Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th
R | 09 May 1980 (USA)
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Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp that was the site of a child's drowning.

Reviews
Perry Kate

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

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SpuffyWeb

Sadly Over-hyped

FrogGlace

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Bob

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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moviemattb

As a child, I was not allow to watch any of these movies, as they are R rated horror flicks that contains nudity, violence, etc. I do remember one of my vague memories when "Friday the 13th: Part 3" came on TNN before it became Spike TV, and Paramount Network, I remember seeing Jason in a hockey mask chasing some girl at a barn. Heck, I remember when my uncle brought a copy of the movie when he rented from a video store, and I sneakily put the tape in to see Jason on an old VHS tape and seeing a brief snippet of him he did look quiet scary. After that, my mother caught me, and I turned it off. Never intend to watch it, I just only wanted to see Jason for a bit and that was it. With that said, here is my review of the first one that started it all, before Jason became the main killer, as well as putting on his iconic hockey, brought back as zombie, going to Manhattan, Hell, space, fighting Freddy Krueger, and being rebooted. The first film's plot is pretty simple, as you have a group of teenagers that are trying to reopen Camp Crystal Lake, but something evil is lurking them as it kills its victims. When I first saw this movie, I really love it, but as time goes by, I began to recognize its flaws. Nevertheless, its far from being a bad movie, and it is not the worst thing ever as critics make it out to be when it first came out. There is a lot of good things to say, where is the bad isn't that much, nor that big of a deal. To start off, I thought that Tom Savini's makeup FX are outstanding, and really is a master at it. The movie does have some great kills such as putting an axe on Jeannine Taylor's face, as well as having an arrow into Kevin Bacon's neck. The music by Harry Manfredini is completely unforgettable, he made that theme sound so iconic and everyone always like to remember that theme, when something bad is about to happen when you hear "Ki Ki Ki Ma Ma Ma." Totally classic. Taking place in the woods is great, and really does have that surreal atmosphere quality as you do feel somewhat unsettle as if you were alone in the woods. The characters I'll admit, aren't really three dimensional as you would seen in other great horror films, but at the end they are still likable. The acting isn't the greatest, but its really not that bad either. They all did fine for what they have to do; the best actors, in my opinion are Adrienne King and Betsy Palmer. For King, she really does have a natural beauty, and for having the girl next door type. Now for Palmer, she is having a blast with this role, and you can't take your eyes off on how fun she is for playing Jason's mother. The plot is simplistic as it needs to be, and the direction by Sean S. Cunningham is very solid. While as much as I love Palmer's performance, it would have been interesting if she had more screen time, if the audiences would have thought that she is a nice woman, before the twist ending is being revealed that she is the killer. Imagine that. Also, while I do love the character of Alice, I do notice a character error, where she runs away from Pamela Voorhees as she gets into the Jeep, but doesn't drive off as she screams by one of the victims that Pam killed. Don't get me wrong, I do love the climax, but for a realistic standpoint, she should know that the Jeep has gas in it, and could have turned the keys over so she can get herself out of there. The Jeep has gas, when Pam first arrives at the camp. Just saying. Lastly, I do love the last scene, which I'll admit, I did get jumped by the last scene, where Jason played by Ari Lehman jumps out off the water to pull Alice into the water. Very scary, to say the least. All in all, no matter what flaws this movie has, "Friday the 13th" is a fun thrill ride that has great kills, scare factors, unforgettable music, and likable characters. I'm giving this movie a 9 out of 10.

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Milo-Jeeder

Clearly, the team behind "Friday the 13th" expected at least to make a reasonable profit out of it, but I seriously doubt that anyone involved in the making of this film even considered the possibility of it becoming the cult classic that it is today. Victor Miller, who wrote the story, openly admitted that he was riding off the success of Halloween (1978). The late actress Betsy Palmer even claimed that, after reading the script, she thought the story was trash (well... she actually used another word), but she took the job because she needed a new car. Little did she know when she took the role that her character would immortalize her as one of the biggest horror icons of all times.Yes, it is evident that Victor Miller and Don Mancini capitalized on the success of Halloween (1978), but the truth is that "Friday the 13th" manages to stand out on its own, and in the end, other than being two slasher films about a killer who prowls around murdering teenagers; these two films don't really have that much in common. To this day, John Carpenter's "Halloween" is considered a more "serious" horror film (for the lack of a better word), while "Friday the 13th" remains a classic, but is still seen as a less underappreciated respectable flick. Why? Probably because, even though I absolutely love it, I will admit that "Friday the 13th" certainly has a campy nature (no pun intended). In my case, I don't mind the campiness, I actually enjoy it.In "Friday the 13th", the story begins in 1958, in a summer camp named Camp Crystal Lake. We see two young camp counselors who are about to have sex, when someone appears out of nowhere and murders them both. We don't get to see who the killer is, since the murders are shown in a point-of-view shot, and the reason behind the murders is not yet explained either. The story then jumps to 1980 and it focuses on Alice, a young and sensible girl who, along with other kids of her age, is hired as a counselor by a man who attempts to reopen Camp Crystal Lake. Unfortunately, someone doesn't seem too thrilled about the reopening of the place, which will lead to a series of gruesome murders. Could it be the same person who killed those two counselors back in 1958? In the end, it is Alice who will have to come face to face with the killer and fight for her own life.Spoilers aheadPlot-wise, "Friday the 13th" may not be too remarkable, but it doesn't really need to be either. I could be wrong, but I believe this film first introduced the formula that consists on: a summer camp as a scenario, a pinch of mystery, plentiful gore, creative deaths and a gratifying reveal towards the last minutes. Just like this film attempted to ride off the success of a previous slasher, ironically, "Friday the 13th" itself ended up generating a bunch of (arguably) inferior clones as well. Of course, commercial success doesn't necessarily imply quality, but I do think "Friday the 13th" has a certain something that makes it appealing to a lot of people.For the most part, the characters in this film seem somewhat generic and one dimensional, which is a common attribute in slasher films. There really isn't much of a character development, and we don't get to know them very well. Most of the victims are young boys and girls who seem to be in the camp to have a good time themselves, rather than working hard to make the children happy. Surely, these characters don't really deserve to die for being immature and silly, but at the same time, it is hard to feel too bad for them either. However, the first character that gets killed after the time-jump seems genuinely sweet and caring, so one obviously feels bad for her when she is brutally murdered, just for being naïve enough to trust a stranger. I think this death after the time-jump was a perfect move, because it sets the tone perfectly for what is going to happen later: a bunch of innocent young people will be brutally murdered without having done anything to deserve it.The acting in "Friday the 13th" is mostly plain or, in some cases, over the top, which, along with the silly dialogs and lines, provides the film with an enjoyable campy nature. The late Betsy Palmer, who played the role of Mrs. Pamela Voorhees, was nominated for a Razzie Award, and while I love the character of Mrs. Voorhees and I felt bad to hear about Palmer's passing, I can understand why she was nominated. It's true, Betsy's portrayal of Jason's mother is over the top and it can appear as unintentionally funny during her delivery of some of her lines, but at the same time, I'm not sure if I can imagine the character being played differently at this point. Then we have Crazy Ralph, literally jumping out of a closet, telling the kids to leave, because they're doomed and that Camp Crystal Lake has a death curse. This character, aside from being called "Crazy" Ralph, (in case anyone didn't notice that he was crazy in the first place), is perhaps one of the campiest characters in the slasher subgenre, which earned him an iconic place in the franchise and even a small part in the first sequel."Friday the 13th" offers a nice variety of gory murders, with Tom Savini in charge of the makeup effects, which is an undeniable seal of quality. The legendary "axe in the face" death scene is perhaps one of the most memorable parts of the film for many fans. In this scene, Sean Cunningham and Tom Savini not only offer a morbidly satisfying and shocking on-screen death, we also get a lot of tension and suspense preceding the murder, which creates a feeling of panic and desperation.The final confrontation between Alice, our final girl, and Mrs. Voorhees, Jason's vengeful mother is really extensive for a good cause, as it helps to build a lot of tension that culminates with a gruesome murder. To some extent, when Mrs. Voorhees suddenly appears out of nowhere and begins to tell the story of what happened to that "poor boy", it is easy to assume that she is responsible for the carnage, or at least, that she is involved to a certain degree. Up until this point, we had never seen her before throughout the entire film, so why is she popping out now? There are no other supporting characters left to blame for the murders and Mrs. Voorhees shows up the exact moment when things got really ugly? What could she be doing at Camp Crystal Lake in the middle of the night, other than murdering boys and girls? Of course, our final girl, even though she is not unintelligent, seems to be somewhat oblivious of what is really happening and this is what makes up want to scream "Get out of there!". Mrs. Voorhees is basically explaining the whole story to the audience, but at the same time, she is subtly revealing herself as the killer, before going into a weird trance, in which she starts talking as if she is possessed by Jason, her own son, who drowned at the lake (I always considered this like a switched version of Norman Bates and his mother).As mentioned before, the acting in this final confrontation is not exactly brilliant and the audience ends up getting more than they probably needed to understand the story, since Mrs. Voorhees' monologue basically goes into detail of what happened, just to make sure we get it right (just like when they make sure that we understand that Ralph is a crazy old man, by calling him "Crazy Ralph"). Regardless of the over the top acting and the spoon-feeding to the audience, the confrontation is full of tension, and it is still considered one of the most memorable "killer reveal" moments in the history of horror for a good reason.

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Smoreni Zmaj

In 1981, this film picked up two Razzie nominations, for the Worst Picture and the Worst Supporting Actress. Betsy Palmer deserved her nomination, because her performance was really terrible, but "Friday the 13th" is by no means the worst movie. It's far from a great movie, even within the genre, and the story is pretty lousy, but this film also has its qualities and merits. First I must give it recognition for the main characters behavior. In most horror movies characters pull completely illogical moves, that anyone with any brains would never do, just because it's more convenient for writers to keep the story in the right direction. If they act wisely, they might save themselves, which does not suit the authors of the horror, and I can understand that. But dammit, have a little respect for the intelligence of the audience. There are no such irritably stupid illogicalities here, but Miller and Cunningham still manage to maintain tension and kill everyone. This film, along with the first "Halloween", is considered to be the originator of a slasher horror, but unlike most of its genre, it's not based so much on bloody scenes as on the construction of a stressful and creepy atmosphere, which is greatly contributed by good sound effects. Of the more famous actors there is only Kevin Bacon, but for horror it is a plus, because the unknown faces make the story more convincing. All in all, an average good horror, with a cult status for fans of the genre that marked the 1980s. I totally agree with IMDb rating of6,5/10

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Lars Christoffersen

Having been on a Friday binge lately, the time finally came to re-watch the original for perhaps the first time in a decade. Two things struck me immediately: 1. Kevin Bacon is in the movie and 2. how well it holds up. Granted, it's nearly 40 years old so the acting and effects aren't always the crispest, but overall it holds up very well, even better than some of the later installments. The movie also contains a sentimentality that the later ones do not; before the series turned into the Jason Voorhees hack-fest we all know and love, it was about a mother who loved her little boy so much she went mad. After the finale ending with the protagonist Alice decapitating Ms. Voorhees (praise Tom Savigni), we get Alice floating floating around in a canoe in Crystal Lake, while the sweet end theme by Harry Manfredini plays, until the infamous Jason-bursting-out-of-the-lake shot into Alice waking up in the hospital. We see some nice dialogue in the hospital as Alice and a police officer briefly talk about the events, ending with this: Alice: "The boy, is he dead too?" Police officer: "The boy?" Alice: "The boy, Jason." Police officer: "Jason?" Alice: "The one who attacked me, the one who pulled me underneath the water." Police officer: "Ma'am, we didn't find any boy." Alice: "Then he's still there..." cue a zooming-in shot of Crystal lake into end credits while the melancholic end theme plays again, highlighting the sadness of the little boy who drowned in the lake all those years ago. I got close to shedding a tear here. This piece of dialogue is also a brilliant foreshadowing of what was to come. Overall, a well done tragic slasher which by all means deserves to be viewed as a classic in the horror genre.

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