Despite an entire franchise named after one of the most superstitious calendar dates, very few Friday the 13th movies actually take place over, well, Friday the 13th. Considering this Friday brings the first and only Friday the 13th of the year, we’re theming this week’s streaming picks accordingly. Instead of slashers or the entire Friday […]
Despite an entire franchise named after one of the most superstitious calendar dates, very few Friday the 13thmovies actually take place over, well, Friday the 13th. Considering this Friday brings the first and only Friday the 13th of the year, we’re theming this week’s streaming picks accordingly. Instead of slashers or the entire Friday the 13th franchise, this week’s recommendations are horror movies set on or around the day largely considered unlucky.
Director Christopher Landon, who co-wrote the script with Michael Kennedy, mashes together Friday the 13th with Freaky Friday for a fun slasher with a lot of heart. Millie (Kathryn Newton) is a timid teen struggling with a loss on top of the usual teen woes. Then she crosses paths with the Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn) and a newfound Aztec weapon on Friday the 13th. That weapon transforms his attempt to murder her into a body-swapping nightmare. Freaky is a love letter to slashers and teen movies, but it’s also a comforting cinematic hug dripping in blood.
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives – Pluto TV
The final entry in the Tommy Jarvis saga injected a self-referential sense of humor and a Frankenstein-inspired twist, courtesy of writer/director Tom McLoughlin. That meant a less severe and traumatized version of the hero, now played by The Return of the Living Dead’s Thom Mathews. Tommy returns to Crystal Lake, now named Forest Green, to burn Jason Voorhees’ remains. It all goes awry thanks to some freak lightning, igniting a new wave of murders from the undead slasher villain.Jason Lives is one of the entries actually set on Friday the 13th and makes references to it in dialogue.
The Hound of Baskervilles (1959)- Fawesome, Pluto TV
This adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1902 novel makes for a slightly lesser-seen option. This gothic mystery sees Sherlock Holmes (Peter Cushing) and his pal Watson investigating the murder of his friend, believed to have died of fright from seeing a ghost hound. A moody mystery full of danger and shadowed menace, all set within and around a grand manor, makes this another great gothic Hammer gem. And Cushing makes for a fantastic Sherlock Holmes. The inciting death in Dartmoor kicks off the gothic mystery and happens to have taken place on a Friday the 13th.
My Bloody Valentine (1981) – Kanopy
The sleepy town of Valentine’s Bluffs is shaking off the local folklore of Harry Warden, a man who went mad after surviving a devastating mine collapse to throw their first V-Day dance in 20 years. Naturally, it reawakens the legend as a grisly string of murders begin anew, more ruthless than before. This cult favorite slasher features no shortage of brutal kills, love triangles, and a ballad that’ll get lodged in your head. While it may theme itself around the holiday dedicated to love and romance, this slasher partially takes place over Friday the 13th in the build-up to a proper Valentine’s Day massacre on Saturday.
Saturday the 14th – Fawesome, Night Flight+, Peacock, Prime Video, Roku Channel
“Just when you thought it was safe to look at the calendar again.” An all-American family inherits a creepy old house full of monsters in this horror spoof that extends the superstitious horrors of Friday the 13th, completely unrelated to the franchise. The Roger Corman-produced horror-comedy sees the house become increasingly infested with monsters, played for pure cheesy laughs. It’s a kitchen sink type of spoof movie that aims for silliness above all else, making for a more family-friendly gateway into Friday the 13th superstition and horror.
