anyone? my opinion is because they did everything at the highest level in the slasher genre, both in the campy funny and campy serious subgenre. also because jason is the best and ultimate in quality horror villain.
They have an undistilled pureness about them - they're slasher flicks and don't really pretend to be anything more.
I'm outdoorsy, so love that they were (mostly) shot on location in woods, by lakes, rustic cabins etc. The appeal of the North Eastern aesthetics in the first couple makes a big difference, gives them a bright colorfulness compared to a slasher film set in, say a sorority house, where it's all sets and artificial lighting.
i love the pureness of slasher films in the '80s like the friday the 13th films. they stick to the formula and they never deviate from them, except the film freddy vs. jason which is one of the reasons why i didn't like it that much at all.
all except fvj are perfect films that are like old friends to me with their comfort and reliability in entertaining me in the ways that they do by being the films that they are.
me too. this is one of the most powerful and meaningful aspects to slasher movies and horror movies to me. i can relate to the bad guy and weird guy in a lot of horror movies. the outcast, the person who is a nerd and not understood in high school. that's one of the reasons why i gravitated towards and have always loved horror movies. i am the weirdos in these movies.
People like to get scared out of their wits when they know they're not in danger. However, they could think and feel like they are after watching such of horror films. Then they just have to talk and get it out of their system. Movie makers just realized they could make money with such stories and films. Also, it had to do with the film code changing to a ratings system. It allowed for movies to show a variety of sexual and violence films and not be confined to the previous code where the antagonist had to be brought to justice. It allowed for more sex and violence and its themes to be shown on the screen. That allowed for more troubling psychological situations.
Friday the 13th was just part of the wave of slasher films of the 70s and it kicked off the 80s. I think the first slasher type horror film was Peeping Tom (1960) and Psycho (1960). Then came The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Black Christmas (1974), Halloween (1978), and Friday the 13th (1980). The slasher genre is based on being killed by a knife or injured by one. It is one of the most painful experiences and ways of being severely injured or killed. Just having a paper cut or accidentally cutting oneself hurts a lot. That fact and not knowing who the killer is or why he is doing this leaves one vulnerable as it will be a fight to the death either for you or the assailant. Obviously, these films prey on your mind as well as empathizing and feeling what the victim, usually an innocent bystander, is going through.
Not to mention Hershall Gordon Lewis's gorefests from the early 1960's that played which played who knows were, certainly not theatrically distributed to any degree, much like 1961's The Brain that Wouldn't Die, which has become a cult favorite. Those films never would have been approved by the code-system, or the system looked the other way. Lewis' films (at least in the beginning) were more clinical showing up-close body parts in their bloody aftermath.
he was a trailblazer and way ahead of his time, hgl. he actually came back to direct a sequel to his 2,000 maniacs in the '00s. sadly he passed away about 10 years ago. he was known as the godfather of gore. without his movies we might never have ultra violent, slasher movies.
to think he made a professional, legitimate movie in 1963 called blood feast is almost unbelievable and incomprehensible and too amazing and outlandish to believe.
They vary in quality throughout the series but the movies are campy fun. You root for the "Final Girl" and Jason at the same time when he kills her annoying friends.