Okay everybody, say it with us! “Chh-chh-chh! Ahh-ahh-ahh!”
That’s right friends, it’s Friday the 13th again, which means we are taking a minute to commemorate that hockey-masked maniac Jason Voorhees. The various Friday the 13th films, the subsequent TV show (which doesn’t feature Jason at all), the team-up Freddy vs. Jason, and the 2009 reboot all are perfect viewing for today. As are the following clips of Friday the 13th-related video ephemera that will leave you screaming…most often with laughter.
To promote Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Paramount Pictures unleashed one of the goofiest publicity stunts in recent history — they had Jason appear on The Arsenio Hall Show. In a segment that is as painful to endure as what Jason puts the campers at Crystal Lake through, Arsenio tries to interview the silent psycho about the film and his “career.” This is some weird viewing right here, but you also have to appreciate the audacity of this endeavor.
When it came time to craft a rock song for the soundtrack to Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, studio execs enlisted the help of spooky rocker Alice Cooper to sing “Man Behind the Mask.” As horror soundtrack jams go, it’s no “Pet Sematary,” but it’s pretty memorable in its own right.
We bet you didn’t wake up this morning and say “hey, I’d love to reduce my productivity by spending three minutes of my life watching Japanese trailers for the Friday the 13th films. Yet here we are. Funny old thing, life is.
One of the weirdest — and for its time, most disturbing — videogames made for the Commodore 64 was Domark’s Friday the 13th game, a murderous epic that dared to answer the insane question of what would happen if Jason slaughtered campers while “Teddy Bear’s Picnic” played menacingly in the background.
Finally, apropos of nothing, here’s Crispin Glover getting his dance on in one of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter‘s more bizarre moments.
Check out our complete Friday the 13th archives here .
This article originally ran in 2018 and is being reprinted today in honor of, you guessed it, Friday the 13th!