Beginning somewhere in the late 1970s and continuing throughout the 1980s, movie studios were releasing a plethora of slasher horror films that would introduce the world to a heap of iconic villains. Many horror fans agree that the abundance of such legendary monsters was similar to the classic stories that Universal Studios used to release back in the black and white film days.
Unfortunately, while I enjoyed a lot of these horror icons as a child I'm starting to lose interest in most of them as I grow older. There will always be a time and place for figures like Freddy Kreuger and Pinhead, but that place was the 80s and 90s. For whatever reason they don't have the timeless appeal of Dracula or Frankenstein's monster. Beyond Mike Meyers, very few of the monsters from that era seem memorable, although there is one who manages to stumble over the fence and remain an interesting character even today, Jason Voorhees.
Jason is the very epitome of the slasher villain. Sure he's a supernatural being but that doesn't stop him from killing his victims with very tangible devices. Jason is an unstoppable beast that thirsts for blood and revenge and that's why the audience loves him.
One of the most intriguing things about Jason is that unlike many movie monsters he has a legitimate excuse for embracing the cliche of killing young teenagers who have sex. In the original Friday the 13th it is explained that the reason Jason drowned at Camp Crystal Lake was because the teenage camp councilors who were supposed to be watching the lake as Life Guards were off devirginizing one another. This is kind of a funny concept and gives a decent enough excuse to watch stupid horny teens get mutilated in inventive ways. There's tons of humor in Jason movies too, but they never reach the same level of camp that the "Nightmare on Elm St." series does, which is a good thing. The deaths are inventive and gory and the movies always provide the perfect body count that one would want/expect from such a franchise.
He may not be a big hit with the critics and he may not be the most sophisticated creature around, but when it comes to good old fashion murder, you can't go wrong with little old Jason Voorhees, or Mrs. Voorhees for that matter either. By the way, no matter how silly Jason was/is -
this scene is still one of the scariest moments in movie history.
I just realized that I've never watched a Jason movie that I'm aware of and the first time I recall seeing Nightmare on Elm Street was in high school. Crazy. I know of them because of pop culture, you can't escape them especially in October leading up to Halloween. There's also a concern psychologically with slasher films in what leads up to and when someone is killed. The 80's classic of some young woman undressing in front of her open window for any lurking killer to see which may cause some arousal in the viewing audience, only for it to end in blood and gore. Let us hope these scenes aren't subconciously wiring a generation to find that sort of pleasure in gore... creepy.
ReplyDeleteIs the swimmer Jason? Or perhaps you'll tell me to watch the movie to find out. Well, no thanks!