Beginnings Of A Friday The 13th Website: The Story Of An Eventual Webmaster
This website is normally a mega news hub for all things having to do with the Friday The 13th films and because of that fact, it has grown in popularity exponentially over the last few years. There are lot of websites, Facebook groups and fan pages that also try and get news about the franchise out to the fans, and together, all of us continue to grow the community of fans that have this crazy obsession with the Voorhees clan and Crystal Lake. One thing I like to hang my hat on is that this website not only reports the news, but also offers unique information about the making of the films, and gives alternative views of the films through a few writers that help contribute here (Check out our About Us page to see who contributes to the website and read their stories).
Questions gets asked by our readers occasionally about me and this website and they mostly want to know the origins of the website and how I became a fan. Well, as most of you can attest to, becoming a fan of these types of films at a young age is not something that happens due to planning or normal parental supervision. In fact, and this is true in my case, getting hooked on Friday The 13th happened sort of by accident.
My first exposure to the film franchise was a few years after the original film was released in theaters. My father had rented a Betamax machine and Friday The 13th 1980 and invited a friend over to watch the film in the living room while myself, my mother, and a few others were in another room playing board games. As the night continued, we finished our board games, and in order to put them away, I had to walk through the living room. I quickly walked through as Friday The 13th played and I was immediately frightened by Harry Manfredini's score. As I put the games away, I realized that I still had to walk back through the living room to get back to the others I had been playing games with previously and experience that sound again. As I approached, with the movie playing, I suddenly became frozen. I was in a trance like state as I stood in the corner of the hallway staring at a distance as Mrs. Voorhees revealed herself to Alice Hardy and told the sad story of her son Jason. I truly felt sorry for her, but instantly became frightened again as she attacked Alice and all of the dead bodies began to be found.
I have never forgot this little moment in time, but it served as a small precursor to my eventual fandom of the franchise. Years then passed by and I forgot about the franchise for a few years after getting my first taste of the original film, and mostly because I was a young child and had other interests. Eventually, my parents divorced in my later grade school years and I turned to movies as a way to cope with the uncharted territory of living within a broken home. With this, I discovered many movies with a weird mix of films that shaped my pre-adolescent childhood. Films like Crocodile Dundee, RoboCop, and Weird Science offered a wide range of entertainment, but it wasn't until I went on a business trip with my mother in 1987, that my fandom changed forever.
One night, while my mother was in late meetings, I went to a local theater that was situated right next to the Hotel we were staying at. I watched Monster Squad as I was really getting interested in monster movies and special effects. I love that movie to this day, and after it was over, I returned to the Hotel room and turned on the TV and HBO was already the channel pre-selected. The first image I saw was Jason carrying Sissy's headless corpse in front of the cabin windows. Yes, this is how I was introduced to Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part 6. Not to get too over dramatic, but this instantly reminded me of my first experience with the franchise when I was younger, listening to Mrs. Voorhees tell her sad tale. Except, this time I wasn't just frightened of the sight of Jason and Harry's music, I thought, dude, this is freakin' awesome!
After that point, I was hooked, and I spent the following year scouring friend's houses for any Fangoria magazine I could find to read more about the movies. I also set out to rent every movie previous that had been released. Each film was watched in order, and I became even more hooked. I eventually talked my father into letting me see Friday The 13th Part 7: The New Blood when it came out in theaters in 1988, and ever since then I have seen every one at the cinema. Years later, I was lucky enough to see Part 3 in true 3D at a cinema and it was one of the most fun experiences I have ever had at a screening!
Eventually, we all grow up, and I went to college, and started a family. It wasn't until 2008 when I was getting really excited for the latest film that my fandom kind of went back to the days when I was feverishly reading those Fangoria magazines. Eventually, I was offered an opportunity to write for a Blog about Friday The 13th and took it. Blog writing was something that I had never done before and was a bit nervous and unsure of what the hell I was going to write about. It took time to figure out the Blog game and how other Blog sites operated, but it eventually came naturally and I believe I made the first Blog site I wrote for something special to visit.
I spent the next two years writing for that blog, and when things took a turn for the worse there, I was left without any kind of real voice for the films I still loved. So, I started my own Blog about the films. Instantly, people who had been readers of my work previously gave me some nice praise for continuing on and as the months went by, my passion for the Blog turned it into a full on website about the Friday The 13th franchise. The current run with this site has been spectacular. I have met so many great people, either through the Internet, over the phone, or in person, because of this website right here!
Even though there are those people who claim to be fans of the films, yet spread nothing but negativity around a usually friendly community, I keep promoting the franchise that I love, with the help of many of those people who share the same sentiment to these films I do. I thank everyone who has supported me and this website over the years. This website gets it's share of bad word of mouth occasionally, but you just can't please everyone.
To finish up, if anyone ever has any questions or concerns about this website or wants to know about any news or information about the films, please email us at contact@fridaythe13thfranchise.com and we will help. This is the condensed version of how this website came to be, and hopefully it answers some questions. I would love to hear some of the fan's stories about how they came to love this franchise in the comments section below.
Questions gets asked by our readers occasionally about me and this website and they mostly want to know the origins of the website and how I became a fan. Well, as most of you can attest to, becoming a fan of these types of films at a young age is not something that happens due to planning or normal parental supervision. In fact, and this is true in my case, getting hooked on Friday The 13th happened sort of by accident.
My first exposure to the film franchise was a few years after the original film was released in theaters. My father had rented a Betamax machine and Friday The 13th 1980 and invited a friend over to watch the film in the living room while myself, my mother, and a few others were in another room playing board games. As the night continued, we finished our board games, and in order to put them away, I had to walk through the living room. I quickly walked through as Friday The 13th played and I was immediately frightened by Harry Manfredini's score. As I put the games away, I realized that I still had to walk back through the living room to get back to the others I had been playing games with previously and experience that sound again. As I approached, with the movie playing, I suddenly became frozen. I was in a trance like state as I stood in the corner of the hallway staring at a distance as Mrs. Voorhees revealed herself to Alice Hardy and told the sad story of her son Jason. I truly felt sorry for her, but instantly became frightened again as she attacked Alice and all of the dead bodies began to be found.
I have never forgot this little moment in time, but it served as a small precursor to my eventual fandom of the franchise. Years then passed by and I forgot about the franchise for a few years after getting my first taste of the original film, and mostly because I was a young child and had other interests. Eventually, my parents divorced in my later grade school years and I turned to movies as a way to cope with the uncharted territory of living within a broken home. With this, I discovered many movies with a weird mix of films that shaped my pre-adolescent childhood. Films like Crocodile Dundee, RoboCop, and Weird Science offered a wide range of entertainment, but it wasn't until I went on a business trip with my mother in 1987, that my fandom changed forever.
One night, while my mother was in late meetings, I went to a local theater that was situated right next to the Hotel we were staying at. I watched Monster Squad as I was really getting interested in monster movies and special effects. I love that movie to this day, and after it was over, I returned to the Hotel room and turned on the TV and HBO was already the channel pre-selected. The first image I saw was Jason carrying Sissy's headless corpse in front of the cabin windows. Yes, this is how I was introduced to Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part 6. Not to get too over dramatic, but this instantly reminded me of my first experience with the franchise when I was younger, listening to Mrs. Voorhees tell her sad tale. Except, this time I wasn't just frightened of the sight of Jason and Harry's music, I thought, dude, this is freakin' awesome!
After that point, I was hooked, and I spent the following year scouring friend's houses for any Fangoria magazine I could find to read more about the movies. I also set out to rent every movie previous that had been released. Each film was watched in order, and I became even more hooked. I eventually talked my father into letting me see Friday The 13th Part 7: The New Blood when it came out in theaters in 1988, and ever since then I have seen every one at the cinema. Years later, I was lucky enough to see Part 3 in true 3D at a cinema and it was one of the most fun experiences I have ever had at a screening!
Eventually, we all grow up, and I went to college, and started a family. It wasn't until 2008 when I was getting really excited for the latest film that my fandom kind of went back to the days when I was feverishly reading those Fangoria magazines. Eventually, I was offered an opportunity to write for a Blog about Friday The 13th and took it. Blog writing was something that I had never done before and was a bit nervous and unsure of what the hell I was going to write about. It took time to figure out the Blog game and how other Blog sites operated, but it eventually came naturally and I believe I made the first Blog site I wrote for something special to visit.
I spent the next two years writing for that blog, and when things took a turn for the worse there, I was left without any kind of real voice for the films I still loved. So, I started my own Blog about the films. Instantly, people who had been readers of my work previously gave me some nice praise for continuing on and as the months went by, my passion for the Blog turned it into a full on website about the Friday The 13th franchise. The current run with this site has been spectacular. I have met so many great people, either through the Internet, over the phone, or in person, because of this website right here!
Even though there are those people who claim to be fans of the films, yet spread nothing but negativity around a usually friendly community, I keep promoting the franchise that I love, with the help of many of those people who share the same sentiment to these films I do. I thank everyone who has supported me and this website over the years. This website gets it's share of bad word of mouth occasionally, but you just can't please everyone.
To finish up, if anyone ever has any questions or concerns about this website or wants to know about any news or information about the films, please email us at contact@fridaythe13thfranchise.com and we will help. This is the condensed version of how this website came to be, and hopefully it answers some questions. I would love to hear some of the fan's stories about how they came to love this franchise in the comments section below.
