The tragedy of Friday the 13th: The Game

If you’re reading this, I have to assume you’re a horror fan. Whether you’re solely into horror, horror films or horror games, you likely remember what it was that prompted your fascination with the genre.

For me, it was Friday the 13th: The Game. Prior to this, I was scared stiff by the very thought of horror. The idea of sitting down to watch a scary film wasn’t a pleasant prospect, in fact it felt more like punishment. Well, that was what I initially thought anyway. In the end, my love of video games ended up overriding my discomfort at the idea of gorey media.

Friday the 13th: The Game started life as a Kickstarter that raised almost a million dollars. There were many reasons this project commanded attention from the horror community, including the involvement of a few genuine horror legends. There was Sean S. Cunningham, who directed Friday the 13th, and make-up and prosthetics wizard Tom Savini, and Kane Hodder, who’s famous for playing the legendary killer, Jason Voorhees. The idea was to make a game that did justice to the films, in which a man in a hockey mask kills people at Camp Crystal Lake. And sometimes in New York. And space. It gets complicated.