I originally had a whole different idea for this weekend, then a friend (Trey) informed me that this weekend is Friday the 13th and well, we have to have a Jason Voorhee's night.
Jason Voorhees has been a staple in horror since 1981. The original "Friday the 13th" was made in 1980, but we'll get to that discrepancy later. Out of the big three (Michael, Jason, Freddy) Jason is definitely the most prolific. There have been...wait for it....twelve movies that have done their part relaying the Jason Voorhees mythos to the general public.
Michael Myers our most critically acclaimed slasher will reach thirteen and surpass Jason with sheer volume after this October's release of "Halloween Kills." Freddy Kruger has a mere nine under his belt even if he has the most consistent actor playing the part, Robert Englund. Nope until the recent reboot of the Halloween franchise in 2018 that came to be because of the age of nostalgia that we have been experiencing in horror since 2016, it was assumed that no slasher was going to have more movies made about him than good ol' Jason Voorhees of "Friday the 13th" fame.
Though it took some thought on which of the twelve (yes it's blasphemous that there have not been thirteen Friday the 13th movies made) I wanted to feature this weekend I finally decided upon the original "Friday the 13th" from 1980 and the outrageous "Jason X" from 2001. I feel like this is an interesting journey, namely because of how different these movies are from each other. So horror mutants, let's dive right in and discuss how we got from here.
To here.
Major spoilers ahead.
The Friday the 13th movie franchise came to be because of essentially one man. Sean S. Cunningham, who is one of the richest, shrewdest independent movie producers who has ever lived. This man is not an artist. He is a businessman. I've met a few men that are of the same ilk of Sean S. Cunningham. And yes before anyone gets on me about woke pronoun usage, the type of personality I'm talking about is typically male. They typically work in the non-profit sector as executive producers or artistic directors of small but successful community theaters and they have their finger on the pulse of their communities' needs so much that despite what critics say, they make money hand over fist.
Before the original Friday the 13th Cunningham was responsible for producing Wes Craven's first movie "The Last House on the Left" an exploitation revenge film with a devilish marketing ploy. The trailer for this little bit of wonderful sleaze came in the disguise of a PSA announcement with an officious looking individual in a suit, informing the audience that the movie being advertised contained so much violence, content and fear that anyone with a heart condition or certain other sensitivities should not see the film, then words in big print appear on the screen and the man instructs the audience that if the movie starts to get to be too much for you just repeatedly tell yourself, "It's only a movie, it's only a movie." "The Last House on the Left" had a budget of 87,000$ and made over three million at the box office.
Cunningham would spend the rest of the 70s coasting on that success producing and directing shorts as well as soft-core pornography. Neither of which were very interesting, nor did him the kind of business that "The Last House on the Left" had done. Again this is not a great artist, but a great marketer.
Then in 1978 the film "Halloween" by John Carpenter erupted onto the big screen. This was an independent film with a budget of 300,000$ and it would go on to make 70 million dollars at the box office. Cunningham, struggling as a small time director and producer of smut, saw the movie and leaned back in his chair in his small office and pondered, "hmmm Halloween...how about Friday the 13th? If I made a movie called 'Friday the 13th' I bet that would made money." He called his friend writer Victor Miller stating he literally wanted make a rip off of "Halloween" and make some dough. Miller a Daytime Emmy award winner used to writing on the fly who had worked on soap operas such as "One Life to Live" and "All My Children" hashed together a script inspired by reversing the roles in Hitchock's "Psycho" and the film would revolve around young college aged kids working as camp counselors getting the grounds ready for the summer who get killed by a killer played at first by the camera, which reminds us of Italian Giallo and the Canadian pre-curser to the slasher "Black Christmas" and then (spoiler) Jason Voorhees's mother played by Betsy Palmer.
Betsy had a prestigious career in both regional and Broadway live theater, playing such roles as Ellen Burstyn in "Same Time Next Year" as well as a very successful touring production of "South Pacific" playing the part of Nellie Furbish. She was also a member of the Actor's Studio and someone with a lot of prestige, but like many prestigious actors who need money later in their career (George C. Scott, Ben Johnson, and Joan Crawford to name a few) she accepted a part in a horror movie. She originally resented the fact that it was "Friday the 13th" she would be remembered for and not her critically acclaimed theater career as she would spend the rest of her life at horror conventions taking pictures with fans and wondering how it all went wrong. It wasn't until the early 2000s that her mind would change and she would learn to love the horror community as those who admired the character of Mrs. Voorhees described her character as a protective mother who would do anything to make sure others didn't find the same fate as her son did drowning while the counselors were off drinking, partying and fooling around. Mrs. Voorhees vowed to kill any horny degenerate who would ever step onto the hallowed ground where her son died at Camp Crystal Lake.
Filming took place at an actual scout camp on the New Jersey side of the Pennsylvania border. Thus for reasons of proximity, Betsy Palmer and rest of the cast were comprised from mostly struggling Broadway actors who needed money.
Adrienne King who played Alice would go on as a fairly successful voice actor who did dubbing voice work for such prestigious pictures as "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and James Cameron's "Titanic."
Harry Crosby, yes, son of the famous Bing Crosby, who played Bill would leave acting and become a very rich and successful investment banker.
Jeannine Taylor, who played Marcie would have an unsuccessful acting career before leaving and going into marketing.
Laurie Barton who played Brenda would leave her life as a struggling actress, dancer, choreographer and costumer and become a born again Christian. She would eventually marry and home school her five children.
Mark Nelson as Ned would continue to have a successful regional theater and periodic television career. He was in the original cast of the off-Broadway productions of "A Few Good Men", "Rumors", "Biloxi Blues", and "Amadeus." He would also win an Obie for his performance in Steve Martin's production of "Picasso at the Lapin Agile."
Walt Gorney would go on playing character roles for the rest of his career in such films as "Easy Money" and "Trading Places." But he would never get cast as a more memorable character than the iconic Crazy Ralph warning the would be camp consolers that, "The place has got a death curse!"
And finally Kevin Bacon would go on to be one of Hollywood's elite and would spend a career trying to deny and forget the fact that he was even in this now iconic slasher. Kevin claims the role that would lift him to fame would come in 1984 with the film "Footloose." But Kevin before "Footloose," there was "Friday the 13th". Don't forget where you came from Mr. Bacon!
These actors, with the exception of Bacon and Walt Gorney were simply not memorable, so what is it that made "Friday the 13th" connect so much with it's fans? It comes down to it's magnificent practical effects and music.
First the practical effects, which were created by the incredibly talented Tom Savini who did special effects for such big films in horror as: Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Maniac. He was a former combat photographer during the Vietnam War and that experience combined with his previous interest in theater and make-up design led him to create some of the most realistic looking death kills that have ever been made in movie history let alone horror. Currently Savini's SFX school is regarded as the Harvard training program for those going into practical effects. Savini often touts that due to his experiences in the military he knows what dead people look like and if he isn't reminded of something from the war after completing a project then he didn't do a satisfactory job on the effects.
The music was a stroke of luck by prolific and talented composer Harry Mandrendini by experimenting one day in a sound stage simply speaking into an echoing microphone "Kill you", That created the iconic musical notes ch, ch, ch, ch, ya ya ya ya. (Kill kill kill kill, ya ya ya ya). He would go on to compose music for many other cheap genre films such as "Swamp Thing", "House", "DeepStar Six", and "Wishmaster",
"Friday the 13th" solidified the slasher subgenre that would saturate the horror scene for the next 11 years, until of course "Silence of the Lambs" in 1991, which would usher in the new Serial Killer Thriller genre. Friday the 13th became a part of a brilliant marketing campaign from Frank Marcuzo the head executive at Paramount at that time, in which he and Cunningham would copy the ideas used to market "The Last House on the Left". They advertised "Friday the 13th" simply as one of the most terrifying experiences you'll ever have at the movies. They presented a black screen and in big bold letters just like before it read from the people who brought you "The Last House on the Left" comes the most terrifying story ever to come onto the screen. This would be followed by the title in huge letters over taking the frame. No plot. No actors. No shots of the film. Just words promising terror. Marcuzo saw the success of "Halloween" and he and Cunningham were on the same page, so Marcuzo took a chance and spent a marketing budget as if the movie were a big budget release, which was unheard of for the day. Sure some big names would pop up in horror films, but mostly horror movies were a safe bet as they were cheap, but they wouldn't make much money either often considered only appropriate for niche audiences who liked such filth, and the big production companies didn't really want to spend their marketing money on movies that mostly would pay for themselves, and not garnish them any critical success. However by 1980 a few horror movies had broken the mold and had really made a lot of money: Alien, Carrie, Jaws, The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby and Halloween, respectively. Paramount spent their big marketing money on a movie that cost 550,000$. The film would gross at the theaters, just under 60 million$ and with the amount of streaming purchases, rentals, physical sales, the movie has grossed over a billion dollars as of today.
John Carpenter's "Halloween" proved that a well-made horror film can make money. "Friday the 13th" proved that any slasher can make money, whether it's good or not. "Halloween" was a slick, stylish made film by an auteur. "Friday the 13th" is trash, with some very poor performances but great practical effects and a convincing musical score.
"Friday the 13th" is responsible for critics despising horror. It is responsible for the general public thinking that the slasher is horror and not a sub-genre of horror. Love it or hate it, "Friday the 13th" changed the path of horror for the next decade.
Fast forward to 2001 and the outrageous "Jason X" was released, otherwise known as the film where Jason Voorhees goes to space. This film has its tongue firmly in cheek and is just a plan good old fashioned exploitation slasher with a great sense of post modernism humor and has one of my favorite kills in the franchise where one of the characters gets her face frozen in liquid nitrogen and then is smashed to pieces on a lab table. The bonkers film involves Jason Voorhees waking up from suspended animation 400 years in the future on a spaceship very appropriately named "The Grendel" ala "Beowulf." Eventually he gets cybernetic implants and raises hell with everyone on board. It's precisely the type of movie it sounds like. Why in the world was this movie made?
At the end of "Jason Goes to Hell" the ninth in the franchise, it is implied that there was going to be a "Jason vs. Freddy" movie. Unfortunately the project went through development hell for ten years between 1993-2003, Finally it looked like the film might happen and thus to remind people about Jason, Sean Cunningham said let's make a Jason film in the mean time, but we can't mess up the continuity of the upcoming "Freddy vs. Jason" film so thus the decision of basing it in the future was made. The film was pitched as "Jason goes to space in the future" and New Line Cinema said "Duh okay, Money?" while they pondered how else they could stall the "Freddy vs. Jason" film by refusing to work with Paramount in their agreement with how to share the rights of their respective properties Jason (Paramount) and Fred Kruger (New Line).
The movie is not only a sci-fi slasher film, but because of Wes Craven's success with "Scream" it's self-referential satire. The film works as a fun ridiculous thrill-ride, with jokes like "it's okay guys. He just wanted his machete." And then of course the character is chopped in half.
James Isaac would direct the film. He was a special effects technician who worked on such films as "Return of the Jedi", "Gremlins", and Cronenberg films "The Fly", and "eXistenZ." Due to his work with David Cronenberg, David asked if he could be in the film, but demanded he would only be in it if he was killed in a very cool way. He got his wish and as a result Isaac would be able to use most of Cronenberg's special effects crew on a movie that needed everything to be built due to it being set in the future. As a result this would be the most expensive film of the franchise as well as as the least financially successful in terms of net income. It was ignored by New Line Cinema, which was in a really weird phase of its life as they were struggling to make ends meet and were unwilling to make any sort of risks or spend any money on marketing, mainly due to them still recovering from the incredible disaster that was "The Island of Dr. Moreau", a movie that nearly bankrupted them. Finally 18 months after production, "Jason X" was released in 2002 after it was the most illegally downloaded film of the year.
It really is sad as the movie had lots of great things going for it: a passionate director, supportive producers, Kane Hodder playing the part of Jason for the fourth and sadly last time,
The rest of the stars would spend their careers in sci-fi television. Lexa Doig who played the lead character Rowan LaFontain and Lisa Ryder as the sexy robot Kay-Em 14 would go on to star in the moderately successful WB sci-fi series "Andromeda." Charles Campbell as Tsunaron Peyton would star in the sci-fi spin off Stargate: Atlantis. Peter Mensah the bad ass Sergeant Elijah Jodski would go on as a successful character actor not only starring in great genre television as Spartacus, but also performing in such great films as Hidalgo, 300, and Tears of the Sun.
"Jason X" is a delightful misguided train wreck, and just like a train wreck you cannot look away from it. It is regarded as the worst Jason film, but it's not that. It's a mess, but a fun mess, kind of like a late night snack made from everything in your cupboard. It might not be fancy, but when it's midnight and you need a satisfying snack, it hits the spot.
These are two very vastly different films. How did we get here? How did we get from vengeful mother Mrs. Voorhees to UberJason the Killer Cyborg. Let's go on a journey.
Friday the 13th: Jason Voorhees's mother gets vengeance on the kids who ignored her dying son who drowned in Camp Crystal Lake, by killing any horny teenager who steps foot near the campground.
Friday the 13th Part II -- For some reason the deformed mongoloid Jason was actually alive, though apparently his mother didn't know that and he spent his life taking care of himself in the forest for the last twenty some odd years? The ending at the end of the first movie was apparently not a dream? Now with his mother decapitated and murdered he must have vengeance on all young people who engage in premarital sex, drugs and drinking who ignored him as he....ahem....didn't die? So he takes his mother's decapitated head and sets it up as some kind of shrine to worship? The first "Friday the 13th" was supposed to be a stand alone film. But because of money and the fact that Mrs. Voorhees is now dead, Jason had to take up the machete and be in the next 11 films. Oh and in this one he wears a burlap bag ala "The Town That Dreaded Sundown." This movie has no shame in the plot holes it will jump over to grab that oh so sweet box office cash.
Friday the 13th Part III -- The movie goes 3D. Yes awesome! This is the most misogynistic of the films, where it is implied that the lead actress may have been raped by Jason two summers ago. This character is seen as a prude as she doesn't put out to her boyfriend who needs some goddamn action giddy-up! There is a side story with a disgusting character named Shelly who pranks the rest of late teen early 20-something friends in stupid insipid ways and the woman who won't fuck him is seen as a prude. But Jason does finally adorn the hockey mask that we would identify the icon with for the rest of the franchise.
Friday the 13th the Final Chapter -- Trust me it isn't. This one is the first of what I call the "good Jason movies." It has a young Corey Feldman (The Lost Boys, Gremlins, The Goonies) as a young kid who loves to make horror masks and Crispin Glover (Back to the Future, Willard) who is not great with women and his jerky dancing does not help things any. Jason yet again goes on a rampage this time played by a 40-year-in-the-business-veteran stuntman (Ted White) who was known as being John Wayne's stunt double in such films as "Hatari!"
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning -- Not a great film. It takes place at the mental institution where Tommy Jarvis is now an adult and disturbed from the events in the previous film. Here's a spoiler, because I'm saving you from this trash. The plot twist? It's a copycat killer. Stupid.
Friday the 13th: Jason Lives -- This is my favorite of the franchise. Jarvis has become a well rounded character played by Thom Matthews (Return of the Living Dead, Dangerously Close), who wants closure, so he digs up Jason. A bolt of lightning resurrects him and turns him into a zombie with superhuman strength. With a slick production design and the old reliable Alfred Hitchcockian side plot of the wrongly accused man, this is a great film.
Friday the 13th: The New Blood -- The first film with the magnificent Kane Hodder. He is the best Jason, even if the previous film is better in pretty much every other way, though this one is still a fun film. Essentially Jason vs. a Stephen King style plot involving an emotionally abused child who has telekinesis. Also it has my favorite Jason Kill, where Jason takes a sleeping bag with his victim in it and whacks it against a nearby tree. A very fun watch.
Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan -- Does not take place in Manhattan until the last twenty minutes of film. Most of it takes place on a yacht where a senior class is having their high school graduation party. It's here we are informed that somehow Crystal Lake connects with Manhattan Island because the plot requires it to, because the title is supposed to sound cool and hip, because everyone wants to go to drug addled New York City, in the pre-Giuliani late 1980s. Oh and Jason can now teleport because editing is hard. The worst movie of the franchise. Aggressively bad.
Jason Goes to Hell -- An interesting movie where now Jason is a vengeful spirit that jumps from host to host. It's an abrupt departure from the slasher roots and is more of a possession film. It's an interesting movie nonetheless. Though it's bizarre, it's also misunderstood and deserves a watch if you haven't seen it.
And that's how we get to Jason X where Jason becomes a cyborg on a spaceship 400 years in the future. Make sense?
Yeah doesn't to me either.
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