Friday the 13th Review

Friday the 13th...what can I say that hasn't already been said? A movie made as a potboiler to keep the lights on spawned an unprecedented 9 sequels, 1 spin off, 3 seasons of television, and a remake. Wow! What a phenomenal franchise. It boggles my mind every time I think about it just how successful the Friday franchise truly is. Before we dive into the classic original, a personal favorite of mine, there's a little disclaimer: I am reviewing first the theatrical cuts of all the Fridays as well as all the episodes of all the TV series, then I will go back and review the uncut versions that are available: 1, 9, and the remake. Keep in mind: the theatrical cut of Friday the 13th is very hard to find today. The only way to find the actual theatrical cut (not the uncut or the bizarre hybrid cut on the original DVD release) is to buy the From Crystal Lake to Manhattan DVD box set. And now, let us begin into one extraordinary franchise!

As always, we begin with the trailer. I thought the marketing to this film was genius. It was marketed as a circus show, just one circus with a body count. The trailer counts the scary moments from 1-12. It's so smart...however, the trailer spoils a lot of the movie's scares which is the only downside to the trailer. It may be best to view the trailer after having seen the film. The tagline I thought was very clever as well. There were three that I know of: 1. They were warned... They are doomed... And on Friday the 13th, nothing will save them. 2. A 24 hour nightmare of terror. and 3. You may only see it once...but that will be enough. All clever taglines, but the best and most known by far is the first one. Now onto the film itself.

This film is phenomenal. I think it's one of the quintessential horror films of the past century. This film has been analyzed to death and I'm about to give a detailed analysis about why it works on multiple levels. The death scenes are spectacular. Each and every death scene is special. Standouts include: Annie's death (anyone notice how the first teen to die in both Halloween and Friday the 13th is named Annie and they both get their throats slashed?), Jack's (Kevin Bacon) death (all attention goes up, yet the attack comes from beneath, ingenious filmmaking), and Bill's death which appears offscreen (arrows hold him up behind a door and his throat has been slashed, one can only imagine how the killer toyed with him while he died).

The killer is outstanding! Having a female killer is so striking in today's horror and this was 1980, completely trendsetting. Her motive makes a lot of sense too. Mrs. Voorhees son Jason (we'll get to the whether he's dead or alive debate next film) drowned because two counselors were making love. She blamed the counselors for the death of her son and did everything in her power to prevent other children from dying whether it be by poisoning the water, starting fires, or as in the film itself killing the counselors. The final battle is also the best I've seen out of all of horror film cinema. Whereas Jamie Lee just barely escapes in Halloween, Alice beheads the killer in Friday!

Alice is a fantastic lead heroine. She's smart resourceful, but not completely on the outskirts. She smokes pot with her peers at one point and seems to get along well with all of them. When pressured into an intense situation, she doesn't cry and wimper, she fights back. She is by far, the best heroine in the franchise. She wins in the end. Mrs. Voorhees never came back.

The music works on multiple levels too. I've never heard a more calming end credit tune. The scary music is only played when the actual killer is present. This is unique and different from any other slasher film including this film's sequels. There's no false scares musically, a bold and wonderful idea from Harry Manfredini.

The other characters aside from Alice the heroine and Mrs. Voorhees leave something to be desired. Ned is annoying as crap, Brenda's forgettable, Annie seems TOO nice, and Jack and Marci are just a typical high school couple. Steve though, he's such a jerk and I love him for that. He gets all the teens to do his dirty work while he pigs out in a diner. HAHAHA, what an awesome character!

No review of Friday the 13th would be complete without mentioning the spectacular gore effects of Tom Savini. He was truly an innovator of the genre and he's gotten credit where credit is due. One could argue they are the true star of the film. I think that's true on a lot of Savini's films, but not on Friday. Friday was so special on multiple levels.

As you can tell, I LOVE this film and Paramount did too. They picked up an independent film and gave it a national (1,000 theater) release. This had been unheard of at that time and it ultimately paid off. Friday the 13th was released on May 9, 1980. On a budget of $550,000, the film was #1 at the box office during it's first weekend. The film made a total of $39,754,601 domestically or $117,917,391 in adjusted 2009 dollars. What an extraordinary success. This film is wonderful and should be on every horror fan's MUST SEE list. As far as making a sequel to a film where your main villain is killed off in the first film's ending...well, we'll get to that next time.