Halloween Diary 2021 - The Final Friday

 

I've always wanted to get this image exactly as above. Glad to finally have it.

I wanted to get a few Friday the 13ths in the month somehow, despite a recent actual Friday the 13th in August. I just went with the first two. These are the two (well, I'd say the third one, also) that I seem to pair with each other a lot more the last few years than in the past. And I have conditioned myself to watch Friday the 13th (1980) and Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) starting in the early afternoon. Until tonight, I've even made room for the third film in many Friday marathons. I'd say the first film has moved up the most in favor since it really feels like an independent film shot on location in New Jersey, still grasping a hold on the 70s spirit before some of the later sequels attained a more mainstream horror 80s vibe. I still think why I love Part 2 is because it was a continuation of that to a certain extent, taking us to Connecticut, but still maintaining the rural East Coast campgrounds aesthetic, with that independent spirit of what was previously a holdover of the 70s in the first film, while being a bridge for the future sequels to develop the body count formula further. Admittedly, I was sometimes distracted by my daughter as she was asking me a ton of questions during Friday the 13th, about how my favorite character was for each film in the franchise. She would ask me about Walter Gorney, the Crazy Ralph, about different actresses, characters, back stories, actor/actress histories, etc. I found myself really working hard to determine favorite characters for many of the films, actually. I do watch folks on YouTube, read different takes at different sources on how they feel about characters, performances, why these films suck or why they rule. Just today, I listened to a podcast with two fans of "Halloween" (1978), weighing in on why neither of them particularly like the first Friday the 13th. One even said the Manfredini suite at the end, the harmony of the melody was awful and had aged quite badly. I am on the flipside of that since I find the suite incredibly powerful and I find myself listening to it after the film is over again. It has a way of setting into my mind, working its way deep inside. The lake really doesn't have a boy. He's not still there. And yet that ending leaves it open for us, even as Jason was supposedly dead, having drowned because the counselors weren't paying attention. That was the whole initiative behind what was motivating Mama to get revenge. But the franchise went ahead, moving forward despite Cunningham feeling nothing was really there to provoke to any life, much less prolonged success. Don't let logic and reason deter you (or anyone else) from tapping that vein to see if anything is there to build a franchise from. Seems the vein was there until Victor Miller was the clot that stopped the flow.

I always like the opening scenes at the small towns before characters make their way to Camp Crystal Lake (or another nearby, in the case of Part 2). Locals know that is Camp Blood, a jinxed space they want no part of. Sandra wants to drag Jeff over to the notorious camp out of morbid curiosity, but Jeff obviously wants no part of that place. The film decided even as Paul's counselor center is apart from that, but not really far enough according to the police officer, Jason was privy to their activities, comings and goings.

The old logo. They didn't like these films but Paramount was always a "kickoff" to that next film I rented



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