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The Rewatchables ·

Friday the 13th

year 1980decade 80sdirector Sean S. Cunninghamgenre Horror
host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Van Lathan
All 31 categories

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award · 1:15:47

Society was better when weed was called grass

One take is that society was in a much better state when weed was called grass: cheaper, less potent, mostly oregano, smoked by cool groups in The Big Chill and Days Confused (as transcribed).

Another is that the leap from Friday 1 to Friday 2 makes Friday 2 the greatest sequel of all time as an improvement over the original, ahead of Aliens, Godfather 2 and Empire Strikes Back, with more charming kids, an awesome final girl and incredible kills.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson · 1:40:46

Don't reopen Camp Blood

Maybe don't reopen anything called Camp Blood, read the Yelp reviews before you accept a job as a cook at a camp, and listen to the people in the diner who tell you about the place's horrible history.

The film

Friday the 13th (1980)

Directed by Sean S. Cunningham · Horror

95 minutes

IMDb Find on JustWatch Find on Rotten Tomatoes
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Betsy Palmer Mrs. Voorhees
Harry Crosby Bill Brown
Jeannine Taylor Marcie Stanler
Laurie Bartram Brenda Jones
Kevin Bacon Jack Burrell
Mark Nelson Ned Rubenstein
Robbi Morgan Annie
Robbi Morgan Annie Phillips
Peter Brouwer Steve Christy
Peter Brouwer Steve Christy
Rex Everhart the truck driver
Rex Everhart The Truck Driver
Ronn Carroll Sgt. Tierney
Ronn Carroll Sgt. Tierney
Walt Gorney Crazy Ralph
Walt Gorney Crazy Ralph
Willie Adams Barry
Debra S. Hayes Claudette
Betsy Palmer Mrs. Voorhees
Ari Lehman Jason

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

29:43

Most Rewatchable Scene

Marcy and Jack's deaths

Marcy and Jack's deaths

In the discussion (19)
Approx. transcript time · 00:29:43Read transcript
  • The walk-through starts with the opening scene set in 1958, where counselors sing Michael Rode, Roll the Boat of Shore (as transcribed) before Jason's mom takes them down, and the sex scene never comes.
  • Because of that song it may be a religious camp, which leads to a riff on over the pants contact and the acronym OTPHJ, which one participant, who grew up in Baton Rouge, had never heard.
  • Annie's car ride to Camp Blood, the journey to Crystal Lake, is a good horror setup: a local who coexists with the evil tells her to stop and get out, and the truck driver who gives her a ride grabs her ass as she gets in.
  • A participant who left the Sycamore office imagines being told that Simmons' house is where people go to die, and refusing to come over.
  • She heads to a camp in the middle of the woods while a whole diner warns her off, with a left at the cemetery as another red flag; the butt grab is thought to have been directed, and one participant got nervous the driver was another Texas Chainsaw guy.
  • Starting the killing with a character outside the main narrative shows how much danger everyone else is in; the sequels, especially two and three, open with the last 10 minutes of the previous movie to get a kill in, because the next 40 minutes are kids hanging out.
  • Her scene ends in a graphic throat cut; it is her second hitchhiking ride, and after getting away from the first guy she seems comfortable with the next person, whose car keeps going past the sign.
  • The mom as the villain was a zag in the theater, and it makes sense because every victim greets the killer from the killer's POV; it later became legend, with a film bro kid in middle school explaining that it is actually Jason's mom.
  • Jack, Kevin Bacon's character, and Marcy buying it are a couple of good deaths: the through-the-bed death was filmed with his head over the bed and a fake body, and Jack probably died happy with a quick arrow through the throat.
  • Marcy getting the axe to the forehead is a disappointing death because she saw it coming, and the last thing she sees is the scariest thing in the world.
  • Jason's mom is called one of the greatest female athletes ever, killing since 58 and getting better over time like Derrick Henry, versatile enough to throw a body through a window and keep her blue sweater clean.
  • At the end she explains her reasons like she is doing a podcast, a gimmick Fruising (as transcribed) also had, prompting an impression of Matt Bellany (as transcribed) asking whether one death is a good enough reason to kill the counselors.
  • Alice finds Bill and the rest of the bodies, Bill with an arrow through the eyeball, and builds a barricade compared to Minecraft Mike Tomlin; then Jason's mom shows up saying they were making love while the young boy drowned.
  • Betsy Palmer loses what is scored like a UFC fight, 50 to 45; Alice sitting with her back to the house after leaving her attacker is called a strange choice and a trope, topped only by Jamie Lee Curtis dropping the knife in Halloween.
  • The fight is a lot of shin and box kicking and a frying pan, ending in a good slow-motion decapitation with the machete and the music.
  • The second ending in the canoe is one of the scariest things one participant ever saw; the newcomer whose reaction is requested calls it legitimately shocking, the only scary part for them, having expected a little tease with two minutes left.
  • The ending is thought to be influenced by Carrie's hand coming out at the end and to have been Tom Savini's idea for one more button; Jason was not yet envisioned, his disfigured body is called great, and the jump scare was often imitated afterwards.
  • The pick is Marcy and Jack dying, where you just know you're in Friday the 13th, called the biting of the apple, and another participant had the same scene; it is funny that it is Kevin Bacon, with the softball line quoted.
  • The last participant asked for a most rewatchable scene agrees with the others.
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50:00

The most 1980 thing

The Bogart and Katherine Hepburn impersonations (as transcribed); old gas station pumps; Alice's hair; Betsy Palmer's...

The Bogart and Katherine Hepburn impersonations (as transcribed); old gas station pumps; Alice's hair; Betsy Palmer's sweater; hitchhiking; white kids at the lake; the underwear; bedtime nightgowns

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:00Read transcript
  • The old gas station pumps, Alice's hair and Betsy Palmer's sweater are offered, but the winner is two characters doing a Bogart impersonation and a Katherine Hepburn impersonation (as transcribed), references the newcomer did not catch.
  • The modern equivalent would be imitating Jules from Pulp Fiction or Forrest Gump; it was a little late for Bogart, but by the theory of cultural expiration it had not expired yet, since Eddie Murphy still did it in movies.
  • Another participant says 1980 still feels like the 70s, then lists hitchhiking and white kids going to the lake, with a riff on 45 tons of raw sewage making lakes less appealing.
  • The last picks are the underwear in the movie, with the claim that Victoria's Secret totally changed panty technology, and the bedtime ritual of putting on a bathrobe or nightgown even at summer camp.
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53:55

What’s Aged the Best?

The setup for the sequels; Kevin Bacon; Crazy Ralph as the town crazy; strip Monopoly; Jack's weather knowledge; how ...

The setup for the sequels; Kevin Bacon; Crazy Ralph as the town crazy; strip Monopoly; Jack's weather knowledge; how horny men are; Harry Manfredini's score

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:53:55Read transcript
  • A truly tremendous setup for the sequels, laying the groundwork with the question of where the boy is.
  • Kevin Bacon is named, then the town crazy, Crazy Ralph: the gimmick has never gone wrong because the town crazy is the only person who gives a real warning, and the hosts doubt Ralph knew it was Pamela.
  • Asked for the most underrated town crazy, a participant names Sam Jackson in Above the Rim before correcting it to Bernie Mac as Flip.
  • Strip Monopoly is picked, with jokes that nobody knows its rules, that Monopoly is a three or four hour game, and that the guy had threesome ideas.
  • Jack announcing that the wind shifted 180 degrees and the storm will tear down the valley shows what dudes were like before ESPN, when they knew about weather and how to fix stuff.
  • Another pick is how horny men are: Marcy recounts her dream of rain turning into blood, and Jack responds only by asking if she wants to go inside.
  • Nobody mentions the cemetery or the Camp Blood nickname of Camp Crystal Lake, and the cemetery would be as scary.
  • The last pick is the score by Harry Manfredini: a participant heard it as choo choo ha ha for 46 years before learning it is Kiki Mama (as transcribed); Halloween's piano theme takes the gold and this the silver.
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59:34

The Great Shot Gordo Award for Most Cinematic Shot

The slow-motion machete beheading of Jason's mom

The slow-motion machete beheading of Jason's mom

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:34Read transcript
  • The mom's beheading, with the slow-mo machete coming down, is the pick, because it became a hallmark and staple of these movies.
  • A participant is asked whether you could cut somebody's head off with a dull old knife of that size; the velocity makes it doubtful, and in two Ginny's attempt only damages Jason's shoulder.
  • You would need a samurai-level katana as in Black Rain (transcribed 'black brain') and technique, since even House of the Dragon shows a miss; the hosts do not think she is strong enough, but the shot is iconic.
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1:04:23

Is There a Better Title for This Movie?

Camp Blood

Camp Blood

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:04:23Read transcript
  • The screenplay was originally called A Long Night at Camp Blood, which is not bad, and Camp Blood is called great.
  • Saved from a hottest take, the idea is to call this Camp Blood and keep Friday the 13th as a different gimmick for a different franchise, giving a Camp Blood series and a Jason series, though Camp Blood Takes Manhattan is not as good.
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1:04:23

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

Ned; Steve Christie (as transcribed); Alice

Ned; Steve Christie (as transcribed); Alice

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:04:23Read transcript
  • Ned is the first pick, and another participant agrees that Ned gets on their nerves and is a tough hang.
  • Steve Christie (as transcribed), who runs the camp, is called a piece of shit: he puts the kids to work on a tree stump, hits on Alice shirtless, leaves, and sobers up at the diner, maybe taking a run at the waitress.
  • Ned is the one in the Native American headdress who keeps culturally appropriating, the planned subject of an award for the guy you can't wait to die, and they only find him on the bed above, which is not enough.
  • The cop telling him to settle down, Tonto, is in a completely different movie, cops in the first three movies always get called away to a car accident, and Ned acts like he is Chevy Chase.
  • Across the franchise, the worst hang is the guy from Last American Virgin in part four who watches old movies on the projector.
  • Another weak link pick is Alice: Annie should have been the hero and Alice killed off first, since Alice is a rough hang with bad hair.
  • Adrian King (as transcribed), who plays Alice, got a stalker afterward and wanted to be killed in two as fast as possible; she could have been the Laurie Strode of the series, while Annie, Karen Allen 2.0, is gone in the first 10 minutes.
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1:09:01

What’s Aged the Worst?

Knowing the reveal; Steve hitting on the staff; faking a drowning for mouth-to-mouth; 'Settle down, Tonto'; the dark ...

Knowing the reveal; Steve hitting on the staff; faking a drowning for mouth-to-mouth; 'Settle down, Tonto'; the dark low-budget lighting; the off-screen Brenda kill; Ned; killing a live snake; the Bogart impression; no intimacy coordinator

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:09:01Read transcript
  • Knowing the reveal makes it a tough watch, along with Steve hitting on the staff, faking a drowning so a cute co-worker gives you mouth-to-mouth, and Settle Down Tonto.
  • They had so little money that there was not enough light, which is why the movie is so dark, and with more money the kills would have popped more, joked as Michael Mann redoing it.
  • The Brenda kill is not shown: she wanders out to the archery range and then she is dead, maybe for lack of money, as the production seemed able to show a kill or its aftermath but not both.
  • Asked for what's aged the worst, the next participant opens with obviously Ned.
  • The snake scene, about six minutes long, has also aged badly, and they actually killed the live snake; according to Adrian King in the book Crystal Lake Memories, the owner stood off to the side with tears running down his cheeks.
  • The Bogart impression aged badly, and the hosts call this a nipple movie, still basically the 70s, before later 80s horror leaned on gratuitous nudity.
  • Kevin Bacon's hands are all over the place in a very long shot, with no intimacy coordinator on the movie.
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1:15:47

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Society was better when weed was called grass; Friday 2 is the greatest sequel of all time; this movie needed a dad

Society was better when weed was called grass; Friday 2 is the greatest sequel of all time; this movie needed a dad

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:47Read transcript
  • One take is that society was in a much better state when weed was called grass: cheaper, less potent, mostly oregano, smoked by cool groups in The Big Chill and Days Confused (as transcribed).
  • Another is that the leap from Friday 1 to Friday 2 makes Friday 2 the greatest sequel of all time as an improvement over the original, ahead of Aliens, Godfather 2 and Empire Strikes Back, with more charming kids, an awesome final girl and incredible kills.
  • Called the hottest take, the last is that this movie needed a dad: Jason's dad probably took off, and a dad would have moved the family to Arizona and stopped it.
  • The counterpoint is a version where the dad is the first victim, and Betsy Palmer reportedly built a backstory in her head in which Jason Sr. wanted them to move away and she had to change his mind.
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1:24:48

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Jason's mom

Jason's mom

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:24:48Read transcript
  • Jason's mom, only in the movie for 10 minutes, is an easy pick over Ralph and young Jason's great five seconds.
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1:31:32

Apex Mountain

Adrienne King; Halloween ripoff movies; the Blairstown Diner; strip Monopoly

Adrienne King; Halloween ripoff movies; the Blairstown Diner; strip Monopoly

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:31:32Read transcript
  • Adrian King (as transcribed) is definitely at her apex; 1980 is called a big drowning year, with Ordinary People raised; Jason and Kevin Bacon are a no.
  • For summer campsite movies the apex is probably Meatballs, while for Halloween ripoff movies this is definitely it; the Blairstown Diner and strip Monopoly are also a yes.
  • Strip Monopoly is doubted as playable because Monopoly takes four hours, leading to a story of a Monopoly phase that threatened a friend group's friendships.
  • One more entry, dumb kids in horror movies, is raised as a question, whether these are the dumbest kids in a horror movie, and left unsettled: one participant would need to do some comparing, Sleepaway Camp is raised and the Halloween kids are not thought dumb; the hosts agree only that these kids are morons, from going to check things out to the generator going out and the lights at the archery range.
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1:33:15

Cruise or Hanks?

Hanks

Hanks

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:33:15Read transcript
  • The answer is Hanks, given without discussion before Picking Nits.
  • Cruise or Hanks (transcribed 'Cruiser Hanks') is first called and interrupted for one more Apex Mountain entry.
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1:36:06

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Everything but an all-Black cast has been done; a Linda Cardellini prequel about Pam is coming

Everything but an all-Black cast has been done; a Linda Cardellini prequel about Pam is coming

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:36:06Read transcript
  • They have literally done all of it except an all-Black cast, and a prequel with Linda Cardellini is coming.
  • The prequel is thought to be about Pam in the intervening years after Jason's death, maybe with little kid Jason at the beginning and Pam's marriage.
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1:36:22

Is This Movie Better With…?

Dr. Chuck Nichols; Stephen A

Dr. Chuck Nichols; Stephen A

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:36:22Read transcript
  • Dr. Chuck Nichols, a Ted Levine character, is offered, telling the diners that his friend Pamela doesn't feel well and they should go back to their dessert and coffee.
  • Stephen A gets serious about his friend Jason Voorhees: this brother will not stop killing people, it is clearly a sickness and the man needs help.
  • A second version has Stephen A in a media beef with Jason Voorhees, threatening to bring out the receipts from Camp Crystal Lake after talking to Crazy Ralph.
  • Voorhees then makes the media rounds: McAfee, Get Up, and Peter Schrager with Dominic Foxworth (as transcribed).
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1:38:13

Just One Oscar

The score; Tom Savini

The score; Tom Savini

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:13Read transcript
  • Probably the score is offered, and the award is given to Tom Savini, the makeup guy.
  • Savini worked with Romero, is a legendary makeup and special effects guy, and later appears in From Dusk Till Dawn as a character actor.
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1:40:46

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

The Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake sign; the strip Monopoly board; the machete

The Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake sign; the strip Monopoly board; the machete

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:40:46Read transcript
  • The Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake sign and the strip Monopoly board are offered, and the machete is wanted because it goes on to become iconic as the franchise decapitation machete.
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1:40:46

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Don't reopen Camp Blood; read the Yelp reviews before taking a job as a camp cook; listen to the people in the diner

Don't reopen Camp Blood; read the Yelp reviews before taking a job as a camp cook; listen to the people in the diner

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:40:46Read transcript
  • Maybe don't reopen anything called Camp Blood, read the Yelp reviews before you accept a job as a cook at a camp, and listen to the people in the diner who tell you about the place's horrible history.
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1:41:51

Who Won the Movie?

Steve Miner; Jason; the Friday the 13th franchise

Steve Miner; Jason; the Friday the 13th franchise

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:41:51Read transcript
  • Called one of the tougher Who Won the Movies, the first nominee is Steve Miner, director of two and three and an associate producer on one, who shepherded the franchise and became a prolific Hollywood director.
  • Another answer is Jason as an idea, though Jason is not even in this movie; Jason's mom and the music are also floated.
  • Ripping off Halloween is floated as the winner, and finally Friday the 13th itself, because it is the franchise, the IP.
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