Director: Sean S. Cunningham

Written by: Victor Miller

Starring: Adrienne King, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan, Betsy Palmer, Kevin Bacon, Harry Crosby, Walt Gorney.

Music by: Harry Manfredini

Special makeup effects by: Tom Savini

Taglines: “On Friday The 13th, They Began To Die Horribly, One……By One”

“They were warned…They are doomed…And on Friday the 13th, nothing will save them.”

“The most terrifying film ever made!”

“You’ll wish it were only a nightmare…”

“If you think this means bad luck…YOU DON’T KNOW THE HALF OF IT.”

“Fridays will never be the same again.”

“A 24 hour nightmare of terror.”

“From the producer of Last House on the Left comes the most terrifying film of all time.”

“You may only see it once, but that will be enough.”

STORY

A group of teenagers arrive at Camp Crystal Lake as camp councillors for what will be the first season in many years. Back in the 50s, there was a terrible accident involving a young boy named Jason Voorhees, where his drowning screams went unheard by the councillors of the day. Soon after, a number of horrible murders took place, earning the camp the local nickname of “Camp Blood” and leading to its closure.

None of the teenagers know this, of course, and blissfully unaware that one of their number was brutally slaughtered on the way to join them, they participate in the usual run of sex, drugs and other antics while preparing the camp for its influx of campers. But there’s someone waiting in the woods, ready to pick them off one by one…

OPINION

The thing that I find most notable about Friday the 13th is the strange way that it kicked off an entire sub-genre of movies during the first half of the 80s. I say strange because it was far from the first slasher movie, and other movies such as Black Christmas and When A Stranger Calls failed to attract the huge number of imitators that the first Friday did. It’s not even down to success – there were only a scattered few slasher movies that came out in the wake of the original Halloween (whose first sequel was, rather ironically, clearly inspired by Friday The 13th’s success), even those Halloween was for many years the most successful independent movie in history.

I think the reason for this is the relative simplicity of the story, combined with the lack of supreme talent in the director’s chair. That’s not to say that Cunningham is a bad director, it’s simply that his movie lacks the sheer innovation that characterised Carpenter’s movie. To start with, the plot is really very simple – a group of teenagers end up in an isolated place and get killed off one by one. Throw in some excellent gore effects by Tom Savini, scattered sex & nudity and a ridiculously convoluted plot twist that leads to a silly (but effective) final scare, and you have a template for a hundred other movies that can be shot on no money. This movie was the one that really cemented most of the clichés of the genre – gory deaths punctuated by sex & drugs with a “final girl” fighting the killer in the last act (usually the one character who didn’t participate in the sex & drugs) – which would be followed for most of the 80s. having said that, the cast is fairly decent with some memorable characters (mainly Mrs. Voorhees and crazy old Ralph) and a fun early role for a pre-Footloose Kevin Bacon. Harry Manfredini’s music is also OK, with the iconic “ki ki ki… ma ma ma ” sound (and yes, that’s actually what it’s meant to say!) but with rather too many steals from Psycho to make it as good as some remember, IMHO.

The origins of Friday The 13th started with one of the great tricks of exploitation cinema – sell the “sizzle” before you make the steak. AIP and Roger Corman were famous for this in the 50s. They would create eye-catching posters with attractive titles and test them in front of target groups of teenagers. The ones that got the best reactions had scripts written and were made into movies, AIP being safe in the knowledge that – as long as they were shot cheaply enough – the posters would guarantee a profit. So it was with Friday the 13th – the title was dreamt up and a full page ad in Variety (pasted below) was paid for before the script was completed as Cunningham was worried that someone else would take the title first. It got a good reaction, so the ball started rolling on production – a necessity as not only did the advert state that it was “the most terrifying film ever made”, it also included a release date! The resulting script and direction were basically retreads of old Italian giallo movies, most notably Mario Bava’s Bay Of Blood (a.k.a. Twitch Of The Death Nerve).

I came late into the slasher cycle, and while there are many movies in the genre that I do love, this one never really did it for me. Maybe it’s because I saw the far cheesier and faster-paced Jason Lives (part 6 of the franchise) first, but I’ve always found this movie to be terminally dull for much of its running time. the sequels have always been far more enjoyable for me, but this movie really does deserve a place in movie history.

What’s most enjoyable about this movie are the effects by the legendary Tom Savini and the final act. Anyone who’s seen the opening of Scream won’t be surprised to find that Jason Voorhees is not the mysterious killer. In fact, Voorhees’ rise to the iconic figure he is today is a strange on. While he is the killer in the second part of the series, he doesn’t obtain his iconic hockey mask until well into part 3, yet that image was famous enough to be used by part 4 in its advertising.

With Mrs. Voorhees convincingly dispatched at the end of this first movie, the trend for the sequels was unwittingly supplied by Tom Savini. Inspired by the shock ending to Brian De Palma’s movie of Carrie, Savini wanted a similar thing at the end here. It’s a very effective jump moment that still gets me, even though I know exactly what will happen. The end effect is to introduce some doubt as to whether Jason actually drowned in the lake as thought. While the end result is silly and rather unconvincing (what exactly was he doing in the woods all that time before witnessing his mother’s death – the catalyst for the murders in part 2?), the moment in this film is pretty good.

As is becoming sadly routine nowadays, this is yet another movie to have been remade. I’ll post a full review when i get chance to see it, but so far the remake looks OK, combining different parts of the mythology (the killer in the remake is obviously Jason, hockey mask and all), and it’s directed Marcus Nispel, who did a respectable job in the almost-guaranteed-to-fail The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. I’ll post a full review when I see it, but it’s certainly shaping up to be one of the less-horrible remakes of recent times.

TRAILER

CENSORSHIP

Friday The 13th was cut for many years in order to get an R rating in the US. However, in light of the recent remake, a completely uncut DVD has been released in the US. It’s not a bad disc, though the uncut footage hasn’t really dated all that well – on DVD, the colour differences between Savini’s effect makeup and the actors’ skin is a little too obvious. Even so, it’s nice to finally have this movie the way it was intended.

It’s also worth noting that the critical reception to this movie on its original release was extremely hostile. So much so that Gene Siskel, the noted film critic of Siskel & Ebert fame, went as far as to publish actress Betsy Palmer’s (Mrs. Voorhees) home address (!) in order to front an anti-F13 campaign. While I wish someone would do that for certain directors and screenwriters today, it’s amazing that a movie that so captured the teen audience of the day could have such a destructive reaction on the part of those who support “decency”.

Rating:

Tags: Remade, sean cunningham, slasher, tom savini

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