Friday the 13th (1980)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Sean S. Cunningham

Writer:

Victor Miller (written by)

Release Date:

9 May 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

On Friday The 13th, They Began To Die Horribly, One......By One (UK - Theatrical Tagline)

Plot:

Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to re-open a summer camp that was the site of a child's drowning.

Plot Keywords:

Lake | Summer | Camp Counselor | Murder | Revenge

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Betsy Palmer	...	Mrs. Voorhees
Adrienne King	...	Alice
Jeannine Taylor	...	Marcie
Robbi Morgan	...	Annie
Kevin Bacon	...	Jack
Harry Crosby	...	Bill
Laurie Bartram	...	Brenda
Mark Nelson	...	Ned
Peter Brouwer	...	Steve Christy
Rex Everhart	...	The Truck Driver
Ronn Carroll	...	Sgt. Tierney
Ron Millkie	...	Officer Dorf
Walt Gorney	...	Crazy Ralph
Willie Adams	...	Barry
Debra S. Hayes	...	Claudette

Also Known As:

A Long Night at Camp Blood (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1980) | Finland:K-18 (2002) | Portugal:M/18 | New Zealand:R16 | Hungary:18 | Portugal:M/16 (re-rating) | Australia:MA (Cable TV rating) | France:-12 (DVD rating) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:R | France:-16 | Iceland:(Banned) | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM18 | Mexico:C | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 (DVD rating) | Norway:16 (heavily cut) | Norway:18 | South Korea:15 (DVD uncut version) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (1987) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R (Reg. No. 25901) | West Germany:18 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Singapore:M18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Blairstown, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Georgetown Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Tom Savini was one of the first crew members on board for the film because the producers idolized his special makeup effects in Dawn of the Dead (1978).

Goofs:

Continuity: While Annie is approaching the dog at the gas station, the dog is looking directly at Annie. In the close-up, the dog is looking back behind him as Annie takes off her backpack and starts to talk to the dog.

Quotes:

Alice: [finding a bloody axe in someone's bed; making a screwy face] *What* is going *on*?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Conspiracy Theory (#2.19)" (2005)

A classic, in spite of itself!

I consider Friday THE 13TH a classic, despite everything seemingly going against it. Yes, the original Friday THE 13TH part 1 and part 2 owe a lot to BAY OF BLOOD (or TWITCH OF DEATH NERVE). There's no question about it. The similarities between the two films are obvious. The film is responsible for spawning an endless number of truly awful sequels. The acting is nothing spectacular. The script is barely there. And the film sorta drags a bit in the middle. And the ending of Friday THE 13TH is an indirect rip-off of the ending in CARRIE. But the backwoods atmosphere/mystique behind Friday THE 13TH is totally original and effective (much more than any of the sequels), and the ending of FT13 is, imo, WAY better than the ending of CARRIE. The ending of FT13 makes the movie. The entire FT13 series exists merely on the strength of that ending. It created a myth, in the name of Jason. The story (or script) is wonderfully absurd (when you think about it) which gives the murders an even more psychotic edge to them, and in my mind, are more effective than the ones in BAY OF BLOOD or in any other Friday THE 13TH sequels because of the kooky reasoning behind them. Watching Jason kill his victims in the sequels quickly got boring. And the fact that Tom Savini created the excellent gory FX is a definite plus. The acting is average (some of it even poor) but let's face it, the characters, aside from their individual death scenes, don't have a lot of dramatic things to do, except for Betsy Palmer and Adrienne King, who is good but is not the best "last surviving female" actress ever to appear in a slasher. On the other hand, Betsy Palmer is amazing as Mrs. Voorhees. She's a combination of total sweetness, insanity and camp all rolled into one. Once Betsy appears on screen the film is thrilling and she adds a lot of life (no pun intended) to the whole proceeding, which was lacking from a good part of the film. And let's not forget the good score. Very effective even if it sometimes sounds derivative. And the original poster is great!

The funny thing about Friday THE 13TH is that when I first saw it 20 years ago I thought it was good but not as good as HALLOWEEN. Fast forward 20 years, and today I sorta prefer Friday THE 13TH slightly more than HALLOWEEN now, which has lost a lot of its luster, due mainly to HALLOWEEN's awful sequels and their stupid story-lines. Artistically, HALLOWEEN is still the better film of the two. There's no comparison there. But it has lost its edge, while FT13's trashiness has oddly kept it fresh. While HALLOWEEN has irremediably lost a lot of its mystique with each subsequent sequels, Friday THE 13TH, on the other hand, actually gained more credibility with every release of its seemingly endless number of ultra-stupid sequels. After seeing some of those sequels, the original FT13 looks positively brilliant compared to those horrendous sequels. It's a classic in its own special way.