One of the Friday The 13th Sequels Was Jokingly Labeled By Producers and Fans as ‘FriGay the 13th‘
Who doesn’t enjoy a good horror movie? Horror has never been a dull genre, but now it’s never been sharper. This once cult, niche genre is becoming a mainstream juggernaut with Blumhouse scary films coming out every other month into theaters, and YouTube critics like FoundFlix and director/producer Jordan Peele being recognized by the Academy as true film makers.
But it’s been a long time coming for the the gay community to be getting the representation in horror that we truly deserve. Yes, we’ve grown to expect there to be at least one gay person invited to that doomed camping trip in the woods, right? Gays are everywhere and earning more prominent gay roles in film and television, like Hulu’s Midnight Kiss, The Axe Murders of Villisca, and pretty much any male character in American Horror Story series that Ryan Murphy has a say in. But, it turns out that most of us may have missed it when one of the most powerful horror movie series in history dipped their hands into the rainbow of it all.
Since being home in Chicago and on a little bit of a lockdown, I’ve revisited my love of horror and found a tantalizing documentary. Upon watching, Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th, we come to find out that serial killer Jason Voorhees, of Friday the 13th fame, was slashing at gay teens since his second film. While none of these characters were openly gay, as we all know how taboo even the term was in the ‘80s, the first openly gay actor to get the snip was Tom McBride. McBride played a fabulously sexy wheelchair-bound teenager who gets possibly the worst kill in the film – struck in the head with a machete which then causes his chair to roll backwards down a never-ending set of stairs. In the documentary, one of his fellow actresses admits trying to swoon him and was later told he didn’t play for her team. McBride was a model, a Winston Cigarette model in fact – that’s how hot he was. Unfortunately, McBride lost his life after complications with AIDS in 1995.
While McBride was in the direct sequel, the series fifth film, Friday The 13th: A New Beginning, would showcase two “probably” gay characters. Unfortunately, it’s not that emo chick who does the robot dance before getting the axe (although she’s definitely honorary). But we do need to mention Corey Parker’s Pete and Anthony Barrile as Vinnie, the two John Travolta-ish Grease-type characters who are attacked while in their car. Their homoerotic dialogue makes the actual actors and audience believe they were the first openly gay characters. Parker states he would’ve liked to have seen the characters last longer to have explored that relationship. But, this isn’t even the totally gay film yet! There’s lots of history to go over in the Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th five-hour documentary.
We soon learn the Friday The 13th: The New Blood was dubbed behind the scenes – and by mega fans – FriGay The 13th. This installment is where the telekinetic girl defeats Jason and introduces one of the series most memorable kills – the nude girl being wrapped in her sleeping bag and smacked against a tree. But, of course there is plenty of carnage involving other misbehaving teens. Who can forget the bitchy Melissa Paur (Susan Jennifer Sullivan) who would strut around in those perfect white pearls as she shaded and cussed out everyone? With the addition of the series best mean girl, of course there’s going to be some gay history. Ian Paterson, one of the producers, discussed how gay the film was stating, “We were kind of aware a large number of the male members, and some females, of the cast were gay. But, it never had an affect on making the show.” The telekinetic girl’s love interest, Nick (Kevin Blair), was gay in real life and their chemistry is very lackluster throughout the run. Despite most of the cast being in the way, producers and editors don’t think it made much of a difference in the film product and are very proud of it. If you’re a horror geek fanboy, this information is super exciting to find out – and Kevin Blair is still just as much of a smokeshow as he was in the ’80s.
Since chances are you haven’t got much else to do, Crystal Lake Memories is absolutely something you should be watching right now on Shudder, a horror-only streaming service. And during the quarantine, they are offering a full month free with the code SHUTIN. Take advantage and check this out! Or, we found this copy. Watch it free while it lasts.
In the meantime, if you want to check out a horror short, Daddy’s Girl, that this particular Instinct Magazine contributor made, featuring an anonymous, gay-sex scene here.
Writer’s Note: This is the opinion of one Instinct Magazine contributor and does not reflect the views of Instinct Magazine itself or fellow contributors.
I didn’t think Instinct was in the habit of linking to movies that have been illegally uploaded to YouTube.