Friday the 13th (1980)

Yes, the sequels blow rancid chunks. Yes, Jason has evolved into a comical anti-hero as opposed to anything that might be mistaken for frightening. Yes, the FRIDAY film budgets have gotten bigger in direct porportion to the degree to which the quality evaporated. And yes, the Hollywood powers that be are apparently gonna try to beat this dead horse at least one more time with the release of JASON X this year.

But before all that, there was this one little film.

I will freely admit that the original FRIDAY THE 13TH was inspired by John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN, and the latter film's success is exactly the reason why we got the subsequent ten films. But when judged on it's own merits, FRIDAY THE 13TH is actually a pretty good horror flick. Not one that's ever gonna win any awards, but a decent night's entertainment nonetheless.

I've read some posts here that decry the film as tame by today's standards. Well, to each their own, but this was the film that started the slasher craze of the 80's (HALLOWEEN may have been the first, but F13 provided the template). In 1980, this was HEAVY stuff.

FRIDAY THE 13TH is effective for all the reasons that many here seem to want to blast it. The amateurish, shaky photography adds to the intimacy and claustrophobia of the situation. The actors come off more like 'real people' as opposed to actors playing a part (let's face it; glitzy "Hollywood" acting would have ruined this film). And the gore effects are still amazing 20 years later. Tom Savini has consistently remained the best in the business.

FRIDAY THE 13TH embodies everything that a good, low-budget horror film should be. And it does it very well, all without the help of telekinetic teens, loony ambulance drivers, undead zombies with a penchant for hockey masks, hellbabies, or even Freddy's glove for a cameo.

Do yourself a favor and watch this film. Just be sure and view it apart from all the nonsense that became the later sequels. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised....

Fmovies: This is one of the scariest movies I have ever seen, I am 23 now and I was maybe 9 when I saw this and I can still sit back and watch it today, and still see how excellent this movie really is. If you haven't seen this, it's a must. Even thought I am a 100% Jason fan, so it's not at the top of the list as my favorite in the series. It still started the end a series that I hope will never end!!

Friday the 13th must be one of the biggest mysteries in cinema. Although it's a long way from being a good movie, its success and influence is unnameable ( and even unbelievable ). Don't get me wrong...I'm not at all saying that Friday the 13th is a terrible film or not even worth a watch but - let's face it - the plot idea is pretty dumb, the acting and directing are far below average and they haven't fully used the options of setting and location they had. The make-up effects ( by the master Tom Savini himself ) are excellent, but that alone isn't really enough to create a legendary horror movie in my opinion. Some of the later sequels ( Episode 6 : Jason Lives is the perfect example ) and even a few of the numberless rip-offs are superior to the production.

I suppose the story is pretty much known by everyone know and I even think the identity of the "mysterious killer" of this episode isn't that much of a mystery anymore. Anyway, in case you don't know it, I won't spoil the fun so see for yourself. Although my thoughts on it aren't that high, I do think it's must-see stuff for horror fans. Without any shame, I even admit that Friday the 13th and ALL its sequels are a guilty pleasure of mine. I'll never reckon them as good - or even decent - efforts in the genre, but I'm always up for a little bit of brainless gore slashing. And that's what these series are made for...pure entertainment !! So, in a way, they succeeded after all. They never try to give a thoughtful message to the viewer or something. There are just dumb-looking teenagers being slaughtered...the more the merrier.

Favorite "rewind"-scene : A young and horny Kevin Bacon being brutally killed in one of his first memorable roles.

Friday the 13th fmovies. I consider Friday THE 13TH a classic, despite everything seemingly going against it. Yes, the original Friday THE 13TH part 1 and part 2 owe a lot to BAY OF BLOOD (or TWITCH OF DEATH NERVE). There's no question about it. The similarities between the two films are obvious. The film is responsible for spawning an endless number of truly awful sequels. The acting is nothing spectacular. The script is barely there. And the film sorta drags a bit in the middle. And the ending of Friday THE 13TH is an indirect rip-off of the ending in CARRIE. But the backwoods atmosphere/mystique behind Friday THE 13TH is totally original and effective (much more than any of the sequels), and the ending of FT13 is, imo, WAY better than the ending of CARRIE. The ending of FT13 makes the movie. The entire FT13 series exists merely on the strength of that ending. It created a myth, in the name of Jason. The story (or script) is wonderfully absurd (when you think about it) which gives the murders an even more psychotic edge to them, and in my mind, are more effective than the ones in BAY OF BLOOD or in any other Friday THE 13TH sequels because of the kooky reasoning behind them. Watching Jason kill his victims in the sequels quickly got boring. And the fact that Tom Savini created the excellent gory FX is a definite plus. The acting is average (some of it even poor) but let's face it, the characters, aside from their individual death scenes, don't have a lot of dramatic things to do, except for Betsy Palmer and Adrienne King, who is good but is not the best "last surviving female" actress ever to appear in a slasher. On the other hand, Betsy Palmer is amazing as Mrs. Voorhees. She's a combination of total sweetness, insanity and camp all rolled into one. Once Betsy appears on screen the film is thrilling and she adds a lot of life (no pun intended) to the whole proceeding, which was lacking from a good part of the film. And let's not forget the good score. Very effective even if it sometimes sounds derivative. And the original poster is great!

The funny thing about Friday THE 13TH is that when I first saw it 20 years ago I thought it was good but not as good as HALLOWEEN. Fast forward 20 years, and today I sorta prefer Friday THE 13TH slightly more than HALLOWEEN now, which has lost a lot of its luster, due mainly to HALLOWEEN's awful sequels and their stupid story-lines. Artistically, HALLOWEEN is still the better film of the two. There's no comparison there. But it has lost its edge, while FT13's trashiness has oddly kept it fresh. While HALLOWEEN has irremediably lost a lot of its mystique with each subsequent sequels, Friday THE 13TH, on the other hand, actually gained more credibility with every release of its seemingly endless number of ultra-stupid sequels. After seeing some of those sequels, the original FT13 looks positively brilliant compared to those horrendous sequels. It's a classic in its own special way.

Friday the 13th. The movie which turned around the horror genre and gave us one of the most unforgettable villains and endings, is, and always will be a horror classic. Friday the 13th doesn't set out to be glossy and glamorous. Friday the 13th sets out to do what it wants to do; and that is, make you sit on the edge of your seat, feel uncomfortable and unnerved, to make you frightened when you go to bed after watching it. Friday the 13th delivers all of the fantastic horror goods. The plot revolves around American teenagers, who are the new counsellors at the apparently jinxed Camp Crystal Lake. These naive, horny youngsters have a one-track mind and break all of the innocent borders which has more depth than you would think. Basically, the message is "Don't have pre-marital sex, or you'll die" just like many of Friday the 13th's predecessors and clones send out as well. Friday the 13th has a variety of characters, all who you could possibly relate to. These characters are then slowly followed and hacked off one by one, in dark, gory, claustrophobic manners, which may leave you frightened in the same way Psycho made showers scary. As the camp counsellors are knocked off one by one, the tension rises higher and higher. Along the journey of carnage, the hugely effective soundtrack really creeps under your skin, highlighting how jumpy and scary the events happening on screen really are. For example when a chase scene occurs, the music may speed up, the tempo rising and jittering, almost moving like the characters on screen are. The acting in Friday the 13th is not bad at all; some of the actors/actresses may be a little amateur, but there is nothing terrible in this picture. The settings are also very effective. The stalkings and slaying in broad daylight and open spaces are a twist in a new direction, showing that not everything has to happen in the dark, in a small isolated house on the top of a hill, so the variation of location makes forests, cabins and even lakes more unappealing to the viewers afterwards, and may leave them creeped out by the aforementioned places. The camera-work is also very effective. The way the camera 'stalks' the victim behind trees and bushes, and the way the camera chases after it's victims as the point of view of the villain is unique and exciting, and adds a more tense and faster chill to the movie. Friday the 13th may play as a clichéd slasher, a story of sex equalling carnage, but it plays so effectively well it is a too important horror movie to simply be dismissed. It collects everything appealing about the 80's horror genre and wraps it up neatly into this fantastic horror package. A classic in it's genre.

I'll always have a soft-spot in my heart for the "Friday the 13th" franchise. Especially as an 80's baby/90's kid who grew up in a pop- culture environment where the psychotic hockey-masked killer Jason was known and loved by pretty much everyone... even kids like me who didn't see the films until we were older and only vaguely knew what they were about thanks to the whisperings and hints of our older siblings who were actually allowed to see the movies. (Usually renting them 2 or 3 at a time on trusty old VHS from the local Video King to watch after we younger brothers and sisters went to bed.)

At the time this review is being posted, the franchise has been running strong for well over 35 years. Boasting 10 films in its original continuity, the fabulously entertaining (and dopey as heck) cross- over spin-off "Freddy VS Jason", a somewhat underrated reboot in 2009 and a planned new film due out sometime within the next year or two.

But even a franchise so huge has to start with a small, humble beginning. Before the fame. Before the recognition. Before the birth of the pop-culture idol that the series spawned.

Yes, it all started with a teeny-tiny production back in 1980- the original "Friday the 13th."

It's almost impossible to really discuss this film critically without delving into spoiler territory (which I try to avoid in my reviews), though I will try my hardest to do so.

The film revolves around a group of young Camp Counselors who are prepping the infamous Camp Crystal Lake for a reopening about 20 years after a mysterious double-murder and a tragic drowning involving a young child. However, it appears someone isn't exactly a happy camper and doesn't want Crystal Lake back in business, and this mysterious figure begins to pick off our protagonists one-by- one until a tense climax reveals the dreaded truth...

It's no surprise at all that the film is essentially a glorified rip-off of the iconic slasher-horror that is John Carpenter's "Halloween." Director/Producer Sean S. Cunningham has been pretty candid about essentially wanting to create his own "roller-coaster" version of the Carpenter Classic with this film. Heck, they had ads and posters in the paper before the script was even written.

But the problem I really have with the film is that it all feels so routine. Even often boring and sometimes toothless. While it may not be fair to judge it by modern standards, even for its time, it just doesn't have that much going for it. (Especially as the very same year of release, such classics as "The Shining" and the underrated "The Changeling" were chilling audiences to the bone.) It's a very aimless, meandering film, with sloppy plotting and far too much focus placed on seemingly-pointless sequences for it to attain the "roller-coast" feeling the director was going for. The first half of the film is just too much a chore to slog through. And once the horror finally kicks in, it's just the same rinse-and-repeat formula scene-after-scene, with really only a few gruesome deaths here and there to pique audience interest. All those old clichés and tropes that even at the time had become slightly predictable.

Now, I know what you're saying- those are the things people love about these flicks. The clichés and the gore-galore. But it's so slowly paced and messy in this movie, it's hard to really get into it. It really isn't