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[Review] “Friday the 13th: The Game” is a Killer Use of a Licensed Property

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Fox is cornered in the barn. She’s the last one left. Everyone else is dead. Lightning flashes, followed by the crash of thunder. Harry Manfredini’s score rises as Jason runs in, ax in hand. Fox climbs out a window and sprints for the nearest cabin. She enters the structure and bars the door behind her. Jason appears outside a window and shatters it. He moves to another window and breaks that one, too. Then he disappears as the VHS tape skips, showing signs of wear. Fox picks up a machete and paces back and forth.

Where is he?

Without warning, Jason walks through the barred door, smashing it into pieces. Fox dives out a window, injuring herself in the process. She limps through the rain, keenly aware that she is about to die. Jason approaches, the music rising again. Fox makes one last stand and swings the machete into Jason, stunning him. It only buys her a few seconds and when he approaches again, this time she’s defenseless. Jason picks up Fox and crushes her in a bear hug.

Jason stomps back to his shed, where his mother’s voice calls him to the candlelit shrine he built for her severed head.

Beat for beat, this sounds like a Friday the 13th movie; like maybe some lost version of Part 3. But it’s not. It’s the tail-end of a round of Friday the 13th: The Game, and a shining example of why it’s the greatest use of a licensed property in the history of gaming.

Video games based on licensed properties generally have a bad reputation because there’s a lot of bad stuff out there. The most famous early example of this is E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 although, if you want to talk about horror specifically, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre for the Atari 2600 was also a very real thing. (To be fair, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was never buried in a New Mexico landfill, though it probably should have been)

The point is, licensed video games are too often hastily designed shovelware with our favorite intellectual properties slapped on them in order to make a quick buck. That’s why when a truly inspired licensed game comes along, conversations surrounding it are typically cushioned in assurances of “No really. It’s actually pretty great.”

Anybody who has played Friday the 13th: The Game and then tried to sell somebody else on it knows what I’m talking about.

And ‘pretty great’ doesn’t even really do it justice; that’s a tempered description I would use in order to avoid hyperbole. The exact terminology I inevitably settle on in any extended discussion about Gun Media’s first game is ‘the greatest use of a licensed property in the history of gaming.’

I’m very particular about this specific language. I’m not saying ‘the greatest licensed game in the history of gaming’ because that’s a bold claim up for a heated debate. If people wanted to draw lines in the sand, many would probably argue for Batman: Arkham Asylum or Spider-Man 2 if for no other reason than these were robust triple-A titles, each fully playable on Day 1. Friday the 13th: The Game, on the other hand, is an indie title with some notorious growing pains coming out of the gate. I’m saying ‘the greatest use of a licensed property’ because growing pains aside, no IP has ever been treated with this sort of slavish devotion and reverence.

The immediate presentation alone is impressive. From the opening Gun Media tag, which is manipulated to give the appearance of having been recorded on a VHS tape of questionable quality, to the Harry Manfredini score playing gently over the main menu, you immediately feel drawn into the series’ 80’s-era prime. But that’s just nostalgia-feeding sleight-of-hand, right? The true measure of whether a licensed property does justice to its source material is in what happens after the game starts.

Most people probably know the premise behind the game at this point, but if you don’t, one player is Jason Voorhees, seven players are camp counselors, and they’re thrown together into various locations from the Friday the 13th movies. Jason’s mission is brutally eviscerate the counselors, and the counselors’ mission is to avoid that fate via escape, killing Jason, or simply running out the clock.

A major criticism of this game is that if you want to play specifically as Jason, the odds are stacked against you. In a full game, you’ve got a one-in-eight chance of spawning as Voorhees. And it makes sense people would want to play as him; he’s a lot of fun to play. His robust power set includes teleporting around the map, sneaking up on counselors, and smashing through walls, making him a virtual death god, and raining terror down upon your nearly defenseless opponents is a joy. Of course, if you’re playing as Chad and your sole special ability is to rock a cardigan, it might seem like Jason is a bit overpowered. But that’s kind of Jason’s whole thing, so what might feel like a broken balance issue in any other game feels entirely appropriate within the context of the franchise. Throw in Kane Hodder in a mocap suit and a plethora of recognizable skins representing Jason’s various incarnations and the murderous man-child has never been better depicted outside of film.

But as much fun as playing as Jason is, the satisfaction of seeing near-helpless victims bodied because they wandered onto the wrong campground is only a part of the cinematic Friday the 13th experience. The rest is the thrill of seeing near-helpless victims almost get bodied because they wandered onto the wrong campground, but live to tell about it. And that’s where the counselor side of the game comes in.

If you can set aside that momentary disappointment you might feel when you spawn as a counselor instead of Jason, and really let yourself become immersed in the world Gun Media has painstakingly created, this is the closest you will ever get to living (or dying) through one of these movies yourself. The urge to survive is strong, and being on the wrong end of a Friday the 13th chase sequence is a harrowing experience. Once Jason comes near you – and that incredible, iconic score lets you know it – you only have so many ways to prolong your life, and most of the time it’s going to boil down to putting distance between yourself and an unstoppable murder machine. Run. Jump through windows. Bar doors. Set traps. And this stuff only buys you seconds at a time. But if you can keep it up long enough, you might just be one of the few who makes it to the end. It’s a nerve-shattering experience worthy of the franchise. I’ve put a hundred hours into the game and when Jason is at my heels, my stamina is low, and the nearest cabin is still fifty yards away, my heart still pounds. It’s that good.

But that’s just the gameplay. It’s true, if you slapped different music and skins onto the game it’d still be solid. But the unmitigated fanservice is what makes it such an astounding use of the property. The little details, like the inclusion of Tommy Jarvis, or Pamela’s sweater, or the infamous Ki ki ki ma ma ma audio cue aren’t just random references. They – along with almost everything else – are not only used in ways that make logical sense within the series’ established lore, but also in ways that service the gameplay itself. One dead player can respawn as Tommy if he’s been called over a radio. Pamela’s sweater can be used to distract Jason long enough to set him up for a killing blow. Even the Ki ki ki ma ma ma signals to players Jason’s acquisition of another ability. For the real sticklers, there are calendars on the walls indicating the current date is actually the 13th, and it’s Friday. The game is soaked with that sort of detail and goes to great lengths to successfully recreate everything the series is known and loved for.

If you’re a fan of the Friday the 13th series, and you’ve been sketchy on the game because licensed games have a bad reputation, or because you’ve heard it’s got some issues, I hear you. I had the same doubts. And the game still isn’t without its issues. You’ll still encounter random bugs, though nothing like at launch. It’s best played with people you know because otherwise, you’re going to run into a Jason that screams homophobic slurs at you. But Gun Media is still updating and improving it all the time. They just added Fox, Part IV Jason, the Jarvis house, rain effects, and coming down the pipe is some kind of new ‘Who’s the killer’ Paranoia mode inspired by Roy in Part V. It’s a great game that just keeps getting better, and is the kind of faithful adaptation fandoms wait forever for and almost never see.

No, really. It’s actually pretty great.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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