Heading back into UK cinemas this spooky season is classic ‘80s slasher movie, Friday the 13th. The film – directed by Sean S. Cunningham – stars Adrienne King, Kevin Bacon, and Betsy Palmer, and follows the story of a group of camp counsellors who become the target of a mysterious killer while staying at a summer camp.
In the film, it’s Friday 13th June and a collection of young counsellors are heading to Camp Crystal Lake to get the place back into shape ahead of its grand re-opening. The camp has been closed for some time, largely due to a series of unexplained deaths, which in turn has lead to many of the locals dubbing it ‘Camp Blood’.
But undeterred by urban legends and town gossip, the youngsters get to work on refurbishing the facilities, fixing things up and giving everything a much-needed lick of paint. However, while they are hard at work on the repairs, they are being watched from the shadows.
But it’s not long before this mystery voyeur shows their true intentions and starts bumping the counsellors off one by one in brutal fashion. This unidentified killer has a hidden agenda, and won’t stop the blood bath until everyone is dead.
Now, those who are familiar with the Friday the 13th film franchise will know there are good entries in the series, and there are some not-so good entries in the series. For every Jason Lives there’s a Jason Takes Manhattan, and traversing your way through the series can be a bumpy ride.
But thankfully, the original Friday the 13th is not such a chore and it is easily one of the best entries in the series. Sure, it has some rough edges and is a bit scrappy in places, but it is an effective slasher with much to like.
Sean S. Cunningham’s direction is fairly solid, and evokes a creepy atmosphere; the practical effects by Tom Savini are both imaginative and innovative for the time period; and the musical score by Harry Manfredini brings a great deal of weight to the picture. Borrowing ideas and elements from Bernard Herrmann’s score for Psycho (1960), as well as John Williams’ theme from Jaws (1975), Manfredini is able to keep the audience interested in the killer through the use of his musical arrangements, even though the killer is barely ever seen on screen.
It’s elements like this, along with some well placed death scenes and a good setting, which help Friday the 13th to stand out. OK, so it is derivative in places, and it has been endlessly repeated and rehashed over the years, but there’s something special about the film.
Produced on a meagre budget and released in 1980, just two years after the huge success of John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th is a straightforward horror which takes a simple premise and runs with it. The film is essentially 90-minutes of teens being killed off by an unidentified nutcase, and it utilises this concept very well.
Unlike the aforementioned Halloween, which places its killer, Michael Myers, front-and-centre of the story, Friday the 13th keeps the identity of its chief antagonist under wraps. This allows the film to conjure up an air of mystery while all the murders take place, and helps to inject some suspense into proceedings.
Of course, I won’t mention who the killer is in Friday the 13th (no spoilers here), but it’s not the hockey mask-wearing whacko who has become the poster boy for the series. The infamous Jason, who is synonymous with the franchise, doesn’t take the lead until Friday the 13th Part 2, leaving the original film as one of the rare entries in the series not to have the same killer.
If you don’t know who the killer is, then Friday the 13th offers up a nice surprise. The big reveal happens during the last 25 minutes of the movie and it is handled rather well.
As for those who do know the identity of the mystery murderer, and who have seen the film countless times before, Friday the 13th still works perfectly. The set-up is strong, the kills have stood the test of time, and the finale is entertaining and satisfying.
Friday the 13th is over 40 years old (43 to be exact) and while it might have been overshadowed by some of its sequels, as well as other slasher movies such as Scream, it remains one of the icons of the genre. The film took inspiration from what came before it, added its own flavour, and set out to deliver as much entertainment as it could achieve with little money.
All these years on, Friday the 13th still has a legion of fans, as well as an enduring legacy of sequels and imitators, and even has little ol’ me waxing lyrical about it. Oh, and of course, it has the power to return to cinemas too.
Should you wish to catch Friday the 13th back on the big screen, the movie will be playing in select UK cinemas for a limited time from Friday 13th October. Although the screenings are few and far between, the film will be popping up sporadically from the 13th until Halloween giving you a fair few chances to take a look.
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