# 563 - FRIDAY THE 13TH

FRIDAY THE 13TH  (1980 - HORROR / SLASHER FLICK) ***1/2 out of *****  OR  7 out of 10

(Next time, camp out at the city park instead...)

 

CAST:  Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Betsy Palmer, Jeannine Taylor, Kevin Bacon, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson, Peter Brouwer, Robbi Morgan, Rex Everhart, Ronn Carroll, Walt Gorney. 

DIRECTOR:  Sean Cunningham

 

IT'S LIKE THIS:  In our last "31 Days of Halloween" review we saw what happened when three college students with the collective IQ of about, oh, thirty-six or so found themselves terrorized by a "supernatural" force in the middle of the backwoods.  Of course, it could have just as likely been some redneck, in-bred, moonshine runners who weren't happy about the trio of camera-toting choads getting too close to their secret distillery.  Frankly that's a far more horrifying possibility than just some boring ol' flesh-eating, blood-thirsty, eyeball-gouging witch.  I'm just saying. 

Anyhow, in our next review, we find ourselves with a somewhat similar set-up: young folk deep in the woods, terrorized by "something."  Except in this film, there are about, oh, eight young folk and instead of the boonies of Maryland, they are smack dab in the sticks of rural New Jersey - at a place called Camp Crystal Lake.  Before you start saying to yourself "oh, that sounds like a lovely place!" let me drop a Reality Check Bomb on your silly ass.  The summer camp known as Camp Crystal Lake may look and sound lovely, but it is basically the woodland equivalent of Hell On Earth. 

You see, in the 1950s, some bald kid named Jason drowned while the camp counselors were off playing "Pin the dick on the tramp's ass" somewhere.  That's when the camp first shut down.  Then years after that, when the owners tried to re-open the place, someone poisoned the water in the lake.  Then years and years and years later, Camp Crystal Lake re-opened again.  Unfortunately, so did whatever curse is haunting the place.  One summer night, after spending most of the evening singing crappy campfire songs with the campers and other counselors, two camp counselors left for a little "sumthin-sumthin" in their cabin - only to be butchered by a mysterious "someone-someone" with a sharp object.  Probably just to put them out of their misery for having had to endure such godawful campfire songs.  Long story short, the killer was never caught and, due to all the ensuing bad publicity, Camp Crystal Lake had to shut down from all these unfortunate incidents. 

Now, if this was happening in the real world, we'd have nothing to worry about, because Camp Crystal Lake would stay closed - and no one would touch it with a ten-foot pole tied to another ten-foot pole attached to several other ten-foot poles.  If this was the real world, people would know better than to mess with whatever heinous shite is plaguing the place.  If this was the real world, they'd raze the whole damn camp over and turn it into a parking garage or a Denny's - just to prevent some fucking choad from getting it into his noggin' that he should re-open the place yet one more time - and risk more mayhem. 

Sadly, the Horror Genre exists in a weird-ass plane of reality far removed from ours, where fucking choads like I described above walk around in great numbers.  One of them is Steve Christie (Peter Brouwer), who inherited Camp Crystal Lake in, I guess, 1980 and is determined (good lord) to make a success of it.  Steve is your basic Alpha-Male: tall, hot, hairy-chested, takes-no-prisoners, and thinks he can do everything himself.  Hell, I'd fuck him if only he weren't destined to get his ass chopped up very soon.  I don't really want to get close to someone who's going to be part of a bloody body count before I can even get to second base with him.  My time is valuable, folks... 

Anyhow, as you would know it, Steve re-opens Camp Crystal Lake despite the protestations of the local community.  He hires a crew of young, fresh-faced twentysomethings who will fix up the run-down camp and prep it for its grand re-opening. 

They are:  (1) Alice (Adrienne King), sweet-faced blonde who is also playing "pin the dick on the tramp's ass" with Steve; (2) Bill (Harry Crosby), sweet-faced lanky guy who really should be the one playing "pin the dick on the tramp's ass" with Alice; (3) Brenda (Laurie Bartram), take-charge Type-A chick who is also a vegetarian and may or may not have the hots for Alice; (4) Marcie (Jeannine Taylor), flirty chick who does a mean random "Katharine Hepburn" impersonation; (5) Jack (Kevin Bacon), cocky and smug boyfriend of Marcie's who obviously knows that in four years' time he will star in a movie called FOOTLOOSE and turn into Cock Of The Block; (6) Ned (Mark Nelson), goofball best pal of Jack and Marcie's who likes to run around in an Indian headress and his tighty-whiteys, which suggests he hasn't been laid in years; and last but certainly the most clueless: (7) Annie (Robbie Morgan), perky and chatty chick with an unfortunate inability to discern when the person she is babbling mindlessly to is actually a knife-wielding killer. 

Steve plus the above-mentioned seven go about trying to re-open and renovate the camp in time for Grand Opening Day.  Unfortunately, they are supremely unaware that a certain "someone-someone" is watching them from the woods, breathing heavily and making creepy "ch, ch, ch, ch, ha, ha, ha, ha" sounds.  Oh, wait... that was just the soundtrack?  My bad.  At any rate, they are clearly not alone in Camp Crystal Lake, and as day turns into night, they start to disappear one by one.  And I don't mean willingly.  More like with the help of a variety of strongly-suggestive instruments, like a knife, an arrow, an axe, and so on and so forth. 

So... who is the mysterious killer of Camp Crystal Lake?  Who is behind all the terrible incidents that have befallen the place?  Does it have something to do with the drowning of that kid Jason from the 1950s?  Or is it something else?  Who will survive long enough to find out?  Annie?  Alice?  Steve?  Ned?  Marcie?  Jack?  Brenda? Bill?  Or are they all goners? 

Whatever.  All I know is that creepy weirdo Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney) was right when he tried to warn them:  "You're doomed!  You're ALL DOOMED!!"

And, yes, Steve Christie is a fucking idiot. 

 

BUT SERIOUSLY:  Although HALLOWEEN kicked off the rise of the American Slasher Sub-Genre with its phenomenal success in 1978 (roughly commensurate with SCREAM's success in 1996, adjusted for inflation), the sub-genre didn't actually explode until the release of FRIDAY THE 13th in 1980.  Like HALLOWEEN before it (and SCREAM much later on), this movie was an unexpectedly massive hit.  In the wake of HALLOWEEN's acclaim, several slashers had come out an done reasonably well like TERROR TRAIN and PROM NIGHT (both, incidentally, starring HALLOWEEN's star, Jamie Lee Curtis).  But FRIDAY THE 13TH's box-office bonanza was almost as much as HALLOWEEN's.

Quality-wise, FRIDAY THE 13TH is notch or two below HALLOWEEN.  It lacks John Carpenter's graceful mastery of the camera and his ability to compose shots that create suspense and foreboding.  Also, HALLOWEEN is almost blood and gore-free; Carpenter only tricks you into thinking you've seen more of the red stuff than you actually do, by using suggestive techniques and movements.  FRIDAY THE 13TH, on the other hand, is quite explicit and had to be trimmed to avoid an X rating.  It also caused a lot of controversy among major film critics who decried its graphic murders.  A couple of prominent ones (who shall go unnamed) reportedly even urged audiences to boycott the movie by not going to see it. 

Indeed, a large part of FRIDAY THE 13TH's success is likely due to its vivid depiction of its character's deaths - which was relatively novel for the time.  Now, FRIDAY THE 13TH's gore (even the Uncut version) seems relatively tame compared to what you see in films like HOSTEL, SAW, and their sequels.  I can't even imagine how the same critics from 1980 would react to some of the savage films that are released in theaters and on video these days.  Personally, I don't care for gore and think the less there is in a film, the better.  The reason I dislike the HOSTEL and SAW films so much is that they are simply about trying to find the sickest way to kill someone - and I refused to watch anymore of them after the first entries. 

Despite the gore in it, though, FRIDAY THE 13TH is a cut or two above those films because it actually works in elements of a "whodunit" mystery while also creating a creepy, ominous atmosphere that underscores the characters' isolation.  For movies like the SAWs and HOSTELs, the whole payoff is the gory death scenes.  Whereas in HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13TH (at least the first one), the suspenseful, drawn-out build-up to the kills is the emphasis.  While it may not be as technically-accomplished as HALLOWEEN, FRIDAY THE 13TH still manages to create some effectively eerie setpieces: (1) Annie's unexpected chase scene early on in the film, which has the feel of the elaborate cat-and-mouse chases in Italian Gialli; (2) Marcie's kill in the latrine, which director Sean Cunningham teases out masterfully; (3) Brenda being awakened and lured out into the rainy night by the sound of a crying child (another nod to Italian Gialli); (4) the revelation of the killer's identity and (5) Alice's ensuing extended confrontation with him (her?); (5) and last but certainly the most memorable: (6) the final jump scare involving Alice floating in a canoe on the lake. 

FRIDAY THE 13TH even manages to subvert a few horror movie conventions, echoing some classic tropes from PSYCHO (1960) and foreshadowing one of SCREAM's much later in 1996:  Annie is the first main character to be introduced, and seems to be positioned as the heroine - only to have her actually be the first to run into the killer.  Sure enough, after Annie's sudden, bloody exit from the narrative, the tension ups considerably because it becomes clear that no one is safe. 

Indeed, out of all the FRIDAY THE 13TH films, this first one is also the most atmospheric and brooding, with a lot of darkness and shadow significantly enhancing its "whodunit" vibe.  Like the Gialli (Italian thrillers) that influenced it, the movie benefits from keeping the killer constantly in the shadows and out of sight - only making a full reveal at the end.  Unlike later films in the series which paraded its villain (Jason) in all his rampaging glory, this first entry has a more sinister killer because he (she?) remains unseen until the climax. 

The cast of young performers are all likable and competent.  It's interesting to note that the Slasher Movie character cliches hadn't really fully taken hold at this point (they certainly would just a year later in 1981), and the players are not so easy to pigeonhole.  As we mentioned before, Annie is initially pegged to be the "Final Girl."  But then Marcie, Brenda, and Alice are also given their spotlight and relatively fair treatment from the script - giving us the feel that any of them could be the star of the movie.  There is no clear-cut Slut, Bitch, Goodie-Goodie, or Virgin.  Same with the guys, who are also vivid and not easily categorized - and include future star Kevin Bacon in an early role.  Bottom line: FRIDAY THE 13TH's young cast feels like a true ensemble and less cookie-cutter than future entries, both in the series and the sub-genre as a whole. 

Ultimately, FRIDAY THE 13TH is a solid horror flick that often gets underrated because of it's "gory" reputation.  While it may not have the narrative and visual finesse of HALLOWEEN, it brings its own sinister atmosphere and creepy vibe that often gets overlooked because of the violent murders that were central to its marketing in 1980.  Take away the gore, though, and you still have an effective horror film that manages to throw some real suspense and chills in between the splashings of red stuff.  You definitely cannot say the same for crap like the HOSTEL and SAW movies. 

And watch out for that ending...