Everyone knows about this movie. Most everyone reading this review, I should think, has seen it. Most of them, most probably, have seen it more than once. It’s a film whose reputation and legacy have easily surpassed and even devoured its actual content, no matter how good it may be. It is a very good movie, and far easier to watch than most of its numerous sequels. The uncut version has never been released on DVD in America, and now it’s out both on Blu-ray and standard DVD. I’ll be reviewing the Blu-ray version, so take note that any technical talk is exclusive to the high-def release.
The Film
Friday the 13th, when it was released in 1980, was hit with a media backlash the likes of which hadn’t been seen for a mainstream horror film for some time. The amount of business it was doing, easily raking in close to 80,000,000 dollars domestically from its miniscule budget, was in direct opposition to the tirades waged against it by critics such as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. They and others dubbed it a baseless, crass and irredeemable waste of celluloid, as they would the majority of the slasher onslaught they’d have to endure over the next decade.
What they failed to take note of was Sean Cunningham’s firm grasp of the material and how to best achieve the results he desired. Focusing on a tender love scene for a long while, then raising the camera 3 feet to reveal a loveable supporting character brutally slaughtered, shows that Cunningham and writer Victor Miller had a good bit of ingenuity when developing the picture. Without showing the murder itself, they realized a unique and rather ingenious vision, immeasurably aided by Harry Manfredini’s infectious score. It was that score that would eventually help the film’s climax achieve a level of picturesque serenity unrivaled within the genre… Another inspired tool Cunningham used to startling effect.
I’m gonna stop with the analysis here. Personally, I wouldn’t want to read a review of a slasher film that carefully broke down the minutest of details and analyzed the story to an unappealing degree. I’d wanna read about how much ass it kicked. And I’ve yet to meet a horror fan who didn’t think Friday the 13th kicked ass. Even with a climax that has the villain at the mercy of the hero no less than three times before finally being vanquished; even with a third act that goes on more than a little too long; and even with a cast of characters as totally interchangeable as these, the film never fails to get reactions out of new viewers and inspire those returning to enjoy it more and more. For all its faults, it’s a classic, and there’s nothing Roger Ebert can do about it.
Audio/Video
Friday the 13th looks amazing in high-def. Daytime exteriors are lush and vibrant, with strong colors and crystal clarity, and daytime interiors have a fuller and more profound feel to them. At night, things can get rough. When the characters are outside the light sources glow quite beautifully, with mystifying lens flares and clarity I’ve never experienced in the movie before. Inside though, skin tones can seem overly red and the light overly brown. Overall, I didn’t notice as much fluctuation in picture quality as I had read about and was looking for, and that was more than pleasing. Most impressive are the truly clear-as-crystal scenes on the lake at the end. Truly wondrous stuff there.
For this review, I listened to the 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio track, though English, French and Spanish Mono Dolby Digital tracks are also present, as well as subtitles for all those languages. I’m not an audiophile really, but I wasn’t really entranced by the 5.1. The storm scenes are pretty good at surrounding you with rain and thunder, but with no bullets flying or boats exploding, there isn’t all that much to wow you. Still, at certain points the score is incredibly powerful, and I couldn’t say it wasn’t my favorite viewing of the film in ten years or so, since the first time.
Extras
Friday the 13th Reunion is a 16-minute panel of cast and crew from the film shot at a convention in September 2008, presented in HD. It’s pretty embarrassing at parts, with lifeless obligatory applause from a quiet crowd, and stories anyone who’s owned the previous releases of the film or has done any reading on it has heard a dozen times. A few years ago I read an interview with Betsy Palmer, who seemed to indicate that she had nothing at all to do with any of the sequels, as if she’s not featured in the finale of Part 2. I’m glad to see here that she seems to have recalled filming the sequences, at the very least.
Fresh Cuts: New Tales from Friday the 13th covers largely the same ground as the reunion panel, including an identical story by Victor Miller to start it out. It’s also in HD. The other “New Tales,” may be new, but they’re certainly not interesting. As much as I admire Tom Savini’s work, I don’t need to hear him tell a three-minute story about something unimportant that happened with a bow and arrow 28 years ago. And before you get excited let me assure you, it really doesn’t matter.
The Man Behind the Legacy: Sean S. Cunningham is an HD talking head featurette with Cunningham and his son chilling at their ridiculous mansion, presumably in the Hollywood hills. It’s the most interesting featurette on the disc, but still seems unimportant. Come on, Sean, we know you get fan mail. That’s not exactly “Friday impacting your life on a daily basis.”
Lost Tales from Camp Blood is a short film shot digitally for the DVD. It features a couple getting killed by Jason, assumedly, though we never really see him. The dude looks like Luke Wilson circa his tongue-in-cheek cameo is Scream 2. First of all, the short doesn’t fit with the visual style of any of the films in the series, at all. Secondly, and more importantly, it’s overly dark, poorly acted and makes no logical sense whatsoever, as Jason seems to teleport at least once (that actually is the most fun thing about Part 8, though I digress). The only thing I can say about it is that it’s effectively mean-spirited, and could be a good thing for an aspiring filmmaker to put on a reel, but I’ve seen more than one Friday the 13th fan film that’s been more fun and not backed by Paramount.
The Friday the 13th Chronicles and Secrets Galore Behind the Gore are carried over from the boxset a few years back. I watched them a few years ago and looked over them again here, but had no desire to watch them in their entirety again. If you never bought the boxset, they’re worth a watch, but damn if those digitally animated title screens don’t look even more ass than they did four years ago.
After that, there’s the fun theatrical trailer, presented in HD. It’s interesting to see just how much worse this footage looks than the feature, even though it’s been re-mastered just like the movie. Anyway, good of them to touch it up again for us.
And finally, there's the commentary with Sean Cunningham and the cast and crew, cobbled together from separate interviews and moderated by Peter M. Bracke (Author of the damned priceless tome, Crystal Lake Memories). I honestly couldn't even listen to the commentary - there is so much information that's covered in the other special features that I'd rather just let the movie play on its own. There is an awful lot to say about the movie and the series that followed, but telling the same anecdotes over and over again just makes me less and less interested in hearing it.
And that’s it. If you haven’t seen the film, now’s your chance to see what you’ve been missing out on. Also, I should let you know that the bug known as Y2K didn’t amount to anything and there’s a black President in office right now. Have fun.
"Friday the 13th Uncut: Blu-ray" is on sale February 3, 2009 and is rated R. Horror. Directed by Sean S Cunningham. Written by Victor Miller. Starring Adrienne King, Betsy Palmer, Kevin Bacon.
