Paraskavedekatriaphobia
Well, I said in my review of Jason X that I was feeling nostalgic for Crystal Lake. That feeling has led me to take a long look back at the Friday The 13th franchise in all its gory—uh, glory. See Friday The 13th - Reconsidered, new in Etc., Etc., Etc.
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Comments
Comment from Blake Matthews
Time: October 21, 2007, 1:39 pm
I can remember almost all of the films individually, or at least specific death scenes from each one. It’s the Halloween films that are really fuzzy to me, especially 4 & 5, which may be the same film.
Comment from Blake Matthews
Time: October 21, 2007, 1:41 pm
You’re comments about FT13 2 are ironic: I remember Leonard Maltin saying “I give the first film one and half stars simply because it’s better than part two,” which he preceded to say was a BOMB. hehehe
Comment from lyzard
Time: October 21, 2007, 4:06 pm
Well, no offence to ol’ Leonard, but he’s not the first person who leaps to mind when someone says the phrase “slasher movie expert”.
Although of course, when he wrote that there weren’t eight other movies to adjust his opinions by.
Comment from Blake Matthews
Time: October 21, 2007, 4:28 pm
Well, if you must know he did name part 8 as one of the best.
Comment from lyzard
Time: October 21, 2007, 5:11 pm
AAAAAAAHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes. The prosecution rests.
Comment from Zack
Time: October 21, 2007, 8:16 pm
I really love having followed your reviews of this series, and watching your horrified dismay slowly blossom into somewhat affectionate contempt. Especially near the end, where you actually started to defend the honesty of the first four films–not good, exactly, but at least they didn’t mince intentions.
I think I would’ve rated part V higher; it’s terrible, no question, but I love the almost existential rapidity of the kills. Having characters exist for the sole purpose of dying isn’t exactly new to the franchise, but rarely has it been so starkly presented. (ie, the dude who has the one line, then peeps, then gets the belt)
Damn credible ranking, though. And you actually changed my opinion on part 6–not sure if I should thank you or not. 
Comment from lyzard
Time: October 21, 2007, 9:37 pm
I am VERY ambivalent about Part 6: I enjoy it, but I don’t like what it stands for. Part 9, on the other hand, @#$$es all over the franchise, but is a much better *film* than many. Part 7 I rank that high mostly for the purity of its intentions.
And “affectionate contempt” is a pretty fair assessment. Occasionally I even just feel affectionate. Which I think says a lot for the direction of the horror genre over the past two decades.
Comment from lyzard
Time: October 21, 2007, 9:39 pm
Matthew: yes, I actually have something in the works with regard to FvJ (which, you understand, I technically shouldn’t be touching until I’m finished with all the other NOES films). Stay tuned!
Comment from Matthew Fudge
Time: October 22, 2007, 2:26 am
You’ve got to get through all of the Nightmare films now? heavens, good luck with uh, numbers 2, 4,5… how many are there?
Comment from lyzard
Time: October 22, 2007, 3:19 am
Seven all up. My compromise position on this is to watch ‘em all (one a week for the next seven weeks, I guess) and then to tackle FvJ some time in December.
Comment from Matthew Fudge
Time: October 22, 2007, 4:52 am
I think they’re better than the Friday movies, though they turned to comedy wwwayyyy too quickly. Certainly they made more money. I don’t know about Australia or the US, but in England they had a lot more impact, whereas the Friday movies struggled to even get cinema releases after the first few.
FvJ though….shouldn’t have happened, ghastly movie. It has that recent US teen horror thing of being so clean and neat and plasticky that it doesn’t have any edge to it at all. How you can make a film about two serial killers without any unpleasantness is beyond me, but there you go. Also, without wishing to spoil the end, New Line were clearly very protective of their franchises.
Comment from Zack Handlen
Time: October 22, 2007, 7:42 am
Meh, I thought F vs J was fun enough. Only problem were all those damn kids…
I’m not sure what the worst Nightmare was–other than the first and the last (and, sort of, part 3), none of them are terrific, but they’re certainly more visually interesting than any of the Friday movies. Although man, by the time Renny Harlin showed up, they were clearly hurting for good deaths.
Comment from Matthew Fudge
Time: October 22, 2007, 7:59 am
What I guess therefore distinguishes Friday 13th movies from say the Halloween or Nightmare series was that the good folks down at crystal lake never even managed one genuinley good film. Don’t get me wrong, about a year ago I watched one a night for a week (thanks sci-fi channel) and enjoyed the hell out if it, but I can’t hand on heart say that there is actually a good movie amongst them. These films start to go off when they become aware of their kitsch ‘ironic’ value.
Comment from KeithA
Time: October 22, 2007, 10:12 am
I can keep parts 1-3 and 8 straight in my memory. Everything else is one big jumble of guidance counselors in hockey masks and Cory Feldman.
Comment from lyzard
Time: October 22, 2007, 2:10 pm
“….These films start to go off when they become aware of their kitsch ‘ironic’ value….”
Agreed. And that’s the problem I have with far too much modern horror. And the reason, as Zack says, that I’ve ended up circling around and started defending the early F13 entries.
Comment from KeithA
Time: October 22, 2007, 2:20 pm
That’s why I so often stick to old Hammer and AIP horror films. I’m sick of everyone “being in on the joke.” Sometimes I don’t want to be in on the joke. Sometimes I want to see scary stuff.
Comment from El Santo
Time: October 22, 2007, 2:52 pm
Agreed. In fact, more often than not, I’d prefer that there not be a joke to be in on in the first place.
Comment from John Doe
Time: October 22, 2007, 9:04 pm
I don’t think Hollywood can make a scary movie anymore. They’re too worried they might scare someone.
Comment from Matthew Fudge
Time: October 23, 2007, 2:55 am
“They’re too worried they might scare someone”
Absolutely. I was thinking that recently when I was watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre: the Teen Model years, or whatever it’s called. How is it that Hollywood has spend 30 years witlessly trying to wring more money out of the franchise but never once attempted to make a film as bleak scary as the original? I dunno, maybe that was why it was successful? Or was it because it had teenagers in it? gah.
Comment from supersonic
Time: October 24, 2007, 2:00 am
As always, you rock… that you include a rating of the best gratuitous nudity despite not being into girls is true B dedication.
Comment from lyzard
Time: October 24, 2007, 5:01 pm
Well, if I’m going to watch these films, there are things I just have to accept and deal with. But I’m certainly capable of appreciating the difference between Ms Baker’s perfectly natural body and those horrible inflatable things that get shoved at us every five minutes these days. (I sometimes get a mental picture of one of those being squeezed a bit too hard and blowing out; someone could lose a hand that way.)
Comment from John Doe
Time: October 24, 2007, 7:38 pm
it’s all fun and games until somebody loses an eye, and then “sorry” just won’t do you any good will it.
Comment from Matthew Fudge
Time: October 25, 2007, 4:51 am
Not against a bloke with a machete, no.
Comment from JessicaR.
Time: October 25, 2007, 10:02 pm
No then it becomes another game “find the eye”
Comment from Matthew Fudge
Time: October 26, 2007, 2:21 am
Apparently they’re easy to distract with brightly coloured balls and so forth, also they are easily frightened by fireworks. No, wait a minutes, that’s dogs not supernatural serial killers.
Comment from Matthew Fudge
Time: October 21, 2007, 11:14 am
Wither Freddy Versus Jason?
Also, can you really remember each one individually or are you cheating?