Not Your Typical Friday Night

This is the first real post on REELapse. First of all, welcome. Kick your shoes off, crack a beer, and relax. This is how it will work. Until I decide to change it, which is likely. Each week I'll cover two films through two separate posts. Post One will examine the characters and their particular traits. Specifically, what do these personality traits and actions say about the times the films were made? Nudity and violence are covered here too. Post Two will cover themes and tone. What is the film trying to say and how is it saying it?

His Name Was (and still is) Jason...
This week REELapse tackles Friday the 13th. (1980 & 2009)Since Sean Cunningham's original Friday hit theaters Jason has returned to Crystal Lake 11 more times. And one field trip to Springwood, OH. Released nearly thirty years apart, there is much disparity in these films. Let's ask Jason and see what he has to say about those generations.

The last person to get an interview, Asian reporter Trisha Takanawa.

There Once Was a Little Boy
It all started with a little boy, a special boy, enjoying a swim in a lake. Jason couldn't swim and soon went down. So, too, did the lifeguard... on another horny teen counselor. Jason's mother returns and seeks vengeance by hacking up any teen with a taste for lust. Not true, though, in the new Friday. That story is no more than a quick flashback. A legend. A time long past. It's as if this generation didn't care for a story and skipped right to the cool gimmicky shit: Hockey mask (Part 3 in the Original series), Sack mask (part 2), machete (part 3), and basically admit Jason is undead. (part 5: Jason Lives) It's a sad time in film when so little is thought of the audience that the film is nearly void of story and filled with shadow figures and standard archetypes.

Blood and Boobs

Standard in a horror film. Friday the 13th owns it. Oddly enough, the reboot is much less sexual. More gratuitous, sure. The sexual connection between characters is lost to shallow sex intended for vengeance or out of boredom. In the 80's, Friday showed intimate scenes of summer love and crushes. At least then we were thinking about the characters, relating to them. Now it's hard to relate to the animals displayed on screen, just wandering around the woods and fucking until Jason hacks them up. The focus now becomes violence. In the original, the story included violence. Now the story is simply a vehicle for it. An exploitative gorefest.

So What's Good About the Remake?

Believe it or not, there are good things going on in the remake. Stay tuned for part 2 and a reason to grab a date, shut off the lights, and take a stroll through the new (and in some ways improved!) Camp Crystal Lake.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Welcome to the first official post on REELapse! This blog will be dedicated to the oddity that is the remake. With so many films remade, sometimes re-remade, it is as good a time as ever to explore this often shunned genre. Get ready for a wicked (in every sense of the word but this one) good reading!

What "Versus" Means In the REELapse World
I know a lot of the Dark Horizons crowd will be disappointed when they discover this isn't a place for fourteen-year-olds to bitch about the color of red used on Jason's mask in the remake. If you see "vs" don't assume I mean it in a combative manner. It is simply a term I will use to refer to the academic comparison of films and their remakes. That said, while we're all still waiting for Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash I can just let you know now [SPOILER ALERT] Ash wins.

Chainsaw Hand. Boomstick Other. Time Traveler. Game, Set, Match.

2: The Revenge
Next up is a post about the first set of films being discussed. That sequel post will share the title "The Revenge" with about 700 horror sequels. And the most classic title other than Gingerdeadman 2: The Passion of the Crust. Don't believe me? Look at your own risk. This week I'll be examining the Friday the 13th films. (2009 & 1980)

What to Expect
In the begining the hair was fried and frizzy, Michael Jackson was alive and black, and REO Speedwagon was selling out The Greek rather than the Greek Islands Resort and Casino in Brampton, MO. Yes, when Paramount released the original Voorhees splatterfest the times were much, uh, simpler. Regardless of the decade, each trip to Crystal Lake is filled with horny teens, topless Midnight swims, and a stack of bodies. (or what's left of them) And it's always a bloody good time.