Today (August 13, 2010) is Friday the 13^th. The first thing I think of whenever the calendar lines up this way is "Jason Voorhees" and the series of Friday the 13^th horror movies. The original film was released back in 1980. The movie revolves around a group of teenagers who re-open an abandoned camp site years after a young boy drowned in a nearby lake. One by one, the teens fall victim to a mysterious killer. The young boy was Jason Voorhees and his mother blames her son's drowning on the fact that two counselors were having sex and were unaware of Jason struggling in the lake. Mrs. Voorhees suddenly turns violent and appears to be the mysterious killer. I don't want to spoil the ending, but that might not be entirely the case. Here's the original trailer for Friday the 13th...

Did you recognize Kevin Bacon in there? This was one of his earliest roles (after "Chip Diller" in 1978's Animal House, but before 1982's Diner and well before 1984's Footloose). The rest of the cast are relative unknowns, especially today. The original Friday the 13^th was produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham. The script was written by Victor Miller (who went on to write for several television soap operas including Guiding Light, One Life to Live and All My Children). It was inspired by the 1978 John Carpenter film Halloween and made for the small budget of $550,000. Despite terrible reviews, it would go on to gross nearly $40 million at the U.S. box office making it the 18^th highest grossing film of 1980 and one of the most profitable films of its time.

As of now, there have been ten sequels to Friday the 13^th including a recent reboot in 2009. The "Jason Voorhees" character becomes more central starting in Part 2 which was released in 1981 and has since become one of the true icons of the horror/slasher film genre. I cannot look at a hockey mask without immediately thinking of Friday the 13^th and hearing that "ki, ki, ki, ma, ma, ma" sound in my head. I even dressed up like "Jason" for a Halloween party one year. I personally am not too superstitious about the date or the number 13. In fact, I was married on the 13th and we lived in apartment number 13 for a couple years. But Friday the 13^th does always remind me of the 80s films no matter if it happens in August like this year or any month for that matter. So Happy Friday the 13^th to you all.

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