Editorials
All the Horror Headed Our Way on Friday, October 13th!
The final Friday the 13th of 2017 brings a whole lot of horror fun with it.
Once upon a time, a brand new installment of the Friday the 13th franchise was penciled in for release on Friday, October 13 of this year, which would’ve been absolutely perfect. After all, what could possibly be better than getting a new Friday the 13th movie on a Friday the 13th just weeks before Halloween?!
Alas, that film just wasn’t meant to be. But that’s okay, because we’ve got a whole lot of new horror content to consume when the calendar flips over to Friday, October 13!
For starters, Blumhouse is taking advantage of the date with the release of Happy Death Day on Friday the 13th. The film, directed by Christopher Landon (Paranormal Activity: The Marked One) and being released in theaters, looks to put a really fun spin on the slasher flick, trapping a young woman in a time loop that forces her to get killed by a mask-wearing maniac every single day until she can solve her own murder. It’s like Friday the 13th meets Groundhog Day, which should make for perfect Friday the 13th viewing.
Another new film being released on October 13 is Natalia Leite’s M.F.A., which Brad described in his review as being one of the most important films of the year. Francesca Eastwood plays an art student who confronts her attacker after being sexually assaulted, digging deep into the widespread campus violence that has been brushed under the rug. Many “rape-revenge” films are pure exploitation, but this one looks to confront troubling current issues head on and spark important discussions.
M.F.A. will hit limited theaters and VOD outlets.
Also arriving on VOD and Digital HD this Friday the 13th is Bone Tomahawk director S. Craig Zahler’s Brawl in Cell Block 99, starring Vince Vaughn in a role that’s likely to forever alter the way you look at Vince Vaughn. He stars as Bradley, a down-on-his-luck former boxer who winds up in prison after a gunfight with the police. In prison, “his enemies force him to commit acts of violence that turn the place into a savage battleground.”
Kalyn Corrigan saw Brawl in Cell Block 99 at Fantastic Fest, writing in her review that the exploitation-style thriller is “utterly ravenous and insanely cool.”
Before they unleash the second season of “Stranger Things” on October 27th, Netflix has another Halloween treat for us on October 13th. The Babysitter, directed by McG, promises a whole lot of bloodshed, centered on a young boy who discovers that his hot babysitter is a member of a Satanic cult. Worse yet, she and her friends want to make him their next sacrifice.
Speaking of Netflix…
Friday, October 13 also marks the arrival of Netflix’s “Mindhunter,“ an original series produced by David Fincher, who also directed several of the episodes. The 11-episode debut season follows an agent in the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit who tracks down serial killers and rapists and interviews them in the hopes that they can help solve current murders. Sounds a bit like The Silence of the Lambs, doesn’t it?
With Fincher on board, this one promises to be a standout October offering.
Another streaming service celebrating Friday the 13th this year is Amazon, set to drop the Prime Member Exclusive series “Lore” next Friday. The anthology series, based on the same-named podcast. presents the frightening and often disturbing tales based on real people and events that have led to our modern-day myths and legends.
Six episodes of “Lore” will arrive on October 13th, including the tale of a boy given a doll that seems to have a sinister life of its own; a family whose home appears to be inhabited by a spirit from the other side; and a German village that hunts for a murderous creature.
Fans of true horror should definitely dive deep into “Lore.”
IFC Midnight will release 78/52 in theaters, VOD, and on all digital platforms on October 13, a documentary that shines the spotlight on a single scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho: the infamous shower scene, of course. The doc explores the scene from multiple angles, focusing on its complicated technical aspects and its huge impact on the culture and the future of movies. Interview subjects include Guillermo del Toro, Elijah Wood, Danny Elfman, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Anthony Perkins’ son, Osgood Perkins.
The documentary’s title, by the way, refers to the number of setups (78) and the number of cuts (52) in the notorious shower scene.
Looking for some kid-friendly frights to enjoy with the whole family on Friday the 13th? Look no further than Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob: Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom,” a stop-motion Halloween special that brings The Flying Dutchman back down into Spongebob’s underwater lair. His goal? To make sure Spongebob and his friends are scared on Halloween.
Not only is Friday the 13th: The Game finally getting a Playstation 4 and Xbox One physical release on October 13, but as we learned this week, a brand new map based on Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, along with The Final Chapter‘s Jason, will also arrive on that date. Additionally, a tease today suggests that Part 3 character Chuck will make his way into the game as a new playable counselor.
We may not be getting a new movie, but we won’t be without Jason this Friday the 13th!
Also on the video game front, The Evil Within 2 arrives on October 13.
For more horror fun on Friday the 13th, be sure to tune into AMC, as they’ll be airing Jason Goes to Hell, Freddy vs. Jason and Jason X beginning at 8pm!
“Elevated Horror.” Of all the combinations in the English language, that one is the most insufferable.
It represents almost a decade of scary movies that, for the most part, took themselves too seriously. Horror responds to the moment, so its “why so serious” lean makes sense as we scuttle through the “worst of times” equation of Charles Dickens’ famous opening lines. But there’s still an opening and a need for a lighter approach; one that not only has fun with its audience but takes the piss out of a genre that is seemingly letting its newfound “respectability” go to its head.
Wes Craven believed devotees see horror films to let out their fears one primal scream at a time. At their core, these movies are roller coasters; they bring us as close to the edge as possible before pulling us back into a safety net of reality. The need for a bigger and badder coaster increases during times when the size of that net decreases.
There’s a thrill that comes from imagining being in a foot race with a madman, or outthinking the hordes of zombies on the other side of the door, plus the scavenger humans coming behind them. There’s even a rush that comes from imagining how one might deal with possession to see good triumph over evil in the end. It’s all about building tension and releasing it through catharsis. That cathartic release usually sounds like screams followed by laughter, which signals relief. Genre heavy hitters over the past 10 years offered very little of that respite when the credits rolled. Films like Hereditary, The Witch, Talk to Me, and even Smile (pick one) keep that tension going after the screen fades to black.
Hereditary
As the genre became obsessed with creating trauma metaphors, that lack of release made sense. Anyone with even a small sample size of traumatic experiences knows those emotions don’t magically resolve themselves in an allotted run time. But how much trauma can one take? Especially when there’s a mess going on outside that few of us can escape from. Movies offer that off-ramp, no matter how short.
Everything can’t be, nor should it be, “elevated.” Audiences need thoughtful explorations of life’s ills via monsters as much as they need murdering masked maniacs with kitchen knives. And no, it doesn’t have to go any deeper than that. Sometimes, a knife is just a knife, and it’s still worth our time and respect. As weird as it sounds, that simplicity is comforting not in spite of the trauma but because of it.
The worst of times should manifest more than just anguish. People need to laugh just as much as they need to think seriously about this moment in time. Even the Scream franchise forgot the meta rock upon which it built its church when the latest foray sacrificed the subtle comedy for serious drama. Scary Movie returned at the perfect moment. It provides the necessary laughs, but it’s not a cure-all.
This isn’t a call for Scary Movie imitators but a return to a mainstream landscape where Killer Klowns from Outer Space sat with The Serpent and the Rainbow, nestled neatly with the latest Nightmare on Elm Street, which took nothing away from The Vanishing.
They Live
Even They Live, John Carpenter’s horror sci-fi satire sandwich, kept its tongue firmly in cheek while discussing serious ideas still relevant in 2026. Yes, a film about aliens taking over the world through subliminal messaging only visible through coded sunglasses is, in fact, a tad silly. Carpenter understood that mainstream horror can’t become so self-important that it never looks itself in the mirror and laughs at that inherent silliness.
The thing is, horror historically excels at poking fun at itself. Most of the Scream franchise, The Cabin in the Woods, or The Blackening show adoration without kowtowing. They recognize tropes and trappings but invert them for an audience already in on the joke, but one that also finds solace in said conventions. This keeps the genre on its toes; once something gets parodied, it’s usually time to evolve. That breeds new ideas and fresh filmmakers, which not only strengthen the genre’s collective voice but also amplify it.
Get Out, as “elevated” as some critics want us to believe it is, is a cathartic, populist scary movie that spoke to an untapped audience rather than speaking down to them. Backrooms is one of the biggest horror hits in years, partially because it’s fine-tuned for modern-day teenagers instead of their parents. Movies like these tell everyone the genre is open for business; open for innovation and, yeah, open for new ways in which people can lovingly poke fun at with a wink and a nudge.
Horror needs dread as much as it needs laughter.
Catharsis is just as important as tension, and pulpy populism has the same merit as more high-brow material. Respectability shouldn’t come at the expense of an experience akin to walking through a haunted house. At a time when joy seems in short supply, horror should look to its past to map out its future, and make things just a tad brighter for audiences.
Backrooms
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