Date: March 10, 2005
Level: Intermediate +
Downloads: This Lesson (Word Doc) | Class Handout (Word Doc) | Class Handout (PDF)

THE ARTICLE

Movie director Quentin Tarantino is in talks with executives from the movie production company New Line Cinema to discuss directing the next in the “Friday the 13^th”  series. The original movie was released in 1980 and has become a horror classic, along with its psycho killer, Jason. The ten sequels that followed it were slightly less than classic and include Jason creating fear in New York (“Jason Takes Manhattan”) as well as going to space (“Jason X”). Movie number eleven saw Jason battling another bloodthirsty maniac – Freddie from “Nightmare on Elm Street” – in the 2003 release “Freddy vs. Jason”. New Line Cinema wanted the next movie to also include the character Ash from the “Evil Dead” movies in a proposed “Jason vs. Freddy vs. Ash”, but the deal fell through. Tarantino seems an interesting choice to direct the next Jason movie. He has already perfected stomach churning scenes in his previous movies “Reservoir Dogs”, “Pulp Fiction”, and the bloodfests “Kill Bill” 1 and 2. For Tarantino, blood is one of the main stars of the show. It will be difficult to find an original name for the new movie as previous titles have exhausted the “final” theme with the movies “The Final Chapter” and “The Final Friday”.

WARM UPS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about horror movies / Quentin Tarantino / “Kill Bill” / “Pulp Fiction” / Jason / Freddy / “The Evil Dead” / blood / …

To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. BLOOD BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘blood’. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. HORROR MOVIES: Talk in groups about horror movies. Are Hollywood horrors scarier than those produced in your own country? What makes a good horror movie scary? Is lots of blood important? Together, decide on the three most important ingredients for a truly scary horror. Share these with other groups. Back in your original groups choose the three most necessary points from those you heard.

4. 2-MINUTE HORROR DEBATES: Students face each other in pairs and engage in the following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A are assigned the first argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:

1. Horror movies are stupid, not scary. vs. No way. Very scary.
2. The old black and white Dracula and Frankenstein movies are best. vs. You need colour.
3. Horror movies give children nightmares. vs. Kids just think horror movies are fun.
4. “Friday the 13^th” is better than “Nightmare on Elm Street”. vs. Absolutely not.
5. The best horrors have no blood. vs. You need blood.
6. Hollywood horrors are best. vs. Hollywood horrors are more like comedies. Other countries produce scarier horrors.
7. Suspense or action is better entertainment. vs. Being scared is being entertained.
8. Horror movies are bad quality. They never win Oscars. vs. Who needs an Oscar?
9. Horror movies teach children how to kill. vs. Children shouldn’t watch horrors until they are 18.
10. Twelve “Friday the 13^th”  movies is too many vs. Not if people love them.
11. Quentin Tarantino is a terrible director. vs. The guy’s a genius.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘horror’ and ‘movie’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:

1. Quentin Tarantino has signed a contract to make a “Friday the 13^th” movie.  T / F
2. The original “Friday the 13^th”  movie was released in 1960.  T / F
3. The bad guy in “Friday the 13^th”  is called Jonathon.  T / F
4. There have been ten sequels to “Friday the 13^th”.  T / F
5. The production company wanted to make a movie called “Jason vs. Freddy vs. Ash”, in which the bad guys from three movies fight each other.  T / F
6. Quentin Tarantino likes stomach churning scenes.  T / F
7. For Tarantino, blood is one of the main stars of the movie.  T / F
8. The new movie is called “The Final Jason Finally Dies Story”.  T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	is in talks with	homicidal
(b)	original	gory
(c)	psycho	suggested
(d)	sequels	deranged
(e)	bloodthirsty	bloodbath
(f)	proposed	negotiating
(g)	deal	used up
(h)	stomach churning	first
(i)	bloodfest	follow ups
(j)	exhausted	agreement

4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	Tarantino is in	production company
(b)	movie	less than classic
(c)	horror	of the show
(d)	slightly	choice
(e)	the deal fell	churning
(f)	an interesting	titles
(g)	stomach	talks with the executives
(h)	main stars	find
(i)	difficult to	classic
(j)	previous	through

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Tarantino to make 12th “Friday the 13^th”

Movie director Quentin Tarantino is in __________ with executives from the movie production company New Line Cinema to discuss directing the next in the Friday the 13th  __________. The original movie was released in 1980 and has become a horror __________, along with its psycho killer, Jason. The ten __________ that followed it were slightly less than classic and include Jason creating fear in New York (Jason Takes Manhattan) as well as going to space (Jason X). Movie number eleven saw Jason battling another __________ maniac – Freddie from Nightmare on Elm Street – in the 2003 release Freddy vs. Jason. New Line Cinema wanted the next movie to also include the character Ash from the Evil Dead movies in a proposed “Jason vs. Freddy vs. Ash”, but the deal __________ through. Tarantino seems an interesting choice to direct the next Jason movie. He has already __________ stomach churning scenes in his previous movies Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and the bloodfests Kill Bill 1 and 2. For Tarantino, blood is one of the main stars of the show. It will be difficult to find an original name for the new movie as previous titles have __________ the “final” theme with the movies The Final Chapter and The Final Friday.

classic perfected sequels series fell exhausted talks bloodthirsty

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH:  Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5. ‘HORROR’/ ‘MOVIE’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:

1. What was interesting in this article?
2. Have you seen “Friday the 13^th”?
3. Do you like horror movies?
4. Do you like Quentin Tarantino movies?
5. Do you like Quentin Tarantino?
6. What kind of horror movies are scariest?
7. Do you like scenes with lots of blood and guts in movies?
8. Is a lot of blood necessary for a good horror?
9. Many people say Japanese horror movies are better than Hollywood horrors. Are the horrors produced in your country scary?
10. Which is the best horror monster?
11. Are the old horror characters (Dracula, Frankenstein etc.) better than the new ones (Jason, zombies etc)?
12. Are horror movies bad for kids?
13. What is the scariest story you know?
14. Are you afraid of the dark, or of things that go bump in the night?
15. Can you watch a horror movie alone at night?
16. Do you ever have nightmares?
17. What kind of things do you think are stomach churning?
18. Why do people love horror movies?
19. Teacher / Student additional questions.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find information on Quentin Tarantino. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. MY SCARIEST MOMENT: Write a short story about the scariest moment you have experienced.

4. LETTER TO QUENTIN: Write a letter to movie director Quentin Tarantino giving him suggestions for the next “Friday the 13^th” movie.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. Quentin Tarantino has signed a contract to make a “Friday the 13^th” movie.  F
2. The original “Friday the 13^th”  movie was released in 1960.  F
3. The bad guy in “Friday the 13^th”  is called Jonathon.  F
4. There have been ten sequels to “Friday the 13^th”.  T
5. The production company wanted to make a movie called “Jason vs. Freddy vs. Ash”, in which the bad guys from three movies fight each other.  T
6. Quentin Tarantino likes stomach churning scenes.  T
7. For Tarantino, blood is one of the main stars of the movie.  T
8. The new movie is called “The Final Jason Finally Dies Story”.  F

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	is in talks with	negotiating
(b)	original	first
(c)	psycho	deranged
(d)	sequels	follow ups
(e)	bloodthirsty	homicidal
(f)	proposed	suggested
(g)	deal	agreement
(h)	stomach churning	gory
(i)	bloodfest	bloodbath
(j)	exhausted	used up

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	Tarantino is in	talks with the executives
(b)	movie	production company
(c)	horror	classic
(d)	slightly	less than classic
(e)	the deal fell	through
(f)	an interesting	choice
(g)	stomach	churning
(h)	main stars	of the show
(i)	difficult to	find
(j)	previous	titles

 

GAP FILL:

Tarantino to make 12th “Friday the 13^th”

Movie director Quentin Tarantino is in talks with executives from the movie production company New Line Cinema to discuss directing the next in the Friday the 13^th  series. The original movie was released in 1980 and has become a horror classic, along with its psycho killer, Jason. The ten sequels that followed it were slightly less than classic and include Jason creating fear in New York (Jason Takes Manhattan) as well as going to space (Jason X). Movie number eleven saw Jason battling another bloodthirsty maniac – Freddie from Nightmare on Elm Street – in the 2003 release Freddy vs. Jason. New Line Cinema wanted the next movie to also include the character Ash from the Evil Dead movies in a proposed “Jason vs. Freddy vs. Ash”, but the deal fell through. Tarantino seems an interesting choice to direct the next Jason movie. He has already perfected stomach churning scenes in his previous movies Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and the bloodfests Kill Bill 1 and 2. For Tarantino, blood is one of the main stars of the show. It will be difficult to find an original name for the new movie as previous titles have exhausted the “final” theme with the movies The Final Chapter and The Final Friday.