Movie Review: Friday The 13th (1980)

Genre: Slasher Horror  

Director: Sean S, Cunningham  

Starring: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Kevin Bacon  

Running Time: 95 minutes  

Synopsis: In 1958, two teenaged counsellors at New Jersey's Camp Crystal Lake are murdered while making out. In the present, the camp's owner Steve Christie brings together a group of teenagers, including budding artist Alice (Adrienne King), to ready the camp for re-opening. Creepy old codger Crazy Ralph warns everyone of a bad fate. With Steve running errands in a nearby town, the horny teens frolic, although Alice remains reserved. As a violent storm moves in, an assailant stalks the teens and embarks on a violent killing spree.

What Works Well: The film that launched countless lessor sequels and forgettable imitators. Director Dean S. Cunningham tweaks the Halloween template by stripping out story elements, ignoring character depth, and just upping blood and gore levels, with Tom Savini delivering the excellent special effects. In the process the mechanical slasher sub-genre is invented, where the body count and murder methods - the ickier the better - are the only measures of impact. Several jump scares (including the ending) are shockingly good, and the young cast members are surprisingly not bad, although only Kevin Bacon subsequently built a career. Henri Manfredini's CHE-che-che-che-HA-ha-ha-ha music score is iconic, and complements directorial touches full of patient tracking shots and long takes.

What Does Not Work As Well: The villain enter the story late, by which point the sequential murders by axe, knife, and arrow have crossed from scary to soullessly repetitive. Most of the horny teenagers are interchangeable victims-in-waiting, full of sex drive but devoid of personality. The final confrontation is over-extended and too reliant on the not-dead-yet trick.

Key Quote:

Crazy Ralph: You're doomed! You're all doomed!

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