The horror remakes just keep coming and coming and there doesn't seem to be any way to stop them. In the past few weeks, we've seen My Bloody Valentine and The Uninvited hit theaters, and the new version of Friday the 13th is right around the corner. Purists will cry that these movies spit on the reputations of the originals and that it's simply a sign that Hollywood has run out of ideas. Being an optimist, I like to look at it another way. Even if the new film is terrible, it can shed light on the older movie and maybe bring us a new home video release of that film. And voila, 26 years after its theatrical release, the uncut version of the original Friday the 13th has come to DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

Friday the 13th opens in 1958 at Camp Crystal Lake. Two camp counselors sneak away for some cuddling and are subsequently killed. The scene then shifts to the present (or 1980 in this case). After sitting empty for many years, Steve Christy (Peter Brouwer) has decided to re-open Camp Crystal Lake, despite protests from the locals. He and his assistant, Alice (Adrienne King), have assembled a group of young adults to help them get the camp up and running. Marcie (Jeannine Taylor), Jack (Kevin Bacon), Bill (Harry Crosby), Brenda (Laurie Bartram), and Ned (Mark Nelson) travel to the camp expecting easy jobs and lots of free time for partying. The first day that they are all together, Steve goes to town for supplies. While he is gone, the staff begins to disappear one by one. Have they simply ventured off to be naughty, or has something bad happened to them? As the body count rises, those who are left must not only try to survive, but find out who is doing the killing.

The “whodunit” aspect may be the only part of Friday the 13th which has any brains. Of course, the film was a huge success when it was released (grossing over 55 times its budget) and, as we all now know, it spawned nearly a dozen sequels. But, watching it today, the movie feels quite slow and shallow. I hadn’t seen the movie in a few years, and I’d forgotten how quickly much of the cast is killed. Thus, we are left with the third act with just one person being chased around the camp. What one must do when watching the film today is project yourself backwards to a more innocent time. Sure, there had been movies like Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Black Christmas, but those films were relatively tame in terms of on-screen violence. Friday the 13th was one of the first slashers to contains graphic violence, and when most think of the film, it’s the murders that they remember, not the scenes where the counselors attempt to bond.

Friday the 13th hacks its way onto DVD courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing only a hint of grain and no defects from the source material. (Despite the fact that Paramount likes to disown this franchise, they’ve clearly taken care of the film.) The colors are good, but the nighttime scenes are a bit dark. The image shows no overt artifacting or video noise, and the overall look belies the film’s age. The DVD contains a newly created Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. This sounds like your average “newly created” 5.1 mix, where we get some stereo effects, one or two surround effects, and little else. The track is clear and free from hiss and the film’s infamous music sounds fine.

The Friday the 13th DVD contains several extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY which contains comments from various speakers edited together. Director Sean S. Cunningham, author Peter Bracke, Victor Miller, Adrienne King, Betsy Palmer, Jay Cooper, and others. The comments sound as if they came from interviews, not an audio commentary, and they are rarely scene-specific. The "Friday the 13th Reunion" (17 minutes) took place in September, 2008. It was a panel discussion (probably at a convention) with Tom Savini, Ari Lehman (young Jason), writer Victor Miller, Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, and Harry Manfredini, and they discuss a series of topics. "Fresh Cuts: New Tales from Friday the 13th" (14 minutes) has modern interviews with Miller (on writing the film), Lehman (on playing young Jason), Robbi Morgan (on being the first modern victim), Savini (on the stunts and effects), and Manfredini (on the music). "The Man Behind the Legacy: Sean S. Cunningham" (9 minutes) is an interview with the Director who discusses his career and shows off his house and some memorabilia. "Lost Tales from Camp Blood - Part 1" (8 minutes) is a new (?) short film which shows a couple being terrorized. The final extra is the THEATRICAL TRAILER for the film (which shows nearly the entire film).