Product Details

• Actors: John D. LeMay, Louise Robey
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Mono)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 6
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: September 23, 2008
• Run Time: 1140 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (89 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00168OILM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,317 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Friday The 13th - The Series: The First Season" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Fans awaiting the DVD release of this 1987 cult fave made-in-Canada series, this is your lucky day! Friday the 13th: The Series has as much to do with Jason Vorhese as Halloween III: Season of the Witch had to do with Michael Myers; that is to say, nothing. But it stands on its own as a horror anthology series that delivers cheap, but effective, thrills. Louise Robey and John D. LeMay star as Micki and Ryan, distant relations who are reunited after inheriting her uncle Lewis' antiques shop. They learn that Lewis' death was by (super)natural causes; he broke his immortality pact with the Devil to sell cursed antiques. Now, Lewis is in hell (from which he returns in the episode, "Hellowe'en"), and Micki and Ryan must recover everything Lewis sold to an unsuspecting public. Jack (Chris Wiggins), Lewis' former friend, a magician with a helpful knowledge of the occult and an eventful backstory (as revealed in the episodes "Bottle of Dreams" and "Brain Drain"), helps them. The series gets off to an auspiciously creepy start with "The Inheritance," in which yuppie Micki and geeky Ryan attempt to retrieve a killer doll that has worked its demon magic on a spoiled brat (a young Sarah Polley) who uses it to dispatch her strict new stepmother. Perhaps worth the price of this set is "Faith Healer," directed by David Cronenberg, a grisly episode in which a charlatan gains the power to heal from an ancient glove. Atom Egoyan, another Canadian art house darling, directed the episode "Cupid's Quiver." Another memorable episode is "Scarecrow," which introduces a boogieman that gives Jason a run for his hockey mask, a scythe-wielding scarecrow. This inaugural season's most stellar guest star is Ray Walston as an embittered "has been" comic book artist whose superhero creation comes to murderous life. Unlike the movie franchise, Friday the 13th: The Series gets better as the season unfolds. The special effects are resourceful and the gore quotient at times pushes the syndication envelope. All in all, this show delivers--to quote the name of Micki and Ryan's emporium--the "Curious Goods." --Donald Liebenson

Product Description

A suspense-mystery series that deals with the supernatural. In each episode, four brave souls embark on an assignment in danger and terror when they track down and retrieve cursed objects.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 77 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest sci-fi/suspense drama on TV March 30, 2008

By M. Larsen

Unfortunately the title made people believe that this had something to do with Jason, promiscuous teenagers, and Camp Crystal Lake. In truth, it had absolutely nothing to do with it.

This Canadian-made suspense drama's plot consisted of an antique dealer who made a deal with Satan to sell cursed artifacts. The artifacts all brought the bearer some great benefit, but at a terrible price. When his conscience finally caught up with him, however, the devil turned on him and captured his soul. His co-worker, along with his nephew and his cousin (played by Robey - one of the hottest redheads to ever grace our TV screens), set out to reclaim all the artifacts and return them to a secured and consecrated vaults where the artifacts can do no more harm.

Each episode deals with the team trying to reclaim a new artifact. There are some truly incredible moments of drama in this series showing how people can be seduced by evil, even though they have the purest hearts or intentions.

Seasons 1 & 2 are incredible, and the finale to season 2 blew me away more than any episode of any TV show. Season 3 saw the departure of one of the lead characters, which many see as the "Jump The Shark" moment, but the other two characters and the new actor still do an admirable job after loosing a key character.

The whole series is available elsewhere online - just do a search and you can find the whole collection, region-free, for under $50. It's well worth it for any sci-fi, suspense, or horror fans. (FYI - The show is not gory - it gets its impact from a very Hitchcock-like use of lighting and misdirection).

Buy it - you'll love it.

75 of 86 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Very bad video quality September 24, 2008

By Claudio Puviani

Unfortunately, people have been reviewing the show rather than the product. Obviously, someone who will buy this will do so because they liked the show. I won't waste time describing the series, but I will comment on the quality of the DVDs.

The video quality is abysmal. It looks as if someone taped the episodes from a (non-digital) TV broadcast onto VHS, and then transferred the VHS onto a DVD. I've seen a bootleg version of the series that was taped during a F13th marathon and it was no worse than these DVDs. The images are grainy and fuzzy and the colors are faded, imprecise, and far too dark. I have shows on DVD that were taped in the 1950s and the images are crisp and the colors vibrant. There's just no excuse for shoddy work like this.

Fans will still want this because there are no options, but CBS Studios and Paramount should hang their heads in shame at this blatant display of incompetence and disregard for quality.

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars YES!!!! Finally!!!! ^_^ May 23, 2008

By Jen

With all the shows released mere weeks after the original has aired, I couldn't figure out why a cult-fan favourite like F13 the series was still unavailable decades after the original airing of the show!! Add to that the stinkers that HAVE been release on DVD and it made the situation extra perplexing!

So I was thrilled to see that, after years of waiting, F13 the series will finally be released on DVD!! My best friend and I have been watching the show since it originally aired in 1987, when we were 10 years old! In fact, we were obsessed enough with the show to maintain a website about it 20 years later! :-D

The plot goes something like this: Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to get rich by selling cursed antiques. After breaking the pact with the devil, he is killed, and Micki and Ryan inherit the store. They don't know about its accursed past, or the cursed antiques in the downstairs vault. Consequently, they sell off most of the vault's contents before finally discovering the awful truth. Once the dark secret revealed by Jack Marshack, Lewis Vendredi's old friend, the trio sets out to collect all of the cursed antiques and put them back into the vault where they cannot harm anyone ever again.

The show follows the lives of Micki, Ryan, Jack, and (primarily in Season 3) Johnny as they attempt to hunt down cursed antiques. It is a weird and fantastic show that is fun, campy, and creepy all at the same time! The characters are great together, the plots are generally really imaginative, and it is easy to get sucked into the atmosphere! Happy viewing fellow fans! We've waited so long!