Fowler's Frights 2015: Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th (1980)
Starring: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Kevin Bacon
Directed by: Sean S. Cunningham


After my Nightmare on Elm Street series review came to an abysmal end, I decided to extend the Fowler's Frights season by including the Friday the 13th series. That's right, 11 days of reviewing the best of Jason Voorhees, concluding with a very special review on Friday the 13th later this month. Now, a film series like this doesn't have a charismatic villain like Freddy Krueger or a self-aware narrative like Scream. This film series is popular garbage. In no way am I saying I despise this series. Far from it. I can appreciate it for what it is, but I have to be in that mindset that what I'm watching is not groundbreaking cinema. It's gore, sex filled, exploitation churned out for the general masses. I'm sure nothing will receive a 5 star rating, and if it gets as low as 0.5 or 1, it'll most likely deserve it. That doesn't mean I can't have fun with it. For the most part, I won't be in pain or traumatized by what I'm watching as I already know what to expect. So let's get started with the film that introduced the horror community to Camp Crystal Lake and Jason Voorhies, Friday the 13th.

When I said we are introduced to Camp Crystal Lake, I mean we are given every excruciating detail on how these victims (I mean characters) are putting the camp together. It isn't really compelling when you're expecting a dude in a hockey mask showing up and hacking everyone to death. We don't need to see them make coffee, kill a snake, or making awfully racist Native American impersonations. The moral of the film series is to not have sex, so when the characters finally start shacking up, you know they're screwed (in more than one way), and that's when the film starts to pick up some steam in the second half.

The visual effects were done by horror legend Tom Savini. These films are notoriously known for having the censors take way too much of the gore out, so it's refreshing to see so many of these effects put to good use and shown in pretty good detail. The fan favorite is the arrow going through Jack's neck. And yes, Jack is played by Kevin Bacon. It's great seeing him in this film to see where he got one of his earliest big breaks in movies. Anyways, on to what everyone wants me to talk about: Jason Voorhies in all his hockey mask wearing, machete wielding splendor.

Small *SPOILER* alert for all 2 of you that don't know the ending to the original movie. Jason is NOT the killer in this film. His mother, played by Betsy Palmer, is. Mrs. Voorhees isn't an awful horror villain. In fact, she gets quite a bit done in the course of this one film. But she's not why we're here to watch these movies. We want to see Jason do all the killings. We want to see the machete and the hockey mask. Instead, we're sitting there waiting during Friday the 13th wondering if he'll grace us with an appearance. That's why I can't say that the casual moviegoer NEEDS to watch this film. They'd probably do much better with most of the sequels since Jason is used in a much larger capacity. Although, stick around for the ending, as viewers get a VERY memorable debut from one of horror's greatest icons.


Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

While the first film in the iconic series, the casual moviegoer may want to skip Friday the 13th. There's hardly any Jason in it and not a lot happens throughout the film that's actually very interesting. If you wanna see how the franchise started, as well as some solid special effects and a young Kevin Bacon, you could go ahead with a rental. Although, most horror fans should definitely think of adding this to their collection on sheer principle for being the first film in a popular series.

Comment below to share your thoughts on the movie or to discuss a topic that I left out of my review

Friday the 13th and movie images are copyrighted by Paramount Pictures