Here’s how this campy ‘Friday The 13th’ sequel earned the nickname “FriGay The 13th”
Ch Ch Ch, Ah Ah Ah*Hear that? No, that’s not hockey-masked slasher Jason Voorhees rapidly approaching—it’s Halloween! With the spookiest of holidays right around the corner, it’s eerily serendipitous that today is Friday the 13th, no?Not that we needed an excuse to examine why another horror flick is actually a queer classic (we’re truly doing it all the time), but we couldn’t let the occasion go by without digging up an old favorite.In this case, that’s popular slasher franchise Friday The 13th‘s seventh entry, 1988’s Part VII: The New Blood, which has come to be known as “FriGay The 13th.” But how did it earn that nickname?
Well, let’s get into it…First things first, Friday The 13th is a film series very much a product of its time. That is to say, the original run of movies are, on their surface, incredibly hetero, with brooding male heroes, damsels in distress, frequent slut-shaming (killing off characters who aren’t virgins)—they’re all-around not very progressive.But even still, gay fans have found a lot to love in these movies, not least of which is the generous amounts of beefcake eye candy.
Notably, the 1981 sequel even features the franchise’s first openly gay actor Tom McBride (who tragically passed from AIDS in ’95) as a hunky, wheelchair-bound camper.However, Part 2 has nothing on Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood…Set some time after its predecessor, The New Blood follows protagonist Tina (Lar Park Lincoln), a teenager who happens to live on Crystal Lake, the very spot where serial killer Jason Voorhees terrorized young campers all those years ago.Is it an offensive relic of a different time?
Or has it become an iconic moment in queer cinema history?Tina also happens to have burgeoning telekinetic powers, which lead to the accidental death of her father.
