On this spooky season edition of Parallax Views, we've got not one but two conversations to get you ready for Halloween! First, up Jason Brooks joins us to discuss the new Friday the fan film he's directed, wrote, and starred in calledFriday the 13th Vengeance Part 2: Bloodlines. the firstFriday the 13th Vengeance was a huge hit with fans of the Jason Voorhees saga and with it's professional-look, use of alumni from theFriday the 13th franchise, and feature-length running time was often spoken about as being "more than a fan film" when it came out. The sequel ups the ante further by featuring Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers's Tamara Glynn andFriday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives's Darcy Demoss and fan favorite Thom Matthews reprising their roles as Nikki and the Jason's heroic arch-nemesis Tommy Jarvis. Also returning areFriday the 13th Part 6's C.J. Graham (who played Jason in Part 6), as Jason's father Elias Voorhees, and Tom McLoughlin, the writer and director of Part 6, as the new character Gravekeeper Walt. Both Vengeance Pt. 2 and its predecessor features a massive amount of gory carnage candy for fans of the series as well as some surprises along the way, including an appearance from The Ramones' Richie Ramone as a punk rocker!
In this short but sweet conversation Jason and I discuss:
- The origins ofFriday the 13th Vengeance and how it started as an entirely different film calledFriday the 13th: Mythos; the love and passion that went intoVengeance and how it became known as "More Than Just a Fan Film" thanks to the effort of Friday the 13th Part II's Steve Dash (who appears as the town Sheriff in the fan film; his last film role); the stars ofVengeance including the aforementioned Steve Dash, Friday the 13th Part 6's C.J. Graham, Diana Prince (aka Darcy the Mail Girl of Joe Bob Briggs' Last Drive-In fame on Shudder), and former Penthouse Pet Veronica Ricci among others
- The inclusion of Jason Voorhees' father Elias Voorhees in Friday the 13th Vengeance Part 2: Bloodlines and his origins in the Tom McLoughlin's original screenplay forFriday the 13th Part 6(Elias also appeared in a number of the comic book spin-offs ofFriday the 13th)
- Talking about the special and make-up effects, kills, gore for the films and involvement of Hollywood/filmmaking professionals from special FX artist Joe Castro to Friday the 13th's original composer Harry Manfredini
- What Jason and Co. learned from the experience of making the firstVengeance and how that informedVengeance Pt. 2
- The shooting schedule and principle photography for Vengeance Pt. 2 and information about its budget
- Video technology and the barrier to entry to making a professional-looking fan film
- Why Jason and Co. wanted to make a sequel toFriday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives particularly
- And much, much more!
In the second half of the program, an old TV horror anthology has resurfaced after years of languishing in the tape trading underground of horror fanatics. Once only available in the form of poor quality bootlegs,Freddy's Nightmares is the forgottenNightmare on Elm Street TV series that has recently experienced new life (and better quality) on the free (with ads) streaming service known as Tubi. Done in the style of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone, the show featured Freddy Krueger (played by Robert Englund of the film series) hosting bizarre and gruesome stories about his stomping grounds of Spirngwood, Ohio. Some of the episodes feature Freddy within the story while most only feature him in host segment. One particularly notorious episode, the pilot "No More Mr. Nice Guy", was directed byThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Tobe Hooper and acted as an origin story for Freddy Krueger and prequel to Wes Craven'sA Nightmare on Elm Street.
With the series getting more attention thanks to it's being hosted on Tubi now, indie filmmaker Henrique Couto and David Denoyer have started a podcast in which they discuss each episode entitledWelcome to Primetime: A Freddy's Nightmares Retrospective.
Henrique and David joins us to discuss not onlyFreddy's Nightmares but also the Freddy-mania of the 1980s, J.G.'s first experience with Freddy Krueger as a child vis-a-vis an unrewoundNightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (notorious for its hom*osexual subtext), the before-they-were-stars appearances of actors and actresses like Brad Pitt andTank Girl's Lori Petty in Freddy's Nightmares, the origin of Freddy's Nightmares, the subversive themes of the NOES franchise,Re-Animator's Jeffrey Combs appearance inFreddy's Nightmares, the idea of elevated horror, thoughts on David Gordon Green's divisiveHalloween Ends, how technology (cameras, lighting equipment, etc.) has allowed for a lower barrier to entry for aspiring filmmakers, Henrique's new anthology seriesFound Footage, the importance of learning craft in filmmaking, the weird dream sequences inFreddy's Nightmares, whether we'll ever see a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie, the FREDDY's TRICKS & TREATS episode of FREDDY's NIGHTMARES featuring a sleazy striptease from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit's Mariska Hargitay, and much, much more!
