Friday the 13th (1980) Review

Time: 95 Minutes
Age Rating: Violence
Cast:
Adrienne King as Alice Hardy
Harry Crosby as Bill
Laurie Bartram as Brenda
Jeannine Taylor as Marcie Cunningham
Kevin Bacon as Jack Burrel
Mark Nelson as Ned Rubinstein
Robbi Morgan as Annie
Betsy Palmer as Mrs Voorhees
Director: Sean S. Cunningham

In 1957, at Camp Crystal Lake, a young boy named Jason Voorhees drowned. In 1958, two camp counsellors were murdered and in 1962, fires and bad water thwarted the camp’s reopening. Now, in 1979, Steve Christy (Peter Brouwer) finally reopens Camp Crystal Lake with the help of a few new counsellors. Ignoring the warnings from a crazy old man, the murders start once again while a mysterious stalker prowls the area.

I don’t watch horror movies as much as others, but I enjoy them most of the time when I watch them. I was curious to check out Friday the 13th, The Friday the 13th movies have been called horror classics, with its creative death scenes and its iconic killer Jason Voorhees. This is just me but after seeing the very first instalment to the franchise, I don’t see how this movie is that good. Granted I thought the movie is okay, it didn’t have my interest the whole way through but there are aspects of the movie that are good. I just don’t think it should be put up with all the horror classics like Halloween.

The story is fairly basic, there is a killer going around killing people. Nothing really that special. The weakest aspect of this movie is that it isn’t interesting. In most horror movies, most people don’t usually pay attention to the story but I didn’t really care about what was going on. With other slasher movies like Halloween I actually cared about what was going on but not here. Even without caring about the story I didn’t feel interested, except when the killer is involved. There are also quite a bit of moments that I felt could’ve been cut out, it just seemed like padding to make the movie longer. None of the characters are interesting or stand out, so whenever they were getting killed off I never really felt anything, although the scenes themselves were really well done. I will give credit that there is a twist near the end, I won’t spoil it for those who don’t know about it yet.

The acting wasn’t anything special and no one stood out. None of the characters interested me or stood out either because the characters weren’t really written that well which didn’t help. There was a performance from Betsy Palmer which I thought was good but still, don’t go to this movie for the acting. Most people don’t go to this kind of movie for the acting but it is just worth noting that the acting is not the best.

The movie’s budget was $550,000 but the filmmakers made well with what they had. Most of the camera shots were okay but the camerawork really shines when it at times takes the first person perspective of the killer. I also liked the soundtrack, even though I was never really scared throughout this movie, the soundtrack does have this creeping vibe throughout. I think that one of the most known things about Friday the 13th are the death scenes. They are pretty creative, at least for its time. I give props to those who did the makeup, it was done very well.

Friday the 13th isn’t in my opinion a horror classic but I still think it’s okay. The twist was well done, Betsy Palmer’s performance was pretty good, the cinematography was pretty good and the death scenes are pretty creative. If you are a diehard horror fan, I recommend you see this movie. Don’t however expect another Halloween, this doesn’t really have the suspense that the franchise has. I haven’t seen any of the other movies but I can gather the Friday the 13th movies are entertainment. I haven’t seen the other movies but this movie was good enough that I’m open to check them out.

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