Friday The 13th dethrones Saw to once again become the most successful horror franchise!

1. Friday the 13th-$372.6 million (11 movies)
2. Saw-$342.5 million (5 movies)
3. A Nightmare on Elm Street-$307.4 million (8 movies)
4. Scream-$293.6 million (3 movies)
5. Halloween-$275.1 million (9 movies)

Right now, Saw is on target to once again grab the title from the Friday with Saw 6 coming out this October. ANOES also has a golden opportunity to pass the Friday series up for the first time if the remake was to make $80 million or more, but it will not pass saw. 'Scream' is out of the picture, even if a part 4 does come out...it will need more sequels to get the title. 'Halloween' is a very very far shot. I don't think it will ever gain that title. With 'Friday' resurgent again, probably as popular as it was in it's heydays, it can very well fight off Saw when more sequels are made. It's very obvious that Friday holds this title right now because it has the most sequels, but also take into consideration that if Fridays dollars was adjusted for inflation, 'Saw' would still be far far beyond. The original 'Friday' which grossed $40 million, would equal to over $100 million in today's dollars, something not even 'Saw' was able to accomplish.

Crappy reviews Thursday: Death Factory (2002)

A woman working at a biological research facility becomes ill when she contracts a deadly, new virus. Sometime after, she becomes a half-monster beast and kills her old co-workers. Some time later, a group of teens go into the old research facility to have a party and come face-to-face with creature. Okay, so this doesn't sound like Hitchcock and ended up being a typical Brad Sykes movie, so why was I so let down? I was speechless, after watching this movie and wanting to gouge my eyes out I only spotted 2 things I liked, and they were the blood (there was a lot of it) and Tiffany Shepis. Although not her best role, she looked wicked.

Want a sweet custom Friday The 13th figure?

I myself wished that Sideshow would have made a Roy figure, being a huge fan of the fifth installment of the franchise and all. That never happened, but I saw this guy's post on the Fright Stuff Forum who makes custom figures and man I tell ya, they are fucking awesome. Part V dream Jason, Roy, Jason Takes Manhattan and more! Check out his auctions on Horror Bid as well as the thread on Fright Stuff!

Friday The 13th 2009, can it fit into the old timeline?

This is a debate that seems to have fans very passionately taking one side or the other. Some feel that Friday The 13th 2009 can easily be easily be inserted into the old time line and others feel that doing so would erase too many facts and too much history already established. Some people have already drawn up their own timlines which has the new film stuck somwhere in the old time line.

86% drop: Friday The 13th week 2 is a bomb at the box office.

As reported at the Friday The 13th blog & Variety:

…Friday for “13th,” which was playing at 3,105, registered an 86% drop. Though steep, such declines are typical for slasher fare. In its first eight days, “13th” has pulled in $50 million.

Much like a lot of the latter installments of the franchise, Friday The 13th started off strong and then nose dived in week two. It seems to be a common practice in slasher films, but more so Friday The 13th sequels as most of the post-Part IV sequels dropped off sharply after week 1.

Crappy reviews Thursday: Terror At Tenkiller (1986)

After a fight with an estranged boyfriend, Leslie and Jana take off on vacation and strange things start to happen at their remote cabin. Soon corpses begin turning up near the lake. One by one friends start to disappear, but the horror of these murders does not fully dawn on the heroine until she comes across the dead body of Jana. Is the killer Jana's psycho boyfriend? If it the weird handyman? Or is it somebody else?

Warrington Gillette PWNED!

I have to say this makes me want to fall off my chair and laugh.

The actor arrived in full costume, wearing the character’s famous ice hockey mask, and took to the stage to frighten partygoers wielding a real axe. But his performance ended in disaster when a woman invaded the stage and tried to wrestle his weapon away from him, slashing his hand.

I could not have said this better, so STFU.

From Friday The 13th Blog:

JASON IS NOT A FUCKING WEED FARMER!

Now, granted, this Jason is a little smarter and more cunning than the original series’ Jason, but a fucking pot farmer??? How goddamn dumb do you think the creators of this movie are? Even if that was ever an idea, I can guarantee someone else in the room would point out how fucking stupid it was.

Jason's mask donning- epic or cheesy?

Shelly (Larry Zerner) and his beloved gag hockey mask 

So, there has been a lot of debate about how Jason donned his infamous hockey mask in Friday The 13th 2009. I personally thought it was a tad bit on the cheesy side how he checked himself out in the mirror afterward, yet a lot of people think it was the best donning to date.

I still say the way he obtained the mask in Part III is, and will always be the most infamous and epic. It's really hard to top that. Here's my rankings:

#4) Jason takes a hockey mask from Jim on the house boat: What are the odds that there is yet one more hockey mask replica with an axe crack? What are the chances that mask will be in the same place as Jason?

Extended Friday The 13th DVD details!

From Fearnet.com:

Wondering what scenes didn't make the theatrical cut of the new Friday the 13th? Yup, so were we. That's why we asked almost everyone we spoke with at today's Friday the 13th press junket in Los Angeles. We'll have a lot of great stuff for you in the days ahead from this junket, including video interviews with the stars. But for now, to get you salivating with anticipation for the not-so-distant future, here's what the cast and crew had to say about the scenes they shot that might find their way onto the film's DVD release.
Note: The following quotes contain spoilers. Check out some of our other Friday the 13th coverage if you haven't seen the film yet and want to be surprised!

Behind the scenes photos of the week.

Here are some photos of Ron Sloan's prosthetic head from his beheading, done up by David Miller. One is from an old Fangoria magazine, and I think the other is one that Shavar Ross posted on the Friday The 13th board a while back.

Fan film review: Jason's Revenge

Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5
Part 6Part 7Part 8
Friday The 13th: Part 3, Jason's Revenge by Delmerio Morgado is one of the better put together fan films, but there's just something about this one that I did not like. Everyone knows that I am a huge fan of Parts I-V, where paranormal, supernatural and immortal elements to Jason were all but non-existent. Jason's Revenge pretty much plays on the fact that Jason is an entity of hell, something that I never liked. For some reason it's hard for me to take a slasher film seriously when it introduces things like hell and space.

Friday The 13th 2009: an early success!

According to Big Hollywood, Friday The 13th 2009 is in line to be one of the best President's Day weekend successes.

What Recession? Biggest President’s Day Weekend in Hollywood History as FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH scares up $20M Friday and has a stab at $51.25M for 4 Days!

ALL-TIME 4-DAY PRESIDENT’S DAY OPENINGS
1. Ghost Rider - $52M opening
2. Friday the Thirteenth - $51.25M opening (projected)3. 50 First Dates - $45.1M opening
4. Daredevil - $45M opening
5. Constantine - $33.6M opening
6. Jumper - $32.1M opening
7. Bridge to Terabithia - $28.5M opening
8. Eight Below - $25M opening
9. The Spiderwick Chronicles - $24.7M opening
10. John Q - $23.6M opening

Happy 48th Henry Rollins!

Happy 48th birthday Henry Rollins, what a nice day to have a birthday! Born 2/13/61 Henry has always been a favorite of mine whether it's his music, his books, spoken word or acting.

Fan film review: Winter At Crystal Lake

Part 2Part 3Part 4
Part 5Part 6
I could sum this one up in one statement- I have never been so fucking annoyed in my life! However, I won't stop there because a lot of aspects of this fan film were good. The flow, edits and scoring was done very well, a lot of well-lit outside shots and some (clothed?) sex scenes. The movie was pretty tight, but the characters, oh boy... they annoyed the FUCK out of me. Not a damn one could act themselves out of a game of charades and they ALL overacted to the point where you wanted to choke slam them. To this day I have no idea why people associate bad, annoying characters to Friday The 13th? The acting in this movie reminded me of Crinoline Head.

Happy Friday The 13th kids!

So, I think a lot of us old school fans will appreciate the new movie. Yeah, it is completely modernized with the typical modern slasher film elements, but it gave Jason a new persona which I say is very reminiscent of how Ted White played Jason with the swiftness of Pluto in The Hills Have Eyes remake. In fact, I think Derek Mears' Jason was very Pluto-esque at times. The story itself, well it was again very typical and in a way bland. It seemed like scenes where we focused on the cast sort of drug on. I really won't spoil this too much, but Mears did an excellent job- much better than Kirzinger or Hodder in my opinion. At times I was thinking "man, Jason does NOT do that!" and had to kick myself in the leg because no body want's to be a "Kane". Seriously, it's not the best Friday movie, not by far, but it will end up right in the middle for me.

Dan Farrands talks about "His Name Was Jason"

Daniel really talks about some interesting things in this interview, I think you guys will like it.

From Bloody Disgusting:

BD: Was there anyone you simply could not FIND?
Farrands: A couple people. Some people had sort of chosen to stay away from it… like Melanie Kinnaman from part 5. Certainly Kevin Bacon was someone we really tried for, and Thommy had a couple conversations with Kevin’s people, and they were actually really nice, and even sort of enthusiastic about it, but at the end of the day they just said “no”. One I really tried to reach out to was Marta Kober, Sandra from part 2. She has literally just gone missing, and her family is really concerned for her. I guess she had some issues. I found some relatives that I was able to reach out to, and they said “We don’t even know where she is and we’re very concerned.” It’s pretty sad. So she’s certainly the most difficult one to track down. And a guy named Alan Hayes from part 4 (Paul), we’ve been chasing him for a while and it turns out his name isn’t Alan Hayes at all! His name is Clyde Hayes, and we got in touch with a manager who used to rep him and he didn’t know how to reach him either. People have gotten out of the business and moved on, it’s a challenge to find people who have moved on with their lives.

BD: And I understand Paramount is going to release

Reminder: EXCLUSIVE Friday the 13th INTERVIEWS online tonight!

2-hour podcast you can hear live or anytime on replay featuring exclusive live interviews with actresses Betsy Palmer and Adrienne King, actor Ron Millkie, writer Victor Miller, Crystal Lake Memories' author Peter Bracke, 'His Name Was Jason' producer Anthony Masi, and Arlen Escarpeta, co-star of the new 'Friday the 13th' re-imagining.

Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 10pm EST/ 7pm PST only at:

www.blogtalkradio.com/moviegeeksunited

All of these interviews will be aired in uncut versions as well...that's nearly six hours of 'Friday the 13th' material!

Be sure to check out our live chat room during the show...converse with other 'Friday' fans!

Freaked Director Alex Winter remakes The Gate in 3-D!

From Shock Till You Drop:

Winter Tackling The Gate Remake in 3-D?
Source:Production Weekly February 11, 2009

There's a new director on board the remake of The Gate and it's a perfect fit. According to Production Weekly, Alex Winter (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure & Bogus Journey) is tackling the redo of the hellish 1987 creature feature. Furthermore, he's doing it in 3-D.

Winter's been juggling an acting, writing and directing career for years since his "Bill" days. In '93 he helmed the FX-heavy comedy Freaked (a fave of mine) and Fever in '99. Recently he's been directing episodes of Ben 10 for the Cartoon Network. Winter's sensibilities seem ideal for The Gate's tale of three kids who open a portal to hell in their backyard.

Stephen Dorff starred in the original film directed by Tibor Takács.

Randall Cook was once attached to the redo, but as he told us in September, he was not pleased with the script and backed off the project.

Great AMC TV interview the makes of Friday The 13th!

I thought this was one of the better interviews, and there has been a lot lately.

Q: Regarding Jason's mental capacity, is he just horribly deformed? Or is he, as Ginny posited in Friday the 13th Part 2, "a frightened retard"?

Derek Mears ("Jason"): I think there's a mild retardation, but he's a smart guy -- he sets people up [in the film]. I think it would be more of a deformity with a mild retardation. Even though Jason does kill people, the filmmakers wanted to lend him an air of humanity -- something with which the audience could empathize. You know, he wears the mask to hide his pain and all that. That's a symbol of -- "That's my protection from society". I don't know what the writers intended, but that's what was going on in my head.

Damian Shannon (co-writer): He's a sympathetic character. We understand his backstory -- he was neglected, he was ostracized, he was different. He was neglected and supposedly drowned, and then they cut off his mother's head. That would make anyone very angry, so we understand his reasons for killing.

And a bonus treat, Ryan Rotten's spoiler free review of the movie.

A word from Eric Morse about his "bashers" !

A lot of people may not know that there are a small handful of people out there who are dead set on discrediting, ruining and smearing Eric Morse's reputation. These people have been relentlessly logging into forums, movie web sites and anywhere else to crap talk him and put his work down. Now, Eric may not be the best novelist out there but at the same time he has written some really good Friday The 13th young-adult oriented books; The Carnival, Road Trip, Jason's Curse and of course Mother's Day which had a full length fan film made based on it. Anyone interested in getting those books, give this a little read for information to where you can get them for next to nothing and still help out ole Mister Morse! While you are att it add him on MySpace- he goes by his true name William Pattison.

Great "Fatally Yours" interview with Adrienne King.

I rather liked this interview- it's nice to see Adrienne going more of these. It seems like a few years back any quality interview with her was few and far between. Go read the rest of this baby.

D: Then it probably was the His Name Was Jason where you’re holding some of them up. I like “dark art” to begin with. I really liked the “Stalking on 82^nd St.”.
AK: 82nd St. was when it all happened, I was living there and yeah, my “dark art” was truly my psycho-therapy of sort if that’s a way to…It was back in the 80’s when people were not, uh, dealing with stalkers as being a reality. Which we all know now, they are truly a reality and horrible creatures to have in your life, especially if the authorities are not paying attention. You know, back then, people just didn’t think it was a big deal and so that’s how I dealt with it and thank God I had a canvas to work on. So I wasn’t taking it out on my walls.

Fan film review: Leatherface vs. Jason

Part 2 Part 3
I personally felt like this was one of the more creative versus fan films that I have seen. Pretty much right behind Notarile's Friday The 31st, Leatherface vs. Jason picks up right after Friday The 13th (1980) after a deranged Sawyer family member (Warden Sawyer) finds Jason in the woods of Crystal Lake- he brings him home gives him his infamous sack mask and pick axe and introduces him to Leatherface and history is made. Once Jason meets Leatherface, Leatherface gets a little jealous and annoyed and attacks Jason. There's a lot more to the film that I don't want to give away, it jumps from 1979 to modern day after about 10-15 minutes with modern versions of Jason.

Ain't It Cool News' Quint reviews Friday The 13th!

Ain't It Cool News is one of those good sites that goes unnoticed by some genre fans, well here ya go, another reminder of who they are!

FRIDAY THE 13TH, on the other hand, I have no trouble seeing “re-imagined.” I guess since the driving force behind that series has always been fun kills, jump scares and ample nudity that I can see a new, modernized Jason movie work just as well as in the good old ‘80s, especially since it defined the genre for so long that it’s almost it’s own sub-genre of slasher film. There’s regular slashers like MY BLOODY VALENTINE and SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE and then there’s Jason movies.

Here's the rest, go read it fuckers.

LatinoReview.com reviews Friday The 13th!

Very interesting review, and it got about what I figured it deserves- a C rating. Beware- heavy spoilers are in the review, but still check it out if you dare!

'Friday the 13th' may be the twelfth film in the series, but it's more of a sequel than a remake. The final showdown between Jason's beloved mother and the lone survivor of the Camp Crystal Lake massacre from the original film are reenacted in the opening credits before the story picks up in the present day. Jason's subsequent murderous rampage has become legend and is recalled amongst a group of five friends on a hike through the woods of New Jersey who are searching for...weed. That's right, according to the nerdy member (and the only one without a girlfriend) there's a hidden supply of cannabis growing near the abandoned Camp Crystal Lake and if they find it they can all be rich. The problem is the plants are protected by an overgrown musclebound half-dead mongoloid wielding a machete who wants to corner the drug market.

Brad Fuller on the unrated Friday The 13th 2009 DVD.

Here's what he had to say and I guess it's good news if the theatrical cut sucks, you know?

We are finishing up on the Unrated DVD this week. That DVD will rock! We have a different cut of movie, that not only has more violence and sex, but it has an additional storyline that is totally different from the movie you will see in theaters. Its not like we just cut a few things differently, the DVD version will feel like a different movie. For those of you who love the theatrical cut, that will also be on the DVD also.

Fan film review: Friday The 31st

Friday The 31st has got to be one of the funnest fan films that I have seen in a very long time. Chris R. Notarile, the director/producer/writer/everything of the movie did something clever- he got Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees in the same place at the same time in a very clever and non-cheesy way. The movie is about John Tate, Michael Myers' nephew, who leaves Haddonfield for New York to escape the horror. While he visits his mother's grave he is watched and followed by Michael. John hits the road with Michael behind him and stops in a small town in New Jersey called Crystal Lake for directions when he runs into Tommy Jarvis who is on the run from Jason Voorhees. All hell breaks loose (literally) when Michael and Jason find one another and fight it out.

Check out the Tom DeSimone interview on Retro Slashers Blog!

Great director of a fantastic movie (amongst others) called Hell Night and brother of Bob DeSimone, who us Friday The 13th fans know as Billy in Friday The 13th Part V!

“It was always my goal, even as a child, to make movies. I started making 8mm films when I was ten and continued on all through high school. Mostly using friends, family and table-top models for my projects. It was always my intention, if I would be so lucky, to go to California and work in films. After getting my Masters in Motion Picture Production at UCLA I worked at various companies making educational films and shorts. Mostly as an editor. My first real mainstream movie was Chatterbox. I had an old story outline for an X-rated comedy called Lips. A producer saw it, liked it and we joined forces and it became Chatterbox. American International did the theatrical releases.”

Check out the rest- it's a great interview!

"Friday the 13th": Breathing new life into the horror genre.

Someone posted this on the Friday The 13th-Community and I found it interesting:

LOS ANGELES: When the filmmakers behind the new "Friday the 13th" began plotting their resurrection of the gore-besotted horror franchise, they understood they were riding the knife edge of a series (and genre) with its own sets of rules. Campers die. People who have sex die. No matter how fast they move, the victims can never get away. And Jason Voorhees, the hockey-mask-wearing killer, never runs. He walks. But the producers knew they could not go wrong with sliding a topless waterskiing scene between the episodes of carnage and mayhem. Because in movies like "Friday the 13th" less is never more, particularly when it comes to showcasing comely teenagers (aka the victims).
While very little about "Friday the 13th" can be called delicate, there's a fine line between reinventing such an institution and alienating the people who make up its meat and potatoes. The genre demands those good-looking, feckless young men and beautiful, courageous women; the geysers of blood erupting from the imperiled campers; and Jason in a hockey mask, a machete in hand, slaughtering human livestock until someone drowns him, or feeds him into a wood chipper.

Read the rest.

Tom Savini: Misanthrope or Misunderstood?

Growing up in the 1980's and seeing Tom Savini's name attached to 1/2 of all of the significant horror films in my golden age sort of sets me up to really admire what Savini has done. I remember reading about him in Fangoria and thinking how cool this guy must be. Sadly, this is not the case- my only encounter with Tom was not bad, however no words were exchanged so I can not have an opinion good or bad about the guy. It just seems that the fans are split half and half- one half thinks that he is burnt out to the point where he hates conventions and in turn treats his fans like shit. The other half is completely opposite- they think he is super nice to the fans and is very fan oriented.

Dark Deilicacies "His Name Was Jason" signing video.

I thought this was a really neat watch- it was really nice to see unfamiliar faces to the Friday The 13th signing circuit like Erich Anderson, Gloria Charles and Elizabeth Kaitan. Dark Delicacies are known for their huge DVD signings, but this one takes the cake! Here's a YouTube video of it- note Richard Brooker's misinformation at 1:25 in. LOL.

Night Owl Productions repaint by Erich Lubatti.

I recently obtained this Night Owl Productions "Hack" from a collector and really disliked the pain job. I asked around the Night Owl Productions forum for someone to repaint it and Erich Lubatti from Lubatti Designs came highly recommended. So, needless to say for a very reasonable fee I had him repaint it and - WOW - what a difference. Note: the photos of the repaint is not completely finished.

BEFORE.

AFTER.

Mezco Cinema Of Fear Series 4 pre-order.

Man, gotta love this Jason III figure- captures the Brooker stature to a tee. Two others in the series 4 are A Nightmare On Elm Street related so go take a look and pre-order if you want these- they may sell out as fast as the last!

Is 3-D horror making a come back?

In the 1980's a good handful of horror movies (mainly Part III's) were released in 3-D, maybe you recognize the names; Friday The 13th Part III, Jaws III, Amityville III? It seemed like the huge success of Friday The 13th Part III paved the way for these movies in hopes to capture the same success, for the most part it did not happen. Friday The 13th Part III up until recently was the highest grossing 3-D film of all time, only to be dethroned by Spy Kids 3-D. Although the 1980's gave a valiant effort the 3-D craze of the 1950's was not recaptured and seemed to die with a bunch of failures like Silent Madness and Parasite.

A fan perspective: Friday The 13th I-III and His Name Was Jason DVD review.

I really don't want to let people down with this being one of the biggest horror releases of the year and all. I was really excited for these and got them all, came home and popped them in. First and foremost all of the movies had a better transfer, which really makes the DVDs worthwhile in my opinion. However, that's where it ends- I am a sucker for behind the scenes, making of..., cast interviews and all of those awesome extras that every other Special Edition gets. Aside from Part I we got none of those, or at least nothing new. It really seems like that the same cast members over and over and I am not beating these people up, but am I the only one who is freaking tired of Ari Lehman's story? Why hasn't Warrington Gillette shut up yet? How many ways can you talk about a 6 second scene?

Benevolent Street: Friday The 13th in memorium.

The late and lovely Laurie Bartram

Benevolent Street did up this extra sweet, extra special blog post on the late Friday Th1 3th cast members. It has been posted allover, but I wanted to do so as well!

With the remake of Friday the 13th hitting thereat in a little over a week, I think now is the perfect time to honor the franchise alumns who are no longer with us. Without these guys and girls, the Friday universe would not be what it is today. And in fact, without them today, that universe is just a little bit smaller. However, as sad as it is, it is only natural and inevitable that in the 3 decades now that the series has been running, a few of those stars were bound to burn out. However, by watching these movies over and over again and remembering these men and women, we are keeping them as immortal as Jason Voorhees himself.

We have lost a total of 12 on screen personas in the Friday the 13th franchise over the course of, ironically, 12 installments. Lets take a moment to remember those who have passed on.

Ruste Dowg interviews Derek Mears.

People know Dowg for his hockey masks, and that's all good and well since he is one of the top hockey mask painters out there. If you don't frequent horror and mask forums you may not have known that he also interviewed Derek Mears, Mister Jason 2009 himself!

Dowg: What did you think the first time you saw it (the mask)?

Fan film review: Crystal Lake Resurrection (Re-imagining)

Part 2
Oh my god, this movie was freaking hysterical! I have not laughed so much during a fan film- ever! Okay, so let me just get down to the nitty-gritty. The movie is about a kid who walks to the docks of (what seems to be) Crystal Lake stumbles upon a crappy Rubies hockey mask. What does he do next? Well like any kid would do, he slices his own wrist, lets the blood drip on the mask and starts chanting this hilarious "oh Jason watery grave- come back!" mumbo-jumbo and what do you know- Jason was just chilling at the bottom of the lake. Jason pops out of the water and after raising his arms half-mast and breathes hard he literally feels his way past the dock.

Can't wait for the movie? Want to see some spoiled kills?

Here's a short behind the scenes video of most of the deaths in the movie. Now, keep in mind that these may be spoilers- although I did not find them to be. You do get to see Jason in action and directed. It's well worth a watch.

Is it just me, or does the boat kill remind you of the opening of Sleepaway Camp? I still can not help from immediately thinking of that every time I see it!

Dark Delicacies: His Name Was Jason signing.

It's a little too bad that I don't live closer to California- they seem to have the best conventions and horror gatherings. Ryan at Shock Till You Drop attended and took some photos; this one especially looks awesome. Check out Ted White holding the newest young-Jason Caleb Guss- looks almost father-figure like!

Jason Voorhees took Burbank, California. Make that multiple Jasons; many of his victims, and final girls, too. Last night, Dark Delicacies (4213 W. Burbank) held a signing event for this week's DVD release of His Name Was Jason.

The guest turnout - a mixture of cast and crew from twelve Friday the 13th films (that includes the reboot) - was so large, Dark Delicacies enlisted the help of Emerald Knights, a comic book store across the street, to hold everyone. The fans didn't seem to mind, braving the line outdoors, and the plunging temperatures, to meet the likes of Kane Hodder, Amy Steel, CJ Graham, John Fury, Shavar Ross, Judie Aronson and many more. Spirits inside were high and the "Jasons" appeared to get along just fine, although one bailed out early for unknown reasons.

Head on over to Shock Till You Drop and check out the rest of the photos.

Friday The 13th Blu-Ray framing problems.

Well, it's been discussed allover the internet- the Friday The 13th Blu-Ray's picture has been cropped at least 10%, some people don't seem to care and others are livid and want this issue to be corrected.

From HorrorDVD.com:

The new FRIDAY THE 13TH Blu-ray and DVD discs have an image that has been zoomed in and re-framed 10.6% compared to the original theatrical ratio (and the ratio presented on previous discs). How you feel about this? Too small to matter, or too big to ignore?

Feel free to discuss this on the FridayThe13th Blog.

A reader had this to say as well:

The new disc has the proper framing. When the MPAA ordered the film cut in 1980, they went back and edited the original negatives, as the film was not framed for theatres yet. And they actually slipped up while doing that and left more picture seen that the director intended. You'll notice the original, uncut version has always been framed like the new DVD. Look at the region 2 DVD. It's the same as this new one. I think the USA R rated version was the "wrong" one all along, and didn't have the picture quite as close in as originally intended.

Big day for Friday The 13th.

So, yesterday Friday The 13th I-III and the long awaited Friday The 13th documentary "His Name Was Jason" was officially released yesterday. I am proud to say that I got them on the first day and have not had time to watch them yet. Please do the franchise a favor and pick them up! If you needed fodder until you do- here's a Friday The 13th blog review on "His Name Was Jason"!

It was also nice to see Jensen Daggett (Rennie; Jason takes Manhattan). She was gorgeous back when she played Rennie, and she’s just as stunning as ever now. She didn’t mention much about her current lifestyle, which none of them did, but she did mention in passing that she had boys.

MMMM.... Jensen Daggett.

I will shush.

Adrienne King & Betsy Palmer talk briefly about Friday The 13th.

From Shock Till You Drop.

Shock: One of the special features on the DVD I enjoyed was the convention panel and seeing the turnout you both had for that...

Palmer: When people line up and I sign the autographs for them and they want to take the pictures with me, or if they have babies, they have me hold the babies. I find it sweet. It's very dear, the love they express towards Mrs. Voorhees - for all of the naughty things she did, which I think are justified so all the little children wouldn't die at that damn camp. Close it down. Get rid of those people. I've done many things and have done a lot of shows on Broadway, but Friday the 13th is the one I get recognized for. I approached Mrs. Voorhees with the same sincerity I would approach any role and I guess it paid off, didn't it?

The Burning: Once again following Friday The 13th's success?

According to some (perhaps unreliable) sources, The Burning may once again be relying on Friday The 13th's success. It's been revealed that if the remake does well, perhaps The Weinsteins may green light a The Burning remake. I personally would be all for this, and hopefully the remake will be once again shot here in Western, New York.

From RetroSlashers blog.

Within the last year or so, rumblings of a remake of the Weinsteins’ 1981 slasher classic The Burning began to surface, coinciding with both the original film’s release on dvd, and the box office success of the revamped Halloween (also from the Weinsteins). All has been quiet for the time being, but on the eve of the sure-to-be-a-hit Friday The 13th remake, the brothers Weinstein would have to be crazy not to seriously consider resurrecting Cropsy & his shears.
So what would the new model entail? The souls over at the ever…uh, dependable IMDB have this proposed plot outline up:
Thirteen years ago, at Camp Blackfoot in Upstate New York, a group of vengeful kids rebelled against a pedophile camp caretaker named Cropsy, who in their bout of revenge was burned nearly to death and disfigured forever. Now, at Camp Stonewater, one of the boys responsible for Cropsy’s deformations is a supervisor looking over a group of sex-driven camp counselors on a canoe trip up Blackfoot River. Unaware that Cropsy has recently been released from the hospital and is out for blood, the campers become the prime targets in Cropsys sheering reign of revenge.
So….basically just The Burning, with added pedophilia? Some early reports also had Cropsy’s origin retold at an apartment complex where he was the janitor, making the summer camp element rather random.
In a recent issue of Rue Morgue, original director Tony Maylam said that he was considering a new film revolving around the Cropsy campfire legend, but that project appears unrelated to the potential remake.
Will Cropsy return? I think we’ll get our answer when Friday The 13th’s box office tally is added up in a couple of weeks….

HorrorDVDs.com reviews Friday The 13th Blu-Ray.

Probably one of the best and in-depth reviews thus far. Rhett even goes further and compares the BD transfer with the Deluxe DVD transfer, Box Set Transfer and bare-bones DVD transfer- give it a read!

Friday the 13th is a slasher film like no other, so quaint, simple and downright accessible, yet packed to the brim with gruesome gore effects. The other films may have one-upped the gore, but none have captured that innocent campground nostalgia the way this first film has. This new release gives fans what they’ve been asking for with a ton of extras from all over that provide hours of Friday mythology. The new 5.1 surround track really opens the film up, and the Blu-ray visuals are sharper, filled with greater detail and fuller colors. There’s only one problem with this release, but unfortunately it’s big. Eleven percent big. The film has been zoomed in significantly from previous releases, often compromising the compositions. It’s a substantial shortcoming, and something that needs to be addressed by Paramount immediately. Until this issue is fixed, this new release is incomplete and cannot be recommended. Why does Friday the 13th get all the bad luck?

This beautiful close-up had me sold at the get-go- go ahead and give it a clicky-dicky!

Tom Morga interview.

Fans may love this, he speaks more about his stunt-doubling Ramis in Ghostbusters however Morga also played Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 opening scene), Halloween 4 (Many scenes, most of the beginning) and Jason Voorhees/Roy Burns.

Here ya go.

Remakes vs. Sequels.

Why is it that most horror fans would rather see another horrible sequel rather than an acceptable remake? It seems like that a good amount of fans of the Friday The 13th franchise would have rather saw a sequel to the turd-laced opus Freddy vs. Jason than the remake that will be out February 13th. I remember when the remake was in pre-production- well before the writer's strike- the fella who ran the old Friday The 13th Films site started a petition to stop it. It didn't shock me that within a few weeks a good 1/2 of the forum signed it, all vowing to not watch the remake. I remember Blake saying "if it's not broken, why fix it" referring to the Friday The 13th franchise- again a lot of people agreed.

Derek Mears: HorrorBid.com interviews Jason!

Derek Mears shooting Friday the 13th (2009)
from: HorrorBid.com

How did you end up landing such a monumental role in the upcoming Friday the 13th remake?
The producers asked a lot of different industry professionals who they thought would make a good new Jason Voorhees and my name kept popping up. They called me in to be interviewed and I got the part. I am extremely lucky.

Uncut Slaughter High coming to DVD 4/14/09!

Well, it's about fucking time! This is probably the last of the good unreleased on DVD slasher films aside from maybe Humongous and Town That Dreaded Sundown. This one is a long time coming, and it's surprising since this movie has a huge following and is actually really good.

From Shock Till You Drop:

Lionsgate Home Entertainment is trotting out the 1986 slasher film Slaughter High on DVD under a new banner: "The Lost Collection: The best movies you totally forgot about." Indeed.

The late Simon Scuddamore (who reportedly committed suicide shortly after the film's release) stars as a bullied young man who falls victim to an awful prank. He schemes to get back at his tormentors when he holds a fake high school reunion for them to attend. Soon, bodies begin to drop in grisly ways. The wicked hot Caroline Munro (Maniac) also stars.

Originally called April Fool's Day (because the reunion was set on April 1st), the film was forced to take Slaughter High because Fred Walton's picture starring Amy Steel beat them to the punch.

Look for Slaughter High on DVD April 14th. We've been informed the cut will indeed be the R-rated version.

Friday The 13th Part II: August 13, 2010?

I'm not sure how reliable this is, or if this is nothing more than speculation since it will be hard to cast, shoot, edit and release something in a little over a year. However, JoBlo has reported:

FRIDAY THE 13TH doesn't even hit theaters for another two weeks but have producer Michael Bay and Warner Bros. already started looking ahead to Jason's revenge in a Part 2?

JoBlo.com and Arrow in the Head got word from a very reliable source that FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 "will happen" and that they've already penciled in an August 13, 2010 release date.

This preliminary decision is likely based upon positive tracking results the studio is getting for Bay's FRIDAY THE 13TH "reimagining" of the classic film. Certainly this remake could absolutely bomb and the sequel be scuttled but as of now, that's not looking like it'll be the case in either area.

It's hard to ask the cast of the movie about returning for a sequel without giving away who lives and dies, but our own JimmyO did manage to catch up with Jason Voorhees himself and asked him about whether he's heard anything about FRIDAY PART 2. Mears said, "I don't know anything" about the plans for a sequel but quickly added with a smile, "if they do a Part 2, I would love to be a part of it." I've heard that Mears does a pretty impressive job as Jason in the film so let's hope he's part of the sequel plans.

So a FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART 2 as early as next summer? Stay tuned for more on the story as FRIDAY THE 13TH gets set to hit theaters on February 13th.

Fan film review: Living End

Living End isn't a great fan film by any means, however seeing what it came from it becomes a much more impressive little tidbit of a fan film. Someone watching this for the first time may think that more time and effort was put into the credits than the actual film, and in a way it may have been.