Friday the 69th prescribes a gonzo premise: What if a porn studio tries to rescue its fortunes by going straight and making a mainstream horror movie? This debut film from Alex Montilla was featured at the Portland Horror Film Festival. This retro grindhouse spoof behaves itself… mostly. The movie isn’t nearly as dirty as it potentially could have been. It pays homage to the slasher movies of the early ’80s and has subtle nods to the adult-film roots of the characters making the movie-within-the-movie. The comedy is a bit uneven, but it hits often enough to put a smile on your face.
“First there was Friday the 13th, now 56 Fridays later comes… Friday the 69th!”
Tagline for Friday the 69th
Let the double entendres begin!
Friday the 69th knows what it is, and what its roots are. It is a loving homage to the forbidden fruits of the early 1980’s, that made Tipper Gore so concerned back in the day. Its lineage is to the cheap video nasties and the even cheaper straight-to-video porno scene circa 1981. There is some sly brilliance in the fact that the material it mocks is inherently shoddy. Is the acting stiff? Is the dialogue cringey? Sure! But that is to be expected given who is making the movie and what they are trying to do.
The premise is as tropey as you can get. The cabin in the woods, with a random serial killer on the loose, who dons a beekeeper’s garb to do his dirty work. A group of “teenagers” played by actors in their late thirties travels to a remote cabin where the Nazis were once purported to be holding out in case Germany came out on top in World War II. The movie-within-the-movie tucks in a sweet romance between a meek, brainy girl and an absurdly handsome handyman. Roll camera!
The Cast of Friday the 69th:
(Both the cheesy porn nom de plumes and the characters in the feature film.)
Amy Letcher plays Penelope Flaversham, a classically trained actress. Her character, Judy, is a meek, sweet, and somewhat homely girl who is going on a spring break trip with her foster sister, Buffy, after her parents recently died.
Rob Zoppo plays Rock Hardigan, the porn studio’s leading man. Rock plays Billy, who works as a handyman for his uncle at Camp Hayewood.
Bud Galloway plays Rod Woodcock, whose character Blaine is a dumb jock and is way too old to be playing a teenager.
Amber Kellehan plays Sally Manila, who plays Amber, a cheerleader who is Blaine’s girlfriend. Apparently Sally’s sex scenes in her porno films are only so-so.
Anna Bess plays Poppy St. Cherry, whose character Buffy is a classic blonde bimbo.
David Arnold Rubin is Rick Moreanus, who is excited to be a serious actor. His character, Arnold, however, is an obnoxious and immature heel.
Austen Jaye plays Magic Johnson, who has to be convinced to be in a movie where he isn’t having sex. His character, Henry, is a security guard at Camp Heywood.
Chris Offerman plays Phil A. Buster, whose character Uncle Gus owns Camp Hayewood.
Alex Montilla plays Michael Caime, the opportunistic director of Friday the 69th.
Eric Anderson plays Ivan Moorhead, the beleaguered producer struggling to put this movie together.
Rob Zoppo, Amy Letcher, and David Arnold Rubin in Friday the 69th (2026)
A brief Synopsis of Friday the 69th
Sally: “We’re do table reads for pornos now?” Michael: “Well no, actually we don’t.” Ivan: “But we do table reads for…” Michael and Ivan in unison: “Our first mainstream motion picture!”
We join the movie at the start of a scratchy 16mm documentary for a table read for the production for Friday the 69th. The cast are all porn performers, but their movies haven’t been profitable. Michael explains that “Halloween and Friday the 13th, both made for lunch money, made millions.” As long as the movie is bloody and stabby, nobody will care how convincing the production is. But, to ensure that the film has the semblance of legitimacy, they have hired a “real” actress, Penelope, whose British accent provides the requisite provenance.
The feature presentation then begins with the classic kaleidescope entry. The serial killer is established as a mysterious stranger slays a pair of fisherman. Precedent set. There’s a killer on the loose. We are introduced to our “teenagers” who head out for their spring break excursion. They are ready to party hard, at a cabin in the woods at Camp Heywood. Buffy is not pleased to be dragging the overall clad Judy along on the trip. The crew runs into a hippie on the side of the road who acts as the harbinger of doom, warning them that weird things are happening up at the camp. Of course, the hippie gets dispatched, as does a nearby beekeeper. The serial killer steals the keepers outfit, and now has a suitable killer’s costume.
As the campers set themselves up at the Camp, Judy peels herself away, where she spots the ridiculously handsome (and naked) Billy taking a swim in a lake. There is a natural (if forced by narrative) attraction between them, but a scream draws Judy back to the camp. It turns out to be nothing, but soon enough The Beekeeper will arrive, with a carving knife at the ready. Be ready for all the horror tropes. There is a particularly spectacular kill, using the “Having sex will kill you” chestnut. Slasher movie and final girl tropes apply from this point forward.
Evaluation of Friday the 69th
If you enjoy cheesy slasher movies from the ’80s, and have an appreciation for porn from the same era, this is a movie that will be in your wheelhouse. Just don’t expect it to be as gory (though there is some fun gore effects) or as raunchy as a porn film. Montilla explained to me that he made this film with his friends, and he couldn’t exactly ask them to take their clothes off. Though, there is one big gag exception, and it brought the house down at the screening at PHFF.
Remarkably Alex Montilla filmed this all with an iPhone 16 Pro Max, and he made heavy use of filters to give the film a 16mm burned-in and scratchy look. Also, adding all the audio in post lent a bit of authenticity to the movie, where even the out-of-synch moments felt period appropriate. The film actually was working at its best when it cut back to the table read, to get the reactions from the cast and crew. An ongoing running gag about product placement also was used to great effect.
Not all the jokes worked, but enough of them really landed that brought a smile to my face. The script heavily leans into winking at the audience with the suggestion of sleaze. In a way, it resembled a “Skinemax” film that would show up after hours on cable TV back in the day. The performances, while intentionally wooden, come and go. In an echo of the film, Amy Letcher proves to be the strongest performance here. She of course is your virginal final girl, but she is also required to do considerably more, given the ending of the movie. I also get the feeling that if Rob Zappo wanted to porn, he would be a hot commodity. The dude is jacked! Also, he’s a really nice guy.
Concluding Thoughts
Watch the trailer. It is fantastic! Montilla took after Hitchcock, using himself as a narrator for the trailer in a goofy charicature of his director alter ego. It also gives you the sense of the sly humor. But, I will be the first to admit, the movie is rough around the edges. This is pure B-movie through and through. It borrows from grindhouse, and as a result is one by way of homage. The same shortcomings of eighties slasher films apply to this movie. The character development is non-existant, but that’s not why you would go to watch a slasher film. Or a porno.
What you do sense, is that Montilla and his cast had a blast making this movie. It may be uneven, and look cheap, but they revel in that. It is proud of what it delivers and isn’t shy about it. I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed it if it were either meaner or sleazier, but I think that its suggestiveness rather than explicit raunchiness allows it to be charming. If it went sleazier, it would drift into Troma territory, and while there is a definite appropriate place on the menu for Troma, that isn’t what Montilla was shooting for.
I think he got what he wanted to accomplish. It’s fun and lo-fidelity. It’s cheesy. It’s naughty without being too crude. Oddly, it was a bit of a tightrope walk. Friday the 69th, though in the trailer notes that it would be Rated X, is not rated, but would be squarely an R rated movie, for violence, gore, sexual content (again, one key scene), and mostly naughty language. It’s not even close to being X rated, though its source material is. By comparison Ti West’s X is much more explicit film than this one. After all, this is about adult film stars making the turn to making a “publically acceptable” feature film.
Review by Eric Li
My Interview with Alex Montilla and Rob Zoppo:
This was recorded before I saw the movie, in the green room at the Hollywood Theatre, during the Portland Horror Film Festival. I have added the Q&A Session hosted by PHFF at the end of this recording. Alex and Rob were at the festival, dressed in tiger and leopard-print tracksuits, embracing the full cheese! As pitch swag, they were giving out custom-labelled condoms. How apropos. Very cool.
