Friday The 13th (1980)

Starring - Betsy Palmer; Adrienne King; Jeannine Taylor; Robbi Morgan & Kevin Bacon Director - Sean S. Cunningham MPAA - R This is the first film in what would become the most successful series of horror films of all time. Right up front, here's a fair warning to those of you who might be inclined to watch this movie for the first appearance of everyone's favorite goalie-mask-wearing homicidal maniac. Jason, the guy who single handedly controlled the overpopulation problem around the Crystal Lake area, doesn't start his quest to find the most interesting household item with which to kill someone until the first sequel. While he does have a small role in this film, we the audience have to depend on another blood thirsty maniac to rack up the body count. The plot, like every other Friday The 13th movie goes something like this -- crazed killer murders as many unsuspecting teenagers as he/she/it possibly can in the space of a 90 minute movie. The reasons that the aforementioned unsuspecting teenagers come into contact with the bloodthirsty killer are usually of little importance to the story. But for those of you out there that might actually care about such trivial matters in a movie such as a plot, here are the basics. A bunch of unsuspecting teens get a summer job at a long closed summer camp. They are days away from the arrival of the kids and they are spending their time fixing the place up and making sure it is ready for the kids. Sadly, they start being butchered one by one by the bloodthirsty killer. At this point I would usually say something about the quality of acting, directing or maybe something about the high quality of the production. Since I'm not going to do that, feel free to assume that if I did, it wouldn't be positive. I will say that this movie looks as if it was made for about a hundred bucks, and that includes the actors' salaries. If you are used to recent horror films like Scream, you are in for a bit of a surprise. The only saving grace for Friday The 13th is that it was really the first of its kind, with the killer taking real pride in his work; and using as many methods of murder as they could. None of this single murder weapon stuff like that unimaginative Leatherface in Chainsaw Massacre, or the creatively stifled imagination of Halloween's Michael Myers who just used brute force or a really big kitchen knife. Nope, in the Friday The 13th movies, you can always count on the killer taking great pride in his work. One fun fact about this movie is that the cast includes a very young Kevin Bacon, although after this movie it is a wonder he ever worked again. The main reason to see Friday The 13th is if you want to watch all of the series from the beginning. If not, stick with the later films with Jason, everyone's favorite hockey fan. Friday The 13th is the sort of movie that is fun to sit down and get a couple of scares from. Just don't sit down expecting a whole lot. 4/10 Reviewed January 01, 1999 by Joe Chamberlain