Boo: Way Back WhensDay: Friday the 13th

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

Growing up, I was never a big fan of horror movies.  I can remember being freaked out after watching the original Halloween, to the point that I've only seen it the one time and have no interest in watching it again.  Texas Chainsaw Massacre gave me nightmares too.  And I never really gave Freddy Krueger a chance.  But for some reason, I took to the Friday the 13th series of films.

Back in the 80's, long before Netflix or DVDs for that matter, we would go to the mom and pop video store up the road from our house.  More often than not, my brother and I would pick one of the many Friday the 13th sequels.

More than likely, you know the premise of these movies.  A hockey mask wearing lunatic goes on a killing spree each year at Camp Crystal Lake.  Countless scantily clad teenage and 20 somethings fell victim to Jason Voorhees. He was hellbent on getting revenge after drowning in the lake in the original film.  His mother was the killer the first time around.  By the way, a young Kevin Bacon was one of the victims in that movie too.

Friday the 13th Part 3

I've seen most of the 12 movies under the Friday the 13th banner.  I've seen eight of them in their entirety, and a portion of Jason X (which looked incredibly cheesy).  The movies were all cheap to make (for the most part) and had a pretty good return at the box office.  That first installment grossed nearly $60 million dollars, which pales in comparison to other movies, but it only cost $550,000 to make.

Whenever I think of the franchise, I'd say that Part 3 is my favorite of the films.  If I remember correctly it was in 3D as well, although I never saw it that way.  I don't know what it is about that particular version, but if given the choice to watch one of the movies over and over, I'd pick that one.

Jason Voorhees

While all the movies had their scary elements, they were sort of cornball too.  It was a movie we would recreate as kids with our friends.  Someone played Jason and would go around "killing" the rest of us.  Probably not the healthiest childhood activity, but it was memorable for sure.  One of these days I'll catch up on the movies I haven't seen.  (cue the ch ch ch ah ah ah)