Fortress of Horror 03 - Friday the 13th Parts 1-4

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Never seen a single Friday the 13th film.

I have, however, read the novelization of the first film...I picked it up when I was a kid at the grocery store...

I know I've said it elsewhere, but you're not missing out. They're cheaply made, poorly paced, poorly acted, etc, etc. Yet I cannot explain my fascination with them.

No discussion of the b00bage in these movies??

I think I've only seen the first two and the last two Friday the 13th movies. THey're not great at all.

I adore Friday the 13th part IV -- it would be in my top-5 guilty pleasures -- and have a soft spot in my heart for most of the series.

The first time I watched Part IV was when I was 11 at a friend's birthday sleepover. His dad wanted to treat us with R-rated movies so rented this and The Kentucky Fried Movie (speaking of b00bage). This was my first horror movie. I think it was the first one for all of us. We were terrified. Wide-eyed and shaking. It was getting quite late (though, at that age, it was probably only about 10:00) and we were about an hour into the movie -- so had already witnessed plenty of death and bloodshed -- when his dad jumped into the room screaming incoherently, wearing a hockey mask and brandishing a machete. I'm still surprised I didn't piss myself.

I think for horror fans that grew up in late 80s early 90s the slasher genre was your introduction to gory/R rated horror. When I was 8 or 9 I knew who Freddy, Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees and Chucky all were. All of my friends did too. This is in part due to success of the films and that they made tons of them. My introduction to these films was actually getting scared by the VHS box covers at our local video store. Actually, I lied. My first time experiencing anything F13 related was the NES videogame which scare me shitless when I was little!

Naturally, when I was a little older my friends and I would rent these movies or catch them on HBO. Watching them at 12 years old or so was probably just right. To be honest slasher films are intended for teenagers and people who really don't dive deep into the horror genre. They're great when you start off getting into horror, but most fans will quickly move past them. I was always more of a monster fan or "creature feature" guy...so stuff like Gremlins and Critters were required viewing before F13.

Friday the 13th is odd because of the big slasher villains, this series is the only one where most people don't consider the first film the best. If you ask a Friday the 13th fan what their favorite in the franchise is...you're likely to get 4 or 5 different answers. That's probably because they all follow the same formula of cheap scares, gore, boobs and blood.

For me I go back and forth on the series. I re-watched all of them a few years ago and I found many of the early, more grounded (by F13 standards) to be kind of boring. Part IV is where it gets good. However, I tend to like the series from VI onward where they just stopped giving a fuck and made fun films that killed brain cells as much as campers. Jason X is so damn bad, but it's such a great guilty pleasure flick. I also like Jason Goes to Hell, because it's such an abomination. Also, I don't give two fucks that Jason technically isn't in most of the film. It's far more interesting than the boring ass formula they used in the beginning.

I think the films get by because Jason is a cultural icon and horror fans feel like these films are required viewing. People gravitate towards them because they're the quintessential body count films. They don't inundate with plot, they get to the point with kills and boobs, plus each film has one or two camper that is so borderline dumb that they're hilarious. No they aren't scary, but if you've got a crowd of non horror fans over and you they want to watch a "SCARY MOVIE" you could do ALOT worse than one of the F13 films. They're mostly good for a few laughs.

bfkiller - That story is great! I can imagine uptight parents of today suing the dad that pulled that stunt. "You put my son through a traumatic experience! You'll be hearing from my lawyer you sicko!" LOL.

omg dat NES game... that scared the HELL out of me when I played it.

It's great hearing that other people got freaked out by VHS covers. That, for years, was my only experience with horror movies. I would look at the covers for The Driller Killer, Sleepaway Camp, Alien, The Stuff (man did that scare me), Chopping Mall, Happy Birthday to Me, Pirahna II, Howling.... man, i was fascinated by that video store section. There was another one, I can't remember the name, but the guy has boils all over his face, it was called Scasms or Scisms or something like that. That cover haunted me.

First horror movie I ever saw was Friday the 13th II. The first kill involved a screwdriver into the temple and it's not particularly gruesome, but I remember not understanding exactly what just happened (ah, the death of innocence). Then later when that guy is caught in a rope trap and Jason comes behind him, and he sees the mechete go up to his neck and all that blood just pours out. That did it. I knew what was going on. I don't think i liked it. But it didn't scare me much.

I was fine with horror until I saw The Raft (from Creepshow II) at some friend's house. I didn't sleep for weeks.

This series was extremely popular when I was in primary school, even if I never watched a single one back then (first one might have been X or Goes to Hell, can't remember, you see Freddy's glove pick up the mask at the end).

We did come up with a pretty fun game at recess, one of the kids would be Jason and secretly come up with a unique way to get killed, and we roleplayed trying to do him in before he got to us all, so part hide-and-seek, part live RPG. It must have lasted a few weeks' time around October/Nov.

Another of my most vivid movie watching experiences also comes from the F13 series. I went to Freddy Vs Jason on opening night to a sell-out crowd. Pretty much all weridos in their 30s. First scene in the movie, a buxom female camper pulls off her top to enjoy some moonlit skinny dipping. A guy sitting two rows behind me yells out a celebratory, "OH, YEAH!" at the top of his lungs. That set the stage for what is still up there with the most fun I've had at the cinema. I can count on one hand the number of times I've heard a smattering of applause as a movie ends and the credits start to roll. This is the only one I've seen receive a standing ovation from the entire audience.

Mississippi?

Black Barney wrote: Mississippi?

Saskatchewan.

i knew i shouldn't have moved out of Saskatoon

Sounds like a fun crowd. I've NEVER seen a standing-O in a movie theatre. See applause once a year or two. I think the best crowd-into-it movie I ever saw was that Batman movie with Drew Barrymore and Two-Face. People clapped at each name coming out on the screen at the beginning credits. People went nuts for Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey but only me and 2 other guys went nuts when Drew's name came up. It was funny.

Freddy vs Jason is so bad but so, so much fun.

I've never seen any of the F13 films except Jason X (if that's the space one), which I saw in the theater. The concept was so ridiculous it made it like a slasher/comedy.

One of my best theater experiences was seeing The Dark Knight for the second time with friends. Sold out large theater. Pretty quiet most of the movie. Then the scene where Gordon reveals he's alive as he captures the Joker. The whole theater uproars with applause. I'd never heard such thrilled applause in the middle of a movie like that before. Probably never will again.