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| The mysterious, knife-carrying killer's contour frames a drawing of the doomed youths in this very neat poster for Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th |
Camp Crystal Lake is an idyllic nature hideout that a group of young counselors intend to reopen 20 years after a fatal drowning took place there. But as it turns out, the camp isn't ready for a reopening.
- The youths at Crystal Lake get it with the knife, the ax, the arrow and what have you, one by one, in this classic and effective teen slasher. Friday the 13th showcases the slasher concept that worked 20 years before it was made as well as 20 years later, and which this film was instrumental in streamlining for scores of more or less inventive reproductions in the following decade. At its best here, it is an entertaining mix of suspense, shocks and spectacular deaths.
SPOILER The ending of Friday the 13th, in which Jason's mother Pamela Vorheers fights the girl Alice and is finally beheaded, is cool, and the same goes for the very last surprise scene (invented by special effects wizard Tom Savini, inspired by the ending of Carrie (1976)) that features Jason in the lake.
Friday the 13th is written by Victor Miller (The Black Pearl (1977)) and Ron Kurz (King Frat (1979)), with co-writer-producer-director Sean S. Cunningham (Together (1971)) contributing story elements. SPOILER Later star Kevin Bacon (Saving Angelo (2007, short)) has a small role in the film that entails a sex scene and an arrow through his throat.
Listen to the film's main theme here
Cost: 0.55 mil. $
Box office: 59.8 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[Friday the 13th was released 9 May (USA) and runs 95 minutes. Cunningham had worked with Wes Craven on his The Last House on the Left (1972) and was also inspired by the success of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) to make a "rollercoaster ride" horror. Shooting took place in New Jersey, including in a reportedly still operating Boy Scout camp, from September - October 1979. Betsy Palmer took the role as Mrs. Vorheers to pay for a car and thought the film was "a piece of shit." Composer Harry Manfredini was inspired by John Williams' score for Jaws (1975) in coming up with the film's iconic ki ki ki, ma ma ma sound before the killer's strikes. Paramount bought the distribution rights for 1.5 mil. $ and spent another million to advertise it, (half a million before its release and another half during its run, which peaked domestically in 1,100 theaters.) The film opened #1 to a 5.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it triumphed its way to a sensational 39.7 mil. $ (66.4 % of the total gross), despite bad reviews. The studio's international release of an independent feature without major stars was unusual at the time but paid off, as international audiences were also sizable. The film became the 18th highest-grossing film of the year and its domestic gross wasn't beaten by the first 9 of the following 11 sequels. They are: Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), Friday the 13th Part III (1982), Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985), Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988), Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989), Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993), Jason X (2001), Freddy vs. Jason (2003) and Friday the 13th (2009). Cunningham returned with A Stranger Is Watching (1982). Friday the 13th is rotten at 59% with a 5.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Friday the 13th?
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