Halloween Nightmares – Friday the 13th

By: Josh Pearlman

What? The Friday the 13th franchise

Who? Written and directed by: Various. Starring: A whole lot of people you’ve never heard of, but also a few who went on to bigger and better things like Kevin Bacon, Corey Feldman and Crispin Glover.

Why should I watch? Normally this would be a place to recommend a single movie worthy of your Halloween screams, but let’s face it, Friday the 13th isn’t a very good movie. The sequels are pretty much all better than the original and they have the one thing missing from the first flick: hockey mask-clad murder enthusiast Jason Voorhees.

Jason doesn’t have a whole lot of personality, but he certainly makes up for it with enthusiasm as he hacks and slashes his way through the teen population of Crystal Lake (later Manhattan and later than that space…Really.). It’s all very silly, but never takes itself too seriously.

There’s a lot of fun to be had throughout the series and I would be remiss not to mention that Crispin Glover dances in Part IV (The Final Chapter). This alone is worth sitting through the entire franchise (10 movies, one remake and one crossover with the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise). Also, note that the previous statement means there were EIGHT more movies after the one titled The Final Chapter. In fact, there were two “Final” movies in the series (Part IX is subtitled “The Final Friday”), neither of which were actually the last. I love horror movies.