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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.

1:19:45

Casting What-Ifs

Sally Field; Estelle Parsons; Shelly Winters; Sean Cunningham's son as young Jason

Sally Field; Estelle Parsons; Shelly Winters; Sean Cunningham's son as young Jason

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:45Read transcript
  • They realized they could not afford Sally Field, who would have been 32; Estelle Parsons was another option and Shelly Winters turned it down.
  • Palmer agreed because she needed a new car, was paid $1,000 a day for 10 days and thought it was a piece of shit, with no idea it would be a major movie.
  • Sean Cunningham, the director-producer, was going to have his son play young Jason, and his wife vetoed it.
  • Earlier, the hosts note that they wanted Sally Field and could not get her, which forced them to cast unknowns who could be killed in more violent ways.
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1:24:48

Recasting Couch

Tom Hanks as Ned; young Sharon Stone as Alice; Kathleen Turner

Tom Hanks as Ned; young Sharon Stone as Alice; Kathleen Turner

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:24:48Read transcript
  • Tom Hanks plays Ned in his funny Bosom Buddies mode, which would make it 100 times better, and a young Sharon Stone plays Alice.
  • Kathleen Turner is floated, but the role is judged probably a little bit beneath her, and she is too sultry; in 1980 she would have caused chaos at a summer camp.
  • Michael Douglas revealing in his autobiography an affair with Kathleen Turner during Romance in the Stone (as transcribed) surprised nobody, given their Han Solo and Princess Leia level chemistry.
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1:27:41

Half-Assed Internet Research

Victor Miller saw Jason as a victim; shot in Warren County, New Jersey, at Camp Noby Noby Bosco (as transcribed); Pal...

Victor Miller saw Jason as a victim; shot in Warren County, New Jersey, at Camp Noby Noby Bosco (as transcribed); Palmer slapped King in rehearsal; Harry Crosby briefly lost his sight; Kevin Bacon's death-scene autographs; Robbie Morgan is married to Mark L. Wahlberg

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:27:41Read transcript
  • The screenwriter Miller thought it would be fun to turn motherhood on its head with a female killer and was upset that Jason became the killer, saying Jason was a victim, not a villain; the hosts answer that it was a Halloween ripoff.
  • The movie was shot in Warren County, New Jersey, with the camp scenes at a working Boy Scout camp called Camp Noby Noby Bosco (as transcribed).
  • Palmer slapped King in the face during a rehearsal, upsetting her, and had to be taught to fake a hit; Harry Crosby got fake blood in his eye from the arrow and briefly lost his sight.
  • Kevin Bacon reportedly gets asked to sign screenshots of his death scene in this movie more than any of his other movies.
  • Robbie Morgan, who played Annie, has been married since 1987 to Mark L. Wahlberg, the host of Temptation Island, not the actor.
  • A tangent covers whether Temptation Island still exists, hosting one of those shows, and Love is Blind in Boston without actual Boston people.
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1:33:15

Picking Nits

Pam is never a suspect; how many kids died before the camp closed; why she isn't Crazy Pam; Mama Voorhees' athleticis...

Pam is never a suspect; how many kids died before the camp closed; why she isn't Crazy Pam; Mama Voorhees' athleticism and the bad final fight; why Jason, a poor swimmer, was in the lake at night

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:33:15Read transcript
  • The movie makes it seem like murders and fires kept happening at the campsite, yet the mom is never a suspect; where is Pam in the intervening years, going back to work at the CVS while nobody in town notices.
  • How many kids had to get killed before there was no more camp, and whether anyone actually knows: two when she first gets them, given as 'Two and 59' (as transcribed), then an attempt to burn it down, then 80 when they try to reopen it.
  • The hosts picture the Blairstown Diner with Crazy Ralph at one table and Pam slamming her plate down when she hears the camp is reopening, and ask why she wasn't Crazy Pam.
  • The biggest nitpick is whether Mama Voorhees is athletic enough to pull off anything, since she is a terrible fighter; the fight with Alice is so bad that, per the research, there was no fight choreographer.
  • The last nitpick: according to Pam, Jason wasn't a good swimmer, so why was he out in an open lake at night; it is her fault for not teaching the kid to swim.
  • Earlier, during the villain ranking, her frail frame is flagged as one participant's biggest nitpick, to come later.
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1:38:31

Probably Unanswerable Questions

If the ending was not a dream, how is Jason still a kid 22 years after drowning? What is Crazy Ralph's home life?

If the ending was not a dream, how is Jason still a kid 22 years after drowning? What is Crazy Ralph's home life?

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:31Read transcript
  • If the ending was not a dream and Jason is alive, why does Kid Jason come out of the lake looking like a 13-year-old kid, 22 years after he drowned.
  • The actor who played him, Ari Landon (as transcribed), is in a band called First Jason, and the director was going to cast his son as young Jason.
  • Is the water keeping him in perpetual childhood, or was it a dream, making everything from part two on supernatural; maybe she dreamed a kid pulled her in but it was adult Jason, who in two is grown and yoked.
  • Jason in part two would be 35, one of the great late bloomer athletes, compared to Kurt Warner playing arena football while waiting for his moment.
  • Earlier, one participant names two major unanswerable questions, starting with Crazy Ralph's home life, since he has a wife.
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1:41:32

Best Double Feature

Nightmare on Elm Street 2; Friday the 13th Part 2

Nightmare on Elm Street 2; Friday the 13th Part 2

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:41:32Read transcript
  • One pick is Nightmare on Elm Street 2, called an underrated Nightmare on Elm Street and the homoerotic one.
  • Two is offered as a longer evening but a really nice bookend for this one, giving the full Pamela to Jason transition.
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