review

FRIDAY THE 13TH

Nostalgia does strange things to people. It can make garbage seem like greatness, turning terrible New Wave 80s songs into classics on par with Beethoven and many a disposable film seem like a classic. It's also terribly hard to shake. But, as my recent Thundercats marathon has proven, sometimes you have to to take off the rose-colored glasses of youth and see the ugly truth. FRIDAY THE 13TH was a staple of my childhood. I've seen the film more times than I can remember, from late night viewings on television to lazy Saturday afternoons at my brother's house. I was convinced that this was some sort of cinematic masterpiece or, at the very least, one of the best films I would ever see in my life. But as I learned more and more about cinema and saw more and more films, I began to get this sinking feeling that what I've been watching all these years was much less than I originally thought.


Sean Cunningham's Friday the 13th

FRIDAY THE 13TH turned the slasher film into a bonafide capital enterprise. Made on the cheap - around $550,000 - and backed by Paramount, FRIDAY THE 13TH blew away everyone's low expectations and then some. It earned close to six million at the box office in it's opening weekend and kicked open the door for a decade's worth of imitators - not to mention sequels. Some of the films that arrived in FRIDAY THE 13TH's wake are decent, a few are great, but the majority are garbage. I'm not going to shoot the messenger though. I won't blame FRIDAY THE 13TH for every lousy film that came after it. That would be unfair. After all, it supplies more than enough rope to hang itself with during it's running time. No more ammunition is necessary.


Jeannine Taylor in Friday the 13th

FRIDAY THE 13TH operates like a bottom of the barrel giallo film. The mystery element, however, does not exist within the narrative. As no one is aware that there is a killer in their midst, no one has any reason to worry about anything - it isn't until the final act when the characters begin to realize something is wrong. One by one, they go missing until only one is left. The killer then makes their appearance, a chase ensues, bodies are found and the final girl comes out victorious. The only people aware of the killer are in the audience. While this situation could have operated as suspense - wondering "when" these characters will be offed - FRIDAY THE 13TH doesn't want it to.


Betsy Palmer in Friday the 13th

By placing the emphasis on the graphic destruction of the characters instead of their survival, FRIDAY THE 13TH focuses instead on the "how" - each murder is designed as a simple scare, their presentation growing more and more graphic as the film goes along. So the "how" is the only element that matters here, the identity of the killer becomes nothing more than a MacGuffin. And it's a good thing, too, as the final reveal is one of the cheapest tricks you're likely to find in a horror film. Pamela Voorhees is never mentioned during the film, nor is she ever seen. Her character simply arrives, introduces herself, and off we go. That's just lazy screenwriting.


Kevin Bacon in Friday the 13th

The fact that FRIDAY THE 13TH is more closely associated with special effects artist Tom Savini than it is with it's director, Sean Cunningham, speaks volumes about the quality of the film. Cunningham has never professed to being a good director - at least not that I've ever heard or read - and here he exhibits little more than a work-a-day attitude in his approach. Had HALLOWEEN not been released just a few years prior to FRIDAY THE 13TH, Cunningham's work would probably not have such a high standard to live up to. There's nothing inherently wrong with Cunningham's approach to the material - there's only so many ways to film a script like this - it's just that the whole film is so nondescript and lifeless that it barely elicits any excitement. A poor sense of pacing and the occasional gaff - like piling stuff in front of a door that opens outward to keep a killer at bay - do little to help. But none of that matters when the effects arrive. Though terribly dated, Savini's effects work provides FRIDAY THE 13TH a level of realism unique to horror films of the period. Savini's work is the film's saving grace. Without it, FRIDAY THE 13TH would have absolutely no reason to exist.


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