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Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $11.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This Movie Rocks!!
Review: Friday the 13th is one of the best Horror movies to come out of the late 70's and 80's. Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street are the only 2 that is in the same league as Friday the 13th. It's about a camp called Camp Crystal Lake. The owner treis to open it back up after 20 years and learns the hard way that it wasn't a great idea. The scare factor is very good and it will keep you on the edge of your seats. For better results watch it in the dark alone or with someone you love.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best in a long line
Review: It's ironic that in a film franchise known for it's invincible killer (the goalie-mask wearing Jason), the first installment is by far the best, even though Jason only appears as a half rotted cheap shock at the end.

The original Friday the 13th capitalized on the market opened up by the original Halloween. F13 took a different approach however. Here we start with a flashback to many years ago when a young boy drowns and someone kills 2 camp counselors. The camp is closed down soon afterwards (what a shame...can you imagine the ghost stories they would have to tell around the camp fire next year?)

Fastforward to 1980. Someone decides to reopen Camp Crystal Lake. Now, I have been to summer camp and it can get pretty creepy at night. The film accents the darkness and feeling of isolation. When people start disappearing, you have to think "should we go look for them?" or "should we get the heck outta here?" WE know the missing people are getting whacked, but THEY don't. That's the building block of tension.

Although the franchise it painted with a broad stroke as "teens go to spooky camp and get knifed to death", the original F13 is the only movie in the franchise that puts the characters in a nearly deserted camp (the kids haven't arrived yet), in the dark, cut off from civilization, and without 80 different useless plots going on at once.

The effects are gruesome, but if you can handle them, there's a few genuine scares waiting for you. Jaws may have kept you out of the ocean, but Friday the 13th will make you avoid summer camp like the plague.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: killer movie!!!
Review: I have to admit there are far to many friday the 13th movies and there suppost to make another one, so I read. Anyway I think betsy palmer played mrs.voorhees very well and she was convincing as a homicidal psychotic. I really think they should have stopped after part4, after all, it was the final chapter??? I enjoyed friday the 13th 1-4 and watch the four every friday the 13th of each year. Of coarse the climax of the movie is the best part but its funny to hear betsy say to herself" killer mommy, killer" Buy this movie to add to your horror collection

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best horror film ever!!!!!
Review: Friday The 13th has a variety of murders that nobody can detect who it is.One by one , people are all getting slaughtered by a violent killer who is not only thirsty for blood but thirsty for REVENGE!! This movie has a great killing sequence for all you gory slasher lovers out there.This movie has set the standards and influenced genarations of horror movies to come.For all you young Scream lovers out there,its time to meet your maker.Friday The 13th is a true classic to say the very least.The ending results will shock you. "This film did for swimming in a lake,what Psycho did for taking a shower and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre did for eating meat."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: this should be named funny old lady massacre
Review: the spawn of soon to be 9 sequels is nothing less than creepy. if you havent seen this movie and you claim to be a horror movie fan, then you havent seen the beginning. in the start of the movie we have two councelers getting it on in the 60's at a camp. an unknown killer kills them and the camp is closed. years later the camp is reopened and new councelers come to try and fix it up. little do these sex and drug crazed teens know is that a killer is on the way there to take them out. its one night of terror that goes until the end to show you who the mystery killer is. and let me tell you the looks on the killers face during the final fight is just hilarious, youll be on the floor laughing. its a scary movie so check it out!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Cult Classic
Review: A cult classic - though this film has been dismissed as exploitation by the majority of critics and uptight horror fans - is still an enjoyable horror/mystery. The setting is the creepy Camp Crystal Lake - which had been closed for twenty years due to a child's drowning, two camp counselors being murdered and mysterious fires - is now about to be reopened. So, a group of counselors head to the New Jersey locale to get the camp underway for summer. But one by one, each counselor is picked off (with excellent - though graphic - death sequences by makeup effects master, Tom Savini). Good direction, and adequate performances by the young cast help this film along. This is the film that set the standard for all the slasher films that followed. Unfortunately, this film never gets the respect it deserves by such critics as Leonard Maltin (who takes himself far too seriously) and it truly is a shame because this is a solid horror film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The horror movie that started it all!
Review: The 1980 original Friday The 13th is the one that started a series that would go on forever in the hearts of many horror buffs such as I. Of course, we know Jason's mother did the evil duties in this original with a dream-cameo by young Jason at the end, in one of horror's great jack-in-the-box scares.

Of course, the story starts at a summer camp, Camp Crystal Lake, where its been closed down for a long time, waiting for human lives to invade it and find themselves invaded by a mysterious murderer! Following in the tradition of Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween and countless other horror fiction gems, the film's death scenes come one-by-one. Untill the last surviving victim, Annie, beheads Jason's poor mommy who was seeking revenge for her poor son. Amazingly, this film has seen very little relation to Psycho. When this movie is very much a reversal of the Norman Bates scenario. In Psycho, Norman Bates was using his mother as a dual-idenity, in Friday The 13th, Pamela Voorhees uses her son as a dual-idenity. Very clever and movie trivial situation.

Adrienne King plays the heroine here and and is as dangerous to infamous screen villains as Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver. Why Adrienne King did not become a movie star is beyond me. Of course, Kevin Bacon did become a star.And as a matter of fact this may be my favorite of his screen appearances. Of course other stars like Tom Hanks (He Knows Your Alone) and Jim Carrey (Love At First Bite) started there careers off early with something to do with the horror genre.

Friday The 13th has become one of the most infamous, un-dying titles in horror history, aswell as the movie itself.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "Friday the 13th" is one lucky franchise...
Review: In desperate need of a hit, Sean S. Cunningham had a stroke of genius: Why not combine the elements of suspense of "Halloween" with all the graphic violence of "Dawn of the Dead"? Indeed, why not? A runaway smash during the summer of 1980 (beaten out only by "The Empire Strikes Back") this was followed by nine sequels and an in-name only TV series.

The cursory plot involves several camp counselors setting out to re-open Camp Crystal Lake after some twenty years, following some unexplained murders and accidents. The new counselors laugh off warnings of a "death curse" by the locals and the town drunk and start to ready the property, with time out of course for pot, beer, sex, and a round of strip Monopoly. Unaware an unseen killer is prowling the camp, one by one they fall victim in a variety of gruesome ways, with a little help from makeup artist Tom Savini, whom Cunningham tapped from "Dawn of the Dead".

A definite fan favorite with the special effects, suspense, body count, and a heart-stopping finale. Nonetheless, the film is not perfect. The dialogue is at best laughable, and there are some killer POV shots that are totally impossible (the victims would able to see the assailant). Controversy surrounding the film no doubt helped at the box office; Gene Siskel sent a letter to Paramount asking how they could distribute such a film, the MPAA took criticism for the violence that slipped the censors, and Leonard Maltin suggested that this is the reason why SAT scores are on the decline. Ironically, two years earlier no major studio would distribute "Halloween" (too exploitative, they said) and now Warner Bros., Universal, and Paramount all made bids on this one. Looks like John Carpenter had the last laugh there.

The only DVD extra is the theatrical trailer and newcomers shouldn't watch that first as it blows a lot of the scares. Most of the death scenes were snipped of a few seconds by the MPAA (these are intact on the Japanese laserdisc version) and only one (the death of Annie) is restored here, though that's thought to be a mistake on Paramount's part. Despite massive fan protest, Paramount (as of this writing) has no plans to release any of the "Friday" films uncut. Too bad; the fans could use a little "thank you" for all the business we've given them.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 'A 24 Hour Nightmare In Terror.'.... and it's only 95 min!
Review: Sean S. Cunningham delivered us a movie classic in 1980. That classic. That classic is named Friday the 13th. I was given this movie for Christmas in 1990, and it was the best video present anyone had ever given me. I was a big fan of this movie since I had seen it for the first time on TV back in either '81 or '82. It has since become one of my top 3 favorite movies (including Apocalypse Now and the Shining). Everything about the movie appeals to me, the camp itself (Camp NoBeBoSco near Blairstown New jersey), the beautiful Pine barrens of Western New Jersey, stylized photography and lighting by Barry Abrams,good acting which is rare in horror fims!!, unbelievable makeup effects (by make-up guru Tom Savini), and what maybe the greatest Horror soundtrack ever! Harry Manfredini's score is hauntingly atmospheric. "ch ch ch ha ha ha". I purchased the DVD before I even owned a player and took it over to a good friend of mine's house. Off with the lights, on with the movie. Mesmerizing stuff! By the end, my friend, who was no big fan of horror movies was scared stupid. He actually jumped of the couch at the canoe in the water sequence. He said he actually liked it, alot. I was blown away by the superiority of the DVD movie over the VHS version. Great color and sharpness, improved sound and virtually no video artifacts. The difference between the two is amazing! Definetely the best I have ever seen between a VHS version and the DVD version. The included trailer is one of the coolest I have ever seen. Of course, being distributed by Paramount pictures is not an asset, for Paramount hasn't grassped the DVD market by the tail (at least on older releases). Hey Paramount, any other extras in your vaults?! There are two extended death scenes (Annie and Mrs. Voorhees and yes that is the correct spelling!), but that's it (except for the trailer) This DVD is anamorphically enhanced for those with 16:9 televisions. Audio is English Mono and French Mono (Get this... the French dialogue audio sounds much more clear than the English track!) Hint -> if you zoom in on Neddy's cabin when he first walks to it, you can see the face (in slight obscurity) of one Ms. Betsy Palmer. You can't do that on VHS!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Kill her Mommy, Kill her!
Review: Though some might say this is B rated material, its still a damn good horror flick. even after 20 years it still scares and chills. Can anyone forget the last horrific scene where Jason makes his debute? the killings are some of the most inovated around and if the other classic Halloween hadn't beat Friday to the punch who knows how things might have turned out. this original first in the series is a must for any true horror fan or collector. As for the sequels, well some are better than others but I have to say that the level of suspense found in the first is pretty much a part of the rest of the films. Its mindless escapism with a chills thrown in but thats what makes such films iresistible.


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