Friday The 13th: The Franchise

We wrote about the new Alyse Wax book Curious Goods: Behind The Scenes of Friday The 13th: The Series back in October and it is jam packed with information and interviews of cast and crew who helped bring the cult hit television show to life. With the release of the book this week, Dark Delicacies is hosting a signing event for fans to attend. You will be able to meet the book's author, Bill Taub (Writer/Story Producer), Steven Monarque (actor - Johnny Ventura), Armand Mastroianni (Director), and Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part 6 Writer/Director Tom McLoughlin.

The event takes place this Saturday, January 16th, at 2:00 pm in Burbank, California. For information, visit www.darkdel.com. If you cannot make it to the event and want to purchase the book, visit the publisher's website today!

ABOUT THE BOOK

INTERVIEWS WITH HOLLYWOOD STARS HIGHLIGHT NEW BOOK ABOUT FRIDAY THE 13TH TELEVISION SERIES

BearManor Media announces the release of Curious Goods Behind the Scenes of Friday The 13th by Alyse Wax.

In the first-ever examination of the TV series, author Alyse Wax delves into the series episode-by-episode, with more than sixty exclusive interviews with the cast, writers, directors, and producers, as well as nearly fifty never published behind-the-scenes photos from the cast and crew’s personal collections.

“Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques, but he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. His niece, Micki, and her cousin, Ryan, inherited the store, and with it, the curse. Now they must get everything back—and the real terror begins.”

So opens Friday the 13th: The Series. In 1987, Paramount Studios found success selling a new Star Trek series into syndication. Eager to cash in on other studio-owned properties, Paramount asked producer Frank Mancuso Jr. to develop a series around Friday the 13th (1980), and the new television series was born. The story lines had nothing to do with the popular slasher film franchise, which was both a blessing and curse. The cast and crew were largely young and inexperienced, and they were one of the first Hollywood productions to shoot entirely in Canada.

Interviews include series creator Frank Mancuso Jr.; series stars Louise Robey, John LeMay, and Steve Monarque; notable guest stars including Elias Zarou, Kate Trotter, Wayne Best, Barclay Hope, Angelo Rizacos, Monika Schnarre, and Ingrid Veninger; directors and production crew including Jim Henshaw, Marc Scott Zicree, Tim Bond, William Taub, Francis Delia, Armand Mastroianni, Rob Hedden, Tom McLoughlin, and Atom Egoyan.

About the author: Alyse Wax has been covering television and the horror industry for over a decade. She was the Associate Editor of the dearly departed FEARnet.com, and currently writes for a number of geeky, freaky places, including ComingSoon.net, Fangoria, ShockTillYouDrop.com, and Blumhouse.com.

Available exclusively from BearManor Media in hardback, paperback, and e-book editions.

Friday The 13th fans always fall back on certain songs that were included in individual movies within the franchise as their definitive favorite. There are the requisite songs from Alice Cooper included in Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part 6, but there are actually so many more to choose from that viewers may have forgotten about.

This writer's personal top songs in the film franchise are the following:

1. He's Back (Alice Cooper, Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part 6)
2. Darkest Side Of The Night (Peter Fredette, Friday The 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan)
3. Coming Out Of Nowhere (Stan Meissner, Friday The 13th Part 7: The New Blood)
3. His Eyes (Pseudo Echo, Friday The 13th: A New Beginning)
4. Teenage Frankenstein (Alice Cooper, Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part 6)
5. Love Is A Lie (Lion, Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter)

Coming Out Of Nowhere is one of those songs that instantly makes me think of the franchise and it is barely heard during The New Blood as it plays in the background at the party house. What song from the films make you identify with the franchise the most and is your favorite?

It is true that Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday leads the way in dividing the fan base of the franchise. Once upon a time, Friday The 13th: A New Beginning drew the most ire of people that loved Friday The 13th, but even time has healed those wounds. That is not the case with the ninth film in the franchise as even over twenty years later, fans debate the hits and misses of a true departure from the series formula.

The interesting part of the production of the film is that New Line Cinema gave the keys of their newly acquired horror franchise back to Sean Cunningham, who had helped create it just thirteen years earlier. He in turn entrusted the newest film to Adam Marcus, fresh out of film school. Along with screenwriter Dean Lorey, the duo helped create the most unusual, yet engaging and gory sequel of the entire franchise.

Sean Cunningham was ultimately not impressed with the final product, including having to take to the directors chair for final shots of production. In his interview for Crystal Lake Memories, he pulls no punches on his feelings about Jason Goes To Hell.

"New Line left me completely alone on Jason Goes to Hell, and they were completely happy—they made a bunch of money, so they had no complaints. And what did anyone expect? It's Part IX of Friday the 13th! Did you see Part VI? Part VII? Part VIII?

For me, it is way past an embarrassment. The body-morphing plot—it was a dismal idea. I suspected that early on, but the finished film completely proved it. I made many, many mistakes. Adam came to me and said, "The last thing the fans want is to see Jason going through Camp Crystal Lake chopping up teenagers again." Of course, it was the only thing they wanted to see, and Adam delivered this movie that was so not good."

Even though Sean did not particularly like the film, it still opened with a respectable weekend, grossing $7.7 million. For a horror movie released in 1993, that is actually pretty good and would have been the number one film that weekend if not for the late summer juggernaut The Fugitive. Variety's weekend box office story from 1993 actually used a funny play on words for it's title, utilizing the two films, and showed that even though fans may hate the concept of Jason Goes To Hell and Sean Cunningham may not have been pleased with the end result, Friday The 13th fans are loyal and will always support the franchise.

Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood is a film that is enjoyed by most every fan of the franchise. There are numerous reasons fans love the movie, starting with the portrayal of Jason by Kane Hodder or the recycled plot of The Final Chapter or the creative deaths designed by Magical Media Industries. The overwhelming favorite part of The New Blood, however, is the look created for Jason. Today we have an updated and new look at one of the Jason costumes used in the film, with information and images provided by Mario Kirner and his Friday the 13th Props Museum

The full body costume (pictured at the very bottom of this article) is one of five costumes that were worn on screen consisting of shirt and pants. One costume set was worn during the fire stunt at the end of the film, in Tina’s basement, and that was burnt down entirely. A second costume set was worn AFTER the fire stunt at the end of the film (it was more broken down, ripped up and dirty than the others). The other three costumes were worn as the “hero version” of the costume. The hero pants and shirts that were worn were mixed up throughout the film. You can see a particular pair of pants paired with a shirt in one scene and then with another shirt in the very next scene.

The pair of trousers pictured in the costume set above is hand-marked inside as the "main costume". Also included in the costume set (pictured above) is the suit with the body appliances attached. Bones, ribs and skin made from a silicone kind of material were formed over the suit to give actor Kane Hodder the appearance on-screen of having his body heavily rotted and ripped apart.

This particular appliance under-suit was worn during the scenes that required fire stunts. For example, the under-suit utilized exploding squibs during the scene where Tina electrocutes Jason in the puddle of water using the power lines and also, of course, the suit was used during the most memorable and famous fire stunt in the basement of Tina’s house. The under-suit still has wires running along with activated squibs attached (pictured below) and is heavily burnt on the backside. It has velcro running down the entire front (seen directly above) so Kane could slip out of it real quick in case of danger. You can actually see the velcro when watching the fire scene.

Although there are three hero costume sets used in the film, each set looks very unique in distressing and markings. Mario was able to screen match both the shirt and pants of the pictured costume set to various scenes in the film. The costume is still in fairly good condition considering it’s heavy usage on screen and it’s age. Mario also mentioned that pictures do not do the costume justice as he says it looks spectacular in person.

Big thanks to Mario Kirner for sharing images of his screen-used Jason Voorhees costume and lending some great insight into not only its use in the film, but also some information on all of the costumes used throughout the filming of The New Blood!

Full Assembled Body Costume

Every Friday The 13th fan is patiently waiting to to have their opportunity to play as Jason Voorhees in Gun Media's Friday The 13th: The Game. Kane Hodder is lucky enough to not have to wait, as today Gun Media, Illfonic and himself are underway with their motion caption filming and from what they have shown so far, we should all be pretty excited. Below are a number of images and even a Vine showing of the days work, courtesy Randy Greenback's Twitter account and the official game's Instagram account!

The shoot is taking place today at Digital Domain (An Academy Award®-winning digital production studio located in Venice, California). Look on the chair that Kane is sitting on. See a familiar mask? We love the Vine with Jason Voorhees just relaxing with his arm folded. Make sure to watch Periscope video that shows Kane in action dispatching of young counselors!

If you haven't joined in with funding the game to reserve your copy or gain other perks, make sure to check out the Slasher Backer campaign.

Friday The 13th films began being released on VHS during the 1980's, which was the golden age of video stores, and became part of a home video revolution that created it's own culture. Even today, with the dwindling amount of stores that still rent out physical media, there is a devoted following of yesteryear. For those readers that grew up during that time with no Internet or iMdb to reference what movies were about or how good they were, box cover art could either sell you on watching a film or simply passing it by.

Of course, box cover art wouldn't deter a Friday The 13th fan from renting a new film upon release, but other film aficionados who were not devoted fans of the franchise might have viewed particular releases in a different light based on the box cover art. With that in mind, we are going to rank to the Paramount era films according to their VHS box art and their appeal to the casual movie fan.

8. Friday The 13th: A New Beginning

The theatrical poster for the film was much different that the VHS box cover as the poster was just text with the film title. The VHS cover that was chosen for this film is completely nonsensical and misplaced as it does not represent anything that happens in the film. Not only is the mask used on the cover not even found in the film, but the whole thing comes across as cartoonish and would make a lot of people viewing the cover for the first time even wonder if this was a real Friday The 13th movie.

7. Friday The 13th Part 2

This was another film where the initial theatrical poster featured only the tagline and the title (Theaters would later receive a Pressbook with the eventual VHS cover art). In a move that echoed the film production of Part 2, the original 1980 movie's poster concept was copied for the sequel's VHS cover art, implementing a silhouette around Part 2's film title. What resulted is a bland representation of the film and signaled this film as simply a retread of the previous entry in the franchise.

6. Friday The 13th Part 3

The hype surrounding the release of Part 3 in theaters with new 3-D technology launched the franchise into pop culture permanently, however, the home video release on VHS was unable to transfer over the 3-D effect. Thankfully, the poster art created for the theatrical run used more effective imagery to sell the film, and that was translated over to the VHS cover art. Although Jason is still shown as a silhouette, he is more defined in his action as he stabs through a shower curtain coming right into your living room!

5. Friday The 13th 1980

The original film in the franchise had beautiful artwork created for the poster which was designed by Spiros Angelikas and painted by Alex Ebel. The poster was translated over to the VHS cover and utilizes the killer's silhouette to perfection as it surrounds the would-be victim camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake.

4. Friday The 13th Part 7: The New Blood

The runner-up storyline to Freddy vs Jason definitely had marketability as the poster's simple yet powerful imagery of Jason's hockey mask and Tina Shepard's menacing face are separated by a knife dripping with blood. Thankfully the poster was ported over to the VHS box cover and even though the image of the duo is centered over a black background, fans get the full impression that these two are going to have one hell of a fight.

3. Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part 6

With Jason being resurrected for the fifth sequel, it was smart to use a cemetery backdrop as a key component of the film's theatrical poster. Throw in a grave stone with 'Jason Lives' on it and the hockey mask in the background and this poster-to-VHS cover pops out at a would-be viewer as a must watch

2. Friday The 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan

There isn't too much to say on pointing out the obvious with this cover at the number two spot. Although the theatrical poster went through numerous changes before the Part 8's release, the final version still hits a home-run as you need to see is Jason hovering over New York City with a knife to get excited to watch this film. Opinions on the quality of the film, of course, vary among the fans.

1. Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter

The initial theatrical poster for The Final Chapter was not very appealing as it was full of tag lines and just the film title (Theaters would later receive a Pressbook and other materials using the hockey mask). However, the eventual VHS box cover choice is gold, and among the other films listed at the top of our ranking, this simple imagery hits a big home-run in selling the movie. Whereas other Friday The 13th films that ranked high in our list utilized illustrations or Photoshop wizardry, the very simple use of a battered hockey mask with a knife in the eye whole and blood running underneath the mask conveys the message that this supposed franchise finale was going to be a bloody mess!

It has been a great journey writing about and informing the great fans of the Friday The 13th franchise about the films and television series, and as we are now immersed in our sixth year online, we want to include one more person on our team. Would you like to write about Jason Voorhees and the numerous eccentric characters found within the films? Have you ever had a theory about a scene or film location that you wanted to vocalize and didn't have a platform to do so? Well, here is your opportunity.

We are looking for someone to join our staff of writers to create new Retrospectives, Editorials, Ranking Lists and Discussions about any subject pertaining to the Friday The 13th films or late 1980's syndicated television show for our loyal readers to experience. If you are interested, here are a few thing you will need to consider:

- This is a non paying gig. All of our writers do this for the love of the franchise as well as have their name associated with the films online.

- If you do decide to put your name in the hat for consideration, we would very much appreciate if you could produce a minimum of two posts a month. If you want to write more, that would be awesome!

If this sounds good to you, then please email any writing examples you have online, along with your ideas for what you would want to write about to contact@fridaythe13thfranchise.com and please put 'Writing Position' in the subject line.

We will respond back to everyone who emails us regardless if you are chosen or not. Please send us your inquiries by Friday January 29th and we look forward to hearing from everyone!

The start to the new year brings us some new information on what Paramount was attempting to create for a rebooted Friday The 13th film when director David Bruckner was brought on board to push their new take on Jason Voorhees to the big screen. In an interview with Fangoria about his segment in the upcoming anthology film Southbound, David discusses what Paramount originally had in mind for the new Friday The 13th film and what happened to make him detach himself from the project.

From Fangoria
“When I came on board that project,” he tells us, “Paramount was exploring whether or not they could do a found-footage FRIDAY, and they brought me in to crack it. I had some very specific ideas; if we were going to do that, I felt it needed to be single-camera. I didn’t think you could bring a whole bunch of media into the room, and that we had to do a kind of classic found-footage movie.

“So writers Richard Naing and Ian Goldberg [who scripted Andre Øvredal’s upcoming THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE and are working on CROPSEY with James Wan producing] and I set out in earnest to see if there was a movie there,” Bruckner continues. “There are certain restrictions to found footage; just the fact that you’re locked into a single perspective almost makes the slasher formula impossible, because characters tend to wander off on their own all the time and get knocked off. Also, part of what defines some of the greatest slashers is the additional perspective. That was a really fun obstacle to tackle, and we ended up structuring it a little bit more like a monster movie. All the mythos surrounding Jason Voorhees opened up a lot of possibilities, and for a moment in time, we had a story that took place in the ’80s, which worked with the found-footage conceit. It was a return to form in a lot of ways, and we really focused on the characters.”

Ultimately, the studio point of view toward the handheld approach changed, and HANNIBAL’s Nick Antosca was brought in as scripter. “We were set free from that mandate,” Bruckner recalls, “and did a draft that was not found-footage. We were allowed to truly explore what the film could be as a proper ’80s reboot—what that would look like. My take on it was that I wanted to do DAZED AND CONFUSED meets Jason Voorhees [laughs], a genuine last-day-of-school coming-of-age story. Nick wrote a great draft, and we really wanted to see that movie come to life. It was a very exciting process for me.”

We have read Nick Antosca's script and the "last-day-of-school coming-of-age story" angle that David mentions is more like a last-day-of-camp story and it would have really pleased Friday the 13th fans with a touch of mythology thrown into the mix. At any rate, it's too bad we have not received an new film yet, but it seems as though Paramount is indeed trying to make something special for fans to enjoy and make a lots of money at the box office!

The disdain for Jason Goes To Hell seems to be universally shared among the majority of Friday The 13th fans, but even if you do not like the film and its story, Jason's look is definitely a highlight in the franchise. Today we have another addition to Mario Kirner's Friday The 13th Prop Museum and it may not be as flashy as other props and costumes in the collection, but it is still a must-have piece of franchise history!

Mario has shared with us Kane Hodder's boots worn with his Jason Voorhees costume in Jason Goes To Hell. I believe Mario met with Kane personally to obtain these boots which were worn throughout the film. Also pictured with the boots is a screen-used hockey mask that was worn by Kane as well during the shoot.

These items add great value to the museum and continue to give fans an nice inside look to the items that were used to make the films in the franchise!

Welcome to the Return To Camp Blood Podcast! In the latest episode from our contributor Podcast series, hosts Chris Saunders, Jeremy Osborne, and Erik Walford discuss Tommy Jarvis and the Jarvis Trilogy! The guys talk about how the three films Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter through Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part 6 are tied together by the Tommy Jarvis character and they give their thoughts on which incarnation is better!

After listening to this episode, make sure to visit the Return To Camp Blood Podcast site to find out more about the show, and if you want to listen to even more Friday The 13th discussions, visit our Podcast page where you can find other shows to feed your hunger for the franchise.

If you have any questions about this episode, please email the show at feedback@campbloodpodcast.com. For inquires about all Podcasts on this website, please email us at podcasts@fridaythe13thfranchise.com.
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With plot details for the Friday the 13^th series slowly beginning to bleed out from the CW, it’s becoming evident that a strong focus will be placed on Crystal Lake’s citizens old and new. With the native Crystal Lake’ers said to be nervously playing hush regarding their home area’s dirty little secret in relation to the Voorhees legacy, and the newer habitants’ eventual awareness of the threat that looms in their forests, viewers can expect to be introduced to many unique residents guaranteed to bring quirky characterizations to the show. While waiting to add new names to the list, let’s look back on some of these unforgettable locals.

Over the years, it became a staple of the franchise to add to the Voorhees myth by colouring each chapter with small appearances by local Crystal Lake citizens. Recognizing this theme, Marcus Nispel’s 2009 reboot Friday the 13th paid homage with no shortage of characters chiming in on the local legend and adding to the area’s quirkiness. From the convenience store clerk to the nearby farmer Donnie who Jason gets his signature hockey mask from, this addition was ripe with new local faces. Standing out in the crowd is a character simply credited as “Old Lady.”

In the early scenes following the unforgettable opening slaughter, the audience travels with Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki) as he canvasses the area looking for any clue leading to the whereabouts of his missing sister Whitney. This brings him to an unwelcoming farm amongst seemingly unending rows of cornfields and a property littered with random junk and materials. Knocking on the door, and being frightened by an unwarm welcome by her guard dog, Clay has a short but heavily foreshadowing conversation with said “Old Lady.”

She warns Clay without subtlety that people “go missing around here, they’re gone for good.” She displays that she does possess knowledge of Jason’s existence in the area with the statement “We just want to be left alone, and so does HE…” This statement not only provides context to the masked killer’s notoriety in Crystal Lake, but also raises many questions for the audience. Do the locals keep his existence a secret in an unstated agreement that keeps the killer away from them? Could they possibly even have a hand in covering up the numerous murders in their town? Are the random belongings and boat and car parts littered around her property left behind items from Jason’s victims, indicating that the locals may actually profit from his killing sprees?

None of these questions are answered in their short exchange. In fact, the “Old Lady” appears to recognize that she’s already said too much, as she quickly turns away and retreats into her home when Clay asks who she is referring to.

Portrayed by Rosemary Knower, the “Old Lady” is a brief appearance but has a strong impact on the overall atmosphere and sense of dread in the latest chapter. Knower may look familiar to film buffs as she has a lengthy resume of such character part appearances including scenes in Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and Lovely Molly (2011). Knower, a citizen of Baltimore, is also a freelance writer and playwright and, being from Baltimore, became a regular character actor in John Waters’ films including Hairspary (1988), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), Cecil B. Demented (2000), and A Dirty Shame(2004). Knower’s literary accomplishments can be explored at her website www.rosemaryknower.com.

While her appearance was brief, the “Old Lady” was definitely memorable and opened up the conversation to many possibilities for potential storylines for the much anticipated show Friday fans are anxiously awaiting more details on.

To look back at our previously discussed Citizens of Crystal Lake, follow the link here: Citizens of Crystal Lake

It has been two weeks since we learned of the unfortunate passing of David Bowie. As we wrote about at that time, a number of his song titles were used for alternate film titles for the Paramount Friday The 13th films to elude unions and the rabid fan base. One of the films that used his song titles was Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part 6 and that film was shot using the working title Aladdin Sane. Bowie's song was also the title of the album he dropped in 1973, which would go on to produce two hit singles, The Jean Genie and Drive-In Saturday. The album cover for that release would become an iconic piece of his history and a stunning image of a true music legend.

Recently, it was brought to our attention by Magnus of Videogram, that Bowie's album actually makes an appearance in Jason Lives! This is something that is sure to have been discovered by very astute fans already, but for myself and possibly a large number of other fans, this is a fun bit of trivia. In the picture below, during the scene where Sissy and Paula are discussing sending the kids home from Camp Forest Green as well as how to play the card game Camp Blood, you can see the Aladdin Sane LP in the lower right corner.

What I don't know is if this was an intentional Easter egg or just a huge coincidence, but either way this is something fun to point out to other die-hard fans and just another thing to look for when watching the film for the one hundredth time!

Writer Nick Antosca is indeed one of the young writing talents in Hollywood and he has already left his mark with television hits such as MTV's Teen Wolf and NBC's Hannibal. Our readers are also aware that Nick was hired last March to help script the new Friday The 13th film, but unfortunately his idea was not used by Paramount, who are going back to the drawing board.

On the latest episode of the Necronomicast, Nick joins host Brian Corey to discuss his career, including the recent theatrical release of a project he worked titled The Forest, as well as his success with Hannibal and Teen Wolf. Of course, the subject of his involvement with Friday The 13th is eventually talked about where Nick touches upon how he was brought in to help change Paramount's originally planned found footage approach to Crystal Lake and how he and director David Bruckner were pushing hard for a definitive 1980's set film. The best part is that he was hoping to open the film with the vintage 1980's Paramount logo. That would have been awesome!

Listen to the show below, but also please make sure to visit www.necronomicast.com for all of their horror podcast episodes, which includes a chat between Brian and myself about this website!

A few weeks back we brought news of an awesome looking board game titled Last Friday that has an 80's camp set them in the vein of Friday The 13th which has players trying to elude a killer lurking in the woods. Antonio Ferrara and Sebastian Fiorillo of Escape Studios created the game and plan to release it sometime later this year in Italy, but when we wrote about the game earlier this month, plans for an English language release were uncertain. That has now changed, as we have been informed that Last Friday has a new partner and a U.S. release date!

Ares Games has partnered with Pendragon Games to publish and distribute worldwide the English edition of Last Friday. The expected release of the game is August 2016. For more information about this fun and exciting board game, please read on in the Press Release that was sent to us and we will be sure to keep everyone updated on any new updates as the release comes near.

January 27, 2016 – Ares Games and Pendragon Game Studio announce a partnership to release the survival horror board game Last Friday to the English worldwide market.

Created by Escape Studios and published worldwide by Pendragon, Last Friday is the first co-operation between Ares and Pendragon. Ares Games will produce and distribute the English version of the game and distribute it worldwide.

Last Friday is a hidden movement, hunt and deduction board game, inspired by the popular “slasher” horror movie genre.

Last Friday is about the story of a murderer who died and rose again. In the role of young campers, the players are challenged to survive a long weekend of terror – while one of them takes the role of the undying psychopath hiding in the shadows of the forest.

Designed by Antonio Ferrara and Sebastiano Fiorillo (authors of the horror-themed card game“Stay Away!”), Last Friday is a game for 2 to 6 players, divided into 4 chapters full of horror and suspense (Arrival at the Camp, The Chase, The Massacre and The Final Chapter). Each chapter plays out very differently, as the hunter becomes the prey, then comes back from the dead looking for revenge.

“We are proud to announce the partnership with Pendragon and Escape Studios to publish the English edition of Last Friday. It’s a very fun and tense game, with an original gameplay that allows players to plunge in the suspense of its horror setting. It will be a great addition to our games range,” says Roberto Di Meglio, Director of R&D of Ares Games.

“We have been friends with Ares Games' team for years and finally we found a great opportunity to work together making this interesting project a success all over the world,” declares Silvio Negri-Clementi, President of Pendragon Game Studio.

The English edition of Last Friday is expected to release in August 2016. For more information and to keep up to date about the game, visit Ares Games and Pendragon Game Studio, and follow the game’s page on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thelastfridayboardgame/.

About Pendragon Game Studio
Pendragon Game Studio was born from a group of Italian hobby market professionals with more than two decades of experience, with the mission of creating new games for the international market and produce them in different languages through established partners. This long experience in publishing products such as books, magazines, newspapers, and games, as well as marketing them and working with game associations, gives Pendragon Game Studio complete knowledge of the hobby and how to produce and sell games in both national and international markets. In 2015, the first year of operation, Pendragon produced 6 brand new titles and made 3 localizations. See more info at www.pendragongamestudio.com/EN and follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Pendragon-Game-Studio-534363276680250 and Twitter at https://twitter.com/GamePendragon.

About Ares Games
Ares Games is an Italian board game publisher established in 2011 to create quality hobby products for the international audience. Ares Games is the publisher of the award-winning "War of the Ring" board game, of "Wings of Glory" range of airplane combat games and miniatures, recreating aerial warfare in WW1 and WW2, and more recently, of the award-winning tactical ship-to-ship miniature game “Sails of Glory,” and the cooperative tactical Sci-Fi miniatures game “Galaxy Defenders.” Ares Games’ catalog also includes Family Games and Euro Games. For further information, visit the website www.aresgames.eu and the Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/AresGames.

The Friday The 13th franchise is littered with characters that are sometimes more villainous than Pamela or her son Jason. Our new series of articles will focus on the villains of Friday The 13th not named Voorhees and their affect on those around them, along with the character's place among the most vile in the franchise.

A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters. The Random House Dictionary defines a villain as "a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel; or a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot". Our next character certainly fits the bill in that respect.

Dr. Crews is the self serving therapist that lures Tina Shepard and her mother to Crystal Lake to exploit Tina's telekinetic gift in Friday The 13th Part 7: The New Blood. Crews brings mother and daughter to their old family home on the lake under the guise of better therapy, but what he really wants is to heighten the trauma of the teen girl and bring out her abilities to further his career. As bodies mount from Jason Voorhees, the good doctor continues to conceal the truth in hopes of still being able to exploit Tina for his career.

The lengths that which Crews would go to exploit Tina included hiding the tent spike that Tina found stuck in her back porch, placed there by Jason, as well as hiding the fact that he found the dead body of birthday boy Michael in the woods. In perhaps the most despicable act of them all, after going out to search for a runaway Tina, he uses her mother, Mrs. Shepard, as a human shield as Jason impales her on a brush hook.

In the end, Dr. Crews got his comeuppance, but his deplorable acts of deceit, exploitation and being an accessory to murder rank him as possibly the most villainous character in the entire Friday The 13th franchise.

The commercial for Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter has the baritone voiceover ask – what would you do if it happened to you? Little did Trish Jarvis know she’d be the next in line to answer that question, joining the ranks of the select few final girls (up until 1984) who could claim they battled Jason Voorhees and live to tell about it. Sure, everybody loves Tommy Jarvis and we followed him through three separate entries in the series, but where’s the love for Trish?

Tommy’s older sister is, quite literally, the girl next door in this movie. Up until a bunch of party-ready teens shack up next door to her family, she’s been going on morning jogs with her Mom, hoping for her parents to reunite, and trying to get her Mom to give her pizza rather than tuna salad. Just like Huey Lewis sings, it's hip to be square. She’s pretty, demure, and the least sexually active final girl in the original four films (contrary to popular opinion, the Friday the 13^th films don’t guarantee death just for making bacon – Alice clearly had something with Steve, Ginny and Paul were quite intimate, and Chris and Rick were obviously former playmates. No disrespect, ladies; you’re all kick-ass and earned your survival!).

Trish stands out in two large ways. Her love for her brother and her bravery while fighting for her life. Her battle with Jason is epic and lasts a good 20 minutes of the film. These were the pre-zombie Jason days when he was a vicious, feral mongoloid who chased his prey and had a myriad of anger issues. She jumps through windows, traverses into dark scary basements (are there any other kind?), wields a machete like a pro, smashes a t.v. set over Jason's head, finds all the dead neighbors, runs in the rain like Flo-Jo, and literally beats Jason’s face with her own fists, all to protect her brother and ensure his safety. At one point, she even makes sure Jason chases her rather than Tommy. How’s that for loyalty and love? There aren’t many people who would go to those lengths to save someone else. For instance, when I was at Boy Scout Camp, my friend Pete left me in the dark during a game of manhunt when he thought he saw someone lurking. Trish is no Pete.

Kimberly Beck is both a beauty and a natural, likable presence in the film, helping Trish to come across as thoughtful, caring, brave, and resourceful. Her crush on Rob is sweet without being cloying, but she’s no pushover. When she whisper-growls to Jason “I’m going to give you something to remember us by”, you know she means it. According to Beck, she performed most of her own stunts as well.

While I’m not drinking any Haterade on Tommy and his brilliant move to use psychology on Jason, it seems like Trish gets forgotten in the shuffle. She fended off the deadliest movie killer in history all by herself, in the rain, wearing a trendy 80’s man’s shirt, all to spare her brother from Jason’s machete. If only we knew what became of her, seeing as how it's never mentioned in the sequels (though being as athletic and take-charge as she is, I like to imagine she became a jazzercise instructor). Trish Jarvis, you deservedly earn a spot in Final Girl history.

Last night the guys from Gune Media and IllFonic attended a panel at PAX South to discuss the new Friday The 13th: The Game. Many topics were discussed, including game play, but along the way they revealed the detailed model for the likeness of Jason Voorhees from Friday The 13th Part 3!

Check out the pics below and let us know what you think of their design of the character.

About Friday The 13th: The Game
Friday the 13th: The Game is a third-person, asymmetrical multiplayer title where one player controls Jason Voorhees while the remaining seven control camp counselors trying to survive the night.That's right...1v7 multiplayer set in the semi-open world of Camp Crystal Lake! It's a classic horror fan's dream, no shaky cam, no found footage. We want you to know we're revitalizing the golden era of slashers, and putting you at the controls of each horrific, blood-splattered moment.

Michael Bay’s involvement with the most recent Friday the 13th film and the Transformers movies is well known, but did you know there may be something more connecting these films and universes together?
Trent DeMarco!

The character, appeared in both the Friday the 13th update, and the 2007 film, Transformers. Might I add, IMDB shows the same actor, Travis Van Winkle, played the role in BOTH films! Is it possible, then, that Friday the 13th, and the Transformer films share the same universe?

What other movies do you believe could share the same universe with Friday the 13th?

In the spring of 1993, Jason Goes To Hell was more than just a slasher flick; it was the return of a horror icon. It was everywhere. I'm talking comic book tie-in's, trading cards, and more behind-the-scenes information than you could shake a bloody machete at. I don't know about you, but I ate it up. A franchise that most fans accepted as dead and buried, now suddenly resurrected in a dramatic fashion..the irony wasn't lost on me. It was the most the Voorhees name had been in the limelight since it became the subject of a certain Alice Cooper song(you know the one). The excitement was back. JASON was BACK! It was a magical few months. That is, at least, until August when the film released.

He's Back! Well..sort of.

I don't need to go on about what kind of critical and commercial response the film received. If you are here on this website, reading this editorial, I think it is safe to say that you've seen it. Chances are that you don't like it, too, and that's totally fair. However, I will look you straight in the face and offer this: Jason Goes To Hell is AWESOME. In fact, it's more than awesome. It is, in this writer's humble opinion, one of the best entries into our beloved franchise. Now, let me tell you why.

Firstly, the movie has it all. Literally. Any horror movie trope you can think of as being relevant in the last 20+ years is present. A prolific, iconic antagonist? Check. Possession? Check. Demons? Check. Incredible practical effects? Check. Homoerotic shaving? Um...well, you get the idea. For crying out loud, a guy vomits a demon into another guy's mouth before violently melting into a puddle of mush over the span of about 26 seconds. That's intense. Not to mention that it has highest body count out of any Friday film at 23 on screen deaths(24 if you count Big-J himself). If you do the math, it averages to about 1 death every 4 minutes. Good ones, too, each and every one of them! What more could you want?

A good cast, you say? One with actual adult characters making actual adult decisions? Well, wouldn't you know it, JGTH has that as well. John D. Lemay shines as Steven, playing an in-over-his-head 20-something who's having to grapple with some real life issues. See, he's not some privileged college boy vacationing over summer break with a couple friends and a sack of drugs. He's coming off a tough break-up, and just trying to put the pieces back together. Hell, he even has baby-mama-drama. That's heavy. Adding salt to his wounds is Steven Williams of X-Files fame, playing the enigmatic Creighton Duke..probably the coolest franchise character since Tommy Jarvis. Sure, he doesn't make a lot of sense most of the time, but he wears a cowboy hat and is really great at one-liners. That's a win-win in my book. These two are but highlights in a very well-rounded and wonderfully written team of characters. But, what good would these great characters be without a plot? Well, I thought you'd never ask.

This guy was even in The A-Team. How awesome is that?

Imagine you're New Line Cinema in 1991. You've just acquired the Friday the 13th franchise, for better or worse, from a studio that had quite literally bled it to death over the span of eight movies. What do you do with a character who has already died, been impersonated, then resurrected, then sort of died again, then fought a psychic? Also, they went to New York City for a few minutes, but it didn't work out so well. The correct answer is, you embrace the shit out of it. And that's what JGTH does. It pulls no punches, and completely throws everything you would expect from a Friday movie out the window with the grace of a gymnast. The opening credits don't even roll until Jason gets blown to high heaven in one of the most 'WTF' moments of the whole series. That takes balls, man. From that point on, its just one sucker punch after another, unrelenting all the way until that last frame that set the path for the ultimate horror showdown we all know and love.

Wait. What?

Lastly, one final exercise to prove my point; I want you to just think about JGTH if it wasn't associated with the Friday the 13th franchise. Imagine that it is just its own stand alone horror film, without the familiarity of Jason and Crystal Lake. It would be the first slasher movie that broke all the rules and cliches, with clever acting and directing, superb characters, and pure dynamite for practical effects. It would have changed how the modern audience looked at slasher films, something that didn't happen until 3 years later with Scream. We would still be talking about it. Hell, we would probably even have a blu-ray of the Unrated Cut(looking at you, Paramount).

Jason Goes To Hell is so much more than just a Friday the 13th movie. Its plot is so meta, so self-aware, that it was way ahead of its time. It was the horror movie we needed, but weren't quite ready for yet. So do yourself a favor and whip out your copy of the film. Wipe the dust off, and enjoy it. There is a great film in there, and it's been waiting 23 years to be appreciated. More importantly, it deserves it.

Once upon a time, there was a magical decade known as The 80’s. For those grew up during this era, like me, it was a glorious time where Jason Voorhees had a new movie in theaters almost every year, people drank Ecto Cooler while wearing skinny keyboard ties without hipster irony, all your school notes were safely secured in your Trapper Keeper, and Rick Astley was never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down. However, on October 3, 1987, the 80’s got even better when Friday The 13th: The Series debuted to an unsuspecting television audience. Though the series itself has no direct connection to the movies and Jason Voorhees, it wasn’t like anything else on television – creepy, gory, suspenseful, unique, and way ahead of its time.

Frank Mancuso Jr. (himself a producer of several of the Friday films) and Larry B. Williams created the series, originally titled “The 13^th Hour”, but Mancuso believed there would be a bigger audience for the series if they utilized the franchise name to capitalize on the success of the films. In the pilot episode, “The Inheritance”, we meet distant cousins Micki Foster (Louise Robey, billed only as Robey, sort of like Madonna or Cher) and Ryan Dallion (John D. LeMay, who played Steven in Jason Goes to Hell), who have inherited an antique store from their late Uncle Lewis Vendredi (R.G. Armstrong). Though neither knew Uncle Lewis, they learn his dastardly secret – he sold his soul to Satan in exchange for wealth, immortality, and magical powers; in exchange, he sold cursed antiques that would bring darkness to the world. When he broke the deal he made with the devil, he was dragged to Hell. Now Micki and Ryan, aided by older, wiser Jack Marshak (Chris Wiggins as the Giles to Micki and Ryan’s Buffy) must retrieve all of the cursed items from their owners and return them safely to the vault of Curious Goods.

Though set in America, the show was filmed in Canada with an average budget of $500,000 per episode. It aired in first-run syndication, mostly late at night (in my small town, it was WPIX Channel 11, anywhere between midnight and 2 a.m. on Friday nights). As the series gained cult popularity, it began to air at earlier, more family-friendly times; this caused conservative groups (you know, the same people who worry that Tinky Winky in Teletubbies may be gay) to campaign for the show’s cancellation. Though the violence would be considered tame by television standards now, it was graphic for the time, and the show was unceremoniously canceled after three successful seasons and 72 episodes. The final episode aired on May 26, 1990.

Friday the 13th: The Series was made by people who loved to tell scary stories. Each episode was filled with its own folklore and history, helping to paint vivid and creative storylines. To see what the writers, actors, directors, and crew created on a low-budget is nothing short of incredible. It may be a show with carnage, bloodshed, and evil antiques, but it was a huge happy part of my childhood, as was Jason himself; and, in the end, it is actually a show about good triumphing over evil and doing the right thing even when walking away would be much easier. I guess the conservative groups didn’t get that message.

But how can I experience the glory and wonder of this show?, you may ask. It’s on Amazon Prime for free, and I highly encourage you to watch it. The DVD set is also available, but be warned – the show was shot on video and does not have the polished look of today’s programs. Some of the special effects are slightly outdated (as are the fashions and haircuts), but computer technology (and CGI) wasn’t as advanced then as it is now. In fact, the show was nominated for two Emmy Awards, in 1988 and 1989, for Visual and Graphic Effects. There is an outstanding book by Alyse Wax entitled Curious Goods, which is a comprehensive look at the making of the series. It’s well worth a purchase, written with great joy and affection for the series.

In future columns, I’ll be looking at different aspects of the show, including the other t.v. programs it influenced, the cursed antiques themselves, storylines and key episodes, Micki’s ever-growing hair, and character development. In the meantime, grab your Rick Astley comforter and spot on the couch and let yourFriday the 13th: The Series marathon begin.

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