FRIDAY THE 13TH is the horror franchise that started back in 1980, and helped kick-start the early ‘80’s slasher craze, which resulted in a wave of teen slice-and-dice hits such as PROM NIGHT, TERROR TRAIN, SLEEPAWAY CAMP and THE BURNING.
Designed to capitalise on the success of John Carpenter’s 1978 independent hit HALLOWEEN, FRIDAY THE 13TH told of Camp Crystal Lake, a summer resort which was set to reopen years after a series of horrific incidents. Filmed on a budget of only $550,000 by fledging producer Sean S. Cunningham (THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT) and written by frequent collaborator Victor Miller, the story introduced the world to Jason Voorhees, the young boy who drowned at the camp when he was just a boy.
In FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 Jason moved centre stage, as he reeked vengeance on the death of his mother. Since then, each film has dealt with Jason’s murderous mission, as he has travelled from Crystal Lake to New York, Elm Street and even the farthest reaches of 25th century deep space.
The series has helped launch the careers of Kevin Bacon, Tom Savini, Corey Feldman, Steve Miner, Crispin Glover, Kelly Hu and Kane Hodder and has earned in excess of $500m at the U.S. box office alone, and has so far produced nine sequels, a spin-off, a T.V. show and an upcoming sequel - spanning over a quarter of a century. While the franchise has varied over the years (including a 3-D movie), the template has remained consistent, proving that fans want to see more of the same.
Despite often being accused as misogynistic and shallow by many critics (most notably Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel), it has been the franchises impressive exploitation of marketing and groundbreaking effects that has helped the movies remain popular for so long. Producers have even tried to end the series twice (with 1984's THE FINAL CHAPTER and 1993's JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY), yet it seems that Jason never really dies!
After six successful movies, franchise producer Frank Mancuso, Jr. (son of Paramount’s then-head of Distribution and Marketing Mancuso Sr.) decided to transfer the title to the small screen with FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES, which ran for almost three years from September 1987 until May 1990. Working alongside Larry B. Williams, who had provided the story for the previous year’s SPACECAMP, Mancuso Jr. ran the series for three seasons until Paramount finally caved in to pressure from the powers that be and cancelled the show.
The two movies that were released during this time, 1988’s THE NEW BLOOD and 1989’s JASON TAKES MANHATTAN, had been financial failures in comparison to the franchise’s earlier successes, and Paramount finally called it a day. The series helped launch the careers of writers and actors who would eventually contribute to the feature films, including Rob Hedden (who would also write and direct JASON TAKES MANHATTAN) and John D. LeMay (who starred in 1993’s JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY).
While being more favoured by the critics than the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET small screen spin-off FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES, the name FRIDAY THE 13TH still projected negative stigma on the show and the fact that Jason was absent all together helped alienate many die hard fans. Guest directors on the show included cult filmmaker David Cronenberg (who would later have a cameo in JASON X) and Tom McLaughlin (FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 6: JASON LIVES).
SLASHING AFTER FRIDAY - When FRIDAY THE 13TH became an unexpected success over the summer of 1980 (facing off and holding its own against the likes of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and THE SHINING)it kick-started the teen horror subgenre that became known as the 'body count,' 'slice-and-dice' or 'slasher' movie; resulting in every major and independent studio releasing their own variation on FRIDAY THE 13TH, with some sharing the 'important date' and others concentrating more on the 'vengeance' aspect of the story.
What follows is a list of the key offenders of the slasher movement, some which spawned successul franchises of their own, while others sank into obscurity (Many movies from this era were victims of the UK censorship board BBFC, and thus were placed in the Video Nasties list, which was a selection of films deemed morally offensive and were subsequently banned. These films are are noted with a (*)
MANIAC (1980) THE BOOGEYMAN (1980,*) CHRISTMAS EVIL (1980) HE KNOWS YOU’RE ALONE (1980) PROM NIGHT (1980) DON’T GO IN THE HOUSE (1980,*) MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1980) TERROR TRAIN (1980) HELL NIGHT (1981) MADMAN (1981) NEW YEAR’S EVIL (1981) NIGHT SCHOOL (1981,*) THE FUNHOUSE (1981,*) WACKO (1981) PIECES (1981) FINAL EXAM (1981) DON’T GO IN THE WOODS (1981,*) GRADUATION DAY (1981) HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (1981) THE BURNING (1981,*) NIGHTMARE IN A DAMAGED BRAIN (1981,*) STUDENT BODIES (1981) THE PROWLER (1981) THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (1981,*) ABSURD (1981, *) ALONE IN THE DARK (1982) SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (1982) THE SLAYER (1982)NEW YEAR’S EVIL (1982) SLEEPAWAY CAMP (1983) THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW (1983) THE MUTILATOR (1983) CURTAINS (1983) DON’T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS (1984) SPLATTER UNIVERSITY (1984) SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984) THE INITIATION (1984) A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) NAIL GUN MASSACRE (1985) APRIL FOOL’S DAY (1986) SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE (1986) SLAUGHTER HIGH (1986) HIDE AND GO SHRIEK (1987) THE LAST SLUMBER PARTY (1987) SLAUGHTERHOUSE (1987) RETURN TO HORROR HIGH (1987)
Music
Movies
Heroes
FRIDAY THE 13TH's Details
Status:
In a Relationship
Here for:
Networking, Friends
Orientation:
Straight
Body type:
Average
Ethnicity:
White / Caucasian
Religion:
Atheist
Zodiac Sign:
Cancer
Smoke / Drink:
No / Yes
Children:
I don't want kids
Education:
Post grad
Occupation:
Writer
FRIDAY THE 13TH have reviewed the FRIDAY THE 13TH REMAKE in their latest blog. Check it out Posted at 10:30 PM Feb 14 view more
Our website is open the 31st, be there to check
it out cuz we well be premiering our
horror show Sat, we should be in the chat that night, go to the tv show page.
We’ll have new footage up for the show too . This one is gonna kikazz
see ya
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