Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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deduced that these elements hold great import for establishing expectations for a
viewer interested in the horror genre.
With these connections in mind, however, as well as the eye/camera usage in
the opening sequence as mentioned in Chapter 3, there is little else to intentionally
connect Friday the 13 th to an existing work or body of work. It is best viewed, as
described by Dika, as “the first film to reproduce the success of Halloween by
copying its intrinsic elements.” (64) Dika’s own term, “recombination” in terms of
Friday the 13 th ’s adaptation of Halloween’s generic and aesthetic elements, is
indicative of contemporary reception and reading.
Film Clips Establishing Narrative
Dika describes Friday the 13 th Part 2 as a “recombination” of the successful
elements of Friday the 13 th : “As Miner’s directing debut, Friday the 13 th Part 2 is not
so much a sequel as a replica, or remake, of Friday the 13 th . He and screenwriter
Ron Kurz copied the Victor Miller script so closely that not only is the story
structure identical, but most of the formal, narrative, and visual elements have also
been repeated.” (78) Verevis succinctly echoes this through quoting in one sentence
points from Tom Pulleine’s reviews of Friday the 13 th and Friday the 13 th Part 2
from Monthly Film Bulletin: “Friday the 13 th was described as a ‘bare-faced
duplication of Halloween,’ and the sequel Friday the 13 th Part 2 was seen as ‘a
virtual remake of the earlier movie’.” (2006; 64)
Pulleine’s comment seems to refer to Friday the 13 th Part 2’s close attention
to an established strict generic form which was partially created due to the success
and influence of Friday the 13 th . The Evil Dead 2 (1987; dir. Raimi) is an example
of a sequel which acts more closely to a remake, as it uses the same situation, with