villains, we also get an assortment of locals who really push across the we-can’t-trust-outsiders vibe. This is a top-notch thriller in a low-budget wrapper, one where it makes full use of its environment and has some marvelous direction. If there were an issue to be had, it would be that after seeing this movie probably about half a dozen times, I still am concerned about what happens after the police get there in the closing shots. Wanna have a look-see? “No problem, just leave me the moon pies!:
Orphan: First Kill (2022)
by Jeremy Butler
“So let me get this straight. You’re a grow ass woman and wanted criminal? That is beyond f’ed up.”
I must confess that I missed the boat on the original film, so going into this film I had reservations regarding my ability to properly review this film given that I haven’t seen the original. These concerns were made irrelevant by the revelation that this film, Orphan: First Kill, is actual a prequel to the first film. In this film, we get to see the events that led Leena Klammer to become what several people in the film call her: a monster. In 2007, Klammer is a 31-year-old psychiatric patient with a rare hormonal disorder called hypopituitarism that gives her the appearance of a 10-year-old child. After orchestrating an escape from the Saarne Institute in which she manages to kill at least two people, Leena researches missing American girls and finds that she bears a resemblance to a girl named Esther Albright, and hatches a diabolic plan. However, it is not long before she realizes that in this seeming ordinary role that she has managed to slither into that she is not the only one with blood on her hands.
The predator becoming a prey was the thing that I most enjoyed about this film. Based on what I put together about the previous installment, Isabelle Fuhrman’s Leena Klammer was the thing that went bump in the night. Granted, she is still not to be underestimated here, especially given the things that she does in order to keep her cover. She even goes as far as to destroy an object of affection in order to keep her secret. That being said, she is hardly the worst person in the film in my opinion, as there is another killer willing to go to any lengths to ensure that their secret does not come out. To that end, I was treated to a cat-and-mouse game between these two, as they both attempt to gain the upper hand and rid themselves of the other without exposing their own dark secrets. This was mutually assured destruction personified.
Another good attribute of the film is that it functions well as a standalone. Initially, I had reservations that elements of the film would be over my head due to my lack of knowledge about the original film. Fortunately, that was not an issue, most likely due to the fact these events are supposed to have occurred prior to that film. Even so, it was initially a real concern, but to my knowledge the only commonality between the films is Isabelle Fuhrman’s reprisal of the role and the Leena Klammer character herself. I say that to say that while I do encourage seeing the films as they were originally intended, I don’t believe anything is lost if you jump right in with this film. Actually, given that it is meant to function as a prequel, it may work well to watch this film before the other one.
As Leena Klammer, Isabelle Fuhrman has presence. She is able to look innocent yet sinister at the same time. I’d say she’s come a long way from her stint as Clove in the Hunger Games. She owns the character of Klammer, essentially making the character synonymous with her name alone. You wouldn’t think that this young woman when you first look at her could be a manipulative and stone cold killer, but within a few minutes of watching the opening events of the film, she will make you a believer.
In regards to Julia Stiles, there is one facet of the character’s personality that was convincing, but another facet of it was more difficult to accept. This is not to say that she didn’t do well; it was just more difficult to see her in that light, as it was a deviation from roles that I’ve become used to seeing her embody. I’d hate to typecast someone, but it will take some time and future similar portrayals to fully shed that skin. But in the spirit of being impartial, I will say that she and Fuhrman have a connection that adds suspense to the film right down to the final conclusion.
Speaking of the conclusion, there was only one way for the story to end given its status as a prequel and that fact that the character stars in an already released film. Even so, I still found the ending suspenseful and enjoyable. Naturally it is opened-ended, but it is my understanding that so is the original film. This may suggest that a third installment to the franchise is possible. If it has the same presence as this film, I’d be amendable to seeing it. “Mommy takes care of everything.”
World War Z (2013)
By Jonathan Foster
“Most people don’t believe something can happen until it already has.”
Walkers. The Living Dead. Zombies. Whatever you call them, you can’t deny they’ve shuffled their way into the forefront of pop culture. Once relegated to niche horror movies, zombies have crossed over into multiple genres, be it comedy (Zombieland), romance (Warm Bodies) or drama (The Walking Dead). The latest offering of the undead is World War Z, an action/horror film based on Max Brooks’ best-selling novel of the same name.
World War Z stars Brad Pitt (12 Monkeys, Ocean’s Eleven) as Gerry Lane, a retired United Nations investigator. Tired of seeing the worst of humanity — it’s mentioned he’s been to Chechnya and Darfur — Gerry is content to be a stay-at-home dad living quietly in Philadelphia with his wife Karin (Mireille Enos, TV’s The Killing) and two daughters. Their idyllic life is shattered one day when the undead overrun the city during their morning commute. Escaping the city, Gerry is recruited/coerced by his old bosses at the U.N. to help figure out how the zombie plague got started. Racing across the world, Gerry tries to find the information he needs before the zombies overtake the planet.
Let me start by saying I’m a zombie purist: I believe that zombies should be slow, relentless and tough to kill (excluding headshots, of course). Their slow, shambling walk is the main advantage the living have over them. So I was a bit disappointed to see the zombies in World War Z made the ones in Zombieland look like turtles. These zombies bring down the living with the ferocity of a cheetah taking down a gazelle. While I didn’t exactly love this aspect, I can’t deny that it upped the tension and the scare factor of this film, which helps the 116-minute running time fly by. Once I came to terms with their speed, I was impressed by how intimidating these zombies were. Their bite infects in a matter of seconds, they move in giant herds and they signal to each other with this terrible whining moan when they’ve found food. These aren’t your grandpa’s zombies; these undead are definitely a force to be reckoned with.
Brad Pitt does a decent job as Gerry. Another actor would be tempted to play Gerry as a gung-ho tough guy, but Pitt refrains from that stereotype, instead letting others do the heavy fighting. Pitt plays Gerry with a quiet determination and a resourcefulness that approaches MacGyver’s level. His scenes with Enos are quite moving, and they have good chemistry together.
Unfortunately, because Pitt is the lone big-name actor — and also one of the film’s producers — he must survive. There are several improbable circumstances that Gerry survives due to sheer dumb luck or he “just happens” to find the item he needs right there with him. While I don’t mind a little improbability and unrealism — this is a zombie flick, after all — this happens so many times, it borders on ridiculous.
Leaving the theater, I heard some people complain about the lack of gore. Personally, I found it refreshing. It would have been ridiculously easy for this movie to devolve into a George Romero-style bloodbath, but World War Z keeps the focus on the living, rather than dwelling on the zombie feeding frenzy. I also enjoyed the bits of humor — intentional or not — sprinkled into the film. Little things — like Karin calling Gerry’s phone right when he’s trying to sneak past some undead — help break up the tension, give us a breather, and show that the movie’s not taking itself too seriously. Matthew Fox (TV’s Lost) and David Morse’s (TV’s Hack) cameos also added to the humor as a wisecracking Navy SEAL and a sarcastic ex-CIA agent, respectively. “Movement is life.”
Each film is presented in it’s original aspect ratio. The newer films, of course look better. Orphan: First Kill has an amazing Winter night vista as an establishing shot and it’s the dominate image of the set. Friday retains much of the grain so you do retain the organic element of the film. Contrast here is helped a bunch from the HDR encoding. All of the films look better than on any other format out there. As for the audio? They all keep the same audio tracks as the original Blu-ray release. World War Z is the only one in 7.1.
It’ll make a nice gift if you’re looking for that special October birthday or anniversary gift. It’s certainly a great kick off to our 31 Nights Of Terror.
