Friday the 13th
king of horror franchises.
After the grass-roots success of John Carpenter's seminal psycho-killer flick Halloween at the close of the 1970's, a new generation of cash-strapped amateurs arrived on the scene - ready to get their hands bloody. In 1979 producer Sean Cunningham (of Last House on the Left infamy) helmed what many considered a blatant rip-off of Carpenter's masterwork. It was a low-budget frightener named after yet another superstitious square on the calendar - Friday the 13th (1980) - and the horror sub-genre of 'slasher film' was officially born.
A secluded country retreat called Camp Crystal Lake is reopened by a group of young adults (after being closed following a murderous incident several years before). The nearby townsfolk attest that there is a curse on the place, and warn the new caretakers and counselors that trouble awaits them. They soon find that the locals were onto something, as one by one they are stalked and killed by an unknown maniac. It is explained that this unlucky date is also the birthday of one Jason Voorhees, a mongoloid man-child who drowned in the lake the year of the previous killings. Soon the villain’s identity is revealed in a cat-and-mouse climax - but it may not be who you'd first suspect...
Though this film was despised by critics and written off by true horror aficionados at the time, it became a box-office winner and was a huge money-maker for production house Paramount Pictures. Just as it had helped usher in the slasher film alongside Halloween, it also joined that movie in setting several blueprints for the sub-genre - the first being the rule of sequels. F13 ends with a cliffhanger (we won't spoil it for anyone who's never seen it), and leaves room for a follow-up. Of course since the movie made a serious amount of bucks, the inevitable sequel was quickly rushed into production.
Friday the 13th, Part 2 (1981) was directed by a young Steve Miner, and never strayed from the sex and violence formula of the original. But it is this movie that actually created the template for the long-running franchise in many ways. The lone survivor of the first film is quickly killed in a prologue and a fresh batch of youngsters congregate at Crystal Lake for the summer. As before, they dismiss the lurid local legend of Jason, and find themselves dead wrong. This time, a brassy young woman (Amy Steel) uses some 'child psychology' when confronted with the mass-murderer. She manages to save her skin, but her own mental state now remains questionable...
Several elements threaten to disrupt the building terror, but the above-average production by Frank Mancuso, Jr. and respectable work of an unknown cast and crew make this one of the series' highlights. Jason is a creepy clodhopper (with a pitchfork and pillowcase head cover), and a few scenes work like gangbusters. Alas - the young heroine escapes, and the audience is teased with an ambiguous parting shot - will there be a part 3?
Friday The 13th, Part 3 (3-D) stumbled onto screens in 1982 - right on schedule! Most of the effort concentrated on making a three-dimensional theatrical experience results in a messy onslaught of gimmicky camera shots, piss-poor acting, and in-your-face special effects. This turkey is notable for two things: it's 'Cheech and Chong' aesthetic (maybe they were planning a cross-over film in the style of classic Abbot and Costello!), and the introduction of the now-iconic hockey mask - which Mr. Voorhees (suddenly and inexplicably more massive) obtains during the bloody proceedings. Not the worst F-13, but pretty close...
Sensing that fans were anxious for a pay-off, the fourth chapter in this string of slasher films was to be the last. Paramount proclaimed that they were 'killing off' Jason! A team of filmmakers assembled for Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) - including Mancuso, Jr. (of course), famed action director Joseph Zito and "King of Splatter" Tom Savini, who created the memorable effects of the original. Add a young Cory Feldman and a unusually restrained Crispin Glover - as well as the best Henry Manfredini score since Part 1, and you have a fine film that is equal parts horror and twisted humor. The final fifteen minutes of this movie rival even the original, and Jason 'dies' quite memorably indeed. Then we see the unnecessary set-up for the uncalled-for second wave of the series!
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) is arguably the most awful 'Jason' movie of the many - most likely because Jason isn't even really in it...or IS HE?? Despite the big-studio production values and the attempt at switching up the story-line (by setting the murders at a nearby psychiatric half-way house), the film simply falls flat. Tommy is haunted by the murderous spectre of Jason, and begins to see him hanging around - even though he surely killed him the previous episode...OR DID HE???
The series finds semi-solid ground again with the follow-up: Jason Lives!: Friday the 13th, Part VI (1986). The character of Tommy from the previous films (now played by Thom Matthews of Return of the Living Dead) finds the graveyard where Jason's corpse is buried, and plans to destroy it once and for all. However, he only succeeds in resurrecting the zombie slasher (in the style of old Universal horrors from the 30's and 40's). VI is right up there with the first and fourth Fridays, with fun casting and director Tom McLoughlin's attention to atmosphere - not to mention songs from the legendary Alice Cooper. One of the better F-13 sequels.
And then there was 7! Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood (1988) is in need of a transfusion! A telekinetic teenged beauty finds some hard answers to serious questions while at Crystal Lake, where her father tragically died when she was but a child. But her tricky personal shrink may have a twisted agenda of his own - which sets the stage for a comic book clash in the film's last reel. Mostly forgettable - except for the portrayal of Jason by veteran stunt-man Kane Hodder (who went on to wear the mask for three more installments). He injects some needed scary energy into the role of the rotten marauder.
Friday the 13th, Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) is worthless. There's not a single reason to recommend this movie. If you must know, Jason jumps aboard a cruise ship full of Crystal Lake High graduates headed for the Big Apple. Yes - it's as bad as it sounds!
Ignoring all but the basic Crystal Lake premise of all prior installments, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) attempts to explain how Jason comes back again and again after certain death. The movie opens with the monster being blown to pieces and hauled in for an autopsy. His evil essence finds a new "host" body, and with echoes of other supernatural works (such as television's Twin Peaks), the legend of Jason Voorhees and the curse surrounding his surviving family is examined. Though fundamentally ridiculous, this flick is a nice send-up of the entire series while throwing many of its inherent "rules" out the door. Sporting arguably the best cast of all the F-13 films (especially Steven Williams of The X-Files as the bounty-hunter who carries the key to destroying Jason), Adam Marcus creates a satisfying chapter in the serial franchise.
If you really want to watch Jason X (2001) - where the cryogenically frozen fiend is revived in space and becomes a murderous cyborg - no one's stopping you.
*See also Freddy vs. Jason (2003)