Fear Friday - Ch Ch Ch Ha Ha Ha

Yes, it's that time of year again. That unlucky day that has been forever linked to one of the greatest Choppy McSlashy movies of all time. Today's Fear Friday will celebrate that movie but first here's a little treat for everyone.

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It's time for another Fear Friday. Every Friday The Lounge will offer up a movie for your enjoyment. The movies will be a wide variety from the horror genre. From vintage to classic to slasher to thriller to the just plain cheesy. So get the popcorn popped, kill the lights and get ready for a little fright. This weeks selection is in honor of today's date...

Fear Friday - Friday The 13th

Is it over yet??!!! I'm peeking through my fingers.

Directed by Sean S. Cunningham (A Stranger is Watching and Spring Break) and released on May 9, 1980 by Paramount Pictures (rated R). In 1958 two counselors were murdered at Camp Crystal Lake. Fast Forward 20+ years as Camp Crystal Lake is getting ready for it's grand reopening. This seems like a good idea to the owners despite the fact that the locals call it "Camp Blood". Hmmm...could this have been an early warning sign? Soon enough the counselors start to disappear one by one. Seems someone does not want Camp Crystal Lake to reopen. But who???

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Friday the 13th part III was the first real horror film I ever saw. My friend Mary and I begged my mom to let us rent it and for some reason she said yes. We were probably in about 6th or 7th grade at the time. We really wanted part I because it had Kevin Bacon in it but the one copy was rented out (this was in the day of independent video stores who rarely had more than one copy of something) so we had to settle for part III. Part III was in 3-D in the theaters but at home it just had lots of people holding stuff real close to the camera. Regardless of which part we ended up with it ended up scaring me to death!!!

The original is still a way creepy movie. The old grainy look it has from outdated film adds so much to the creepy feel of it. It's hard for me to watch the old parts of this series because it leaves me feeling icky, nervous and a little afraid of the dark. At the heart of it it's just a movie about someone walking around killing people and putting it in the woods makes it all the worse. I doubt I'll ever want to go camping again in my life.

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Yes, it may be a bit outdated but I think the effects are still great and creative. And yes, as the series goes on it gets harder and harder to watch. But Part X and Freddy vs. Jason were much fun and nice to see the series brought back to life. I'm sure most didn't care for it but I really liked the new 2009 remake/re-envisioning (I would say it's just the next chapter) of Friday the 13th. It's slick and shiny so it takes away some of the nervousness the old ones cause me but I was pleasantly surprised when it ended up being fun and a wee bit scary. I liked that in Jason's creepy house he had all the camp counselors whistles hanging on the wall like souvenirs. Ick! 

Take a look at the original trailer...

Some trivia about the movie...

1. The movie was filmed at Camp Nobebosco in New Jersey. The camp is still in operation to date, and they have a wall of Friday the 13th paraphernalia to honor the fact that the movie was set there.

2. Composer Harry Manfredini has said that contrary to popular belief, the famous "chi chi chi, ha ha ha" in the film's score is actually "ki ki ki, ma ma ma". It is meant to resemble Jason's voice saying "kill kill kill, mom mom mom" in Mrs. Voorhees' mind. It was inspired by the scene in which Mrs. Voorhees seems to be possessed by Jason and chants "Get her mommy....kill her!" Manfredini created the effect by speaking the syllables "Ki" and "Ma" into a microphone running through a delay effect.

3. While most of the cast and crew stayed at local hotels during the filming, some of the loyal cast and crew members, including Tom Savini, and Taso N. Stavrakis, stayed at the actual camp site. They had Savini's Betamax VCR and only a couple of movies (Barbarella (1968) and Marathon Man (1976)) on videotape to keep themselves entertained, so each night they would watch one of these movies. To this day, Savini says he can recite those movies by heart.

4. Victor Miller had originally given Jason the name of Josh. After deciding that it sounded too nice, he changed it to Jason after a school bully.

5. Victor Miller's working title for the script was "Long Night at Camp Blood".

6. The movie was sold to investors strictly on it's name. There had not been a movie called Friday the 13th so they grabbed it, made up a poster and shopped it around. No one knew that they had no idea or script for it.