"Friday the 13th" on Thursday the 13th! (1980)

Oh! I was so close to getting an actual Friday for the 13th, but c'est la vie. Yes, it's true, just like A Nightmare on Elm Street, I've also never seen the horror classic Friday the 13th. With all the talk recently about who is better, Freddy Kruger or Jason Voorhees, I set everything into motion so I could finally see these films for myself. I did know a little bit about this film, specifically why this would not really be the movie to watch to answer that question, but I had to start somewhere! I should warn anyone reading this, there will likely be minor spoilers ahead. If you're OK with that, then take a jump into Crystal Lake with me!


Camp Crystal Lake has a bad reputation with the locals of the nearby town. They like to called it "Camp Blood." It's been closed down for some time after endless accidents, year after year. A new owner has purchased the land and intends on reopening it, but he needs help doing it, so he has his soon-to-be camp councilors come a few weeks before opening to finish getting the place into shape. Unknown to the group, is that a killer has decided to hunt them down, one by one, and close this camp for good!

Totally random title sequence screen

OK, right off the top, I just have to say how lame the opening title screen is. What the heck is the point of these huge block letters flying at the screen and smashing glass? Sure, they're stylized pretty well, with the "th" cut out of the "3", but how does this convey the theme of the movie AT ALL? Why isn't it anything at all like the poster? How does this signify a slasher film? If anyone has any kind of answer at all, I'll take it!

As I had suspected, Jason isn't the villain of the film. In fact he almost isn't in the film at all! Everyone knows the story of Jason, right? A boy who drowned in Crystal Lake because the councilors didn't care enough to pay attention. He comes back from the grave to get revenge on all councilors from then on. Pretty supernatural stuff. But in this first film, even the slightest concept that there could be anything supernatural going on is never even hinted at until the end. I knew he wasn't going to be in the film going in, but when all I want to see is Jason, this film is pretty disappointing. It kind of reminds me of Rambo, and how the first film that character is in, isn't called Rambo, and he's not a hero. Here we have these famous characters, but what they are so strongly related to, isn't how it all started out. Rambo wasn't a hero, and Friday the 13th doesn't have Jason.

The biggest surprise for me was seeing Kevin Bacon suddenly show up out of nowhere! It's kind of a weird parallel to how A Nightmare on Elm Street had Johnny Depp's first role. While this isn't Bacon's first film, it certainly is one of his earliest; years before Footloose. As for his actual role, it's pretty hollow and lifeless, but he does get the only sex scene in the film, which I was surprised there wasn't more of.

Oh my god! It's Kevin Bacon!!

That's another thing the Friday the 13th films seem to be famous for; stupid teens getting naked all the time. I suppose there is the scene where a few of the teens play Strip Monopoly, but they suddenly quit before anything is really shown. The reason they stop is really lame too. I'm pretty sure the only reason they stop playing, is because the script demands more isolated teens out in the woods at night. Gotta get the fodder out there somehow.

I haven't even talked about the killings and the scares yet! Time to get down to it. I thought the kills were brutal and vicious! For most of the movie, you never see the killer, but frequently see from their perspective. I thought this viewpoint of putting you in the eyes of the killer was really cool. I know I've seen it before in other films, but never as much as I did in this one! It just worked really well and made it that much creepier. Also, you never knew what new instrument of death the killer was going to whip out next. I liked that it wasn't always the same kind of kill, and it was almost fun finding out what the next sharp and pointy thing to be used would be.

Isn't there a prank you pull on someone by putting their hand in water while they sleep? She might have a problem there.

As for being scared by the film, I would definitely say I was tense for quite a bit of it. But I know for certain that I can say I actually jumped out of my seat at the ending. I did NOT see that coming! It was one of those scares that it freaks you out so badly that you just start laughing at yourself afterwards. Anyone who has seen it knows the scene I'm talking about.

Overall I thought Friday the 13th was pretty good. On the poor side, the actors, including now famous ones, were all forgettable in their roles. The only thing I'll remember about them is how they died! On the good side, there's some pretty good gore, kills, and jumps to be had. I was surprised how little about Jason was in the film, and that when he did show up, it's suddenly introducing a whole new tone and concept to the film, which didn't really have anything like that going on before. It certainly means you're not expecting it AT ALL, and maybe that was the point all along. It certainly makes the movie end on a high note which is totally unforgettable. I'd definitely recommend anyone who hasn't seen this to give it a shot. Now I'll have to see a few more in the series so I can finally see Jason in action!