Halloween 2023: Day 21

Friday the 13th (1980)

Well, we had to, right? Not only have we been trying to brush up on classics that we’re vaguely familiar with yet have never seen, but today is Friday the 13th.

Young Kevin Bacon was a surprise, the special effects are convincing but not excessive, and the score is effective. Pacing and plot…eh. I’d actually kind of like to see a remake that shuffled a few of the pieces around so that Mrs. Voorhees showed up as an actual character for more of the film, which would make the reveal more effective. But that’s never going to happen. The cultural cachet of the series isn’t Psycho-influenced psychological horror, it’s Jason in a hockey mask wielding a machete.

Friday the 13th (2009)

The remake compresses the entire first film into a couple of minutes at the beginning so we can get to what people want: Jason. It’s a perfectly serviceable slasher, but doesn’t do anything novel or interesting.

The Cabin in the Woods

I liked this more this time around than I did when we first watched it back in 2013. It was fun and did interesting things and I suspect really benefited from the contrast with Friday the 13th (2009), which was utterly devoid of cleverness and humour.