Friday the 13th: A fan’s lifelong memories.
It’s kind of funny how I became introduced to the series. I was in the first grade, and I saw this movie on the shelf at the store (A New Beginning), and I just had to watch it because the pictures looked so cool. So I rented it and I watched it. I loved it then and I still love it today because it was my first time watching one of the films. So after I had watched ‘A New Beginning’, I went to rent another one, and this time I rented Friday the 13th part 8 : Jason takes Manhattan. I didn’t have knowledge of the correct order so I thought this film was the follow up.
And what is really hilarious, is the fact that as a small kid I never payed attention to the characters names, other than Jason’s, and I honestly thought the character of Julius, was a grown up Reggie the reckless. If that isn’t enough, the next film I ended up watching was the first Friday the 13th. I was disappointed because I really thought Jason was doing all of the killing in that movie, and at the end it showed some crazy lady, which was Mrs. Voorhees. The scene that did feature Jason as a child, in my mind was a follow up to the final scenes with a small Jason in the sewers of Jason takes Manhattan.
I guess I wasn’t a smart little kid back then but I eventually found out the correct order of the films and I watched them in order to get a clear picture of the series.
Jason Voorhees will always remain an important milestone in my life. He was the first character of horror that I was introduced to. I grew up with the series, even if it were out of order, I learned alot from the series on my own. I was then and will always be grateful for the experiences of the Friday the 13th films.
I think without the fans of the series, there would be no series. We payed the money to watch these films in theatres and we collected the VHS collection and the DVD collection. So if you have any stories you would like to share, please do so.
Believe it or not, my first Friday was also A New Beginning. My Dad and I sat up until the early hours of the morning watching them actually. It was love at first sight, indeed
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I like the order you watched the films. It tells the story in an interesting order.
My first Friday film was also A New Beginning. My dad took me to see it at the KB Silver theatre in Silver Spring, MD. Before that I’d seen the first three but editted for television during Halloween week.
my first Friday movie was part 2 but it was in 1990 that i first seen it. then i seen part 6. after that, i cant remember.lol.
This is a good companion to the blog I created last month for your first theatrical experience.
http://fridaythe13thfilms.com/blog/friday-conversation-your-first-theatrical-friday-experience/
Thanks to my sister, who was babysitting me and was suppose to take me to some Disney Movie at the time, we went in and saw Friday the 13 Part 1. I was 5 and for it to be my 1st scary movie I had ever seen, sleeping that night and my sister was a bit hard to do. At the time, I was mad at my sister, but today I thank her. Of course the following year she tricked me again and I saw the 2nd part, which is my favorite of the series. Wasn’t as scaried, but still have trouble sleeping for the week. Eventually my mom found out and it was not until part 7 that I saw another Friday in the theatres so I missed the part 3 experiance (watching 3-6 on VHS was not the same), but thanks to the Alamo drafthouse, I finally got to see 3-6 on the silver screen. So thanks sis for the memories
Early in the 80`s my parents bought the inventory of an local video store that closed down. Guess I do not have to mention how many cool horror films this buy included!! Sadly I was not allowed (at the age of 7 or
to watch them.. at least officially. Always when my parents were out, me and some friends watched these treassures like PIRANHAS, TERMINATOR and some cheap grindhouse styled stuff. After a while we were cought by watching the film POLTERGEIST and from there they removed the horror cassettes and just kept the covers. Sadly we never saw the Friday the 13th film but I put the cover out of the shelf and used it as a poster in my playroom. It was the same style of cover as seen here in this previous article: http://fridaythe13thfilms.com/blog/beautiful-german-vhs-cover/
I was shocked and amazed by these films at the same time. From there on I collected everything I could get my hands on in regards to these films. Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Terminator were focused when I was around 12.
My buddy found a lot of cool movies stored away in a box, originally owned by his older brother. Among these films there was the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, MANIAC and FRIDAY THE 13TH part 6. And this was the first Friday I saw. It was long my favourite Friday film, until X, FvsJ and the remake came out.
Mario
My first 13th was also part 5. My aunt recorded it off Showtime or something. I was probably in 4th grade.
I Started watching them from when they first came out with part one and so on, and i can honestly say that the most ive ever jumped out of my skin was when jason came through the window at the end of part 2, which still is my favourite film in the series, and the guy sitting next to me almost ended up on my lap, what a scream, and as the old saying goes, “they dont make em like that anymore”.
i do like the 2024 version, and thought they done a good job, as it was a hard act to follow with such a hard core fanbase, Roll on part 2.
The first Friday movies I saw were Parts 1-3 back to back. My Mom was a real horror junkie as well as My older Brother. So She rented 1-3 and I got to watch them back to back. I was 5 or 6 at the time but I remember I got instantly hooked. Although I must admit the Ari Lehman jump scare at the end of part 1 made me sleep with the lights on. That and when Jason gets the axe to the dome at the end of 3, dont ask me why but I was freaked out when He starts reaching towards the camera (for the 3-d effect)It was the 2-d version of course but damm I was creeped out. Not much longer I saw The Final Chapter at the drive in with My Mom and Brother. And since then Ive seen every Friday film on screen. Oh and I forgot to mention I was freaked out with Kevin Bacons death (Jack). I guess its that whole monster under the bed thing that little kids fear so much. After I saw that I checked under my bed every night, true story.
My 1st friday the 13th experience was was indirectly when I was about 9 going to my local video shop which has now closed about 13 years ago, going to get the bravestar movie(!) I was suddenly drawn to the horror section and the Friday The 13th films were on the top self and where I came from anything on the top shelf of anything was kinda forbidden, so my 1st thought was ‘whoah if there on the top shelf they must be scary!’ so I spent the next 3 years going to the shop most days to read the covers of 1-8 reading about Jason and his murderous ramapages (4,3,6 and 7 were the best covers) I finally watched my 1st one when I was 11, which was Part 8 on BBC1 (a tame introduction you might say but it still scared the pants off me!)then I was hooked I become friends and a movie buff by befreinding the guy in the video shop and he let me rent all of the films the 1st one being part 6, when the shop closed I bought the entire collection for about £15.00 and never looked back 20 oir so years later and now I cite Friday The 13th as one of the reasons I got into movies. I’m becoming a father in may and when my kid is old enough I will whip out the dvd/bluray’s/whatever comes after on sit down on the sofa with some popcorn to watch the entire francise teaching the mytology that this site help create, in the hope that my passion will be passed down for genartions to come.
Roy Burns is actually the first character of horror you were introduced to.
Mario-PIRAHNA!
How great is that movie!
late nite horror…oh how kids today miss out…I wish there were some late nite horror shows still on…at least AMC is trying…
I remember watching these when I was very young. I was in the Fourth or Fifth Grade and I remember my mom & Dad telling me if I got an Honor Role I can rent any scary movie I wanted. I always got glued to looking at the Box Covers of the Firday the 13th films in Block Buster so it had to be one of those. I rented Friday the 13th Part VIII JTM. That was the first one I saw. From the moment it started I was hooked.
After that I saw the rest of them but in a strange order. Since I loved the box covers I went by what caught my attention the most as a kid
Part 8
Part 3
Part 1
Part 5
Part 2
Part 9- JGTH
Part 6
Part 7
Part 4 (which is now my absolute Favorite)
then eventually saw Jason X, F vs. J and the new Friday the 13th in theatres. What a great series and some of my favorite horror movies!
My first experience was a taped copy of Part III that my parents had made (it was along with Death Wish II and Force 10 From Navarone, and it was the last on the tape) on a Sunday afternoon while they were gone. I hadn’t really seen a horror flick until then, and then thought it would scare me to death, but no flinching. I have been in love with horror in general ever since, but always a fan of Friday the 13th since that afternoon.
First ever was The Final Chapter when I was about six. I couldn’t even make it past the archive footage at the beginning!!! Scared THE LIVING CRAP OUTTA ME!!!!!!!!
i remember, when i was about 4 or 5, i’d be staying with my grandparents, becuase i’d stay with them every weekend growing up. and without my grandpa, i probably would have never been the fan like i am now. anyway..i remember sitting on his lap, watching pt. 8(jason takes manhattan). and at the end, it really scared me, seeing what he looked like without the mask on. but when it was over, it was like something clicked..i actually had a hocky mask from the series, but back then, i didn’t know it so i thought it was really cool that i had one and that jason wore one too. being so young, i actually looked up to jason. and growing up, he was my only real role model, becuase i never had a father figure. so every weekend after that, i would always look forward to watching pt. 8 and at the time, i didn’t know there were others, but that’s when i was really introduced to a video store. we would rent all the movies and watch them..just about everytime i was with them.
and one funny story, after being introduce to the series…my mom didn’t have any idea, so one day, i had gotten into trouble and my mom said that i couldn’t go with my grandparents, so it really pissed me off. so i said that i was going to turn into jason and kill her… which got me into more trouble, but she laughs about it now.
and 15 years later, i’m still a HUGE fan. and i actually got to meet Kane Hodder, so that was bad ass
I remember as a kid my brother and I got to hang out with a friend of ours whom my parents were friends with his parents. They had a copy of Friday part 5. It really scared me freaked me out as a kid. From there on out I had to see more. Every Friday night my Dad would take my brother and me to the local video store to rent a video game and a movie for the weekend. We would always pick a Friday the 13th movie. I can always remember the second one i saw was part 7. After that was the final chapter. I can’t really remember the order after that. It was a long while before I saw part 6 (my favorite). It seems they were always rented out that one before I got there to rent the movie. I know that was a very memorable time in my life. I loved being introduced to them at such a young age and to still love the movies to this day, which makes me a huge horror fan (Thanks JASON!)
I remember growing up watching the first friday on CED. We also had part 4, but the cover scared me something fierce (I was like younger than 5).
If anyone wants to see the CED discs theguyontheleft mentioned, check out the links below. All vinyl, all the time!!
http://fridaythe13thfilms.com/blog/friday-the-13th-ced-back-covers/
http://fridaythe13thfilms.com/blog/friday-the-13th-on-a-different-home-video-format-ced/