On F List of Movie Reviews
(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)
Friday the 13th (1980)
Rate:
6
Viewed:
9/03, 8/04, 6/06, 11/14
6/06:
Showing off one of the coolest opening sequences ever in a horror film when the blocked title smashes through a pane of
glass, Friday the 13th is the original slasher picture...er, sort of.
A common misconception by the public is Jason appears in this, but the fact is that he doesn't until the second part
and won't don the famous hockey mask until the third.
Kevin Bacon makes his motion picture debut, and his character has the best death scene of the franchise. Hence, the display of
gory special effects by Tom Savani scores points. What I like the best is the setup of the ambience to make it a scary film.
However, thanks to the slow pace, I keep falling asleep and can't stay awake in one sitting.
All in all, Friday the 13th is the beginning of the next ten unforgettable but mostly forgettable sequels that range
from decent to piss-poor to total dreck.
11/14:
I must have seen Friday the 13th five or six times in my life, and every time I do, I always fall asleep about one hour
into it.
The film moves slow...so slow that I'm constantly thinking of what I need to do around the house. Nothing interesting
happens; it's just a lot of random killing around Camp Blood. As annoying as Ned is, I'm surprised that he was never killed
because I thought he would get the worst of it. Did Mark Nelson have a stipulation in his contract forbidding the death of
his character or what?
Remember how Kevin Bacon (who, by the way, is the biggest star to appear for the franchise) was killed with an arrow
through his throat? Let's go back several steps and examine the lead-up to it. Marcie and he enter the cabin and walk to
the bed for a breathtaking night of fornication. From the angle of their viewpoint, they should be able to see anyone
under the bed. What's humorous about the entire time they're having sex is Jason's mother being underneath the
bed and listening to them pleasuring each other.
Alice, the final surviving virgin scream queen, runs inside the cabin, secures the doors and the windows, and waits for
something to happen. Really, the smartest thing for her to do is grab ahold of a baseball bat, check the pantry closet to see
if anyone is in there, and extinguish the light before hiding herself. Whoever comes inside, she should be ready to whack
the intruder and beat him silly to death. But no...I have to endure another thirty minutes of a dragged-out ending.
As odd as it seems, I camped for many summers at locations around New Jersey just exactly like Camp Crystal Lake, but
I never once made an association between my time there and Friday the 13th.
All in all, the slow pace is what killed Friday the 13th.