For a horror fan, there is no escaping Jason Voorhees or
Friday the 13th. Even if you have never seen a single movie (for shame!), you know who he is, what he does, and what he looks like. But that's from my perspective. I grew up in the 80s, played the video game on a system known simply as Nintendo (now referred to as "The 8 Bit"), and suffered the indignity of that comic where he fought a talking Leatherface.
But what about those who grew up in the Jason-starved 90s? The only Jason films they might remember in theaters are the ones where he fights Freddy or goes off into space. The remake may be their first real introduction to the hockey masked behemoth that stalks teenagers at a place known as Crystal Lake. So for them, Bloody Disgusting and
Horror Movie A Day would like to present this retrospective series: 13 Days Of Jason. Each day leading up to the remake's theatrical release, BC will be showcasing one of the original films, with trivia, factoids, thoughts, and his own full blown review.
Bloody will also be presenting a few other articles that highlight some of the series' traditions, such as the lovesick nerd character and Jason's habit of using unique weapons. Because even if you don't agree with BC's assessment of each film, there's one thing we can all agree on: Jason fucking rules.
AKA: "Jason Vs Freddy"?
RELEASE: August 15, 2003 (3,014 (!!) theaters)
GROSS: $82,163,317
PLOT: Freddy is somehow strong enough to resurrect Jason from Hell, just not himself. So he has Jason kill people in Springwood, OH (he walks there from Crystal Lake, CT (or NJ) - no one bothers him along the way I guess), which would dig up memories of Freddy and thus allow him to be reborn. Freddy then gets mad that Jason is killing everyone, so they fight. Amazingly, it’s even stupider than it sounds.
THOUGHTS: The fight’s awesome. No one’s going to argue that (well, maybe Kane Hodder). Unfortunately, there’s about 80 minutes before it that don’t really feel like a
Friday movie at all, but rather a Freddy movie with Jason doing most of the killing as a consolation prize. Plus, a “sympathetic” Jason is ridiculous, and since Kane was the one to keep hope of the film alive for a decade thanks to his tireless promotion at horror cons and such, replacing him is pretty much the dickiest move in the history of dick moves. Ronny Yu is one of the more stylish directors in the series, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the terrible dialogue and acting. You would think that after 10 years, they would come up with something better than “Freddy died by fire, Jason by water: how can we use that?”
(Read BC's full review at
Horror Movie A Day)
BEST KILL: Some R&B star begins to “sass” Freddy, who just sort of listens before pointing to Jason, who is standing behind her. Jason then machetes her and then introduces her to Mr. Tree. I actually wish they sort of “teamed up” like this through more of the film.
MOST "HUH?" MOMENT: Since when the fuck is Jason afraid of water? Dude goddamn SWAM to Manhattan! Not to mention all the times he got someone from the water, like Samantha in
Final Chapter. Fuck you, movie.
FUTURE STARS: If you look carefully, you will spot Evangeline Lilly as one of the anonymous students. One year later, she would go from anonymous extra in a junky horror movie to a starring role on one of the most acclaimed shows of all time:
Lost.
TRIVIA: The drug that the kids are all doped up on (Hypnocil) is actually the same drug that Nancy wanted prescribed in
Nightmare on Elm St 3, a nice shoutout for fans of that series. Various unused scripts had returning characters (Alice from
Nightmares 4 and 5, Steven and Jessica from
JGTH, and Tommy Jarvis all made appearances during development), but Hypnocil would pretty much be the alpha and omega of “fan shoutouts” (unless you count Mrs. Voorhees) in the entire film.
Check back tomorrow for
Friday The 13th (2009)!
Click here to keep up with all of our 13 Days of Friday the 13th coverage!
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