Halloween (1978), when it was released, set the standard for the slasher genre, which would go on to have an extreme boom throughout the 1980s. However, as fantastic as it was and still is, it was tense and suspenseful, but not gory nor bloody. The original Friday the 13th (1980) took it even further by adding blood and gore, which was a big hit when it was released. But unlike Halloween, Friday was reviled by critics for its lack of originality and excessive violent content. When you see it now, it’s not the gorefest that many people said it was. The most gruesome moments were left offscreen. The violence wasn’t as explicit like it would become in the later sequels. All the sequels (especially Part 7) had trouble with the MPAA, because they were/still behind the times.
But, enough about that. When it comes to the entire franchise, some of them are better than others, but whatever you think about the “quality” of all of them, you have to admit they are still so much fun to watch. Yeah, the characters are stereotypical and cookie-cutter, but the kills were incredible (especially the sleeping bad kill from Part 7). If anything, they are all cautionary tales about the dangers of drinking, drugs, and premarital sex. In this case, some of the most experienced of teenagers are usually the ones who are slaughtered and in brutal ways.
Let’s not forget the very center of all the carnage: the unstoppable killing machine that is Jason Voorhees, who still remains one of the most legendary of all movie baddies, no matter who plays him.
There have been multiple releases of the collection in the past, but I think the new deluxe limited edition from Scream Factory is the one to end them all. With all the previously released extras plus brand-new special features, including the long awaited uncut gore footage from Part 2, there’s hours and hours of killer content!
The 16-disc set includes:
Discs 1 & 2: Friday the 13th (1980) – Theatrical & Uncut Versions
Disc 3: Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Disc 4: Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982)
Disc 5: Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
Disc 6: Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
Disc 7: Friday the 13th: Jason Lives (1986)
Disc 8: Friday the 13th: The New Blood (1988)
Disc 9: Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Discs 10 & 11: Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) – Theatrical & Uncut Versions
Disc 12: Jason X (2002)
Disc 13: Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
Disc 14: Friday the 13th (2009)
Disc 15 & 16: Bonus Discs 1 & 2: includes The Friday The 13th Chronicles – An 8-Part Featurette; Secrets Galore Behind The Gore – A 3-Part Featurette; Crystal Lake Victims Tell All!; Scream Queens: Horror Heroines Exposed (2014) – Including Interviews With Adrienne King And Melanie Kinnaman (78 min); Slice And Dice: The Slasher Film Forever (2013) – Including Interviews With Corey Feldman And John Carl Buechler (75 min); and much, much more.
Obviously, this will be a dream come true for many horror fanatics (especially for those who don’t already own the previous sets) and the folks at Scream Factory should be commended for their work and dedication to bringing us this incredible collection. This is definitely one must-have mammoth set!
Other notable releases:
Claudine (Criterion): An often over-looked and amazing romantic comedy/drama starring the late Diahann Carroll as a strong-willed single mother of six living in Harlem who meets and fall in love with a garbage collector (James Earl Jones) who feels unwilling to take the mantle of being the new father to her kids.
Mallrats (Arrow): Kevin Smith’s charmingly vulgar 1995 slacker comedy starring Jeremy London and Jason Lee as two best friends hanging out at their local mall who try to win back the girlfriends who dumped them.
Requiem for a Dream (4K UHD): The new 20th anniversary edition of Darron Aronofsky’s extremely disturbing 2000 adaptation of the Hubert Selby, Jr. novel about the dangerous drug additions of four New York lost souls: an older woman (Ellen Burstyn), her son (Jared Leto), his girlfriend (Jennifer Connolly), and his best friend (Marlon Wayans).
Terror in the Aisles (Scream Factory): A new standalone edition of the 1984 classic compilation of trailers and scenes from science fiction, crime drama, and horror films of the 1960’s, ’70s, and ’80s. Starring Donald Pleasence and Nancy Allen.
Sergeant York (Warner Archive): Gary Cooper won the first of his two Oscars for his heartfelt portrayal of Alvin York, a real-life recent convert to Christianity, who finds himself torn between his non-violent beliefs and his desire to fight for his country during World War I
