Caffeinated Clint
By Drew Turney
The original and (it must be said) best. By the tenth instalment – there’s a remake about to be released too – the idea had been taken, run with, bludgeoned, rehashed, remade, reimagined, repackaged and regurgitated so many times it’s become a parable of our times for a slasher franchise with a comically-overlong run.
But in this instance, the rulebook masquerading as a movie had some substance behind it, if only originality. The teens who get killed as soon as they have sex, get undressed or say ‘I’ll be right back’ aren’t just there to add to Jason’s double-digit kill figures.
The ”Friday” franchise itself takes strong cues from ”Halloween”, so while the group of horny teens at the lakeside cabin might not have been the freshest premise around at the time, it wasn’t the horror film etched-in-stone cliché we know today.
Said kids arrive at Camp Crystal Lake, just reopened years after two camp councillors were brutally murdered. The camp is home to the mother of a murdered son (Jason), and it soon becomes apparent the woman is tortured by the death of her child, having turned psycho and believing he’s imploring her to kill from beyond the grave.
Or is it? Everyone knows of the infamous final shot, not many people realise it was makeup effects guru Tom Savini’s idea, and fewer still that director Sean S Cunningham liked it as a surprise but never intended Jason to become anything more. The franchise, as we all know, has become a true Prometheus to that desire.
Blu-Ray Details and Extras
Not surprisingly, considering how old the film is, the video transfer of this new Blu-Ray release isn’t exactly, well, shit hot. Yes its 1080p, with a 1.78:1-framed transfer, but there’s more grain and unsavory bits on screen than there is in your no-name bowl of oats. It looks better than DVD (actually, much, much better) but it’s still not going to wow anyone. Some moments look better than others – blacks are solid, colours vibrant, and night scenes better than day. I imagine this is the best we will ever see the film though, and Paramount have made sure they’ve cleaned the print as best as they could’ve.
The sound is good. Its a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix that’s only slightly let-down by the fact that the original mix was never that much chop. The opening music sounds great though, as does any loud sound effect heard throughout the film, and especially, that iconic theme.
There’s a Lake full of goodies in terms of extras. Director Sean S. Cunningham, author Peter Bracke, screenwriter Victor Miller, and others, feature in an interesting commentary that explains how the classic horror pic, their cast (Kevin Bacon and so on), and of course, that music beat, came together. It’s a good little track.
Also enjoyable is the ‘Friday the 13th’ Reunion, which features a panel discussion recounting memories from the film. Essentially everyone but Kevin Bacon (like, duh!) participates.
There’s also ‘Fresh Cuts: New Tales From ‘Friday the 13th’ which explores near every aspect of the film’s production – casting, the music, and so on; a short but interesting interview with Sean S. Cunningham (interesting to hear his take on the sequels); a short based on the film, and a couple of older featurettes (not available in HD) that recount the making of the movie.
Unless you own a copy of the original print, and have access to your own theater, then you’ll probably kill to get your hands on this release.
