'Friday the 13th' (1980) - Movie Review

Sean S. Cunningham directs this legendary Friday 13, the first of an endless saga of terror films that gave rise to one of the bloodiests baddies in the history of movies: Jason Voorhees

Friday 13 was the second slasher in the history of movies which for many might not seem to be much, but for fans of horror films, this was a revelation and for producers a product with great rentability.

Premise

In the Crystal Lake camp two kids have died recently, and now the camp attempts to open its gates again with new monitors who arrive at the camp to prepare everything. However, someone does not seem to agree with this and starts methodically killing off the campers.

The Movie

They say good movies don´t age, well, Friday 13 has aged and a lot. I watched it the other day and it seemed like a very old film, with dialogues that seemed to be out of “I Love Lucy” and with rather trite formulas. Well, yes, rather trite because it was this movie and only this one that created a style in using the subjective shot and set the bases for the modern “slasher” (which is a good genre when someone that is not too friendly decides to grab an ax and start killing the screaming lead stars who are normally very young).

And, you need to know that there is a remake if you weren´t satisfied with the twenty films already done about this subject: Friday 13.

When watching the film today, it seems a little ridiculous with the “couple who kiss, sure death”, but I insist, this movie invented that (I am not an expert on the subject, but I think there are better places in which to carry out love-making than in the middle of a forest).

It makes you shrivel watching it nowadays, but at least I loved it when I was a kid, and it was a great event when it was screened on tv the first time. I remember having wanted to watch it, because this first film was not available in the local Blockbuster store.

Our Opinion

Today, almmost like going to a museum and see the first perforated card computers, which obviously are no longer used for anything. However, it was the precedent of many processes which today seem so trite, but made many produccers millionaires and caused more than one embrace from a scared girl (faking it).

Be benevolent. We give it three stars because in its day, it was very original.

Image Gallery

Director

Sean Sexton Cunningham (born December 31, 1941, in New York City) is an American film director, producer, and writer. He is best known for creating the Friday the 13th series of horror films, which introduced the fictional killer Jason Voorhees. He also produced many horror films, such as Wes Craven’s debut feature and House film series.