Hey, I really like The Evil Escapes. Pretty cheesy and fun, an early performance from Zoe Trilling is always good on the eyes, and the ending shot is HILARIOUS.
The Universal Monster canon as you know gets pretty incestuous as it goes on. House of Dracula and House of Frankenstein are both cross-overs too, and then there are the Abbott & Costello movies. I went by the Wikipedia chronology, which really only lists Invisible Man and The Mummy as having a 5th proper film. I had to cut Invisible Man at the last minute to make way for Leprechaun in the Hood. Those are the kind of tough decisions we have to make around here...
Crazy. Never knew anyone actually watched these movies. Have you seen enough of them to give us a ranking of each in the series? Genuinely interested. Haven't seen any, but was always impressed with at the very least the continuity of the covers for the 10+ flicks.
I've said it here before, but I really think SAW 4-6 did something few other sequels ever dared do, not resting on the laurels of the series like so many later sequels but instead going full on insular in folding back upon the past and present until they both become a horrible blur. Part of that is out of necessity because of Jigsaw's fate, but still, it was a blast seeing just how insane everything got by the end. I don't really know how people can like one of the 4-6 films and not the other, they really are almost all on the same level for me. There was a definite fall-off with 7, but it was still fun. IT's 3 that I'm surprised anyone likes. That one is like plaster, just trying to patch up all the dead ends and holes in 1 & 2 before we get the meaty story that starts in 4.
After the lousy The Final Destination, Final Destination 5 was suprisingly really good and was a great wrap up of the series (although I bet another one comes some day). It gets my vote as best on the list
I don't really like any of these... but out of all of them, Final Destination 5 only because of the twist at the end that blew my mind. And I enjoy the hell out of that series, no matter how ridiculous it gets.
I'm definitely on board with your appreciation for The Evil Escapes. It was easy to follow and kept my attention. So many movies tease the hand-in-the-garbage-disposal gag, but this one actually delivered. That's a fairly cringe-worthy concept, even if the execution is ultimately pretty simple. And the ending was perfect. I'm quite happy to have checked it out. It's interesting that The Omen, Psycho, and Amityville all went the made-for-TV movie route with their fourth installment. But damn, Curse was a drag. I can't believe how dull it was. And having it completely unrelated to the original house is a mistake. Waste of time. But still glad to have it "under my belt" so to speak. Now I can move on to Amityville 1992: It's About Time. I love that title. And it's one of those mythical VHS covers that I remember from my childhood. The house and clock seemed so threatening. And even as a kid, I thought that the subtitle was wonderfully clever. I'm annoyed that the copy I have has an obvious matt blocking the "1992" on the title screen. Fuck that shit. The original title is great. Zoe Trilling was an unknown quantity until I watched The Evil Escapes. Cute, with a very distinctive jawline. Of her filmography, I'd seen Chuck Norris' Hellbound, and Dr. Giggles, but didn't remember her from either (it's been a while on both of them). Found Tobe Hooper's Night Terrors on youtube, but the general consensus seems to be that it's a giant bore, so after skipping around it to find the better parts, I left it well enough alone.
Night Of The Demons 2 is hands down her best performance. If you haven't seen it, seek it out immediately. She steals the show, and the movie is SO much fun! She was also in a really fun little '80s thriller called Fear. It was about a family in an RV who are taken hostage by a group of escaped convicts. Zoe played the daughter, but there are tons of recognizable faces in this one. She is barely in Dr. Giggles, which is why you probably don't remember her. I agree about Evil Escapes. After Amityville II: The Possession, it's probably my favorite of the series.
Put down Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones but then realized I missed Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. Oh well.
I got a three way tie with Friday the 13th (which was going to be the clear winner until I remembered...), Final Destination 5 and Saw V. I still don't care much for Saw 4 and it's confusing timeline, but 5-7 are the shit (in a good way)!
Friday the 13th part 5 is my favorite as well as my favorite Friday the 13th movie it made me think of the first movie the way Roy acted when his son died was just like best palmer in the first movie my three favorite women in the movie Debbie sue voorheys, Juliette Cummings she is so beautiful and tiffany helm she stole the movie with her dancing to the song in his eyes a great song now if we can just get an unrated version but Is unlikely since paramount threw stuff like that in the garbage and now it is lost forever but I love a new beginning my all time favorite Friday the 13th movie.
Friday 5 is lower tier Friday for me, so as much as I love the series, I can't vote for it. It's still better than part 8 and the New Line stuff, but that's not saying much. I actually enjoy Halloween 5 and Silent Night, Deadly Night 5, but the only movie on this list that I really love is Final Destination 5. It was a nice return to form after the abysmal part 4 that I thought had killed the series Part 5 made me remember why I enjoy these flicks so much. I liked that they took the series down a different path in this film, the deaths were as always a lot of fun (The opening in 3D was amazing!), and the ending was just the cherry on top. I still need to finish the Frankenstein Hammer series. I wish they weren't so hard to find on DVD, and the fact that they aren't all on Blu by now is a real shame!
Now, A New Beginning is so bad, it's good. And, no, it isn't better than Jason Takes Manhattan. As I have said, time and again, the film did something brand new in the franchise- it treated the onscreen deaths as much more realistic, painful, dehumanizing things. Maybe the main concept failed, but it has other qualities it pulls up to fill in those gaps. And it cares about the characters. The 5th film is just fun, for shits and giggles. Halloween 5 on the other hand is a travesty. A fraud.
