31 Days of Horror: Friday the 13th (1980)

“You’re doomed! You’re all doomed!”

Filmology Rating: 2.5 out of 4

'Friday the 13th' from 1980 is technically a classic, but strangely so. 

A group of camp counselors are working at Crystal Lake summer camp when they slowly begin getting murdered one-by-one by a mysterious killer. What will they do? Nothing. 
This is one of those types of horror films that became very popular amongst general audiences for some reason. It's very surprising that this film launched one of the most popular slasher franchises ever.

Sean S. Cunningham, the director, has said numerous times that he looked at John Carpenter's 'Halloween', lifted a lot of that film's elements, and just changed the location and killer. 
In casting the film, Cunningham didn't want "great actors", but rather people who acted likeable and worked cheap. It just so happens that Kevin Bacon was cast. Who does nothing in the film. 
Betsy Palmer, who plays Pamela Voorhees, only agreed to do the film because she needed a new car and she thought the film was "a piece of shit." The main issue with this film is that it's essentially the bare minimum you need for a decent horror/slasher. The only aspect that feels original in its own right and still very iconic is the score.

The very famous motif "cha cha cha cha." Which is actually funny because that's not what the score is. It's actually "ki- ki- ma ma." It's a motif used to foreshadow Pamela Voorhees' motivation for killing the camp counselors. Speaking of motifs in a horror film, here's another thing this film ripped off- someone looked at 'JAWS' and how brilliantly John Williams associated the ostanato thumping with the shark and decided to pretty much do the same thing with "ki- ki- ma ma" and Pamela Voorhees. The motif here intending to imply her presence even though we don't see her until the end of the film. We often just see POV shots of her- another thing taken from 'Halloween.'

The other glaring issue with the film is the lack of a protagonist. It may be another "inspiration", but the protagonist is not revealed until the very end of the film- similar to 'Alien'. So for the entire film you simply watch characters you don't care about wander around the woods until there's one left and the film forces you to root for her. The character is so memorable that I cannot remember her name. 
In the middle act, the film falls into a lockstep structure of person being murdered, suspenseful build-up, another murder, and so on. There is no story, just things happening. 

It's a film where you simply watch what's happening on the screen, but you never get invested. Pamela Voorhees doesn't even have motivation for killing the camp counselors until the end of the film in an exposition dump. Past camp counselors mistakenly allowed Jason, Pamela Voorhees son, to drown while they were having sex and not doing their jobs. That's a great motivation for Pamela to begin her killing spree, but you just don't care for the first hour because you don't know her motivation or even who she is. 

It's also unintentionally hilarious near the end when Pamela Voorhees is chasing the final girl- another 'Halloween' "inspiration." It's like watching your mother running around with a kitchen knife. It's just not scary. 

However, for 1980, the film was shot fairly well. Cunningham presents a well-shot film considering the minuscule budget of half a million dollars.

The end of the film is Jason leaping out of the water and grabbing the final girl from the boat she escaped in. It's a very dumb way to end the film and this is after Pamela Voorhees is defeated. Apparently, Tom Savini saw 'Carrie' and suggested it would be a cool idea to end the film similar to how 'Carrie' did. However, the ending of 'Carrie' makes sense in the context of the film. So lifting that element and placing it in 'Friday the 13th' is strange and makes zero sense.

After this film, Jason did become the slasher villain. But this film just highlights Pamela Voorhees as the antagonist. But people like to remember Jason because of the hockey mask. (A mask in a famous slasher movie. Where have we seen that before?)

Though the film has little to offer in terms of story, characters, and fun kills- it's charming as a B-movie and has a wonderful score.  This film birthed an eleven film franchise and somehow became one of the most popular slasher franchises ever- though most people see the sequels as comedies. This is simply a serviceable slasher film.

Rating: Rent It

-Nolan