Friday The 13th -1980
Director: Sean S. Cunningham
Writer: Victor Miller
Genre : Slasher/horror/suspense
Running Time : 95 mins
Rating : R
Cast: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Jeannine Taylor, Kevin Bacon, Mark Nelson, Robbi Morgan
In 1980, a very significant addition to the horror slasher genre came with the surprise hit called Friday the 13th. On the surface, it sounded like a rip-off of Halloween, with another mysterious killer and a tale tied to a notable date. However, it’s not fair to brand Friday the 13th as nothing more than a flick that steals from Halloween, for it manages to take from many other horror movies as well.
Friday The 13th opens with a prologue set at Camp Crystal Lake in 1958. After a sing-along, a pair of teen campers goes off for some lovin’. An unnamed person comes upon them and slaughters all the kids. The movie then jumps to Friday, June 13 in the “present day” for the reopening of the original site, commonly referred to as “Camp Blood” by the locals. We meet young cook Annie (Robbi Morgan) as she wonders into town. Trucker Enos (Rex Everhart) gives her a lift to the camp but warns her of its curse and tells her to quit. She of course dismisses Enos as a superstitious kook and goes on her merry little way. From there we meet owner Steve Christy (Peter Brouwer) and the rest of the staff as they get the old place into back into shape. They wonder about Annie, who never makes it. When she hitches another ride, the driver eventually slits her throat. While Steve goes into town, the kids have fun and set up things. They encounter some minor scares and also run into Ralph the local nutbag (Walt Gorney) who warns them of their imminent doom. Like Annie before them, they pooh-pooh this crazy talk and go about their business. Slowly his predictions turn true, however, as someone methodically offs the counselors. Eventually the survivors figure out that something’s wrong and try to fight this unseen evil.
As I watch it now, I find it tough to figure out why Friday The 13th actually became such a sensation. There’s really not much to the movie. The film doesn’t present much originality, but that packaging made it a little different, and it certainly inspired many copycats of its own. I seriously doubt that the rash of slasher flicks in the Eighties would have existed without the success of Friday The 13th. Its lasting legacy may not have anything to do with the content on screen; it may come more from the fact that Friday reached a wider audience than the usual ultra-violent fare. It presents extremely generic characters who don’t even aspire to be stereotypes. Part of the film’s claim to fame may have come from its graphic nature, this one provides material that seemed a bit nastier than expected given the time frame/era. It also sets up the basic motif in which the series would present creative ways to kill the participants. The film doesn’t demonstrate a great deal of imagination, unfortunately, partially due to Sean S. Cunningham’s clumsy direction. He telegraphs every shot and scare as the film plods toward the inevitable and although the score itself clearly ripped off Bernard Herrmann’s work for Psycho, the audio design integrated one innovative touch: the creepy “Ki ki ki, ma ma ma” elements that run through the film. These reverberated bits remain one of the series’ most distinctive elements and immediately make the movies identifiable. They work in an eerie manner that helps accentuate the suspense and action. One probably shouldn’t criticize Friday for its clichés, since it was one of the flicks that helped turn the concepts into clichés.
Note that this 2009 Friday DVD presents an uncut version of the film. This doesn’t do anything to change the story; it just adds half a minute or so of gore. Since the series fans want blood ‘n’ guts, the additions will make them happy.
10 Stars