Friday the 13th (uncut) [Blu-ray]
(Sean S. Cunningham, 1980)
Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: Paramount Pictures
Video: Paramount Home Entertainment
Disc:
Region: A
Runtime: 1:35:27.722
Disc Size: 40,763,657,652 bytes
Feature Size: 28,171,241,472 bytes
Average Bitrate: 39.35 Mbps
Chapters: 15
Case: Standard Blu-ray case
Release date: February 3rd, 2009
Video:
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio:
Dolby
TrueHD Audio English 2879 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2879 kbps /
24-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps)
Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
/ Dolby Surround
Dolby Digital Audio French 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Subtitles:
English SDH, English, French , Spanish, none
Extras:
• Commentary by Director Sean S. Cunningham with Cast & Crew
• Fresh Cuts in HD (14:07)
• The Man Behind the Legacy: Sean S. Cunningham in HD (8:58)
• Friday the 13th Reunion in HD (16:45)
• Lost Tales from Camp Blood – Part 1 in HD (7:31)
• The Friday the 13th Chronicles in SD (20:34)
• Secrets Galore Behind the Gore in SD (9:32)
• Theatrical Trailer in HD
Description: Friday the 13th is an American horror franchise
that consists of eleven slasher films, a television show,
novels, comic books, video games and merchandise. The
franchise is mainly based on the fictional character of
Jason Voorhees, who drowned at Camp Crystal Lake as a boy
due to the negligence of the teenage counselors. Decades
later, the lake is rumored to be "cursed" and is the setting
for a series of mass murders. Jason is featured in all of
the films, either as the killer or as the motivation for the
killings. The original film was written by Victor Miller,
and was produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham; later
films brought in others for these positions. Originally
created to cash in on the success of John Carpenter's
Halloween (1978),[2] the success led Paramount Pictures
to purchase the full rights to the Friday the 13th
franchise.
Comment:
The Movie:
5
If you've ever been to summer camp, you'll remember the
obligatory scary story around the campfire. There's
something about that flickering light across our faces, the
blackness beyond the ring of campers, the soft-spoken,
cold-blooded delivery of the counselor telling the story –
usually a tale about a prior evil that threatens to return
and snatch naive children as they walk back to their cabins
or tremble under their covers. Such stories are a kind of
rite of passage, and waking up the next morning unharmed was
enough to shake one's belief in Santa Claus.
I think that transposing such an event to the cinema works
in the same way only if the person we identify with isn't
actually killed, and certainly not if the killing is
explicit. But, then, the target audience for Friday the 13th
and its relentless sequels and spin-offs is much older. For
them there is no fearful walk back at night to their cabins.
No, the intent here is quite different: it is intended to
work as a kind of sadomasochistic foreplay to the inevitable
sex that is expected to follow. It is, with one's date
clinging to your arm while the other reaches for gobs of
popcorn, the ultimate date movie.
Perversely, the campier the movie, the more effective it is
in its objective. If it's too realistic, too explicit, the
dating audience will require something more to numb their
fears. Sex alone, even with the assistance of a six pack,
probably won't cut it. So even while the sequels speak to
this same audience, the effect is different as the gore
becomes bloodier, as the hapless victim become smarter but
falls to the knife all the same. The titillation is more
likely to have run its course when the audience leaves the
theatre.
Friday the 13th takes place over a 24-hour period at Camp
Crystal Springs as part of the staff make preparations for
the kids expected to arrive in a few days. Crystal Springs
has earned its reputation as "Camp Blood" following a series
of deaths and killings some years ago. This is the first
summer in some while that the owners set out to beat the
odds. Steve Christy is determined to whip his randy teenage
crew into shape and get the mechanics of the camp in full
working order. But first he has to leave on an errand in
town for the better part of the day, after which the six or
seven remaining counselors are dispatched by an unseen hand.
One of them doesn't even make it to camp: Annie, the cook,
has her throat cut after ignoring warnings by the local
townspeople, whose relationship to Crystal Springs is not
unlike the Transylvanian village to Dracula's castle.
What I found interesting about these victims was that,
except until the last one, none of them suspects they are
being cut down until it is too late. There might have been
suspicious sounds in the night and power going off and on,
but no one knows there is a killer loose on the premises.
But the director makes certain they remain ignorant of the
danger. Each one is killed as he or she naturally separates
him or herself from the others – to go to the bathroom or
their cabin and the like. It's like they don't have a
chance. For the most part they don't even get to run. Surely
there's a point to all this, I asked myself.
There is one idiot girl who chases down a faint cry for help
through the woods in the middle of the night in the rain in
her nightgown, but she is the exception, not the rule. And
then there is the last girl standing who gets the upper hand
not just once, but three times, and routinely runs away
without ever thinking of tying up her unconscious assailant
(who ties up our own loose ends eventually.) Such fools, we
might say to ourselves, deserve to die. Of course, we make
this pronouncement in the safety of our living rooms.
In any case, Friday the 13th takes its mood from its
setting: it is the very definition of "camp." While not
exactly a comedy, the movie certainly is funny. I can't say
why exactly, considering the subject, but it isn't really
mean-spirited, on part because it is not really sexist. The
killer is an equal opportunity murderer. The fact that the
music is so predictive and the script is so lame (though
I've encountered much worse in the genre, then and now) and
the line readings often more so, keeps matters light even as
events intend to scare us.
Friday the 13th is hardly what we would call a good movie.
But it's no Blair Witch Project either. It's shot with
clarity on good film stock and with good audio (astoundingly
so on this Blu-ray), even though the lighting doesn't always
correspond to real events. The movie isn't nearly as
suspenseful as Halloween, whose success was the direct
inspiration for this movie, nor does it have John
Carpenter's narrative drive. Of course, there is that ending
(Be still, Carrie)! But, talent aside, I think the success
of Friday has much less to do with its artistic merit than
it does its, perhaps unconscious, effect on the audience.
By the way, in keeping with the commercialism of the Friday
the 13th franchise, the "Uncut" version has an additional 10
seconds of what one could hardly call "footage" not
contained in the "R"-rated original.
Image : 7/8
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
The first number indicates a relative level of excellence
compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point scale.
The second number places this image along the full range of
DVD and Blu-ray discs.
What surprises me about this image was how solid it is.
Scenes shot in good light are outstanding: clear, sharp,
nicely resolved with sensible color. A considerable part of
the movie takes place at night, but only a little of it is
shot in shadows that someone, unwisely, I thought, felt
necessary to brighten, resulting in a proportional degree of
noise. In those nighttime shots where the shadows are
allowed to go to black there is no noise to speak of. The
noise is really the only niggle worth complaining of.
Otherwise, a very good image, indeed.
Note that the cover does not indicate the aspect ratio.
Amazon lists it incorrectly at 2.35:1. It is clearly 1.78:1.
CLICK EACH
BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music:
7/4
This Blu-ray includes the original English mono in Dolby
Digital and a new uncompressed Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix that
simply doesn't seem possible could come from the original
masters. While the dialogue is a little less focused than
the mono, it is nonetheless clear. But the music track –
that's another story. It is so bold and dynamic, I'm not
even sure it is appropriate for the otherwise B-movie that
Friday the 13th is. However once we give ourselves into this
new sonic reality, I must say it is very effective. Since
the music makes its presence known generally only when the
killer is lurking about, it becomes a razor sharp accomplice
in the killings. The surrounds are given a modest amount to
do, supplying an immersive experience (very effective as
Christy drives back to camp in the pouring rain), if not an
entirely compelling directionality to events. As for the
blatant and risible rip-off of Bernard Herrmann's music for
Psycho, with its chanting of heavy breathing, I can only say
it made a significant contribution to Friday's campiness.
Operations: 7
They're not animated, nor do they provide any detail
about the extra features, but the menu is a breeze to
operate. Thanks.
Extras: 6
The new Blu-ray includes a new full-length commentary
hosted by Peter Bracke (author of a book about the Friday
the 13th movies) that culls interview bits with the director
and assorted cast and crew that takes a historical look at
the making of this peculiarly historically significant
phenomenon. There are also two self-explanatory bonus
features in SD. New for this Blu-ray are four (count them!)
extra features in HD and not all are a complete waste of
time. "Lost Tales from Camp Blood – Part 1" is a new short
film (mercifully, very short), written and directed by
Andrew Ceperley, that promises to be the first of a series
of such exercises in gore for the following sequels. But the
other three bonus items have much more to offer. "Fresh
Cuts" is a collection of remembrances by the writer, Ari
Lehman ("the original" Jason), Robbie Morgan (Annie, the
hitchhiker), and Tom Savini (makeup designer). In "The Man
Behind the Legacy," Sean S. Cunningham talks about what was
on his mind when he made the original movie and how he feels
now about the many sequels it spawned.
Finally, the 2008 Reunion is a fascinating exercise in the
manufacture of a media event. Let's hear it for Betsy Palmer
(Mrs. Voorhees), now 82, who manages to inject some life
into a party threatened by the likes of Victor Miller, Tom
Savini and Harry Manfredini (composer) and who appear to
have made their speeches one time too many. Alas, Betsy and
Adrienne King (Alice) were the only cast members who showed
up. The reunion is actually a panel discussion in front of a
live audience of fans who are given plenty of opportunity to
ask questions. Worth a visit.
Bottom line: 7
Friday the 13th may not be a very good movie, but it
certainly is historically important – and that in itself
makes it worth watching – or, more likely, rewatching. The
picture quality, except for the occasional face full of
noise, is very good and the soundtrack is, well, like you've
never heard it before – and that's an understatement!
Leonard Norwitz
January 17th, 2009
|