Friday the 13th on 16mm Film
Part of my joy in watching television versions of movies is seeing how a movie was edited to be appropriate for general audiences. John Carpenter shot whole new scenes for his masterpiece Halloween while filming Halloween 2. This was done just so networks like NBC could have enough movie to show in an individual time slot after their cuts were made for general audiences.
The movie CHUD was entirely re-edited with the original ending being inserted somewhere near the middle of the film. This was done after numerous edits were made to make the film general audience friendly. Not only do I enjoy watching the movies to see where scenes were edited down or reorganized, but I think it’s funny to see the swear words dubbed and replaced. I always found these edits interesting and are what lead me to appreciate “cut” films and to also collect them.
Friday the 13th films were treated no differently while being shown on TV in the 1980’s. I really enjoy watching the Friday the 13th marathons on TV just to catch all of the changes that were made to the movies. Recently, I was able to obtain the television versions of Friday the 13th Part 2 and Part 3 on 16mm film. Now, I am sure some people will think I am crazy for enjoying watching edited movies with less gore, nudity and swearing, but for me it’s a bit nostalgic. It takes me back to when I was kid wathcing these late night when the parents were asleep. Check out the screen shots from Part 2 below. I will definitely screening these come Halloween time!
i saw most of these horror movies for the first time on tv. Halloween 2 has a different ending which was filmed just for TV. I’d see it later on video and be like, “wtf… I thought that guy lived!” I think Halloween 2 (the 80s one of course) was highly influenced by F13. Just look how different in tone it is than Halloween 1.
I noticed the handstand kill in F13 Pt 3 is gorier than what is shown in the intro montage of Pt 4 tfc. Were they tailoring that montage for tv? Was pt 4 ever shown on Network? It seems too bleak and f’ed up for that.
These must look good on 16 mm. All the lights have to be out. Just watch out if the film reel is suddenly sliced. Don’t go over to the screen and stare into the projector yelling Jimbo!
Part 4 was surely on network tv. I have the television version on VHS, but the quality has diminished over the years. That version has all of the deleted scenes that are on the new DVD edited into the movie itself. I hope to some day find the tv version on 16mm to add to my collection.
Does your vhs of pt. 4 have the alternate ending w/ audio jasosfury?
dan,
No, that ending had never been released until the DVD was released this past June. However, all of the other deleted scenes shown on the new DVD as extras are in the television version.
Commander USA’s Groovy Movies and USA’s SATURDAY NIGHTMARES is where I first caught the movies in the mid-80’s. A lot passed by the censors too.
SATURDAY NIGHTMARES, wow there brings back some good memories, thats where i saw many of those films back then. oh i miss the 80s !
One movie that I love watching on tv is The Departed. I was watching it on FX with my mom and sister one time and we kept laughing at the things they replaced swear words with.
This is not true, that all of the other deleted scenes apart from the alternate ending on the new DVD are part of the original television version. Folks are getting the new DVD confused with the extras on the DVD box set that was released a few yeaers ago. The new Deluxe Edtion TFC DVD contains extended kill scenes and trimmed gore shots that were cut to appease the MPPA, including a much bloodier version of the climatic machete slide. The scenes missing from the theatical cut that were re-inserted into the TV version are not of the trimmed gore varietty, they are character exposition, extended dialogue, etc.. Many, but not all, of the missing TV scenes can be found as extras on the DVD box set. BUt you won\’t find the trimmed gore shots on either the DVD box set or the old TV version, to check out those you have to pick up the new Deluxe Edition DVD of TFC.
i was just gonna say that. i was hoping the new deluxe edition would have those deleted scenes in better quality and without ‘deleted scene’ displaying over the first few seconds, but they completely left them out. i can’t get the ones from the boxset to import correctly to my computer, so i can’t edit them back in like i did with the gore.
i remember seeing that stuff on tv as a kid, both for f13th 4 and halloween 2, and when i finally got the theatrical versions, i was like…a bunch of stuff’s missing here, what the hell?
I wish they would release the TV versions on DVD or blu-ray. I know they did for the first Halloween, I own it. But, should they release the TV versions on DVD and submit them to the MPAA, would they pass for PG or PG-13?
Knowing the MPAA, they would still rate it R. :)
Seriously, though, it would be a definite PG-13 and really, the MPAA might push that for an R even after the fact. Just look at the type of movie it is. It’s a killer offing teenagers. Not something that organization is willing to let kids see at age 13, no matter how trimmed down it is.
Chris B. – The movie we used to laugh our asses off while watching the edited/clean version of was “The Breakfast Club.”
ROBOCOP has to be the worst TV (UK) edited version I’ve seen. Its almost a different movie entirely… Airplane! also has footage for TV not in the theatrical version because of censored scenes.
I noticed the handstand kill in F13 Pt 3 is gorier than what is shown in the intro montage of Pt 4 tfc. Were they tailoring that montage for tv? Was pt 4 ever shown on Network? It seems too bleak and f’ed up for that. Just look at the type of movie it is. It’s a killer offing teenagers. Not something that organization is willing to let kids see at age 13, no matter how trimmed down it is.