Film Year: 1980
Genre: Horror
Director: Sean Cunningham
Starring: Betsy Palmer, Kevin Bacon, Adrienne King
The Movie
*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*
Slasher films didn't quite spring up out of nowhere, as they had been slowly evolving for decades. There were strangler films pre-dating 1960 that are pretty much the same concept, though by Psycho these killers broke out the sharp instrument to kill the victims. Then you get variations on the subject like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Black Christmas, leading up to the definition of the genre in Halloween. Friday the 13th was one of the first movies to capitalize on the success of John Carpenter's slasher establishment, and cemented those foundations as tropes.
But let's be honest here, this movie just isn't very good.
Considered as a classic by many, I can't get behind this movie that well. There are a few films in the Friday series I enjoy because their sheer stupidity pushes them into so-bad-it's-good territory, though this original is a bit of a dry meandering slog focusing on characters without personality wandering around aimlessly and getting killed one by one. Sometimes the death toll is amusing, but the movie is largely a chore.
The "story," as it is, has a summer camp being re-opened several decades after the murder of two camp counselors forced it to shut down. A group of new counselors come to fix the place up only to die unnoticed by the others for the majority of the film. Is it the same killer as before?
Spoiler Alert: Yes it is. And if you said it's Jason Voorhees, you're as wrong as Drew Barrymore in Scream. The killer in this movie is actually Pamela Voorhees, Jason's mother, in what has got to be one of the lamest twists in film history. The hiding of the killer's identity in this film supposedly leads up to a big reveal of the killer's identity, which would have been much more interesting if the film presented itself as a whodunit. They seem to be up for this by introducing a bunch of red herrings for the first half hour of the film, but instead in the end they introduce this character out of nowhere and she's just batshit bonkers.
The biggest defense of the reveal is that Mrs. Voorhees goes against the trope of the musclebound masculine murderer of the type the genre usually offers, which makes the twist work for many, but it's never been of much interest to me. It's just a stunningly limp reveal of "Oh my god, the killer's a WOMAN?!?!? And SHE'S OLD?!?!?!" This reveal also only works if you ignore all the male body double shots of the killer throughout the movie. Nah, I'm not falling for that numbskullery. It would have been more interesting if her character were introduced earlier in the film and then was revealed to be the killer, that might have saved this twist.
Friday the 13th is pretty much proof that just because something is considered a classic doesn't always make it good. People love this movie unconditionally, which is fine, but boy does this movie fail hard for me.
But let's be honest here, this movie just isn't very good.
Considered as a classic by many, I can't get behind this movie that well. There are a few films in the Friday series I enjoy because their sheer stupidity pushes them into so-bad-it's-good territory, though this original is a bit of a dry meandering slog focusing on characters without personality wandering around aimlessly and getting killed one by one. Sometimes the death toll is amusing, but the movie is largely a chore.
The "story," as it is, has a summer camp being re-opened several decades after the murder of two camp counselors forced it to shut down. A group of new counselors come to fix the place up only to die unnoticed by the others for the majority of the film. Is it the same killer as before?
Spoiler Alert: Yes it is. And if you said it's Jason Voorhees, you're as wrong as Drew Barrymore in Scream. The killer in this movie is actually Pamela Voorhees, Jason's mother, in what has got to be one of the lamest twists in film history. The hiding of the killer's identity in this film supposedly leads up to a big reveal of the killer's identity, which would have been much more interesting if the film presented itself as a whodunit. They seem to be up for this by introducing a bunch of red herrings for the first half hour of the film, but instead in the end they introduce this character out of nowhere and she's just batshit bonkers.
The biggest defense of the reveal is that Mrs. Voorhees goes against the trope of the musclebound masculine murderer of the type the genre usually offers, which makes the twist work for many, but it's never been of much interest to me. It's just a stunningly limp reveal of "Oh my god, the killer's a WOMAN?!?!? And SHE'S OLD?!?!?!" This reveal also only works if you ignore all the male body double shots of the killer throughout the movie. Nah, I'm not falling for that numbskullery. It would have been more interesting if her character were introduced earlier in the film and then was revealed to be the killer, that might have saved this twist.
Friday the 13th is pretty much proof that just because something is considered a classic doesn't always make it good. People love this movie unconditionally, which is fine, but boy does this movie fail hard for me.
The Riff
This is my first venture into iRiff groups, which I don't have any experience with (aside from ICWXP, which is available on iRiffs but predate it as a group), so a lot of this stuff will be new to me. I chose Hor-RIFF-ic Productions to start me off for the simple fact that they've riffed Friday the 13th, which I've been dying to see Rifftrax tackle since day one. I've also watched video clips of them on their website, which I thought were pretty decent. Since they've riffed the first five movies, I've decided to journey through their work on this series that has been begging for the riffing format for years. If nothing else I've decided to venture into fan riffing on this blog to get some damn closure on this unfulfilled chapter of my life.
Hor-RIFF-ic Productions is the riffing group of Gary and Erin Slasher, a husband and wife duo of a slasher killer and a zombie who are bitter that they never hit it big in Hollywood horror films, so they've decided to make fun of them instead. It's a simple enough idea and Gary and Erin are having fun with these characters and while they sometimes astray a bit into scenery chewing territory, I enjoy what they've created with the duo.
On the subject of the riffing, well I can definitely say this movie doesn't disappoint as a riffing target. It's so spacious with plenty of places to fill with humor, but the question is whether or not Gary and Erin are up to the task of providing a continuous string of comedy for 90 minutes. It's understandable to be tepid about dipping your toe into amateur productions when you have a perfectly good professional team that's delivering constant new content on the very site that these homebrews are selling their riff on. But as nervous as I might have been at giving this riff a shot, I'm going to risk being accused of hyperbole by saying I outright loved it.
Now, for sure Hor-RIFF-ic doesn't reach the heights of Mystery Science Theater or Rifftrax. If I were to give them constructive criticism on anything it's that their delivery is a bit too jokey and upbeat, giving the flavor of scripted and planned out as opposed to a natural delivery feel. But in general I'd say for the most part their riffing is quite laugh-out-loud funny. Sometimes they fall back on running gags from MST or Rifftrax (which is usually what I fear most in fan riffs), but not as often as you'd expect. Their original material, especially for the first half of the film, is usually quite observational and well played. And during the spacious sequences of silence sometimes they deliver quality skits when they risk running into monotonous material. The "warnings against marijuana usage" during Kevin Bacon's death scene is pretty damn brilliant. Though I will admit that the opening credits are a fair fail where one of these could have been used. Instead they find themselves reading names and putting humorous slants on them. It's not horrible, but it feels like a wasted area.
I won't lie, part of the reason I enjoyed this riff so much is because of the movie chosen. It's just so perfect for the format and it has been frustrating to no end to see Rifftrax ignore it in favor of choice blockbusters that didn't really offer them much of anything for their comedy. A lesser comedy team probably could have done well with this film, but Hor-RIFF-ic's repartee with it feels like something I have dreamed of for years. Something I've always said is that the best riffs are always symbiotic experiences between the perfect movie and a crew that fluidly dances with it, which is something Hor-RIFF-ic accomplishes here. It's possible that there is a better riff of this movie that could be made, but the fact that Hor-RIFF-ic made such an accomplishment on their very first release is an impressive feat all the same.
Note: There are two cuts of this movie out there. Both theatrical and unrated are available on DVD while the blu-ray is solely unrated. Hor-RIFF-ic offers separate tracks that can sync with both. I'm not sure what the differences are (I synced mine up with unrated) but if you have either version you should be covered.
Hor-RIFF-ic Productions is the riffing group of Gary and Erin Slasher, a husband and wife duo of a slasher killer and a zombie who are bitter that they never hit it big in Hollywood horror films, so they've decided to make fun of them instead. It's a simple enough idea and Gary and Erin are having fun with these characters and while they sometimes astray a bit into scenery chewing territory, I enjoy what they've created with the duo.
On the subject of the riffing, well I can definitely say this movie doesn't disappoint as a riffing target. It's so spacious with plenty of places to fill with humor, but the question is whether or not Gary and Erin are up to the task of providing a continuous string of comedy for 90 minutes. It's understandable to be tepid about dipping your toe into amateur productions when you have a perfectly good professional team that's delivering constant new content on the very site that these homebrews are selling their riff on. But as nervous as I might have been at giving this riff a shot, I'm going to risk being accused of hyperbole by saying I outright loved it.
Now, for sure Hor-RIFF-ic doesn't reach the heights of Mystery Science Theater or Rifftrax. If I were to give them constructive criticism on anything it's that their delivery is a bit too jokey and upbeat, giving the flavor of scripted and planned out as opposed to a natural delivery feel. But in general I'd say for the most part their riffing is quite laugh-out-loud funny. Sometimes they fall back on running gags from MST or Rifftrax (which is usually what I fear most in fan riffs), but not as often as you'd expect. Their original material, especially for the first half of the film, is usually quite observational and well played. And during the spacious sequences of silence sometimes they deliver quality skits when they risk running into monotonous material. The "warnings against marijuana usage" during Kevin Bacon's death scene is pretty damn brilliant. Though I will admit that the opening credits are a fair fail where one of these could have been used. Instead they find themselves reading names and putting humorous slants on them. It's not horrible, but it feels like a wasted area.
I won't lie, part of the reason I enjoyed this riff so much is because of the movie chosen. It's just so perfect for the format and it has been frustrating to no end to see Rifftrax ignore it in favor of choice blockbusters that didn't really offer them much of anything for their comedy. A lesser comedy team probably could have done well with this film, but Hor-RIFF-ic's repartee with it feels like something I have dreamed of for years. Something I've always said is that the best riffs are always symbiotic experiences between the perfect movie and a crew that fluidly dances with it, which is something Hor-RIFF-ic accomplishes here. It's possible that there is a better riff of this movie that could be made, but the fact that Hor-RIFF-ic made such an accomplishment on their very first release is an impressive feat all the same.
Note: There are two cuts of this movie out there. Both theatrical and unrated are available on DVD while the blu-ray is solely unrated. Hor-RIFF-ic offers separate tracks that can sync with both. I'm not sure what the differences are (I synced mine up with unrated) but if you have either version you should be covered.
Classic
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