Audience Member
OK, so I watched one of those bad B horror movies, not from the 70's or 80's on netflix...and I actually liked it. I wasn't that surprised when I found out just how harshly it had gotten reviewed, but still, anyhow, here's my case for The Legend of Bloody Jack
This movie is probably proof of a statement a good friend of mine once said. He once said that "Everyone has those genres where, if the product is even a fair representation of the genre, they will like it." He was talking about music, actually, and how my friend Paul liked anything that was an even remotely fair representation of pop punk. But it works with movies too.
And for me, 70's/80's era slasher films is that genre. I like legitimately good ones, like the original Halloween and Black Christmas most. But I like bad ones too. If you are an even remotely decent representation of that genre, I'm going to like you. I LOOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEE most of the Friday the 13th movies, for example, love them. I like all of the random ass ripoffs. I love Killer Party, I love Hell Night, I love Prom Night, I love Prom Night II, I love all the Halloween sequels, even 5, I love every______ Massacre movie, I love He Knows You're Alone, etc. I know they are horrible, I don't care. I love them anyway. I watch every one I get a chance to.
Problem is, there aren't more new 70's/80's slashers coming out. At least not original ones. And they really didn't do many during the 90's. They all changed to "hip" films like Scream and all the countless ripoffs. But there has been a big push to do similar style movies in the past dozen or so years, mostly in direct-to-video films, and most of them are so godawful even I don't like them (Lover's Lane is a good example...I remember it because I blind bought it and could barely finish it. I don't even remember it. I just remember having high hopes and thinking is sucked hardcore).
I figured this one would be just like the other bad 00's era neo-slashers...and it was...but it wasn't. To be honest, I really enjoyed it.
First, the bad: Yes, the production values are horrible, roughly like 70's era grindhouse but without the charm (digital just doesn't seem gritty/cool the way grindhouse film did). The acting is pretty bad, even for a cheap horror flick. The characters do ridiculous things, the whole thing is basically a ripoff better movies etc.
And yet...
Well, like I said, if you're even coming close to doing a fair representation of the genre, I'm going to like it.
The thing is, yes, it's a ripoff, but it's ripping off movies I like. It's basically halfway between Friday the 13th and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. So if you even halfway rip off those movies, you've got my attention. It's sort of like F13th in the sense that it's a bunch of young folks in the woods out to have a good time (and end up getting slaughtered) and TCSM in the sense that most of it happens during the day in somewhat open feeling areas. Well, not actually during the day, it happens in north Alaska during the summer, where it's always sunny, but the effect is the same. And the killer is halfway between leatherhead from TCSM and baghead Jason from F13th Part 2. So on that level, it was going in a direction I liked.
Next, I thought the gore was pretty good. Not realistic, mind you, but they did a lot with a little. The killer really liked dismembering people, and they put a lot of effort into making chopped up folks. In context, I found it delightfully...fiendish or something. They were having fun making this and it showed.
Also, the nudity was off the charts, which is always important in bad slashers (in legitimately good slashers, like Halloween, it's just icing). Every girl takes her shirt off for an extended period of time, some more than once, including this amazingly exploitative scene where a girl who just had her boyfriend murdered asks some other guy to stay in the bathroom while she showers because she doesn't want to be alone. It was so awkward and strange I found it both fun and hilarious. I also liked how they didn't pick dumb models with fake boobs. All the girls looked real, I like that.
I was also a fan of how they did the "Alaska summer" thing. It was actually very interesting watching people running around the woods during the day. There had been so many films like this that even such a little tweak made it fun for me.
Finally, and this might be counter-intuitive, I liked the illogical decisions the characters made. Characters ALWAYS do dumb stuff, but it was done in this film in such a way that, like in all good "bad" slashers, you get to guess which dumb thing they'll do next, which is part of the fun. Oh, and I like how the movie doesn't really go for the irony . It has a little self-referencing, mostly at the very end, but it takes the genre seriously. It's not a serious genre, of course, at least not "bad" slasher, but that makes being self-referential unnecessary and just gets boring.
Oh, and one other thing: I found the score oddly menacing. It was hardly John Carpenter's Halloween score, or even F13th's score, but I found it worked.
Anyhow, this isn't good movie in any objective sense, don't get me wrong, it's not even as good as, say, Friday the 13th Part 3. But it's a fair representation of the kind of "bad" slasher Friday the 13th Part 3 is, with a double scoop of nudity and gore. That was enough for me. So if that sounds like your cup of tea, go for it.
7/10 for me. But that's just me.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/17/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This is like a cheesy campfire ghost story that no one ends up being scared off.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
02/13/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The Legend Of Bloody Jack is The Asylum's most hardworking Horror film ever made and it stays true to most of The Asylum's other films like Freakshow, Dead Line and Paranormal Entity along with the savage sequel to 666 The Child titled 666 The Beast. Though it does have it's moments it will never beat 666 The Child which is The Asylum's best film but I admit that this is a great film plus the entire movie is also way better than The Asylum's lousy low budget rip off of John Carpenter's Halloween titled Halloween Night. The premise of this movie is simple. This movie is about the bloody serial killer Bloody Jack who is resurrected from his grave when two teenagers used a spell to resurrect him. And he later on kills the teenagers. Now a group of teenagers are now hunted by the axe wielding killer Bloody Jack and the teens must escape before they get killed by Bloody Jack. To be honest I seriously enjoyed watching this movie and I didn't have any problems with it. Everything about this movie is just plain fine and great. This movie is in really good shape and the entire film doesn't have any issues unlike the horrid Halloween Night which is really bad and dull at the same time plus it's also full of issues but this movie clears the mistakes of Halloween Night and it is an all new movie with new styles and new themes and tones as well. What's great about The Legend Of Bloody Jack is that the film has a great concept plus the woods setting is incredibly haunting and perfect as well. I like the settings of this movie and the cabin in the film is unique and really haunting as well and the settings really impressed me a lot and it looks perfect for the movie so far. What's great also about The Legend Of Bloody Jack is that the killer in the film looks great. The way Bloody Jack looks like is just plain perfect and it maybe cheap or low budget but at least it managed to have a lot of impressive things to be scary and creepy at the same time I didn't have any problems with the killer in the film and it looks great for one reason and I was amazed overall with the costume of the killer and it didn't disappoint me at all. What I also like about this movie is that the film is also full of suspenceful scenes. There are lots of suspenceful scenes in this film. The scene where most of the teenagers are getting chased by Bloody Jack is one of the most suspenceful scenes in the film and the scene where the kids get attacked by Bloody Jack in the cabin is also one of the most suspenceful scenes in the film and I did like the ideas of this movie so far. The other great things about The Legend Of Bloody Jack is that the film is also full of graphic and gory kills that are brutal and nasty as well. The opening kill scene is one of the most gruesome kills in the movie. The second kill scene is also gruesome though it is off screen but it was pretty good so far. While the other kill scenes are also inventive although my personal favorite kill in this film is the famous decapitation scene and that decapitation scene is just tense and visually mesmerizing while the last kills in the last part of the film is gruesome and graphic as well and I did like the kill scenes in this film so far. The last things I enjoyed in this movie is the camera work. The camera work in this film is just inventive and unique and I did like how the camera work was used well on certain parts of the film and I did like the idea so far. Now the acting is great in this film. I know that since this is an Asylum movie the acting is bad most of the time but the acting in this movie is just ok. The acting ranges from mediacore to decent and it is not horrendously bad as the acting in Halloween Night or the acting in Exorcism The Possession Of Gail Bowers but the acting stays true to Dead Line and 666 The Child along with the other Asylum films I mentioned so the acting is ok in this movie so far. Overall The Legend Of Bloody Jack gets a 7/10 because this movie has everything that you need for a Horror movie it maybe a low budget Horror slasher flick but it's an ok movie so far.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/12/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A super cheep and dumb slasher flick that never really taps into its setting's potential, The Legend of Bloody Jack takes place in Alaska during the months when the sun never sets. This interesting opening premise is completely squandered becomes another run-of-the-mill, low-budget slasher with no real imagination or anything remotely memorable.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
01/27/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Terrible movie. Not in a so bad its good way but in a so bad its complete garbage way!
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
01/16/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The suckes movie ever. The acting in this movie is just god awful.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/28/23
Full Review
Read all reviews
>
