Here’s one of the great things about having a locally owned drive-in movie theater: They take requests. Customers of the Coyote Drive-In (223 NE 4th St, FW) were in the mood to see the original 1980 teens-with-bad-hair-have-sex-and-get-sliced-up horror opus Friday the 13th. So the patrons asked, and Coyote management complied: The flick screens as the second half of a double feature with Insidious 2 at 8pm tonight (Fri Sept 13). Admission for both is $6-$8.
Not only is the calendar date appropo, but there’s rarely been a movie so conducive to the ultra-casual, constantly interrupted drive-in movie experience. It just so happens I’ve seen the original Friday the 13th in the last six months. Watching the 33-year-old slasher flick on a TV screen is interesting because it underscores how jump-cut editing and contemporary camera trickery (especially jittery, point-of-view shots) have altered (that is, shortened) viewers’ attention spans. Friday the 13th is full of almost documentary-style long takes. This means that between the time Kevin Bacon lights his joint and gets reverse-impaled by Jason, you can drink, eat, send a text, and give your date a quick snog in the front seat. That’s called multi-tasking.
