Friday the 13th Series Wrap Up

*Wondering why I skipped Freddy vs. Jason?  I took a look last year when I went through the Nightmare on Elm Streets.

 

A rundown of all the Fridays wouldn’t be complete without a wrap up.  So let’s step back and get a little perspective on what we just saw.

Unlike virtually every other horror franchise that have their killer fully developed right out of the gate Friday took three movies to finally produce its iconic villain as we know him today.  That’s a testament to how massively well that first film performed and how loyal the fans were to stick with sequels that kept tweaking the formula.  To be fair Jason is essentially there in Part 2 (albeit a Michael Myers clone) but once they added the hockey mask that was it.  The filmmakers and fans latched on to that sucker instantly making it the symbol of the series.  Ok, now you got a cool timeless design that’s undeniably intimidating.  The mask is similar to Michael Myers’ white mask except this takes it a step further and is featureless.  No hair, no outlines of a face, no mouth and only a bump for a nose.  I think that’s what makes it stick in your brain as so effectively creepy.

Different actors have played Jason over the years with each giving their own spin on him.  Some play him more agile (Derek Mears in the remake and Ted White in Part 4 The Final Chapter) and others play him more on the stiff side (Tom Morga in Part 5 A New Beginning).  The most famous actor to take up the role is Kane Hodder who donned the hockey mask four times (Part 7 The New Blood through Jason X).  He does a fantastic job in those with Part 7 The New Blood probably being his best performance.  He threads the needle by being as stoic as he can while flashing moments of quickness to remind you he has a nimble side that can sneak up on you.

Each entry is packed full of special effects and they all look good.  Tom Savini’s work on Part 1 and 4 The Final Chapter and John Carl Buechler’s efforts on Part 7 The New Blood are the standouts.  Very special shoutout to KNB for the incredible body melting scene in Jason Goes to Hell.  These effects are just as influential as the ridiculous shit the Nightmare on Elm Street movies were churning out during the same period.  Unfortunately not all of this superb hard work got to be seen in its full glory (or gory? *wink*) as the later installments became infamous for getting a lot of the carnage trimmed by the MPAA.  So while they might seem tamer today that’s just the way shit went back then.

Despite the copious number of films most of them were not much of a launching pad for the actors involved.  However some notable alums include Kevin Bacon (Footloose, The River Wild), Corey Feldman (The Lost Boys, The Goonies), Crispin Glover (Back to the Future, River’s Edge), Miguel Nunez Jr (Return of the Living Dead, Black Dynamite), Thom Mathews (Return of the Living Dead I & II), Tony Goldwyn (Kiss the Girls, Ghost), Jeff Bennett (who’s done voice work on a bajillion shows including Batman the Animated Series, Gargoyles and every goddamn Disney cartoon show since the 90’s), Kelly Hu (X2, The Scorpion King), Steve Williams (It (2017), The X-Files) and Richard Gant (Stone Cold, The Glimmer Man).

Steve Miner on the left, SC in the cowboy hat

In terms of directors Steve Miner who did Part 2 and 3 and produced the original had the most high profile career.  He went on to direct House, Warlock, Halloween H20, Lake Placid and a good amount of TV including episodes of The Wonder Years and Dawson’s Creek.

Sean Cunningham, the man who stared it all with that 1980 gem and went on to produce Jason Goes to Hell, Jason X, Freddy vs. Jason and the remake (as well as the original and remake of Last House on the Left), is a somewhat controversial figure depending on who you talk to.  He’s fostered proteges like Steve Miner and Adam Marcus who went on to direct Friday sequels so he can be generous and helpful.  Although Marcus has made him out to be a micromanager from hell and I have no idea what’s true or not.  There’s also litigation between Cunningham and original screenwriter Victor Miller over the rights to the property.  Look, all I’m saying is Cunningham appears to be less like a creative guy who had a yearning to tell a story with that first film and more of a business man who saw horror pictures as a viable way to make some bucks.  It seems in the ensuing years he’s taken it upon himself to be the caretaker of the Friday brand and he’ll do what he feels he must to protect it, even if that means butting heads with former cohorts.

Ok, now for some observations I kept track of during the viewings.

There are a few traditions that show up throughout the series.  Thunderstorms make an appearance in every entry except Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X.  And in Part 7 The New Blood we get thunder and lightning but no rain.

A body gets thrown through a window in Part 2, 3, 4 The Final Chapter, 5 A New Beginning, 7 The New Blood (Jason also throws himself through in that one) and Jason Goes to Hell.  In Part 6 Jason Lives a body gets tossed half way through but then gets dragged back inside.  And I decided not to count the body crashing into a car windshield in the remake.

The finale occurs in a barn in Part 3, 5 A New Beginning and the remake.

Part 2, 3, 4 The Final Chapter and 7 The New Blood begin with clips from a previous film.  This made sense back when these were released a year or two apart so the audience could get caught up on where shit stands but if you watch them all back to back like I did this becomes fairly annoying.

We tend to think of Jason as a silent steady slow moving force but he runs in Part 2, 4 The Final Chapter and the remake.  We get to hear him grunt in Part 3 too.

An astonishing thing you come to realize after watching a few Fridays is the insanely high body count each one racks up.  Only one (Part 2) dips under ten.  And three (Part 5 A New Beginning, Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X) score over twenty (it’s worth noting Part 6 Jason Lives, Part 8 Jason Takes Manhattan and Freddy vs. Jason only fall short by a kill or two).  Other series have run similar numbers but not this consistently so the amount of dead bodies just feels more noticeable in this franchise.

One totally bizarre thing is the fucked up timeline.  Part 2 happens five years after Part 1 placing it in the mid 80’s which means Part 7 The New Blood is supposed to be the late 90’s and Jason Goes to Hell occurs in the early 2000’s.  That’s hard to wrap my head around.  I think it’s obvious the filmmakers either ignored or didn’t know about these dates when they made their own sequel and simply set it in their respective modern time.  Of course none of this really matters but it remains a curious tidbit.

Sticking with the timeline angle, you’d think that all the pictures take place on a Friday the 13^th but that’s not the case.  Only Part 1, Part 6 Jason Lives and at least the opening of Part 7 The New Blood nail the date.  I can say that with some confidence.  However, according to the internet all the films except Part 3, 4 The Final Chapter and 8 Jason Takes Manhattan get the date right (even accounting for those that occur over multiple days).

Best Installment: Friday the 13^th.  It’s a super solid horror picture that delivers maximum thrill while staying within the classic slasher formula.  Honorable mention goes to Part 6 Jason Lives which is the best sequel in my opinion (unless you include Freddy vs. Jason then I might have to go with that).

Worst Installment: Jason X.  I’m not against new directions for a franchise (especially if you’re on your tenth fucking movie) but holy shit is this bad.

Beyond the eleven movies there was a TV show boringly called Friday the 13^th: The Series that came out in 1987 in between Part 6 Jason Lives and Part 7 The New Blood.  It was your run of the mill horror anthology show with a framing device consisting of two cousins who inherit an antique shop from their deceased devil worshiping uncle that’s full of cursed items.  When they find out all the shit they sold is killing people they decide to track down the antiques leading to each episode’s story.  It came out a year before Freddy’s Nightmares and was more successful lasting a season longer with three total.  They had some noteworthy writers and directors take part like David Cronenberg (Crash (1996)) and Atom Egoyan (Exotica).

And I can’t forget about Crystal Lake Memories which documents the making of each film.  It’s an awesome peek behind the curtain with a wealth of info.  But similar to Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy this sonuvabitch has a beefy runtime of over six and a half hours so plan accordingly.

Alright!  So the series as a whole is definitely fun but kinda rough at the same time.  It lacks imagination like the Nightmare on Elm Streets, doesn’t have the unbridled mania of the Texas Chainsaws and while the first entry is strong I hesitate to call it a certified masterpiece like Halloween.  The sequels offer very little to sink your teeth into with either no plot or not fully committing to a direction (like setting up Tommy Jarvis to be Jason’s successor twice and abandoning the idea twice!).

But I don’t wanna end on a bad note here.  While not my favorite franchise it’s required reading for any horror fan.  Excellent effects work, some creative kills and spooky atmosphere are the three legs that the movies stand on.  And I want to expand on atmosphere for a moment because it really is exceptional in most cases and Harry Manfredini is a big part of that.  He created an all time amazing score that carries through many of the sequels.  His music, including the distinctive use of voice, is a major reason why these movies endure.

What started life as a Halloween knock off became a monster of its own.  What Michael Myers did for the suburbs Jason did for the campground.  Something lurking in the woods at night is a common fear that dates back to prehistoric times.  Add hockey mask, machete, wordless hulking behemoth who murders without a second thought and there you go.