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FRIDAY THE 13TH Starring Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King and Kevin Bacon
Halloween. A Nightmare on Elm Street. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Although the seeds were planted in the 1970s, horror movie franchises flourished throughout the 1980s. Video rentals and sales, merchandise and memorabilia are what helped create a whole new market for horror films. The better the films did at the box office or in rentals, the more that were made. Enter Friday the 13th, a franchise that has been enjoyed and duplicated over the years. The first film's legendary status stems from the use of a very simple plot, direction by established film maker Sean Cunningham and the involvement of special makeup effects man Tom Savini. Since its release, a flood of imitations and sequels prevailed.
It has been well over 20 years since the murder of two Counselors In Training at Camp Crystal Lake, the incident which forced the camp to shut down. The camp is about to open up again, and it is up to a handful of new CITs to get the place ready. At first, the CITs are warned by locals, most prominently, "Crazy Ralph," that the camp is cursed. Ignoring the warnings, the CITs continue to ready the camp. The counselors begin to turn up dead, murdered in ghastly ways. Alice, the only survivor, tries to avoid being killed when being pursued by the killer and barricades herself in her cabin. Mrs. Voorhees, an old lady who once worked at the camp, shows up and assures Alice that there is nothing to worry about. She tells her the story about Jason, a boy who drowned at the camp shortly before it was closed. It is Mrs. Voorhees' story that clears up the mystery as to who the murderer is.....and who Alice must look out for.....
The introduction of Jason's character into the story (and a brief appearance in a particular sequence) lead to much interest (as well as high box office grosses). It was a matter of time before a sequel would be made - utilizing Jason himself as the antagonist. Warner Brothers handled Friday the 13th's distribution outside of the US, while Paramount distributed the film domestically. Domestic distribution led to harsh cuts in order to achieve an R-rating. Over the years, fans have been upset by these cuts. Most recently, fans have been equally upset by the fact that the newest Paramount boxed set didn't include the extra gore cut from the prints (they featured them on the extras disc as deleted scenes). However, Warner distributed the film uncut, as featured on their Region 3 (and Region 2) disc.
The anamorphic widescreen presentation (1.85:1) of Friday the 13th is of very good visual quality. It is indistinguishable from the Paramount disc. Aside from a few speckles and a prominent vertical line during one of the suspense scenes, the image is stable, colorful and bright. The gore scenes are fully intact, most notably, Kevin Bacon's character's demise and the climax. It is because these scenes were never removed from the print that their quality matches that of the rest of the film. The Dolby Digital mono sound is as good as its Paramount counterpart disc. No obvious defects can be heard. The same theatrical trailer found on Paramount's DVD is present here on the Region 3 disc. Friday the 13th's trailer represents the film very well, and is as interesting to watch as it was when it ran as a preview.
A new 11-minute documentary is included, Return to Crystal Lake: The Making of Friday the 13th. It covers director Cunningham's background, the origins of Friday the 13th, casting, clips and stories about shooting and distribution of the film. The documentary even covers the origins of the ever-infamous music. Mysteriously missing from this release is an audio commentary track with Sean Cunningham that is present on the Region 2 release. Although the track is made of snippets of interview material, it would have been an interesting inclusion.
Thanks to Warner Brother's treatment of this film, there is a version of Friday the 13th that is uncut. It is comforting that effects artist Tom Savini's work has not been done in vain. Hopefully, Paramount will follow suit in the future with an uncut release. All it would take is a listen to the fans..... |
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