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Why is this considered a Halloween ripoff?


I've heard that for years and I don't get it. Other than the very basic premise of them both being slasher films, they don't have much else in common. If F13 is considered a ripoff of Halloween then why isn't every other slasher that came after it?

Reportin' live for Black TV: White folks are dead, we gettin' the f*@# outta here!

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[deleted]

Because some Halloween fans are insufferable and think every slasher-esque film that came after it owes it a major debt.

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Friday the 13th is mostly patterned after the beginning of Halloween, extrapolating the opening scene into a full feature film. The killer is kept out of camera view (often through POV shots) in order to hide the twist that the killer is a member of an unexpected demographic (a young boy in Halloween; a middle aged lady in Friday the 13th). The killer is also stalking teens who are having sex instead of watching the children they're supposed to be responsible for (babysitters in Halloween; camp counselors in Friday the 13th) on a distinctive and spooky day of the year.

Also, every slasher movie is a ripoff of every other slasher movie, just like every action movie is a ripoff, every romantic comedy is a ripoff, etc. "Genre" is just a nice word for "ripoff." It's best not to get too hung up on claims of a work being a ripoff, because anything that fits into a genre (subgenres especially) is consciously ripping off something else. It's why they call it "genre work."

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Nice answer.

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