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Friday the 13th was released into theaters last week, a “re-imagining” of the slasher film series starring masked killer Jason Voorhees. Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes studio, which produced the film, specializes in remakes of horror classics like The Hills Have Eyes and the upcoming A Nightmare on Elm Street. The new Friday’s director, Marcus Nispel, directed the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that kick-started the trend back in 2003. Does Hollywood really have no more original horror stories to tell?
Friday the 13th, released in 1980, wasn’t that original to begin with; John Carpenter’s Halloween predates it by two years (and was, at the time, the most successful independent film ever released). Sean Cunningham, the series creator and director of Part One, is unapologetic in interviews about ripping off Halloween’s formula in a bid to replicate its box office: POV shots from the killer’s eyes abound, building up the tension for several minutes until the pay-off. Part of the film’s success lies in its score, composed by Harry Manfredini; his “Ki Ki Ki - Ma Ma Ma” sounds ratcheted up the suspense, signaling that somebody was about to die. The film’s gore, tame now, was shocking upon its release. Filmed on a budget of $500,000, the first Friday ended up grossing $60 million worldwide.
Within pop culture, a Friday the 13th film follows a set formula: Horny campers go to Camp Crystal Lake (an unspecified location on the East Coast, though the original was filmed in New Jersey). The teens engage in all manner of drinking, drugs, and premarital sex. Masked killer Jason disapproves of these acts, showing his disgust by chopping said campers up with his machete, improvised weapons, or his bare hands. A “Final Girl”, who hasn’t had sex during the film, defeats Jason and lives another day. Cunningham has stated that the “Bad Kids Die First” idea was not intentional, but it has since become a slasher film standard.
Interestingly, the Friday films don’t follow their own formula all that well. Parts One and Five don’t even have Jason in them, and his iconic hockey mask doesn’t show up until the end of Part 3 (in 3-D!). Part One does feature horny camp counselors (including a young Kevin Bacon) getting killed off gruesomely; an axe through the head, a fishing pole through the neck, and a slit throat are included. But the killer is actually Jason’s mother, who is revealed at the end, then swiftly decapitated. Part Two does introduce Jason, but he has an odd “Psycho Farmer” look with overalls and a pillow sack covering his head.
I recently watched all of the films in the Friday franchise within the span of a week. The first nine are an interesting capsule of the decade. Starting in 1980, there was a Friday film every year through 1986; The series resumed in 1988, and finished out the decade with Jason Takes Manhattan in 1989. The relatively tame beer and weed of the first few installments is replaced by cocaine (and, at one point, a heroin needle) in the later films. The victim’s hairstyles morph too, from modest crew cuts to big, teased out hair. When Jason dispatches a girl by whacking her with a Flying-V guitar, one begins to miss the killer’s simpler, machete-filled beginnings.
It’s easy to dismiss all the films as crappy B-movies, but there are noticeable differences in quality between the installments. Parts One & Two have almost believable characters and dialogue. The “Final Girl” of Part Two even delivers a monologue that attempts to understand Jason’s reasoning behind his murders. Part Three’s use of 3-D is hilariously corny - various objects are strutted out in front of the camera for no reason, including a broomstick, yo-yo, and one unfortunate victim’s eyeball. Part Four has early roles by both Corey Feldman and Crispin Glover (who has one of the series’ most grisly deaths with a corkscrew/machete to the face combo). Jason Lives, the seventh installment, is the most self-referential of the series. Jason is resurrected with a lightning bolt a la Frankenstein, and his kills are extremely over-the-top. At one point, a character looks straight at the camera and knowingly states, “Some folks have a strange idea of entertainment.”
In the documentary His Name Is Jason, which chronicles the series history, Cunningham attempts to explain the series’ longevity. “I wanted to exploit the fear that young adults have of dying,” he says. “At the age of twenty, someone always has a friend that dies in a car accident and makes you think about your own mortality.” What if your life was cut short by a random madman?
Horror films get remade because, at their core, they’re all the same story. As humans, when we die is mostly out of our control. Taking that idea and stretching it to its extreme, that a mysterious killer would off us with no reason or prejudice, is terrifying. We’re entertained by cheap scares and creepy ambience, but in a world with serial killers there is the realization that this stuff can actually happen. As long as that fear is there, Jason will be too.
