Thirty Years At Camp Crystal Lake

I became a fan of the horror genre when I was a kid, around the age of ten or eleven. And thanks to a combination of the neighborhood video store and TV shows like MonsterVision and USA Up All Night at the time, I was introduced to - and am still a fan of - the Friday the 13th franchise.

The reason I bring this up is because 2010 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the original Friday the 13th movie's release. Thirty years ago, Sean Cunningham and Paramount Pictures gave the world Jason Voorhees and turned slasher movies into a juggernaut that would dominate the horror genre for the better part of the '80s. And I can't thank them enough for it.

But of all the horror movie villains and franchises that have been created since the genre first started, why have I been so drawn to Jason and the Friday the 13th saga? To tell you the truth, I don't know. If I did know at some point, I've forgotten. I think a lot of it came from MonsterVision and Up All Night, with the host segments making the movies a ton of fun. (Seriously, I'm still depressed that both of these shows were cancelled so long ago.) And when I started watching the versions of the movies that hadn't been edited for television, I still had a blast watching them.

Admittedly, the Friday the 13th movies aren't good ones from a conventional standpoint. But they're just so dumb and so cheesy that they're a lot of fun. Even the especially crappy ones manage to have at least a little charm, particularly if you enjoy mocking bad movies.

I know that most non-fans probably think these movies are just a load of crap. Practically every diehard Friday the 13th fan knows how much glee Siskel and Ebert took in ripping the movies to shreds. That's almost part of the franchise's "legend," so to speak. But as for yours truly, the twelve movies are required viewing on days like today. So if you'll excuse me, I still need to go watch one.

Oh, and happy Friday the 13th.