Friday the 13th
They were warned...They are doomed...And on Friday the 13th, nothing will save them.
Overview
Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp that was the site of a child's drowning.
Many probably do not believe that before a couple of days ago, I had never seen Friday the 13th. For years I have put off watching this flick because I thought I would not enjoy it at all. I love Freddy and Michael Myers, do I have room in my heart for Jason Voorhees as well? To kick off this website, I found it appropriate to conduct a “First Watch” review of Friday the 13th since it is such a popular standard. If you have seen this movie over and over, you may not remember how you viewed it the first time. Also, it is 2015 and a lot of time has passed. How does an adult watching this for the first time in 2015 view the movie? Read on if you would like to know!
Immediately, I was looking for “rip off” similarities if you will. Halloween came out in 1978, what pieces would Friday the 13th take from Halloween? What else would they take from? This is a common practice in horror films and I enjoy picking them out like a kid in 2nd grade with a Highlights magazine fighting over the chair to sit and do the hidden pictures puzzle.
“When you’ve had a dream as long as I have, you’ll do anything.” ―Annie to unknown driver just before passing the road to Camp Crystal Lake
Rip-off #1 – Let’s meet Annie Phillips. Cute, curly dark hair, and named Annie just like the first character to die in Halloween. Is it a coincidence that she will be the first to die (besides the flashback) in Friday the 13th? I was really hoping that Annie wouldn’t die and would stick around to be our survivor. Although her whimsical naive and optimistic nature was a little over-acted, I found it cute and funny and hoped to see more of her. Unfortunately, as you all know, she dies pretty soon in the film. I guess Pam doesn’t like plaid.
Rip-off #2 – Part of the musical score is more than similar to the classic Psycho. The 1960 Hitchcock slasher has been an influence to many and it did not surprise me to hear such similar music. Either the sound artist was paying homage or they may not have even realized how much they were copying off of Psycho. Regardless, I thought it worked well in Friday the 13th but was easy to recognize.
Rip-off #3 – ch-ch-ch-ah-ah-ah. We all know the sound, it gets stuck in your head. People love it and even if you have not seen the movie (like myself prior to a couple of days ago), you know exactly what it is and where it came from. So why do I feel it is a a rip-off? It is not a complete rip-off (I don’t think), but what I picked up was the pattern may be closer to Halloween than we think. At the very least, I feel that the ch-ch-ch-ah-ah-ah and the music played when Michael Myers is in hot pursuit could be a nice mash-up remix. Does anyone want to make one and submit it? If you do, just email it to me and I will feature it right here on this website!
Rip-off #4 – Ok, now, this may be a reversed rip-off? I am not for sure of the term for this just yet, but I will create one! There is a scene in Friday the 13th which I felt was used in Wes Craven’s Scream. In fact, this was my FAVORITE scene in Friday the 13th and I wish they would have done more with it.
Scene: Brenda McConnell hears a boy calling for help out in the storm so she decides that it is a good idea to go out in her nightgown. She is led to the archery. At this time, the flood lights kick on and blind Brenda at which time Pam Voorhees attacks her. If you have seen Scream, then you probably noticed the same as I that after Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) says that her boyfriend is on his way to save her, the voice on the phone tells her to turn on the flood lights out by the pool. When the lights come up, she sees her boyfriend Steve gagged and tied to a chair. I feel that Wes was paying homage to Friday the 13th in this scene especially since this opening scene has a phone conversation about scary movies and Casey misses the trick question about Friday the 13th.
The Final Scare Scene
Rip-off #5 – This, by far, was an amazing rip-off but so easy to spot! At the end of the movie, we have our lone survivor, Alice from California (why would someone from Cali fly to NJ for a camp job??), and we experience a dream sequence where she is in a canoe and the cops are near by Jason pops up and pulls her under only to find out she is really in a hospital bed. This is straight out of Carrie by Stephen King, 1976. If you have not seen Carrie, after everything goes to pot, we experience the same type of dream sequence (hopeful yet creepy everything-is-ok-but-not-really music), light bright daytime scenes, and then a hand pops up from Carrie’s grave and grabs the character who survived by the wrist at which time we find out that she is safe in a bed and experiencing a dream as well.
Carrie Final Scare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAXU_7EyXFE
Friday the 13th Final Scare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RObb2QfBnUs
Things To Watch For
The funniest scene for me was when Kevin Bacon is murdered. Yes, if you haven’t seen this movie, Kevin Bacon is in it. So, he is laying in bed and the knife comes in to slice his throat. This is the funniest scene to me because his body and neck all the way up to his jaw line are GRAY CLAY, or something similar. The rest of the kill scenes were pretty nice, but this one was took the cake for bad quality which makes it hilarious.
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