"He neglected to mention that downtown they call this place Camp Blood."-- Ned (Mark Nelson)
It's the 13th day of the month, so I thought we'd discuss Friday The 13th. Okay, so it's a Saturday -- but go with it.
Back in 1980, this slasher flick became one of the earliest films to be influenced by John Carpenter's Halloween (1978). It was directed and produced by Sean S. Cunningham, who had previously worked with Wes Craven on The Last House On The Left (1972). The script was written by Victor Miller, who originally conceived Friday The 13th as an exploitation that would cash-in on Halloween's success, as well as provide an unusual twist for its antagonist...
Friday The 13th is set at the fictional Camp Crystal Lake (in reality, Camp Nobebosco in New Jersey.) In 1958, a double murder took place at Crystal Lake, a year after a handicapped boy called Jason Vorhees drowned in the resort's lake. In 1980, a girl called Annie (Robbi Morgan), visits the now-deteriorating Camp Crystal Lake and finds herself embroiled in a fresh spate of killings...
What's most notable about Friday The 13th is the villain famously turning out to be Jason Vorhees' mother (played by Betsy Palmer), and not Jason himself. Of course, for the many sequels, Jason would headline the franchise and become an enduring horror icon alongside Michael Myers and Freddy Kruger.
Paramount Pictures took an unprecedented step in distributing this independent slasher film, making them the first major studio to do so. It was a wise decision, as the low-budget $500,000 film went on to make $5.8 million in its opening weekend and $40 million in total!
This success led to the series of increasingly silly sequels: '81s Part 2, '82s Part III, '84s The Final Chapter, '85s A New Beginning, '86s Jason Lives, '88s New Blood, '89s Jason Takes Manhattan, '93s Jason Goes To Hell, '01s Jason X and '03s Freddy Vs Jason. In total, the series has earned approximately $600 million.
These days, Jason remains a popular horror character, particularly after the 2001 revamp and team-up with Freddy Kruger reintroduced him to modern audiences. The original film isn't particularly great, and has aged terribly since 1980, but the unusual twist in the villain's identity and a great final jump-scare, ensures it often gets mentioned in horror polls.
A remake is currently being planned by Michael Bay, who has similarly produced remakes of 70s/80s classics like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Amityville Horror and The Hitcher. Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (who wrote Freddy Vs Jason) will pen the script, and this time Jason Vorhees will be the main villain, not his mother...
Trivia1. The snake scene came from an idea by make-up artist Tom Savini (Dawn Of The Dead). A real snake was used and killed for real!
2. Actress Betsy Palmer only agreed to star in the film to pay for a new car. She has subsequently branded the film "a piece of shit."
3. The iconic musical sting that seems to say: "chi, chi, chi, ha, ha, ha" is actually "ki, ki, ki, ma, ma, ma", according to composer Harry Manfredini. It's supposed to resemble Jason saying "kill, kill, kill, mom, mom, mom."
4. For the first few weekends of the film's release, Tom Savini would go into theatres for the last 5 minutes, to watch people's reactions to Jason emerging from the Lake and grabbing Alice.
5. This film includes a very early role for a young Kevin Bacon.
6. Friday The 13th was nominated for 2 Golden Raspberry awards: Worst Picture and Worst Supporting Actress for Betsy Palmer.
7. Victor Miller, who wrote the screenplay, claims to have never seen any of the sequels.
8. In 2003, Sean S. Cunningham proposed a television show based on the original movie, featuring a new villain with a connection to Jason, although nothing has come of it...
Links
Camp Crystal Lake website
Friday The 13th website
