Thursday, October 10

Friday the 13th (1980) - 1981 Warner Home Video Japan VHS

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Here's another recent acquisition, Sean S. Cunningham's classic Friday the 13th from Warner Home Video Japan. Unlike Paramount's stateside video releases, up until 2009's Deluxe Edition DVD, this VHS is the uncut version which Warner released in several territories long ago. The presentation has some print damage and a slight reddish hue, but these qualities aid in the experience. 

The language is English with small Japanese subtitles and there's a curious few lines of Japanese text that don't correspond to speech. In the beginning, as Annie is seen silently walking in front of town shops, some text in quotations appears with "Friday the 13th" (13日の金曜日) in Japanese. I can't read the language and originally my best guess was maybe the date not carrying the same superstition in Japan, but a quick Google reveals it's also known in that country as an unlucky date. This edition doesn't seem too scarce but it is very hard to come by in this completely unfaded condition and in its original baby blue vinyl Warner logo-embossed case.  

3 comments:

GREGGER said...

Awesome. Love it. Where did you find it?

DrunkethWizerd said...

The axe in the face is my favorite death of probably this whole series.

Frankenstein's Robot said...

Theres also the very rare "Rental Only" version.
It says "Rental only" printed on the spine and front cover near the WB logos.

...do you dare tread upon the staircase?

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