Spooky Movie Month Day #13 – Friday The 13th

October 13th 

It’s Friday the 13th, so that’s what we’re watching! This is new territory for us and I had no idea how it would go. 

The one that started it all, Friday the 13th was released in 1980. It was directed by Sean S. Cunningham and written by Victor Miller and Ron Kurtz, all three of which would rejoin multiple times to continue the legacy they began.

Truly iconic, the first “Friday” tells the story of the camp’s new owner, Steve Christy, working hard to reopen the camp for the first time since the deaths back in 1957 and 1958. He hires a bunch of teen camp counselors who ware supposed to be helping him get the camp ready for kids. But with zero supervision, the teens just fool around and pair off into dark corners every chance they get which would be fine… if it weren’t for that pesky murderer on the loose! One by one, the teens are killed, all in more terrible ways than the one before, until there is only one left.

So, this being our first legit horror film, we prepped them ahead of time. We let them know there was absolutely no obligation to watch this movie. There would be blood, violence, sex and bad language. I let them know I’d be skipping past the inappropriate scenes and maybe even some of the deaths, but if the violence was too much, they could duck out at any time. Most importantly, if either of them felt it was too much and they needed a break or just to stop and never look back, we could just shut it off no questions asked. No guilt, no shame, no big deal. 

We stopped it several times to check in, chat about special effects, laugh at how ridiculous it was and shared some fun behind the scenes stuff that took the edge off when things were getting tense. 

That strategy proved on target and we made it through the whole movie.  

Dragon thought it was funny and it was a good story. The best part was watching Lion’s reactions. Dragon swears they didn’t get scared at all, but did jump when Alice was dreaming at the end. 

Lion was a bit more affected, but still thought it was pretty good. Scary and gross and way too graphic with the inappropriate parts, but the story itself was good and even sometimes funny. They said the scene when the killer dies was unexpected and horrific, but not scary. They agreed with Dragon; only real scary part was when Alice had her dream at the end. 

They both said it would have been nice to have more actual story and less killing so they’d actually understand what was going on and why. When I let them know there were over 10 more movies to help fill in these gaps, they were NOT excited. They both emphatically stated they would not watch it again and had no desire to see what happened next. 4 thumbs up for being the most gross and inappropriate movie they’ve ever watched and for how it could still be funny even though it was terrible.

We ended the night cuddling all together in my bed, watching The Amazing Digital Circus and then Molang got turned on to help them sleep. Finally after midnight, they have both fallen asleep peacefully and I am writing this from bed with my kiddos on either side. (Yeah, sure… totally didn’t scare you at all, I believe it…) 

Sometimes they feel so grown up… and then sometimes they get to remember to be kids. I relish these moments, this time between. It’s the twilight between childhood and teen years, the days that can begin with mature decisions and teenage life problems, but then end with toddler shows. Every day, I appreciate who they are, who they have been and I marvel at who they are becoming. I am so lucky to have these young humans in my life and I’m so grateful for them. I tell them every day they don’t have to rush. Childhood only lasts a short time and then the whole rest of your life, you have to be an adult. Revel in childhood, I tell them. There’s no need to hurry! Sometimes they get it, sometimes they only want to rush forward into the future as fast as possible. I think movies like this show them it’s okay to just be a child a little longer and I don’t mind one bit.

With that, tomorrow we’ll be taking it back down a notch. Fly with us as we head back to some classic, silver screen creature features and explore the magic of old cinematic spookiness!