Fanedit Title: Friday the 13th - One Long Weekend at Camp Blood

Original Movie Title: Friday the 13th/ Friday the 13th Part 2/Friday the 13th Part III/Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

Original Release Date: May 9, 1980/May 1, 1981/August 13, 1982/April 13, 1984

Original Runtime: 6 hours, 8 minutes

Fanedit Release Date: April 3, 2025

Fanedit Running Time: 3 hour, 45 minutes

Time Removed/Added: 2 hours, 39 minutes Removed

Synopsis: Crystal Lake's history of murder doesn't deter counselors from setting up a summer camp in the woodsy area. Superstitious locals warn against it, but group after group of fresh-faced youths pay little heed to the old-timers. Then they find themselves stalked by a brutal killer.

Intentions: I find the Friday the 13th series interesting because out of 12 movies, only a couple are what I'd consider to be good.  That's not to say that I don't enjoy the series, no - there's something hypnotic about marathoning these movies, with groups of teens being periodically introduced and summarily picked off before a single survivor encounters an ever-changing Jason Voorhees.  Unlike my approach to the films in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, I wanted to combine separate installments of Friday the 13th in order to highlight the strongest moments from the series and place a stronger focus on Jason's development throughout.  I decided to tackle the first four films in the series since Jason is only a somewhat supernatural killer at this point and not a full-fledged reanimated zombie.

Change Lists: 

Combining the four films resulted in an original runtime: 6 hours, 8 minutes.  I started by cutting away from any flashbacks that films 2-4 opened with:

• Cut 14 minutes from Part 2's opening

• Cut 8 minutes from Part 3's opening

• Cut 5 minutes from Part 4's opening

That's a total of 27 minutes cut so far, 5 hours 42 minutes remaining

From there I started digging into each individual film.  The first in the series is not a great movie.  Its meager 95 minute runtime is so incredibly padded out by meandering shots and scenes that don't advance the plot.  Worse than that, there's no suspense in the killer's identity, largely because she's not mentioned prior to her appearance on screen, but also because there are no red herrings set up.  Steve is the closest candidate for a possible culprit but is clearly depicted away from the camp while the murders occur.  I worked to omit and rearrange many sequences to help first time viewers question who the killer is, and to improve overall pacing as a whole

Part 1 Change List:

• Added a new opening credit after the Paramount logo, along with a title showing a new date for the prologue - I set this during 1971 rather than 1958 in order to help explain Jason's growth from teen to adult between the events of the first and second films 

• Condensed the murder in the prologue 

• Added a second new date after the prologue

• Cut the hitchhiker from Part 1

• Shortened Steve asking for help cutting trees

• Cut Ted's drowning prank

• Cut the snake-killing scene

• Removed the cop's intervention during Steve's breakdown, removing the set up for Crazy Ralph's immediate appearance

• Moved the scene with Steve at the diner once strip monopoly is introduced

• Cut a strip poker monopoly vignette from before Kevin Bacon's death

• Shortened the lead up to Marcie's death

• Cut Brenda going to the bathroom after monopoly

• Removed scenes with the police officer helping Steve back to camp

• Shortened the lead up to Brenda's death

• Shortened Alice and Bill's search for their friends

• Removed Steve's ride with the cop, which is a shame because it's the only time Friday the 13th is ever mentioned - so I included that bit of dialogue over the opening Paramount logo and credit

• Cut Alice making coffee before looking for Bill

• Removed Alice barricading the door

• Cut Pamela's line, "What monster could have done this?"

• Removed the first and second acts of the conflict between Alice and Pamela

• Cut everything once Jason pulls Alice into the water

At this point the edit was 4 hours, 44 minutes long, and I had cut 45 minutes from the first movie alone, which isn't surprising. Now I'm onto Part 2, which is a surprisingly strong entry - it's certainly a better film than its predecessor.  While some segments linger, the overall story is stronger and the characters feel more well-defined.  Ginny is a standout protagonist in the series and her finale against Jason serves as one of the strongest. 

Part 2 Change List:

• Added a new card showing the date

• After the opening credits, removed Alice's inclusion entirely

• Shortened the truck towing gag

• Removed the camp walking right before Muffin wanders off

• Cut Terry looking for Muffin

• Removed the sequence with Jeff and Sandra wandering off while the others stay at the beach, along with the following sequence of the cop who found them getting killed by Jason

• Shortened the section at dinner where Paul tells Jeff and Sandra to stay behind

• Removed the first cutaway to the bar once half the group leaves

• Cut Vickie's line, "Wanna toke" and Jeff playing harmonica afterwards

• Cut the fade to white transition after Mark's death

• Shortened Jason's ascent up the stairs before killing Jeff and Sandra

• Cut the next bar vignette short once Paul and Ginny leave

• Removed the rat sequence that causes Ginny to pee under the bed

• Shortened Ginny's run to Jason's cabin

• Faded to black once Jason jumps through the window, removing the ambulance taking Ginny away, implying that Jason killed her and Paul

• Created an effect show the head of Pamela Voorhees opening her eyes

• Added the shot of Jason crawling off from the start of Part 3

That amounts to 33 minutes cut with 53 remaining for part two, and the overall edit is 4 hours, 34 minutes at this point.  Unlike the last film, the third is padded out worse than the first two entries, and all for the sake of supporting a 3D gimmick.  I haven't been lucky enough to see the film in its original 3D presentation, but since I haven't, all the shots of objects being held in front of the frame make for a painful watch. On top of that, the protagonist's connection to Jason is tedious at best, and his appearance in a flashback doesn't gel with the progression of his ever-changing appearance.

Part 3 Change List:

• Added a new card showing the date

• After the opening credits, cut the opening scene with Jason killing the couple drying laundry

• Shortened Shelly's first prank, eliminating the lines where Chris mentions her past history at the lake

• Cut the entire sequence with the group eating all their pot in the van when the police drive by, along with their encounter with not-Ralph

• Shortened the conversation Chris has with Rick once he assaults her, removing mention to her history with the camp

• Cut the entire gas station sequence with Shelly and the bike gang, along with the preceding scene with Chris and Deb, the 3D yo-yo gag, and the following scene with Chris and Rick

• Cut the bikers siphoning gas and getting killed off in the barn

• Removed the start of Rick and Chris's heart to heart, along with the start of the 3D juggling gag

• Cut Deb and her boyfriend getting undressed before having sex in the hammock, since the last we saw them in the edit, they were only in bathing suits

• Removed the fake out sequence with the potheads in the barn

• Cut Vera's death scene

• Cut Chris looking outside for Rick before finding the dead biker

• Cut Chris saying "You" when Jason is unmasked

• Fade to black after Chris takes Jason out, eliminating the final sequence with Pamela Voorhees

And that brings us to 3 hours, 46 hours for the total edit so far.  Part three resulted in 36 minutes after cutting out 59.  Part 4 is the first movie in the series that I'd call good.  Other than one or two ancillary deaths, the story and characters feel better constructed, much like Part 2, and Jason's conclusion is one of the strongest in the entire series.

Part 4 Change List:

• Added a new card showing the date

• Cut the flashback sequence and opening credits

• Shortened the nurse's supply closet scene

• Removed the scene of Trish and Mrs. Jarvis running

• Cut the hitchhiker scene

• Cut Trish saying good night to her mother

• Cut Sam and Sara's Strip and Dip gag

• Shortened Sam's swim

• Cut Mrs. Davis's death

• Added a shot of Rob's sister Sandra to help remind the audience which victim she was

• Cut Tommy alone at the house when Tish and Rob discuss his backstory

• Shortened Jason's final onslaught overall, trimming the padding around each death

• Cut Trish talking to the doctor and officer before Tommy comes in

That's 67 minutes left for Part 4 after its original 1 hour, 31 minute runtime.  The edit concludes with 9 minutes worth of end credits that I salvaged from each film, resulting in a total fanedit runtime of 3 hours, 29 minutes after a total 6 hours to edit from.