Editorials
“Friday the 13th: The Series” Didn’t Need Jason Voorhees to Be an Entertaining Horror Show [TV Terrors]
For this month’s installment of “TV Terrors” we revisit “Friday the 13th: The Series,” which aired from 1987 to 1990 – and did not feature Jason Voorhees in a single episode.
One of the best memories of my childhood involves five year old me, my four year old brother and my mom hunkering down in front of the TV on a Saturday with some jelly cookies, and putting on channel 11 to watch “Friday the 13th: The Series.” Since my mom’s idea of winding down is watching anything horror oriented, we were more than happy to oblige, and “Friday the 13th: The Series” offered up the proper level of scares to keep me invested but never frightened. The series debuted in October of 1987, and stars Canadian pop star and model Robey as Micki Foster, a young woman who inherits the antique store “Vendredi’s Antique’s” from her Uncle Lewis.
But this is no ordinary antique shop…
Lewis made a deal with the devil, you see, in exchange for material wealth, powers, and immortality, to sell cursed antiques to unfortunate collectors and consumers. Micki inherits the store alongside her estranged cousin, the affable Ryan (played by John LeMay). They partner with the older, and wiser Jack (as played by Chris Wiggins), a retired magician who takes on the duty with his cohorts to travel around the world recovering the cursed antiques. Developed by Frank Mancuso Jr. and Larry B. Williams, “Friday the 13th” was a great series that leaned heavily into horror and the occult, often relying on a serialized, case of the week format that worked quite well.
The series injected a truly charming mysticism about it where every episode creatively spawned a new menacing antique that always led back to Micki trying to comprehend the true scope of her uncle’s ill-fated deal with the devil. The trio of Robey, LeMay, and Wiggins allowed for a great chemistry that made them empathetic heroes we often rooted for, always working with the deck stacked against them; eventually, LeMay was replaced in Season 3 with the less interesting Johnny Ventura (Steve Monarque). “Friday the 13th: The Series” established an interesting mythology and world akin to “Kolchak” and “X-Files,” easily sucking in viewers at the time.
Some of my favorite episodes includes Season One’s “Tales of the Undead,” in which Ryan witnesses an attack by a character from his favorite comic book. Ryan eventually tracks down the comic’s creator, a bitter man named Jay Star who has a violent agenda against his former business partners that stole his character for fame and fortune. “Vanity’s Mirror” is a sad episode centered on nerdy girl Helen who steals a gold magic compact mirror. The reflection of the mirror puts men under her love spell, and she uses it to lure and murder her male tormentors. “Eye of Death” from Season Two finds a rival antique dealer who uses a magic lantern to travel back to the Civil War where he steals artifacts off the battlefields to resell them in modern times.
‘Friday the 13th: The Series” – The Inheritance
“Face of Evil” is the sequel to “Vanity’s Mirror,” now focused on aging super model Tabitha Robbins, who finds the gold compact. Now the compact bears the power to grant its user eternal youth, at the cost of other people’s lives, and Tabitha becomes desperate when the group tracks her down. “Scarlet Cinema” is another top five episode centered on a film student with a love for werewolf films who uses a cursed movie camera to bring the monster to life. Eventually he becomes a werewolf himself, terrorizing various people. It’s a great episode celebrating classic horror.
“Hate on Your Dial” centers on young Ray who is sold a cursed car radio by Johnny; said radio can allow him to travel to the past. A proud racist, Ray uses the device to find his father who is a powerful Klansman and hopes to find a way to prevent him from a murder conviction. “Night Prey” centers on a vampire hunter who steals a golden cross that can kill vampires. He uses the cross to track down his wife who was turned by a powerful vampire in hopes of turning her back. It’s a good episode albeit one that feels very unlike the series’ typical content.
Although the series did often watch like an anthology, “Friday the 13th: The Series” felt a lot like a classic horror based movie serial with our group of antique dealers going on various hunts for these cursed items. The fact this was all before technological advances like the internet, GPS, or cell phones helped inject so much more urgency and tension.
But “Friday the 13th: The Series,” despite its good ratings, was abruptly cancelled in the middle of its third season, amounting to a smaller episode count, and no official series finale.
It’s tough to discuss the series without tackling the elephant in the room. One of the more common questions that horror fans have asked for decades is if the series is meant to be a spinoff of the slasher movie series of the same name. The title certainly implied it was, but the in-name-only series (originally titled “The 13th Hour”) makes no reference to the movies. There were some rumors that they were planning to feature Jason’s mask as a cursed antique in the final scene of the series, or as a prop in the background, but those were never really confirmed.
After (and in spite of) its cancellation, the series thankfully flourished in syndication for many years, and continues to pop up on TV to this day. It re-aired constantly on network television and in cable syndication for almost two decades on places like The Sci-fi Channel, and the now defunct Chiller TV. It has most recently been airing on Comet TV. The series was never revived, nor did we ever get an official finale. However, in 2009 we did get what many consider a spiritual sequel, “Warehouse 13.”
This sci-fi/adventure leaning series was essentially the same premise with a group of agents hired by the government to investigate and track down ancient cursed artifacts that are said to hold special powers. At their peril they travel around the world retrieving the artifacts and bringing them back to the warehouse for safe keeping. The series was a hit and lasted five seasons on the Syfy channel in America; it is also considered by many fans as an unofficial successor that carried on the concept without fail.
Whether or not it’s ever been officially canonical to the slasher movie series continues to be a never ending point of discussion among horror fans, but there’s no denying that “Friday the 13th: The Series” is a quality horror show that’s always worthy of re-discovery.
Where Can I Watch It? The complete series is still widely available on DVD, and as of this writing, “Friday the 13th: The Series” still airs often on Comet TV on cable television.
Editorials
Silly, Self-Aware ‘Amityville Christmas Vacation’ Is a Welcome Change of Pace [The Amityville IP]
Twice a month Joe Lipsett will dissect a new Amityville Horror film to explore how the “franchise” has evolved in increasingly ludicrous directions. This is “The Amityville IP.”
After a number of bloated runtimes and technically inept entries, it’s something of a relief to watch Amityville Christmas Vacation (2022). The 55-minute film doesn’t even try to hit feature length, which is a wise decision for a film with a slight, but enjoyable premise.
The amusingly self-aware comedy is written and directed by Steve Rudzinski, who also stars as protagonist Wally Griswold. The premise is simple: a newspaper article celebrating the hero cop catches the attention of B’n’B owner Samantha (Marci Leigh), who lures Wally to Amityville under the false claim that he’s won a free Christmas stay.
Naturally it turns out that the house is haunted by a vengeful ghost named Jessica D’Angelo (Aleen Isley), but instead of murdering him like the other guests, Jessica winds up falling in love with him.
Several other recent Amityville films, including Amityville Cop and Amityville in Space, have leaned into comedy, albeit to varying degrees of success. Amityville Christmas Vacation is arguably the most successful because, despite its hit/miss joke ratio, at least the film acknowledges its inherent silliness and never takes itself seriously.
In this capacity, the film is more comedy than horror (the closest comparison is probably Amityville Vibrator, which blended hard-core erotica with references to other titles in the “series”). The jokes here are enjoyably varied: Wally glibly acknowledges his racism and excessive use of force in a way that reflects the real world culture shift around criticisms of police work; the last names of the lovers, as well the title of the film, are obvious homages to the National Lampoon’s holiday film; and the narrative embodies the usual festive tropes of Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies.
This self-awareness buys the film a certain amount of goodwill, which is vital considering Rudzinski’s clear budgetary limitations. Jessica’s ghost make-up is pretty basic, the action is practically non-existent, and the whole film essentially takes place in a single location. These elements are forgivable, though audiences whose funny bone isn’t tickled will find the basic narrative, low stakes, and amateur acting too glaring to overlook. It must be acknowledged that in spite of its brief runtime, there’s still an undeniable feeling of padding in certain dialogue exchanges and sequences.
Despite this, there’s plenty to like about Amityville Christmas Vacation.
Rudzinski is the clear stand-out here. Wally is a goof: he’s incredibly slow on the uptake and obsessed with his cat Whiskers. The early portions of the film lean on Wally’s inherent likeability and Rudzinski shares an easy charm with co-star Isley, although her performance is a bit more one-note (Jessica is mostly confused by the idiot who has wandered into her midst).
Falling somewhere in the middle are Ben Dietels as Rick (Ben Dietels), Wally’s pathetic co-worker who has invented a family to spend the holidays with, and Zelda (Autumn Ivy), the supernatural case worker that Jessica Zooms with for advice on how to negotiate her newfound situation.
The other actors are less successful, particularly Garrett Hunter as ghost hunter Creighton Spool (Scott Lewis), as well as Samantha, the home owner. Leigh, in particular, barely makes an impression and there’s absolutely no bite in her jealous threats in the last act.
Like most comedies, audience mileage will vary depending on their tolerance for low-brow jokes. If the idea of Wally chastising and giving himself a pep talk out loud in front of Jessica isn’t funny, Amityville Christmas Vacation likely isn’t for you. As it stands, the film’s success rate is approximately 50/50: for every amusing joke, there’s another one that misses the mark.
Despite this – or perhaps because of the film’s proximity to the recent glut of terrible entries – Amityville Christmas Vacation is a welcome breath of fresh air. It’s not a great film, but it is often amusing and silly. There’s something to be said for keeping things simple and executing them reasonably well.
That’s a lesson that other indie Amityville filmmakers could stand to learn.
The Amityville IP Awards go to…
- Recurring Gag: The film mines plenty of jokes from characters saying the quiet part (out) loud, including Samantha’s delivery of “They’re always the people I hate” when Wally asks how he won a contest he didn’t enter.
- Holiday Horror: There’s a brief reference that Jessica died in an “icicle accident,” which plays like a perfect blend between a horror film and a Hallmark film.
- Best Line: After Jessica jokes about Wally’s love of all things cats to Zelda, calling him the “cat’s meow,” the case worker’s deadpan delivery of “Yeah, that sounds like an inside joke” is delightful.
- Christmas Wish: In case you were wondering, yes, Santa Claus (Joshua Antoon) does show up for the film’s final joke, though it’s arguably not great.
- Chainsaw Award: This film won Fangoria’s ‘Best Amityville’ Chainsaw award in 2023, which makes sense given how unique it is compared to many other titles released in 2022. This also means that the film is probably the best entry we’ll discuss for some time, so…yay?
- ICYMI: This editorial series was recently included in a profile in the The New York Times, another sign that the Amityville “franchise” will never truly die.
Next time: we’re hitting the holidays in the wrong order with a look at November 2022’s Amityville Thanksgiving, which hails from the same creative team as Amityville Karen <gulp>
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