Arriving on Blu-ray February 3rd from Paramount Home Entertainment is the high def uncut Blu-ray release of the infamous Friday the 13th. Beyond the break you can check out David Harley’s review of the release and see if the high def release is worth picking up instead of the normal DVD, which also arrives at retailers February 3rd.
Inspired by the Ten Little Indians premise of Bava’s BAY OF BLOOD – a film Sean Cunningham lied about watching until recently, making its American release title, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT PART II, ironic – and HALLOWEEN, FRIDAY THE 13TH started out as nothing more than Cunningham’s desire to make a quick buck in the horror genre. After changing the name from “A Long Night at Camp Blood” to FRIDAY THE 13TH, Cunningham immediately put an ad for the film in Variety, in an attempt to gather investors and find out if the newly christened title was copyrighted. It was a risky move, considering all he had at that point was a name and a few pages of a script, but it ended up being the right one. In the fall of 1979, FRIDAY began principal photography in New Jersey with a cast of unknowns, except for Betsy Palmer, and opened to huge box-office numbers in May 1980, going on to become one of the highest grossing independent horror films of all-time and spawning 9 sequels, a crossover with Freddy Kruger and a reboot. At the time of its release, FRIDAY was lambasted by critics and campaigned against by Siskel and Ebert, who thought it was reprehensible garbage that couldn’t be topped – and then the rest of the 80s happened.

Even though Cunningham is a rather lazy director (point-and-shoot seemed to be the special of the day while making FRIDAY), he did manage to craft a film that, often times, seems to have ideas at play that are too good for its hollow and unoriginal premise. Soon after its opening sequence, where some teens are slaughtered for their promiscuous activities, we’re introduced to Annie (Robbi Morgan), who’s trying to hitch a ride to Camp Crystal Lake. Stopping in at a small town diner, the locals warn her about the camp, recanting the events of the film’s opening, before Enus, a trucker, reluctantly offers her a lift. Annie is introduced as the main girl and we assume that it’s through her perspective that we’ll see the rest of the film play out, yet she’s killed just minutes later. Cunningham managed to trick the audience and kill off a safe character at the same time, setting an ominous tone for the film.

Amidst Annie’s hitchhiking adventures, we’re introduced to the rest of Camp Crystal Lake’s counselors, who are fixing up the campground before their kids arrive. The great thing about all these characters is that they’re perfectly average looking. A lot of slasher films tend to go for an entire cast of GQ-quality actors, assumedly for “skin showing” purposes (of which they usually don’t follow through on), but not FRIDAY THE 13TH. Sure, they might be stock characters without a lot of depth to them, but they actually look like a random group of kids thrown together at a camp, rather than the remnants of a Playboy Mansion after-party. Even after the storm hits later that night, during which camp owner Steven Christy (Peter Brouwer) is in town getting more supplies, the teens continue to impress by never looking for trouble. No one has any idea there’s a killer running around the campground, offing people one-by-one, so checking out a cabin or taking a peek in a shower stall never seems like a bad idea to these kids and it builds up tension quite effectively. Even up until the last two teens find a bloody axe in a bed, it could’ve just been animal blood; there’s still a viable excuse. If anyone could be considered dumb in the film, it would be Brenda (Laurie Bartram), who decided it would be a great idea to chase voices through the woods in the middle of a storm. I think some people might see Alice (Adrienne King) as being on the same level, but in her defense she was trying to get the hell out of Dodge when she stumbled upon the killer; she wasn’t snooping for clues.

Paramount’s Blu-Ray release of FRIDAY THE 13TH left me with mixed feelings. The 1080p 1.78:1-framed transfer looks crisp and colorful, while retaining the gritty feel that the film is suppose to have. The only real beef I have with the grain is that it’s unevenly displayed in the film, showing up heavily in some scenes and is almost completely absent in others. Basically, all of the nighttime shots look terrible. The sFx sequences, where all 10 seconds of footage that makes this version “uncut” lies, is where the film looks especially cheesy. The high definition makes the death scenes look like nothing but fake blood and latex, making the film that much less impactful. The Dolby TRUEHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack is good considering the source material, but not exactly reference material. Since there were budget limitations during the original production, some of the remastered sound effects still come off as somewhat subdued (there’s only so much you can do with a cheap soundtrack recording), such as the thunderstorm sequences and some of the dialogue, which sounds muffled at times. While Harry Manfredini’s score is the highlight of the soundtrack, it could’ve benefited from a remixing, so it could take advantage of all the sound channels properly and not sound so front-heavy.

At first glance, the abundance of extras Paramount has provided for the disc seems generous, considering the lack of special features provided on previous releases. There’s a commentary, ported over from the WB International DVD, featuring Sean Cunningham, editor Bill Freida, composer Harry Manfredini, stars Adrienne King and Betsy Palmer, and moderator Peter Bracke; Fresh Cuts: New Tales From Friday The 13th features interviews with screenwriter Victor Miller, composer Harry Manfredini, sFx artist Tom Savini, and actors Robbi Morgan, and Ari Lehman; The Man Behind the Legacy: Sean S. Cunningham follows the director/producer through his daily routine at his production office, as he reminisces about the franchise and shows off some of the memorabilia he has; Friday The 13th Reunion, filmed at a convention held last year , features a panel with Manfredini, Miller, Lehman, King, and Palmer; Lost Tales From Camp Blood – Part 1 is a short film where Jason stalks and kills a couple; Crystal Lake Chronicles, taken from the box set bonus disc, features interviews with Cunningham, Savini and cast members; Secrets Galore Behind the Gore, also taken from the box set bonus disc, is a one-on-one interview with Tom Savini ; and finally, the film’s trailer in HD. If you’ve ever read Peter Bracke’s CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES, then you have no need to watch any of these extras or the upcoming HIS NAME WAS JASON documentary, since you’ve already learned everything worth knowing about the film. If you were going to watch something on the disc, I’d recommend the commentary, which contains all of the information given on the other extras and then some, and maybe the short. Even though Lost Tales is pretty terrible – the killer doesn’t even look like Jason! – it isn’t rehashing what’s in the other extras.

The extra footage, totaling 10 seconds, isn’t exactly a revelation like the recently released scenes from the original MY BLOODY VALENTINE and the extras are either pulled directly from the DVD box set or contain information that you probably already know, but if all you’re wanting the FRIDAY THE 13TH Blu-Ray for is better picture and sound, then you won’t be disappointed.

Film: 3.5/5
Blu-Ray: 3/5