• Director: Sean S. Cunningham
• With: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson, Jeanine Taylor, Robbi Morgan, Kevin Bacon
• Music by: Harry Manfredini
• Duration: 92 min
• Studio: Warner Bros Pictures
• Rating: 7/10

Review:

Warning ‼️ this review may ànd will contain spoilers! So SPOILER ‼️

Let’s begin with addressing the ‘Ki ki ki ma ma ma’ sound that made this movie so iconic and so recognisable, still today! Manfredini’s soundtrack for this movie is still one of the creepier horror soundtracks of the eighties!

This being said… Friday the 13th is a genre defining movie. Together with Halloween it started the slasher genre. But the biggest difference with Halloween is the telling of the story, amount of kills and especially the speed in which the killer starts ending these young people’s lives! Later, the genre would know a lot more movies that would define the genre such as Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elmstreet (and his revival of the genre in the nineties Scream).

The movie starts in 1958, where a bunch of young camp counsellors are singing and having fun. They are being watched though. When two of them leave the group to have some personal time together, the counsellors meet the person watching them, death follows soon!

In present day, the town of Crystal Lake still hasn’t overcome the horrors from back when. And yet someone decided to reopen Camp Crystal Lake. A new group of youngsters, led by Steve Christy, are preparing the grounds and buildings for the camp to reopen.

But once they settle in, someone seems to be keeping an eye on the counsellors. And then another killing spree starts! Someone is killing the young folks, one by one! Until only one is left, Alice! When she discovers all the bodies, she is left alone in this desolated place. And just when she thinks rescue is near, someone appears out of nowhere and tells the story about the Friday the 13th massacre in 1958 and the reason for it. Jason Voorhees died while the counsellors were not paying attention! And Pamela Voorhees might not be happy about the reopening of the place that killed her son!

They were warned. They are doomed. En on Friday the 13th nothing will save them!

“You’re doomed! You’re all doomed!

Ralph

I’ve probably never seen a slasher movie that started killing people so fast like I did in this movie. From the start of it till the end of the movie there’s blood, killing and gore! The killings are not the most original ones I’ve ever seen in a slasher before (this will change in the sequels) but they are brutal at times.

For those who love pop quizzes on horror movies and who has ever seen the first Scream movie, you’ll recognise the question below… but did you know the right answer as well?

“Who’s the killer in Friday the 13th?” “Jason Voorhees!”

Ghostface Killer to Casey Becker in Scream

A few tidbits: this was supposed to be a rip off of Halloween. The gore of this movie was toned down for the second movie. Adrienne King was stalked by someone after this movie, having her ask for a smaller part in the sequel and not coming to conventions for 20 years. This is Kevin Bacon’s first horror movie. The jump scare at the end of the movie was also a rip off from the ending of Brian de Palma’s Carrie!

Today is Friday the 13th so it’s only fitting that I post this review on this day! And yes, I will rewatch the entire series (minus Freddy vs Jason, which I already reviewed last year)

https://looneybooks79.blog/2023/01/16/movie-marathon-freddy-vs-jason-2003-rewatch/