It only costs $1 per movie to hire weekly DVD’s on Wednesdays from our local Civic Video store. It means that you can hire movies of dubious quality without feeling guilty about it. So for two dollars I was able to take a trip back to the eighties with Friday the 13th and Ladyhawke.
I haven’t seen many horror movies. Most I consider comedies and I end up laughing out loud at them. but my wife gets a little spooked. At home alone during the day at the moment it seems like the ideal time to catch up on my horror movie pop culture references. Freddy vs Jason was a recent showing at the cinemas and featured characters from the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th series of movies. I had seen a number of the former movies and quite enjoyed them, so thought I’d discover who Jason was (next on my list is Mike Myers, from Halloween). Also, Friday the 13th was my last day at work, so there was some synchronicity there.
I’ve almost finished watching Friday the 13th and still don’t know who Jason is. I can’t say I care much either. About the only positive thing I can say about the movie is that the town it is filmed at seems absolutely charming, the kind of place I’d love to visit in the US. As for the rest of the movie; stupid teenagers with dumb eighties haircuts and violent "horror scenes" that are neither scary, nor so stupid as to be amusing. May I’ll just go back to watching all the Nightmare movies.
My wife recommended Ladyhawke, a medieval fantasy starry Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Broderick. Pfeiffer is a hawk during the day and person at night, while Hauer is a wolf at night and man come sunrise due to a curse placed upon them both by an evil bishop. Broderick, looking younger then young, plays a thief.
It’s mildy engaging fun with some beautiful background landscapes and fine Friday fare for snuggling up with your significant other. It is utterly let down by Andrew Powell’s electronic, totally eighties score. It is cheesy, really, really bad stuff that stands out like a sore thumb. Uggh!
If you ever hire the DVD, be sure to check out the theatrical trailer. It is as cheesy as the music. I can’t believe that I ever lived through an age which could produce such awfulness. We are lucky that the human memory is so good at editing out unpleasant memories!