Friday the 13th

Now this film's got Craaaaazzzziiiiieeeeee written all over it!

Plot: There's a camp for the kiddies in the woods somewhere, the councillors fail to pay attention and a kid drowns. Twenty years later the camp re-opens and a crazy lady starts offing the new councillors.

This is one of the eighties iconic slasher series. Not only did the film spawn eleven sequels (one in 3D-look out for the TV ariel...dangerous) it also crossed over into another famous slasher series-Nightmare on Elm Street. Think Maniac Cop 2 (where a killer cop and a serial killer team up) but better, 'cos you get Jason and Freddy. Admittedly that spin off wasn't fantastic, but to have a franchise that spreads over 30 years is no mean feat.

A remake, like there seems to often be these days was released to moderate success in 2009 (starring one of the lads from the Supernatual TV series).

Budget: $500,000

Gross: $59,700,000

Fun Fact: The Hollywood game, the seven degrees of Kevin Bacon can include this film also.

The Hitcher

Awesome!!!! In so, so, sooooo many ways!

This is the reason that you don't give a stranger a lift, especially if you're delivering a car from one end of the United States to another.

Plot: Lad is delivering said car, see's a fella hitch hiking and thinks, What's the worst that could happen? and in pops Mr Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner) in a trench coat and an odd look on his face. Thing's are hunky doorey until Ruts' tells the lad (C.Thomas Howell) that he murdered the last fella that gave him a lift and C.Thomas is next...Dun dun Duuuuhhhhhh! C.Thomas boots him out and heads off...then there's the chase!

There is categorically NO reason not to watch this film if you are a fan of horror.

Budget: $6,000,000

Fun Fact: A sequel (also with C.Thomas Howell-cos' he's kinda a crappy actor and doesn't get many good roles) was released in 2003 and the remake (with the legend that is Sean 'I'm a Yorkshire Boy' Bean) in 2007.

La Jetee

Here's an odd one, compared to the rest of these reviews, but certainly no less worthy.

La Jetee (The Pier or The Jetty) is to all intense and purposes, a short film. The only one I'll review. It is also the strong inspiration for the Terry Gilliam feature, Twelve Monkeys. Created by Chris Marker, this film is shot almost entirely from black 'n' white still images and tell the story of a future lived underground, following a holocaust and the time travel experiments to change the past.

If you've see Gilliam's incarnation you'll see he stayed very near to the original. A true homage rather than a remake in any sense. Shot in 1962, I guess similar to Godzilla in it's message, Marker's film is a statement on life as we know/knew it and the way things are potentially headed. I'm doubtful many have likened Marker's stuff to Godzilla before, I hope I'm the first.

 

The Philadelphia Experiment

A film based on a WWII legend. Think Roswell, but, slightly more likely...I guess.

Two sailors are on board the USS Eldridge, they are taking part in an experiment to render the ship invisible to radar. Sadly things go squiffy, the lads jump ship and oddly land in the Nevada dessert. Turns out the experiment created a kind of time vortex, thing. Now the guys are stuck in 1984. That's bad, I remember 1984...pretty dull.

This is another of those oddly alluring films. It touches on patriotism, sci-fi, love and comradeship. The fact that it has this legend attached to it only makes this film that much more fascinating. Try this link for a laugh-

Budget: $?

Gross: $8,103,330

Click on the link for more 'facts', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Experiment

Fun Fact: The sequel (which I was rather excited to see at the time-1993) sees a new cast, but this time battling time traveling Nazi's and a Stealth Bomber...good concept, bad film. Co-starring Nancy Allen (RoboCop).

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger

Another of a seemingly inexhaustible back catalogue of films from the stop motion guru Ray Harryhausen.

Plot: On this occasion we follow Mr Sinbad-Patrick Wayne (in the third Harryhausen installment), he's a sailor and the prince of Baghdad. Turns out he fancies a Princess (Jane Seymour) and is all set to marry her, when the Princess's brother (about to be crowned Caliph) is turned into a baboon by their Wicked step mum. So, they hop on Sinbad's ship and head out to find a cure. Along the way they encounter ghouls, a very large killer wasp, a bronze minotaur, a giant walrus, a troglodyte and a saber toothed tiger.  

All good clean fun here. Sinbad and the two films before it are a trilogy unlike any other we might see today and mores the pity. They are fun from beginning to end!

Budget: $3,500,000

Fun Fact: For all you Dr Who geeks out there, the 2nd Doctor- Patrick Troughton is also in this gem.

  

Jaws

Plot: Big shark (Great White variety) trawls through the waters off the vacationers paradise of Amity Island (like Cleethorpes...with sunshine), comes across people and promptly sets about having a snack (clearly fish are too insubstantial for Jaws, as he's a rather large shark), but there's this New York cop (Roy Scheider) who, along with a scientist fella (Richard Dreyfuss) and a sea fairing captain (Robert Shaw) will stop at nothing to arrest his man, Shark, whatever...even if it means overcoming his fear of the big blue sea.

The original summer blockbuster, Jaws to date has raked in over $450,00,000...that's off the back of a $12,000,000 budget.

Fun Fact: The shark (nicknamed Bruce) broke down more than it ever worked (everyone knows that). Charlton Heston and Robert Duvall were both almost cast, except Heston was bigger than the shark (character-wise I mean-not fat or anything) and Duvall didn't wanna be the cop, he wanted to be Quint (the captain).

Godzilla

Prepare yourself...Gojira has arrived!

Filmed in 1952 as an anti-nuclear message film, Godzilla is the film that b-movies around the world for eternity must strive to emulate.

Plot: (meh) big, underwater lizard is mutated by the nuclear tests and fallout from the Japanese bombs, subsequently gets pretty big and goes for a wander on land (Japan being nearest). Seems Godzilla is unfamiliar with those things...what do you call em?...oh yeah, BUILDINGS! So, 'zilla trashes Tokyo and some scientists have to come up with another world changing bomb to end his melee.

Veiled in it's premise and message, Godzilla is the staple 'monster movie'.

A vast array of sequels and spin-offs have arrived over the years to tantalize our senses, 'Godzilla-Final Wars' being one of the most enjoyable (directed by Kitamura, of Versus fame) and with a 2012 incarnation in the pipeline (the first fully CGI and 3D Godzilla story), the franchise clearly knows no limits.

Fun Fact: Godzilla cost twice what Seven Samurai had, which was at the time the biggest Japanese film ever.