With the remake of FRIDAY THE 13TH, (excuse me, Reimaging) right around the corner; it’s pretty much a shoe in that the original movie would get a re-release on DVD with more bonus features and the likes. The last time I watch FRIDAY THE 13TH I was probably about thirteen years old ironically. It was just one of those films that I never really was able to get into. Sure over the years I would go and see every sequel that was released, or catch one of them here and there on television. But FRIDAY THE 13TH and Jason in particular were never the series of horror films that would keep me coming back for me. to be honest, with seven of the films trying to be serious and scary, then a trip to Manhattan, Hell, Space and a fight with Freddy. The series started to get ridiculous and I lost interest all together. But now almost twenty years later I get to watch the film that started it all over again. You know what, despite it being the film that would lay the foundation for all the bad teenage horror films to come after it. FRIDAY THE 13TH is one of those bizarre and uncomfortable efforts that really does work as an effective horror movie.
FRIDAY THE 13TH is a film about a group of new camp counselors who are attempting to reopen a camp that has been shut down for a while. The camp is the middle of nowhere and the local town folks all know of the bad things that have happened there, but the majority of them dismiss it as only a legend. Still the camp has been shut down for over twenty years and it is know that a series of unsolved and bizarre murders have taken place there in the past. But the group of counselors are determined to fix the place up and have it open for business. But Camp Crystal Lake is about to become a nightmare once again. The camp counselors are all being killed one by one and the mystery behind the murders is about to be revealed. It all goes back to one faithful day when a young boy named Jason drowned in the lake because of lack of supervision by counselors who were too into each other to care. Now because of this unfortunate event many will have to suffer and die.
When I first began to watch FRIDAY THE 13TH for the first time in a long time. I found myself vaguely remembering the story. Sure I remembered the scenes that stick out, such as the ending and when we find out who the killer is. But the story itself kind of slipped my mind. The only thing that I really could think of is that if FRIDAY THE 13TH were released now, instead of 1980. I think many people would just dismiss it as another washed up teen horror film to add to the pile. If you look at the plot and the pacing of the movie it’s pretty basic. Bunch of young people going to a camp to fix it up, a lot of partying, sex and drugs. A killer loose in the woods hell bent on getting revenge kills them all one by one when they are at their most vulnerable. If you think about the movies today, FRIDAY THE 13TH is the film that set this foundation. So while watching it, I realized that when you see FRIDAY THE 13TH you realize how this film opened the door for all the good and bad teen horror films that we have today. So for it’s time its a brilliant idea, even if the script has it’s issues, it’s still that movie that made its foot print in horror history in more ways than one.
Many acting careers where formed by the talent that sprays the blood of this film. Adrienne King stars as Alice; our lady in distress and the innocent victim that becomes the films hero. Betsy Palmer in the role that she will probably be most remembered for by all horror fans as Jason’s loving mother. The person who’s career probably did benefit more than anyone else in the film is Kevin Bacon, who even with such a small supporting role went on to be the most known face to come from this film. Genre actor Irwin Keyes also has a bit role as a busboy as well. Many of the other actors in the film really didn’t continue with their acting careers, but some did go one to have pretty decent television careers. If you look at the acting as a whole in FRIDAY THE 13TH it’s really nothing special, maybe with the exception of the leads, but it works for the type of film that FRIDAY THE 13TH needed to be for it’s time.
If you look at the production value of FRIDAY THE 13TH you notice that everything in the film looks real. You can easily tell that the movie did fit it’s time, with the style of hair and clothing, right down to the cars that everyone was driving. The main details, the set design and all that were all perfect, but the thing that make FRIDAY THE 13TH stand out more than anything else is it’s use of effects and make-up. This is the movie that really made Tom Savini a household name when it came to effects, sure we can all say what about DAWN OF THE DEAD and the likes before FRIDAY THE 13TH, but this is the one that put his name on the mainstream map as a true make-up effects designer for the way he made Jason look. He is solely responsible for making Jason come to life. However not only did FRIDAY THE 13TH give us a new direction with the effects and the very odd and original ways many of the victims meet their fate, but it also pushed some limits with it’s use of blood, effects and not to mention nudity.
Looking back at when I was thirteen and being somewhat scared of this film, and now looking at it from it’s historical point of view at a much older age, I have a lot more respect for what FRIDAY THE 13TH did for the horror genre and how it opened doors for the many films that would follow in it’s footsteps, good or bad. It’s referenced a lot in many horror films such as SCREAM in the 1990’s to the recent film HATCHET which is pretty much the same concept with a different location, but similar characters. There are many horror films that will forever be considered the ground breaking movies that created the genre and the way it is today. THE EXORCIST, HALLOWEEN, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, and of course FRIDAY THE 13TH all paved that road for horror during its prime in the seventies and early nineteen eighties. But out of all the masked killers to be Jason was not the main monster in the first film, but rather a loving family member was. When you watch FRIDAY THE 13TH, your not only watching a horror film that was meant to scare you, your watching history.
The new Deluxe Edition DVD features an all new uncut version of the film, Commentary by Director Sean S. Cunningham with Cast and Crew, Fresh Cuts: New Tales from Friday the 13th, Lost Tales from Camp Blood – Part 1, A Friday the 13th Reunion, and The Man Behind the Legacy: Sean S. Cunningham. The uncut version has material that was deemed to intense and bloody for audiences at the time, while it’s not a lot of footage it’s all been put in there because that’s originally the way the film was meant to be. Overall, while it’s not overly packed with features, a lot of them are new. So it furthers your experience with the film as well as knowledge behind the making of the movie.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
