The Couch Potato Report – October 31st, 2011 – Special Halloween Edition
Since he was first introduced to the world in May of 1980, the psychotic, machete-wielding, hockey mask wearing killer Jason Voorhees has become an iconic horror film character….and THE FRIDAY THE 13TH FILM FRANCHISE that he appears in has produced twelve films, a television show, novels, comic books, and hundreds of pieces of tie‑in merchandise.
One great piece of tie-in merchandise – a replica of Jason’s hockey mask – in FRIDAY THE 13TH – THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION. In addition to the mask, it includes the first eight films in the series – from the classic original to the cheesy FRIDAY THE 13TH – 3D, right through to the less than stellar PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN…which was mostly filmed in Vancouver.
FRIDAY THE 13TH – THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION also features a Collector’s Booklet and all but one of the movies have commentaries and hours of special features including slashed scenes, making of featurettes, and more.
I love all kinds of horror films, good and bad, and while I don’t recommend every movie in the set – stay away from numbers 2, 5 and 8 – but I do still suggest horror fans search out THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION because you get the Deluxe Editions of all eight films on DVD, plus the iconic Mask, all for around forty dollars.
I also recommend it because the original FRIDAY THE 13TH, and PART VI: THE FINAL CHAPTER – as well as Jason Voorhees’ theme song – all remain horror classics.
Pick this one up, it is a killer box set!
The FRIDAY THE 13 films had become so iconic – and predictable – that they were ripe for the picking by the time Director Wes Craven’s first SCREAM film was released in 1996…and that is why it was featured in the opening, and referenced throughout the film, including during a scene that explained the rules of the slasher horror film genre.
The original SCREAM film – and its three sequels – are horror films themselves, but they also do a great job of dissecting the genre, and pointing out many of its long running cliches.
All four of the SCREAM films are included in THE COMPLETE SCREAM COLLECTION, which also comes with a mask…in this case the rubber mask of the Ghost Face Killer.
Canadian actress Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox from FRIENDS and David Arquette appear in all four films, and while SCREAM 3 is still not great – it falls prey to some of the traps it thinks it is parodying – the original remains a fantastic film, and this year’s SCREAM 4 updated the franchise and redeemed it as well.
I love these films, and I easily recommend this box set!!
THE COMPLETE SCREAM COLLECTION and FRIDAY THE 13TH – THE LIMITED EDITION ULTIMATE COLLECTION are both available now in stores, and online.
I’m Dan Reynish, and that’s it for this special edition of The Couch Potato Report.
HAPPY HALLOWEEEN!!! Enjoy the movies, watch out for the killers and their clichés, and I’ll see you back here again next time on The Couch!