Friday the 13th - The Series: The First Season - [DVD]

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. 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