[Jason.]

I haven't seen House of Wax either.

[Tom4784]

I remember watching it when it first came out, I recall it being a bit boring.

[LukeB]

Originally Posted by Jason.

I haven't seen House of Wax either.

are you watching it after Scream 4?

[Xtopher]

I grew up with the original one tho ^^

[Jason.]

Originally Posted by LukeB

are you watching it after Scream 4?

Not sure. I'm watching Scream 4 at 11. So I can probably fit it in at 9. If I don't, I'll watch it tomorrow noon and then post my review.

[Daniel.]

The House of Wax is cute, btw im going to do a rank as it goes on to slot in the film each day, so by the end I have a full ranking of every film we watched.

[Jason.]

That's a good idea Dan.

[Lostie!]

So I'm watching now and I forgot about the snake scene (where they apparently actually killed a snake when filming that scene).

[Xtopher]

Originally Posted by Lostie!

So I'm watching now and I forgot about the snake scene (where they apparently actually killed a snake when filming that scene).

Never watch Cannibal Holocaust then.

[Lostie!]

Originally Posted by Xtopher

Never watch Cannibal Holocaust then.

I don't intend to.

[Lostie!]

Friday the 13th:
7/10

Friday the 13th is, on the whole, a good horror movie in my opinion. I really like the sense of dread that slowly and quietly builds throughout, and I LOVED Betsy Palmer (RIP) as Pamela Voorhees. Her shift from a warm, motherly presence to deranged psychopath always gives me the chills, and I love that she has a personal motive for the killings. Billy Loomis in Scream said that it's always scarier when there's no motive ... I disagree. I think a heartbroken mother driven to madness by her son's death is much scarier because the awful things she's doing are grounded in raw human tragedy, which I think is more satisfying than "They're evil because they are".

Something else I liked was how it lulls you into thinking that Annie, the girl hitchiking to the camp, was a possibility for the central protagonist and final girl. Her being offed so early was a cool swerve.

However, one big gripe that I have with this movie is that it's presented in a mystery format, with the killings committed by an unseen antagonist ... only for it to be somebody who we hadn't met until prior to the big reveal scene. As much as I love Pamela and her story, I just wish we met her, even briefly, earlier in the movie.

Another issue I have (soapbox time), is the snake killing scene. That was reportedly a real snake being killed, which I just think is unnecessary. They can fake numerous human deaths but they can't do the same for the animal death? There's no excuse whatsoever to slaughter an animal for the filming of a movie scene as far as I'm concerned.

On the whole, I always enjoy this movie and under other circumstances would be happy to award it an 8/10, but the issue I have with the killer being unknown to us most of the time brings it down to 7.5, and the snake killing takes it further down to a 7 (I was tempted to give it a lower score based on the latter but I wanted to reflect how, that aside, I did enjoy the film).

Rankings:
1. Scream (8/10)
2. Friday the 13th (7/10)

Yes, I'm copying the rankings idea.

[Cal.]

Friday the 13th (1980)

2/10

Boring. Dull. Clearly made to cash in on Halloween's success. The kills are the best part of the film. The characters are without depth besides Pamela Voorhees - which is ironic considering she is on screen for one of the shortest amounts of time. Betsy Palmer (RIP) played her brilliantly. The final girl was decent, if not a bit dull - but the film is 35 years old after all. There was a building suspense about it all - my favourite sequence was Marcie's death. However, the film lacks any real charisma or scares - Halloween was FAR superior. Also, the snake kill is vile so that's a contributing factor to the 2 out of 10 I give it.

[Cal.]

Saturday 3rd October - House of Wax (2005)



A group of unwitting teens are stranded near a strange wax museum and soon must fight to survive and keep from becoming the next exhibit. Starring Paris Hilton and Chad Michael Murray.

You have until 8PM tomorrow to get your reviews in.

Reviewers: Cal, Daniel_, armand,kay, Daniel-X, Tom, Lostie!, Xtopher, LukeB, Dezzy, Dollface, Moosething, Will1999, BB6, Fat.Rat, Amy Jade

[Lostie!]

The first movie of the countdown I haven't already seen (bar a few scenes) so this will be interesting.

[Dollface]

I can't believe the amount of people that haven't seen House of Wax i've seen it about 20 times

[Daniel-X]

I'll be finishing F13th after strictly finishes with a write up and then watch house of wax about an hour afterwards

[Daniel.]

greatest film of all time with the most talented actess (paris hilton) of all time in it

[Marsh.]

Why are you watching this trash?

The film is awful.

[Daniel.]

Becaise it's great

[Xtopher]

I feel like I should get high before this.

[Daniel-X]

Night two - Friday the 13th (1980)



I have only seen sequels or remakes of the Friday the 13th series so I was looking forward to watching the original because I've never seen the killer be anybody other than Jason.

Well I'm bitterly disappointed! The film for me is by far one of the most dull horror movies I've seen. Contrastingly, to scream the opening scene failed to grab my interest in the film. We saw some camp workers sat around a fire to go to have sex before being killed? For me there was zero suspense and I wasn't connected with the film straight away. Usually films I often like grab my attention from the start but this opening scene felt lacklustre.

One point I must get onto is the HIDEOUS and ATROCIOUS acting skills of some of the actors cast in the film. The girl at the beginning who got a lift by a lorry driver is perhaps one of the most annoying film characters I've ever had to watch and also played by one of the worst actresses I've ever seen in a movie. The only decent acting skills I saw throughout were Betsy Palmer (amazing tbh), Kevin Bacon and the girl who plays Alice. The rest can all have their careers crash and burn they were that terrible (oh and the girl who played Brenda was okay I suppose).

Not only did I not like actors in the movie but I also did not connect with a single character. Scream the other night made me connect with Casey who was in the film for just over ten minutes. The ones who were in for an hour or so didn't even connect with me in this film. They were also so transparent and annoying you had your 'Annoying sex mad jock' your 'shameless slut'... which seem to be cast in most slasher movies. They just didn't really have any depth to them which made it really hard to try and connect with the characters.

The kills for me also were repetitive and I got bored. There were no chase scenes or good build ups to the death you would just see what Mrs Vorhees saw through her eyes before stabbing one of the characters.

The only good part of the film is the last fifteen/twenty minutes were Mrs Vorhees finally comes into the film and reveals her backstory of Jason drowning in a lake. I liked the backstory tbh and felt it held up quite strong. Betsy Palmer was amazing at playing the role of a psychopath 'KILL HER MUMMY' was chilling. But then again even that had its bad points such as the chase scene between Mrs Vorhees and Alice being so boring with Alice just keep hitting her seemingly knocking her out before running away only for Mrs Vorhees to find her again and it go round in a circle.

The twist with Jason at the end was good! Great way to bring him into the sequels and again one of the few good points to the film

Overall - 2/10

Yeah I won't be watching again any time soon...

Overall scores so far:

Scream - 10/10
Friday the 13th - 2/10

[Will.]

Watching now, been years since I've watch house of wax, I remember I liked it!

[Daniel-X]

Night three - House of wax



I've heard a lot about house of wax and it's always interested me but I've never watched it. This film was the one I was most excited about on the list (well this and prom night).

It certainly delivered! I wasn't expecting much from the film I thought it would be okay but not amazing but I really really enjoyed it throughout. Even though the film got off to a relatively low start I did like the ominous atmosphere from about fifteen minutes into the film. The car engine staring at them and Carly falling into the pit of road kill both built this tense ambience around the film and got me excited to see what was coming next. The opening scene also with the two twins and the mother was great and it got me wondering what the film was all about.

The acting in the film was actually really good. Even Paris who I expected to be terrible actually really pulled it off and was convincing enough I felt. Chad Michael Murray however was the real star of the film and I thought he played the character of Nick excellent, he was great at playing the miserable side of Nick but also was great at playing the determined side of his character and I loved the bond between him and his sister Carly in the film.

The films slow start did get me loosing interest a little after a half hour in but once Carly and Wade arrived in Ambrose the film really got going. Carly's chase scene with Bo in the church and in his car was a really good chase scene and I love a chase scene I thought Carly was a goner though after Bo caught her outside the church but thank god she wasn't as she was my favourite character in the film besides Nick. The kill scenes in the film I thought were decent. Especially Paige's which I loved and I thought Paris really shone during the chase and the death scene for Paige and the pole going through Paige's skull was really gory but was a great kill! The other kill scenes were good but Paige's for me will be the one what will stick in my head probably as I loved it. However, I did feel that maybe three deaths in ten minutes was too much and maybe some should have been saved for earlier or later during the film to keep interest.

The chase scene between Carly, Nick and Bo in the cinema was really chilling and had me on the edge of my seat while Bette Davis was singing I'm writing a letter to daddy in the background which added to the eerie atmosphere in the scene. I think Elisha Cuthbert and Chad Michael Murray really played the sibling bond well on screen and it was nice seeing two siblings work together in a film for a change rather than a couple of people who don't really know each other.

The final twenty minutes in the film managed to keep me gripped and interested thoroughly as I just didn't know what was going to happen! Both ago and Vincent's deaths were satisfying for me and I felt unlike Mrs Vorhees death in Friday the 13th they were a good climax were as I felt Mrs Vorhees death was actually very anticlimactic and wasn't fitting enough for her character.

The final twist at the end was a great way to leave the film open for a possible sequel and it was so eerie seeing the other brother wave goodbye to Carly as she was driven away but sadly a sequel was never produced

Overall - 8/10

Definitely a good film which is way too underrated.

Scores:

Scream - 10/10
Friday the 13th - 2/10
House of wax - 8/10

[LukeB]

House of Wax

rating - 3/10

Well, I was really looking forward to this film but I didn't enjoy it much, the only good thing about it was seeing Paris Hilton(even though her acting was tragic) and Chad Michael Murray. It lacked the scary suspense and most of the characters were basic. Bo cutting Carly's finger off was gross(good for the movie) and Carly smashing Bo's face in with a hammer was the best scene of the movie. I was bored watching this throughout and wanted it to end. I wouldn't be watching this movie anytime soon.

Rankings
1.Scream (1996) - 9/10
2.Friday The 13th(1980) - 8/10
3.House of Wax - 3/10

[Tom4784]

House of Wax

I thought it was a passable but forgettable film, I think the idea of it is creepy but they weren't too successful at making the film scary at all when it could have been. The acting was so-so and the characters mostly fell into typical slasher cliches. I did like Nick though and thought that he was a character that mostly defied cliches as you would think that, at the start, Jared Padalecki's character (Wayne, I think?) would probably be the male lead when he turned out to be the first character to die. Aside from his death and Paris Hilton's chase and death scene, I think the film lacked big memorable moments.

I didn't hate watching it but I probably won't remember much of it in a few days time. Middling but watchable.

5/10

Scores
House of Wax - 5/10
Friday the 13th - 3/10
Scream - 9/10