Friday the 13th
| Year: | 1980 |
| Studio: | Paramount |
| Director: | Sean S Cunningham |
| Writer: | Sean S Cunningham |
| Cast: | Kevin Bacon, Betsy Palmer |
Spoiler!
The original and (it must be said) best. By the tenth instalment - and I'm sure there must be more of them by now - the idea had been taken, run with, bludgeoned, rehashed, remade, reimagined, repackaged and regurgitated so many times it's become a parable of our times for a slasher franchise with a comically-overlong run.
But in this instance, the rulebook masquerading as a movie had some substance behind it, if only originality. The teens who get killed as soon as they have sex, get undressed or say 'I'll be right back' aren't just there to add to Jason's double-digit kill figures.
The Friday franchise itself takes strong cues from Halloween , so while the group of horny teens at the lakeside cabin might not have been the freshest premise around at the time, it wasn't the horror film etched-in-stone cliché we know today.
Said kids arrive at Camp Crystal Lake, just reopened years after two camp councillors were brutally murdered. The camp is home to the mother of a murdered son (Jason), and it soon becomes apparent the woman is tortured by the death of her child, having turned psycho and believing he's imploring her to kill from beyond the grave.
Or is it? Everyone knows of the infamous final shot, not many people realise it was makeup effects guru Tom Savini's idea, and fewer still that director Sean S Cunningham liked it as a surprise but never intended Jason to become anything more. The franchise, as we all know, has become a true Prometheus to that desire.
But in this instance, the rulebook masquerading as a movie had some substance behind it, if only originality. The teens who get killed as soon as they have sex, get undressed or say 'I'll be right back' aren't just there to add to Jason's double-digit kill figures.
The Friday franchise itself takes strong cues from Halloween , so while the group of horny teens at the lakeside cabin might not have been the freshest premise around at the time, it wasn't the horror film etched-in-stone cliché we know today.
Said kids arrive at Camp Crystal Lake, just reopened years after two camp councillors were brutally murdered. The camp is home to the mother of a murdered son (Jason), and it soon becomes apparent the woman is tortured by the death of her child, having turned psycho and believing he's imploring her to kill from beyond the grave.
Or is it? Everyone knows of the infamous final shot, not many people realise it was makeup effects guru Tom Savini's idea, and fewer still that director Sean S Cunningham liked it as a surprise but never intended Jason to become anything more. The franchise, as we all know, has become a true Prometheus to that desire.