Corbin's Reviews > Friday the 13th

** spoiler alert ** I've been looking for a way to read this book for months now, and I found on the Friday the 13th wiki that at least this one and Part II have been uploaded to the Internet Archive! I used the audio feature which is like an early iOS Siri reading it, so some words got lost in robotic translation but I got pretty much everything, I'm pretty sure. I actually enjoy this novelization of Friday the 13th, more than I anticipated I would. It does what I was saying the 2018 Halloween adaptation should've done: It added more to the characters and the plot through methods the movie couldn't perform. Of course, I still have problems with this book, which I'll get into, but this was a solid, fun little read.

I'll start with my gripes. My biggest one, and the one that honestly keeps this book from being four stars, is the final act. Now granted, the final act is also pretty weak in the movie, and it seems like Simon Hawke was analyzing the screenplay and thinking "oh, I can add this for this character, and this can happen in this moment that references this." But when it came to the ending, where everything was revealed and the chase happens, there was virtually no room for any real character stuff. Everything you learn about the Alice Hardy and the camp and a few other things are just thrown out the window. It doesn't make it feel like a waste of time, but it does feel odd that pretty much everything is suddenly done away with for the sake of a chase scene. I do appreciate that the ending was essentially abridged from the screenplay, because it goes on for WAY too long in the movie (though there are some highlights). But that leads to my next, much more forgivable point, which is...

This is basically a novelette. It is so short! I hardly have anything to talk about with this review. It took me just two sessions on two separate days to finish it. But while I wish it was longer, I'd be lying if I said the movie had a ton of depth and potential to mine. (Just for the record, I love Friday the 13th despite its flaws, but it's hard not to criticize it when I'm talking about it in this context.) So trying to really dig deeper into the screenplay to extend the book would have been a bad idea, I think. Yet somehow, this book turned out so short still. Hawke knew when to get in and get out, but I can't help but feel the experience wasn't quite enough length-wise.

So my favorite part about Friday the 13th is what Hawke did with the characters. At multiple points, the characters of the book get these internal monologues that really dig into what they're thinking about, their histories, and their anxieties. I found all of it quite interesting, because none of these characters get any kind of real motivation in the movie. They're just bodies waiting to become bodies. But here, every single main character gets a little something that adds a bit more depth to them. It makes them feel a bit more real. It doesn't make their deaths any more sadder, but I will say that it makes Mrs. Voorhees a better villain. Neddy wants to go to film school? He made honor roll? Nope! Get stabbed. Jack wants real intimacy with Marcie, and is concerned about the longevity of their relationship? Get stabbed. Steve has a lot to prove with opening up the camp again? He wants to redeem his family's legacy and prove that Camp Crystal Lake isn't cursed? Get stabbed! I found it funny that all the characters have some humanity to them, but it's stripped away so quickly in their deaths. There's no consideration or mercy towards them, because none of that matters to Mrs. Voorhees. It was so good.

Overall, I think Friday the 13th does the "movie into book" transition correctly and adheres to what I want from novelizations. The characters were given things they didn't have in the movie that made them feel a bit more real, and had a few interesting things to think about. But I think it does suffer a bit from a lack of creativity regarding the ending, along with struggling to feel like a fully fleshed out book. I think Simon Hawke did a very solid job though, and I think this is worth checking out if you enjoy the original movie.