Friday The 13th (1980)

Friday The 13th (1980)

Okay, so this week so far, we've been spotlighting trailers from 1980. Today, we've got the whole film for Friday the 13th.

So enjoy...
http://www.myflashfetish.com/video-playlist/129360

The Changeling (1980)

The Changeling (1980)

This week is 1980's week - the beginning of a decided fixation of special effects and start of the slasher phase of horror. As Friday the 13 and other gorefest flicks dominated, smaller more traditional films floundered and were ignored, forgotten or overlooked.

One of my favorite films gravely overlooked due to the shift in focus to special effects in horror films is Peter Medak's The Changeling from 1980. This movie is an effective and frightening haunted house/ghost story. It is a movie that was made and released at the wrong time. If it were made five or ten years earlier, it would surely be a well known classic. As it is, it's a little known brilliant gem.

George C. Scott leads a top notch cast as John Russel, a composer who rents a century old mansion after suffering a personal tragedy. Soon, he finds himself not quite alone in the house ... someone, some unseen entity, is there with him.

The Changeling is directed by Peter Medak (Species II, Masters of Horror) and written by Russell Hunter and William Gray. It stars George C. Scott (The Exorcist 3), Trish Van Devere (The Hearse), Melvyn Douglas (Ghost Story), Jean Marsh, John Colicos, Barry Morse (Space: 1999).

So here it is ... The Changeling


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_HtMqCHaV8

The Fog (1980)

The Fog (1980)

As we've been discussing, horror in the eighties would become more and more about the special effects: Baker, Bottin, Savini and others would rise to fame for their mastering of the magical arts. Popular directors would employ them to create wonderous visions of gore and gruesome madness. 1980 was at the beginning of that transition as directors began to feel this shift.

John Carpenter would hire Rob Bottin to create his monster(s) for The Fog. While this film isn't about the gore, that would come with Carpenter's The Thing a few years later, it does illustrate the rise of the effects artist and how they would come to shape the face of horror. Here, however, the influence is subtle.

The Fog stars Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, John Houseman, Tom Atkins and Hal Holbrook.

So here it is ... The Fog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2G4H9OKcyw

The Hearse (1980)

The Hearse (1980)

As the eighties came around, horror began focusing on special effects, monsters and slashers. During this transition, more traditional films would be generally overlooked. One such film is The Hearse starring Trish Van Devere.

The Hearse is a haunted house film with the titular hearse and its driver as the 'monster.' Van Devere inherits an old house with a tramatic history and soon finds herself wrapped up in a terrifying mystery. Full of atmosphere and traditional scare tactics, The Hearse successfully builds suspense to the jump scare. Its great stuff for its time; but, at that time, the horror community was craving a different beast.

Directed by George Bowers and written by William Bleich and Mark Tenser, the Hearse stars Trish Van Devere, Joseph Cotten, David Gautreaux, Donald Hotton, Med Flory.

So here it is ... The Hearse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgtYZzMcAbU

Friday the 13th (1980)

Friday the 13th (1980)

In the past months, we have spotlighted a variety of 70's horror films. At the rant, we love the 70's; however, the next decade would be a decade of transition. In the eighties, horror movies would be more and more about the special effects, monsters, ... and slashers. Landis would bring us An American Werewolf in London, Carpenter would deliver The Thing, Sam Raimi would spew his Evil Dead, Clive Barker would introduce us to Pinhead in Hellraiser and Wes Craven would unleash Freddy Kruger in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Terror fans would now have their Modern Horror: icons, directors and special effects artists.

One special effects artist, Tom Savini, would give us some of the most gruesome and disturbing American visual treats. Following his ground breaking display in Romero's Dawn of the Dead, Savini would define the slasher flick, beginning with Friday the 13th and introduce us to Jason Vorhees. Years before CGI would take over, Savini's practical effects would shock and terrify audiences with arrows and hatchets and ... machetes.

Friday the 13th, while crude at times and simple in its structure, would strike a nerve with the horror community and be a huge hit, spawning decades of sequels and a forthcoming remake next year in 2009. This movie is frightening and fun. Great stuff.

Friday is directed by Sean S. Cunningham (Deep Star Six), written by Victor Miller and stars
Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Jeannine Taylor and the incredible Kevin Bacon.

So here it is ... Friday the 13th
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dUDJJrYW6U