UNEDITED: A LOOK AT THE 'FRIDAY THE 13TH' SERIES

Welcome to Unedited, a series of articles straight from my brain and unedited. Therefore, you're seeing the rough draft of an article that I haven't edited after writing the first draft. In this one, I take a look back at one of the most iconic horror franchises ever to exist. Enjoy!

THE PARAMOUNT YEARS

In 1980, a film came out made by filmmakers that were trying to capitalize on the success of 1978's "Halloween". While it was derivative in a lot of areas, it was also unique in others including a camp setting and a serial killer unlike any other found in films up to that point. "Friday the 13th" would go on to make over $59 million on a budget of only $550,000.

Paramount Pictures was the studio behind the movie and its success spawned a franchise that would carry on for the almost the next 30 years. During the '80s, there would be only two years where we wouldn't get a "Friday" sequel: 1983 and '87. The movies were hated by most major critics at the time, but audiences kept coming back for more.

During this era, I enjoyed the first, third, fourth, sixth, and eighth films in the series. The first movie is a great film where a mysterious killer is taking out teenagers that are trying to get Camp Crystal Lake back up and running after it was shut down in the '50s due to a couple of murders. The film ended with the killer being revealed as a deranged mother named Pamela Voorhees who wanted revenge against anyone trying to reopen the camp.

She hated the camp because her son, Jason, drowned due to the counselors not watching him so that they could party. What surprises me is that more people don't note how the killer in this film is an older woman seeking revenge for the death of her son. Most of the time, the killers in slashers are white males with fairly simple motives.

However, that changed in 1981 with the release of "Friday the 13th Part 2". The movie made Jason Voorhees the main villain, vaguely describing that he somehow survived his drowning and was living in the woods all these years. He had witnessed his mother's death in the first movie and sought revenge on anyone seeking to return to Camp Crystal Lake.

I don't mind the first sequel, but Jason wears a burlap sack over his head, similar to the killer found in "The Town That Dreaded Sundown". Also, he's depicted as more of a mentally disabled survivalist and he isn't quite the Jason that we would come to know in the series. That really happened in "Friday the 13th Part 3" when Jason finally gets his iconic hockey mask. The 3D effects that they tried to implement at the time don't quite hold up, but the movie is still a lot of fun to watch.

In 1984, Paramount decided that they had wanted to end the series. Despite their financial success, the "Friday the 13th" films were hated by critics and looked at as the black sheep in the studio. Therefore, "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter" was supposed to be the final movie. It introduced the character of Tommy Jarvis and Jason finds even more unique ways to take out his unsuspecting victims.

The fourth film is one of my favorites in the series as Paramount actually gave them a pretty decent budget. It was also the last time that Tom Savini, the master of practical special-effects in horror, would work on the series. Savini, thinking this was going to be the last film like everyone else, gives it his all in this movie and delivers in the effects department.

Once again, though, the box office numbers could not be denied. So, Paramount decided to make a fifth film, titled "Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning". This time, though, it is about Tommy Jarvis being sent to a special home for troubled teens near a lake. Sadly, the killer ended up being a copycat killer and the MPAA started coming down hard on the series due to the excessive violence.

That meant that the film was severely edited. With a weak story and crappy editing, this is easily one of the worst, if not THE worst, film in the series. The movie still ended up being a success, so Paramount knew that not only did they need a new movie, they also needed to bring back the true monster of the series.

In 1986, "Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives" brought back the infamous killer as an unstoppable undead monster. The movie is exceptionally well made and absurd in all the right ways. It is the final chapter in what fans refer to as the "Tommy Jarvis Trilogy" is one of my favorite films in the series not only because it is well made, but because it is also isn't afraid to completely embrace its inherent silliness.

After the movie's success, Paramount started talking to New Line Cinema about possibly crossing over both the "Friday the 13th" series with New Line's main horror franchise, "A Nightmare on Elm Street". This is the first attempt at getting a "Freddy vs. Jason" film made but neither studio could come to an agreement about who would fund the production and how the box office receipts would be split between the two.

With a deal not being made, the filmmakers behind what would become "Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood" decided that they would attempt to make a story that would be, spiritually speaking, "Carrie vs. Jason". In the movie, Jason confronts a telepathically gifted teenager and it's the first time stuntman Kane Hodder would take on the role of Jason, a role that he would inhabit all the way up to 2002's "Jason X".

Despite that fact, though, the movie really isn't the strongest in the series. They were once again hit hard by the MPAA and the characters just aren't that interesting. Despite diminishing box office returns up to this point, Paramount decided to make one more movie during the 1980s. In '89, "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" would be released.

Now, I noted this as one of my favorite entries into the series, but don't get me wrong, this movie is bonkers. First off, the budget for the film restricted how much time the production could actually shoot in New York City. Only the final few minutes are set in the Big Apple while the rest of it is set on the boat taking the students to the city.

The movie still contains some great kills, though, including Jason literally punching someone's head off. The movie is bad, but it falls into that fabled "so bad, it's good" realm. After this, though, Paramount decided to finally call it a day on the slasher series that helped defined horror in the '80s.

THE NEW LINE YEARS

After "Jason Takes Manhattan" failed to light up the box office, Paramount decided to sell the rights to the Jason Voorhees character to New Line Cinema. Now, take note that I said that they only sold the rights to the Jason character. Paramount wanted to retain their rights to their "Friday the 13th" series and that meant that they kept the rights to the title. So, the first film New Line made with the character couldn't contain the title "Friday the 13th".

Also, by the time the '90s arrived, the horror genre was also declining in general across the board. New Line had already killed off their own horror creation, Freddy Krueger, in 1991's "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare". Therefore, New Line decided to do the same thing with Jason in 1993's "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday". In the movie, Jason is blown to pieces right at the top of the movie, but a coroner eats his heart (no kidding) and becomes possessed by the famous killer.

However, Jason can't stay alive for long in another person's body, so he transfers his soul (via a disgusting wormlike thing from mouth-to-mouth) from body to body until he can transfer his essence into one of his relatives. He finally does this and he has to be taken out by his niece, Jessica Kimble. She would stab him with a mystical dagger and he would be dragged straight to Hell.

If you've managed to stick with me up to this point, then you're probably thinking (if you've never seen the movie), "What the hell did I just read?" Don't worry, the movie is pretty nuts as described and it really isn't that great, though there are some great kills and I do applaud the effort of the filmmakers to try and do something different with the series. However, the movie does have a hell of a capper when Freddy's clawed hand emerges to collect Jason's iconic hockey mask and drags it to Hell as well.

This was supposed to setup yet another attempt at making a "Freddy vs. Jason" film. With New Line owning both of the characters, it seemed that the movie was all but inevitable. However, after several failed scripts and director Wes Craven wanting to return to the series with 1994's "Wes Craven New Nightmare", the movie stalled yet again.

Then there was the problem that for the first half of the 1990s, the horror genre was all but dead with mainstream audiences. Therefore, New Line held off making anymore films featuring either character. It wasn't until original director Sean S. Cunningham returned to produce a new movie in the series.

Since "Freddy vs. Jason" wasn't coming together, Cunningham wanted to make a new movie to get audiences interested in the character again. So, the filmmakers made "Jason X" and Jason Voorhees found himself being launched into space in the distant future. After being thawed out onboard a spaceship, he proceeds to kill almost everyone in several different ways.

The movie is a big joke, but it does contain some of the series' best kills, including the scene where he shoves a character's head into liquid nitrogen and smashes the head into several pieces. After the movie failed at the box office, though, the character's future was in doubt... until the very next year.

While "Jason X" was in production, New Line finally received a script for "Freddy vs. Jason" that they were proud off. In 2003, we finally got the matchup we all wanted between these two titans of horror. The movie is a fun romp written by fans of both series and directed with extreme energy by Ronny Yu. The movie was a success for both horror series and became the highest box office earner for both franchises.

After this, though, the horror genre started to go through a remake/reboot craze. Several classic horror franchises were revived as remakes and, eventually, that included "Friday the 13th" in 2009. New Line teamed up with Paramount so that they could use the title and they co-produced a new movie from the writers of "Freddy vs. Jason". The movie is, in my opinion, the worst film in the franchise with uninventive kills and an uninspired story that simply stitches together the plot of the first four "Friday the 13th" films except with mostly a new set of characters.

Sadly, this has been the last time we've seen Jason on the big screen. It has been 13 years (heh) since the remake and it is time for him to come back. Unfortunately, I don't know who that will be to bring the famed killer back. There were talks of a sequel to the remake, but that would have meant that New Line would have to work with Paramount again for the title.

Then, in 2013, New Line got a new horror franchise when "The Conjuring" was released. Therefore, they decided to give Jason a break yet again. Also, original "Friday the 13th" writer Victor Miller has been trying to get the rights to the series from New Line and Paramount and this has further complicated bringing the character back to the movies.

While I don't know when we'll see Jason on the big screen again, I do know that there is still a pretty solid series of films out there that horror fanatics can still enjoy to this day! I know I certainly do.