Friday the 13th 1980 Paramount   Buy It Now

It isn't Jason doing the killing...

...it's his MOM.

There.  Now it is out and in the open.  If you managed to get all the way to the year 2003 (nearly a quarter of a century after its release) without seeing Friday the 13th, then you deserve to not only have the ending spoiled, but also to be beaten with wooden bats coated in broken glass.  That's right, you heard me.  Besides, anyone who is a new enough horror fan to have somehow (and unforgivably) missed this film, probably thinks Scream is the greatest thing since sliced bread and has already had F13th's little secret ruined in the first 5 minutes of that film.  So now that we have that little bit of unpleasantness behind us, lets get on with it!

It's 1957, and a young disfigured boy drowns while at summer camp, because the camp counselors supposed to watch him were having sex at the time.  A year later, at the same camp, two counselors, also engaged in fornication, are violently and gruesomely murdered.  In response, the camp closes and takes no more children for the summers.  Meanwhile, fires break out, the local water supply goes bad and enough freak accidents occur to convince the locals that the camp is now cursed.  Camp Crystal Lake it was called.  But now it is known as Camp Blood.

Of course we all know what comes next, right!  By now it is legendary...Someone is again stirring around out near the lake.  When we first see Annie, trying to hitch a ride out to the lake, it is sheer joy!  There is no other way to describe it!  She is going out to the campground, where there will be other camp councilors just like her...and then they will all start to DIE.  They are slowly stalked one by one, each killed in a more gruesome and painful way than the last.  We know this will happen.  We pay big money for movie tickets because we know this will happen.  But every time it begins again, we horror fans are like giddy obese children, shoveling forbidden candy down our throats until we are bloated and content.  But again, why?  What is it that delights us so about this particular tale of stalk-and-slaughter when there have been so many others?

Friday the 13th has defined but surely didn't start the slasher genre.  In fact it wasn't even close, preceded by many a film...some better, most worse.  Black Christmas, Halloween, Driller Killer...all predated F13th; but one film had a crucial impact on what is now a 10 film franchise.  That film, widely considered to be the FIRST slasher film, is Reazione A Catena (aka: Twitch Of The Death Nerve, Bay Of Blood, Bloodbath, etc).  Directed and co-written by Mario Bava, Reazione could not be considered a great film by any means, as production levels were bargain basement, but it told a tale that we are now all too familiar with.

A group of nubile young people heads to a cabin by a lake and wind up getting dispatched in a wondrous variety of ways.  Many will sound very familiar to a fan of the Friday series: machetes to the face, couple impaled whilst having sex, girls skinny-dipping (I know that isn't a murder, but it is noteworthy!), etc.  Perhaps the most important thing that Reazione contributed to Friday the 13th was the usage of a twist ending.

Friday the 13th's ending is the very thing that sets it apart and a bit ahead of the other slasher films that preceded it.  The revelation at the end of this film, that it is Mrs. Voorhees who is doing all the killing and not her retarded son back from the grave (yet!!), has stood the tests of time as being one of the best endings in horror cinema, perhaps only surpassed thru sheer creativity by the ending of Sleepaway Camp (itself a Friday rip-off).  Most slasher fare still ends things off with the simple and formulaic bad-guy-is-dead-OH-NO-LOOK- HE'S- NOT (see: Halloween) style endings.  With the exception of the Scream franchise, the twist ending has still not caught on as a highly used motif, leaving Friday the 13th foremost in the minds of horror fans.

 But not only the scripting was above expectations.  With special effects man, Tom Savini, heading up the makeup effects, audiences were in for a treat.  Not only was the shocking scene of Jason lunging out of the water Savini's idea, but he was so proud of it that he would sneak into theaters at the end of showings, just to see how the scene went over with audiences.  In addition to this first (if brief) glimpse of Jason Voorhees, Tom also gave movie-goers a whole lot to cringe over.  Friday the 13th's gore effects were so far ahead of their time in 1980, that audiences could not be prepared for what they were about to see.  Reactions ranged from the instant creation of die-hard horror fans to the instant creation of legislation groups who would attempt to get F13th out of theatres.  But try as they might, Friday the 13th was going no where.  (Eventually Friday went on to gross more than rival films; The Jazz Singer and 8 time Oscar nominee, The Elephant Man.  This is especially humorous when you see the Elephant Man-esque hood that Jason wears in F13th II!)  Instantly, in bedrooms across the world, where there used to be sports magazines and schoolbooks, there were now latex masks, prosthetics and jugs of fake blood.  With the exception of Dawn Of The Dead (also handled by Savini!), there really has been no other film that offered up so many great effects and inspired so many future makeup men.

The most impressive of Savini's effects can be seen, deconstructed, in Tom Savini's book, Grande Illusions.  The book is now out of print, but is simply a must have if you have even watched a horror film and said to yourself, how did they do that?  Actually, it is so important that you have this book, go ahead and click here to find yourself a copy...now.  See the tricks of the trade that lent themselves to Creepshow and Dawn of the Dead, but of special note are the sections on the arrow through the throat and the machete through the face from F13th.

The curse of Camp Blood went on to take more victims than those shown on screen.  Of the cast of Friday the 13th, only a young Kevin Bacon would find a future career in acting.  Even the films director, Sean Cunningham, would never recreate the success of this directorial stint, although he has acted as producer of the last two Friday films as well as this years Jason vs. Freddy.

But not every horror film will produce a Jamie Lee Curtis, who can then go on to a long and illustrious career.  But regardless of the amount of fame garnered for its actors, Friday the 13th is still among the most recognizable and beloved film franchises of all time, regardless of genre.  If for some reason you have never seen the film...click your mouse on the Buy It Now link up there and don't ever admit to anyone what a loser you are.  If you have seen the film, but have yet to grab a DVD release for your horror film shelves, well...don't get your hopes up.  Paramount Home Video has committed one of the most atrocious acts of villainy since a RATED version of Dead Alive (aka Braindead), by not including a single decent feature to their handling of the Friday franchise.  Content yourself to the film's trailer, because that is all you are gonna get here!  Simply unforgivable, Paramount...there is truly no excuse with the wealth of extras that could have been added.

But regardless of its shoddy treatment, go ahead and grab this one up folks.  It is impossible to add this one to your horror collection, since you don't even HAVE a collection without Friday the 13th.

-aaron-
 

Directed By: Sean S. Cunningham   Written By: Victor Miller   Also Known As: A Long Night At Camp Blood   Cast: Betsy Palmer Adrienne King Harry Crosby Laurie Bartram Jeannine Taylor Kevin Bacon Mark Neilson Robbi Morgan Peter Brouwer Walt Gorney

DVD Features: Widescreen Dolby Digital Dual Language: English & French English Subtitles Theatrical Trailer                 All Images From: