Retro Review: FRIDAY THE 13TH, the (Jason Voorhees-Free) Series
[Header image courtesy CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution]
Friday the 13th: The Series
Created by Larry B. Williams and Frank Mancuso, Jr.
Syndicated 1987-1990
Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, genre fans had a steady supply of television shows to pick from on regular networks, the local UHF stations, and cable. A surprisingly large number of these programs were anthology series with a suspense/horror flavor. One of the most entertaining was the misleadingly named Friday the 13th: The Series (F13: The Series).
Amongst titles like Monsters, Tales from the Darkside, and The Hitchhiker were two anthology series based on hugely popular horror franchises. In contrast to Freddy’s Nightmares, which featured dream stalking Freddy Krueger introducing each week’s episode, F13: The Series shared nothing but a title with its movie parent.
When the rumor ran through the horror genre media this spring that The CW Network had passed on a series based on the Friday the 13th movie franchise, reaction seemed consist of relief from the series’ hardcore fans and bewilderment from everyone else as to how the Friday the 13th movie franchise could be reimagined in a weekly television format. For a small subset of horror fans (well, maybe just me), there was disappointment that the rumored series was not a resurrection of the 1987-1990 syndicated F13: The Series.
A Friday the 13th television series without a hockey mask wearing, machete-wielding maniac lumbering through the woods of Camp Crystal Lake? Such a show did exist, for three seasons and over 70 episodes.
Larry B. Williams and Friday the 13th movie producer Frank B. Mancuso Jr., thought up F13: The Series as a stand alone series with no connection to the movies. In the July 1989 issue of Fangoria, Mancuso stated, “To be perfectly honest, the series didn’t start out with Friday the 13th as the intended title …. We knew calling the series Friday the 13th would create a lot of unnecessary baggage.” But a perceived need to separate F13: The Series from the pack of syndicated offerings competing for viewers, “we finally agreed that a late night show titled Friday the 13th wouldn’t be so easily ignored.”
Unfortunately for the new series, the name might set it apart also gave a very incorrect impression of the subject matter. Instead of its slasher movie namesake, F13: The Series calls back to a older tradition — the haunted antique shop. From Robert Lewis Stevenson’s short story “Markheim” to the 1975 Amicus films anthology movie From Beyond the Grave to Mr. Gold’s shop on ABC’s Once Upon A Time, the dusty mysterious antique store full of creepy sinister objects for sale is a classic of the horror genre.
The setup is fairly simple and familiar to a horror fan. Lewis Vendredi makes a deal with the devil — eternal life and prosperity is his in return for selling cured antiques to unsuspecting customers. As is often the case in these types of deals, Vendredi sours on the deal, and finds the only way out of his contract is death with his soul forfeit to Old Scratch.
Michelle (Louise Robey) and her cousin-by-marriage Ryan inherit the shop. Before they can sell the store and all the contents, a former business partner of Uncle Lewis named Jack Marshak (Chris Wiggins) informs them of the true nature of the curios. Instead of a quick sale of the contents, the two are cursed to find the items sold by Uncle Lewis and secure them in the antique store’s vault before their evil can cause more damage.
If you vaguely recall watching Friday the 13th: The Series in first run syndication, caught it on reruns, or got the 2008-2009 DVD release from CBS Home Entertainment/Paramount Home Video, there is also a new set of the series scheduled for release in September 2016. While not a highbrow horror classic, this television version of the haunted antique store trope is a solid entertaining show. Even without a ton of extras announced for the September release, F13: The Series is a good bet for a solid spooky hour of entertainment.
Thanks to Vendredi Antiques for the Fangoria article quoted above. The site does not appear to have been updated recently, but is a great source for series information, photos and articles.
For more information about the series, you can also go to Friday the 13th the Series – a Tripod site that is also not currently updated, but a good resource as well.
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