This post has been updated from the version originally upload on April 6, 2012. The update is minimal. Scroll to the bottom of the post.
A to Z 2012: Gaming in the 1980s
Friday the 13th
Yeah, I know what you're thinking at this point - I thought this guy was using gaming in the 1980's with his friends as the theme of all of his posts? Yes, you are correct and I assure you that the series of Friday the 13th movies DO fit into the stated theme for my posts. You see, my gaming group from the old days did not start out as my gaming group. All of us were friends for various lengths of time before we started role-playing together. In other words, we didn't just game together but did all sorts of other things in our free time. Some of the posts for this challenge will reflect that fact. This happens to be one of them.
One of our favorite activites was watching movies - especially horror movies - on the weekends. Most of the horror movies we saw at the beginning of the 80's were just the kind of movies that would make you jump at certain points. There might be some vague hints at gore and violence but the main point was to make the audience jump. After viewing tons of these movies, you kind of get used to the jump scenes and can almost pinpoint the hints leading to those moments in the films. Our whole experience with these films would change when we discovered the slasher films that exploded into popularity in the 80's.
I could not give you the exact date or even an approximate year for the start of the slasher films. What I can tell you is that after a few of these series took off with tremendous popularity, there were many other slasher films of varying quality released to the viewing public. As with most everything available for public consumption, the cream rises to the top. The top tier of the slasher films consisted of movies like Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th.
The members of the gaming group had varying tastes when it came to these movies so there was no consensus about the best series in the genre. All it took was one viewing of Friday the 13th for me to have my favorite. I remember hearing about the legend of Jason in the movie and believing that he was doing all of the killing. Instead, I was surprised to discover that his mother had been slowly getting her revenge throughout the movie. I was even more surprised when Jason came out of the water at the end of the movie. I remember that scene giving me creeps late at night and there was a few times where I turned on a lamp so it would not be dark. I may have been just a tad young to be watching these movies but the "forbidden fruit" aspect was part of the fun.
There have been many sequels to the original film in the following years. They all end pretty much the same way - Jason is vanquished and there is doubt as to whether he is truly dead or not. Eventually, there is another sequel released that has Jason revived yet again to wreak havoc on pot smoking, beer drinking, and teenagers having sex out of wedlock. The films are not "deep" or anything but I find them entertaining; maybe a guilty pleasure even. With all of the times I have watched these and other horror movies I have never played any horror role-playing games. There's something to that but I don't know what...
This post isn't getting much of an update. If you are a Friday the 13th fan then you know the rights to the films have been tied up in court for some time and there hasn't been an official sequel released in years. The fans, however, have been busy...
Rose Blood is a continuation of Friday the 13th Part 7
If you're interested, just search "Friday the 13th fan film" on youtube. There's a ton of them.
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