Ch ch ch... ha ha ha... ch ch ch... ha ha ha...
Yup, Today is the day Friday the 13th hit cinemas, back in 1980!
Friday the 13th was named and advertised by director Sean S. Cunningham before he'd even sorted a story, as he figured the name alone was cool enough to get the attention of the right people. The film was created as an attempt to cash in on the success of Halloween, and was shot on an actual camp called Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, which is still in operation today.
Lou Reed owned a farm that neighboured the camp, so one day he just showed up on set and hung out with the crew, even played them some songs, what a cool guy.
Everyone knows Kevin Bacon of EE fame is the biggest star of the film, but were you aware someone who is famous had their kid in the film? Harry Cosby, who plays Bill, is the son of Bing Cosby, and this was his first ever film role.
He is now an investment banker.
Upon release the film received a lot of backlash from the saviours of family values, who condemned its copious amounts of gore, of which was orchestrated by practical effects legend Tom Savini. Funnily enough, the gore that ruffled their feathers is the byproduct of Pamela Vorhees punishing teenagers for their lack of family values and death of her son - why are you booing her, dudes, she's one of you! The backlash prompted Paramount Pictures to reign in the gore significantly in Part II, because if you remove the gore, you remove the criticism, right?
Not quite - Friday the 13th was also attacked for alleged misogyny, most notably by famed cinema critics Siskel and Ebert, who stooped as low as to spoil the ending on their review show. However many people have counteracted this criticism, pointing out that the body-count of the film is equally male/female, and the killer and killer of the killer are both female. If the film should be criticised for anything, it's the fact that the scene where the snake is killed with the machete is legit. Yeah, they straight up killed the snake on camera while the owner was off camera crying. But does anyone kick up a fuss about the snake?
No. No they do not.
Still, without this film we would never have eventually been presented with pop culture icon Jason Vorhees, so maybe it's okay to sweep the unnecessary ending of a snake's life 39 years ago under the rug for that. I mean the snake would be dead now anyways, so it doesn't matter anymore... Right?
Comments