Friday the 13th Uncut DVD: Review By Brian Gallagher

I have never been the biggest horror guy in the world. Sure, there are some here and there that I've enjoyed over the years, but I've never been a die-hard slasher, blood-and-guts type of guy. However, I am a child of the 80s and, like many my age, I saw Friday the 13th and many a horror film at an age when I probably shouldn't have even heard of the damn thing. I can't tell you how old I was or how many of them I remember seeing, but the impact on pop culture was readily known as I grew up. If I had to guess, it's probably been close to 20 years (I'm 32...) since I've seen this original Friday the 13th and I'm quite glad that I can revisit this amazing flick now, especially in this new Deluxe Edition.

When I started watching this again, I realized that I really didn't remember a damn thing from the first time I saw it, and it was almost like watching it for the first time all over again. I reveled in Harry Manfredini's now-classic score and the funny clothes and corny lines and moments that are peppered throughout the beginning of the film, which I found to be pretty slow, actually and the only weak spot of the film, especially the corny dialogue. And then, when the real sh*t starts to hit the fan I found myself smiling throughout the film and even - since I don't remember much from the first time - found myself getting shocked a few times, which I was pleasantly surprised by. I figured that a movie that's almost 30 years old - and with myself being 32 years old - it might not have the same impact as when I saw it as a younger lad, but I'm glad to say that this horror classic is still as effective today as it ever was.

The film, of course, revolves around Camp Crystal Lake and the madness and mayhem that ensue when Steve Christy (Peter Brouwer) tries to open Camp Crystal Lake, which had been closed for many years two kids were murdered there and some boy had drowned the year before that. Regardless of the stigma the camp had on the neighboring town - whose residents called it Camp Blood (which was actually part of the working title of the film - A Long Night at Camp Blood) and claimed the camp was cursed - Christy opens the camp anyway and hires some young camp counselors to help get the place ready for the kids. What they don't realize is that no one is safe at Camp Crystal Lake on that particular day - Friday the 13th.

I'm pretty sure I don't need to get more into the plot than that, because we all know what happens and we all know who does it and we all know the incredible twist at the end. What's so great about this movie is how it takes us all there on this fantastic ride of a movie. They start us off with a bunch of beautiful young people - the spunky cook, Annie (Robbi Morgan), the strong handsome one, Jack (Kevin Bacon), the girly girl, Marcie (Jeannine Taylor) the outspoken girl, Brenda (Laurie Bertram), the clown guy, Ned (Mark Nelson), the regular guy, Bill (Harry Crosby) and, of course, Alice (Adrienne King), the girl who's not even sure she wants to be there anymore. We get to know all these people in various little ways and it's quite amazing how this archetype for horror flick still pretty much stands today... even though this is, as the writer Victor Miller and producer/director Sean S. Cunningham admit, a blatant rip-off of Halloween, which was released 2 years prior. Still, the way this story is crafted, acted and directed, makes it still stand out as a horror classic to this day.

There are so many classic moments that this is almost worth watching just for those, like Kevin Bacon's startling demise and the sheer presence of the iconic Betsy Palmer as Pamela Voorhes in her haunting sequences at the end of the film. Actually, just watching Betsy Palmer say those famous lines towards the end that are echoed in the trailer for the remake, are worth it on its own to pick this up and just to see and hear that classic horror moment again. What also makes this such a classic is that they really changed the way they scared the audience. While Harry Manfredini's score is one of the greats, it was really used sparingly and they use all sorts of little red herrings and tricks and gags to really get the most out of the scare... especially at the very end.

It's rare that any film, let alone a horror film, can influence pop culture the way that Friday the 13th has. Before 1980, Friday the 13th might be something you'd only say if someone had casually asked you the day and date. But this film turned an arbitrary date on a calendar (and a piece of sporting equipment, after future installments) into something far beyond the reach of what most movies can achieve. If you turn on the TV on any particular Friday the 13th of any particular year, you'll likely see a few Friday the 13th marathons on TV. This film not only spawned a franchise, but became an indelible part of pop culture still do this day, almost 30 years since its initial release, and likely for years and years to come. Not too shabby for a film that was just supposed to be a rip-off of Halloween.

We get a solid diet of features here to feast on and the first is a Friday the 13th Reunion. It starts off by saying that, "On September 13, 2008, members of the first Friday the 13th motion picture gathered together for a special reunion event." It's basically a Comic-Con-style panel, with a number of collaborators on the original talking about this legendary flick. We have the makeup effects artist Tom Savini, the screenwriter Victor Miller, the original Jason Voorhes Ari Lehman, Pamela Voorhes herself, Betsy Palmer, composer Henry Manfredini and Alice herself, Adrienne King. They talk about their own little stories of how they all came to this film, and tons of other tidbits like how Sean S. Cunningham told Victor Miller that Halloween was making a lot of money and they wanted to rip it off (hilarity) and some great tidbits from Betsy Palmer, still a spitfire in her 80s. It's a great little 16-minute interview that gives you a lot of great background information into this first film.

Fresh Cuts: New Tales From Friday the 13th is next and we get some of the same kind of stuff from the first panel, but we do get into a lot of other stuff from many of the different people from the production giving different random tales from the film. We hear from Ari Lehman, Harry Manfredini, Victor Miller, Tom Savini again but in this one we also here from Robbi Morgan, the very first victim of the film and franchise, as well. It's another great 14-minute feature that keeps feeding us great information about the inception of this franchise.

The Man Behind the Legacy: Sean S. Cunningham is next and we hear from the producer-director of this first film. It's basically a big interview with Cunningham , intercut with him working around his lavish house and we also hear a little bit from his son Noel Cunningham, who is also a filmmaker as well and this little eight-minute featurette isn't the best on here, but it's worth a look.

The last thing we get, besides the Theatrical Trailer, is Lost Tales from Camp Blood - Part I (with Part II to come on Friday the 13th Part II Deluxe Edition). I wasn't sure what to make of this at first, because I really wasn't sure what it was, and it seems to be just a bonus short that shows "the body count continues" at Camp Crystal Lake." As a stand-alone short, it isn't too bad, I guess, employing all of the elements that this first film did... although better actors would've helped.

The film is presented in the widescreen format, enhanced for 16x9 widescreen televisions.

The sound is handled through the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound format, which is simply perfect for Henry Manfredini's chillingly classic score that is just as effective now as it was almost 30 years ago.

I normally don't like when they use the slipcovers that are identical to the keepcase artwork, but this one is probably the closest exception I'll make. See, the slipcover is essentially the same as the keepcase, with just a huge Friday the 13th Uncut dominating most of the cover, with a silhouette of the killer holding a big knife and some ominous images behind that. However, they have one of those motion-cover things, like they had with Rush Hour 3, but this doesn't display two different images, it just gives you a cool sense of slight motion that is cool to play around with. The back has a few images from the film, a nice special features listing, a solid synopsis and the billing block and tech specs. I was a little disenchanted when I found something out on the tech specs, though. It seems that the "Uncut" nature of this flick isn't as raw as you'd expect it to be, as there's a little blurb in the tech specs that says this version features a whopping 10 seconds of footage not used in the R-rated film. I guess that's kind of cool too, though, since the original is still just as effective today... but slapping the "Uncut" tag on a flick for just 10 seconds is kind of stretching it a tad.

If you're pumped for the new remake, there isn't a better way to get back into the spirit of this fateful day than this superb DVD that brings you back to how the legend of Camp Crystal Lake got started in such a magnificent way.