Friday the 13th (1980)

While these movies might not be considered critical darlings, there’s no denying the legacy of horror that the iconic Jason Voorhees has left in his wake. Like most popular icons, there have been films, television shows, video games, toys, props, comics, and crossovers done with the legend. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 41 years, you’d know that the franchise didn’t really begin with him and Producer/Director Sean S. Cunningham didn’t intend for this franchise to be as popular as it was or go in the direction that it did.

I’ve been a fan of this particular boogeyman since I was 13 years old, and it’s been a huge influence on me and where I want to take my career. So, this past Friday the 13th, I wanted to take a look at the original entry in the series and see how it holds up, if it does at all.

The film starts out in 1958 and shows the murder of two camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake. Over the next twenty years, the camp is beset by tragedy over and over again (poisoned water and a series of fires), preventing it’s reopening and earning a local nickname: Camp Blood. In 1979, a young cook is set to go to the camp, undeterred by the local’s warnings (particularly those of local kook, Crazy Ralph), but unfortunately hitches a ride with the killer and is murdered.

Meanwhile, the rest of the new counselors are tasked by Steve Christy (a son of the original Camp owners, dubbed “The Christies”) with getting the camp set up while he goes into town. Despite warnings from a police officer and Crazy Ralph, the counselors remain at the camp.

Once the sun has set a storm starts rolling in and the counselors are picked off, one by one. Eventually, Steve returns and is slain as well. The lone survivor, Alice (played by Adrienne King) finds the bodies of her friends and starts freaking out, running into the arms of Pamela Voorhees (played by Betsy Palmer), an alleged old friend of “The Christies.”

She reveals to Alice that a young boy named Jason drowned in the lake the year prior to the first murder and that she was his mother. It’s revealed that she became the killer, to avenge her son and because of a severe psychotic break. The two women fight all over the camp, trading blows back and forth until Alice decapitates Mrs. Voorhees with a machete and flees in a canoe onto the lake.

She dreams (or does she?) that Jason grabs her on the lake and drags her under. She awakens in the hospital and the cop informs her that everyone is dead, but Jason was no recovered. The film closes with uplifting fantasy music on the lake, hinting that the horror is not over.

As is the case with most slasher films, there is a severe lack of plot and theme in this movie. The actions that the characters take don’t have any real emotional resonance because we know that they’re there just to die. There’s no great “Hitchcock-ian” mystery or set up to this film. As such, these are not the most fleshed out characters in movie history. With that said, there is more going on from a writing standpoint than I think this movie gets credit for.

For starters, though I do think that there is very little to build up the twist of Mrs. Voorhees reveal (and even if you didn’t know the twist, she goes from sweet and kind to psychotically detached in a minute of screen time), there are a few subtleties that point to the direction of her identity and backstory. Early on, we witness the murder of Barry and Claudette, with the former clearly recognizing her and trying to plead innocence in a playful manner. Neither of them feels threatened, just intimidated, meaning that the killer is someone they know. When Enos is giving Annie a ride, he mentions a boy drowning the year prior to their murder. Though we discover why later, this is a key piece of information towards the killer’s identity, which is set up ten minutes into the film. When Pamela is spying on them by the lake, you can see her ring. You can barely see her when Ned spots her before going into the cabin to his death. Later, when Steve is murdered, he recognizes the killer and tries to play nice. I also find it very interesting that the first kill we see in the present is Annie, who is set up as the cook, and Pamela tells us that she was the cook at the camp years prior.

Annie does more than foreshadow the twist, though: her death sets the stage for the rest of the film. Despite being the sole survivor, Alice doesn’t get a ton of screentime over her cast mates until they’re all dead. Except for an introductory scene where she discusses with Steve the possibility of her moving back to California, we’re not really given any indication that SHE’S the protagonist. I think Annie is set up to be, being alone at the start, which is usually how the lead is introduced in horror films, so her death signifies to the audience the tagline: “no one is safe.”

That is a strength to having your horror cast be an ensemble piece, rather than forgoing 90 percent of them for a single protagonist. Besides Ned, these characters barely, if at all, settle into the typical horror teen archetypes. There’s no “Queen B;” there’s no “Jerky Jock;” Alice isn’t even a “Quiet Nerd,” she’s friendly and part of the group. These kids are normal and they’re all friendly with each other. Since it feels like any one of them could be the protagonist, it heightens the chances that any one of them could die, thereby further leading to the (aforementioned) tagline.

Now, as for their acting… yeah, it can be hokey in a lot of parts. I’m not saying that there isn’t talent here, and they’re more watchable that the cast of the remake, but there is an inherent late 70s low-budget cheese to their performances. There is an odd sincerity in this, though, again adding to the underlying tension of the film. None of them act like they’re in a horror film, which is oddly refreshing, given today’s horror movies. My favourite modern horrors are Sinister and Oculus, but the entirety of those films is focused on characters dealing with the horror. There’s an innocence to these characters, which makes their naivete believable. So, oddly enough, writing and acting as normal people, instead of adhering to archetypes makes this film seems more genuine and therefore adds to the hurt when you see the grisly fate before them. There’s also an additional tragedy behind it when you realize that most of the characters are supposed to be 19 or so, meaning that they weren’t even alive when Jason drowned. As such, Mrs. Voorhees is blaming a tragedy on people who were literally not ALIVE to cause said tragedy.

Betsy Palmer is the only cast member who truly goes over the top in this film, but I’m given to understand that she was a more respectable actress prior to then. Having said that, I don’t think I’ll ever look for other films or shows she’s been in simply because I won’t be able to stop myself from making a “Friday” related joke. Even if you didn’t know the twist of the film, this woman does not radiate warm and cuddly in this role, despite what she’s introduced as. It’s very much like Johnny Depp in the last act of Secret Window; the rest of the performances are okay, but when all is revealed, suddenly everyone acts cookoo. And it always bothered me that Pamela tells Alice everything and then suddenly takes a dive in her ability to kill once right after. There are huge hints during the climax that indicate Pamela has schizophrenia, which might explain for this small deception, and the other kills were surprise attacks, so they were easier to achieve.

The score acts as its own character, usually only appearing when Pamela is around and increases in intensity when a kill occurs, emulating Jaws. The only exception is during the denouement when Alice is on the canoe and it’s calming music that reminds me of Willow or Labyrinth. This, however, is to lull you into a fall sense of security, which allows the Jason jump scare to be more effective.

Because of the score’s absence, the sounds are much more prominent. Everything from a twig snapping to the thunderous rainfall is magnified. Sound in horror films is so important as they can help suck you into the world by making it seem realistic or enhance your fear (especially in the dark) because every sound might be something lurking to get you.

The camera work in this film is… decent. Cunningham admitted that he was coasting off Halloween’s success, and the way that the killer is shot emulates the opening scene of that film: the killer’s POV. Since this film (as well as Part 2 and Part 3) use this style for the majority of the screentime, it helps keep the killer in the shadows, allowing you to envision who it is until the reveal. And human minds are great at filling in the blanks and letting our minds wander. With that said, the rest of the camera work does tend to rely on long takes done in wide shots. This works to help isolate the victim, showing them in the darkness, but can feel like it drags the film out. Of course, you could argue that this strengthens the film by adding a sense of “something COULD happen here” in these sequences. The major problem is that the film is extremely dark for the majority of it, which makes sense since it’s in the forest at night. This can make seeing the tension and terror difficult.

The special effects in the film are great, for the time period. The major strength of this film is that the gruesome side of it is in the shadows until the end, save for a few scenes here and there. The opening shows Barry’s bloody stomach but freezes on Claudette’s face. The three best kills in the film are Jack (played by a young Kevin Bacon, just FYI), Marcie, and Pamela. Jack gets an arrow through the throat and you can’t even see the seams where the prosthetics are. Marcie’s death is an axe to the face, which is told in five cuts: axe rises, Marcie screams, axe comes down, hits the light, Marcie with an axe in the face. And that axe looks like it’s in her face. And then there’s Mrs. Voorhees, who’s decapitation is given only a few frames to absorb, but that neck makeup looks so cool, even if there’s no blood, and her hands reach up and curse Alice. When the corpses are found, I feel like it could’ve benefited from dressing up a dummy because you can totally see Brenda move after crashing through the window. The set is also realistic because they filmed at an actual summer camp (No-Be-Bo-Sco).

So, to say this movie is flawed would be a true statement… from a certain point of view. I can see why a lot of film critics (particularly Roger Ebert) would’ve despised this film. It’s nothing great, or even good, on a narrative or thematic level. There is a TON of world building though that makes this world seem realistic. The locals have a lore surrounding the camp and the villain does have a solid motivation and reason behind her actions (not condoning, just understanding). The characters seem flat and uninteresting, but that adds to the idea that any one of them could die. The actors aren’t doing memorable jobs, but they suffice for the film’s purpose. The outdoor shots during the night are so dark that the movie is mostly imperceptible, but the set design and special effects makeup add to the tone of the film.

This is unequivocally my favourite horror film franchise, and this is probably my favourite horror film, full stop. There’s likely a decent chance that I’m reading into elements of the story that aren’t really there or were never intended to be. But since the series became such an iconic presence on the horror and cinematic scene, it feels like besmirching Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. I can’t act like it’s a particularly good movie, but it does its job right in creating innocent characters that die by the hands of a murderous psychopath. There are certainly moments that don’t hold up to scrutiny and moments that have not aged well, but I’m not exactly looking for Citizen Kane here. I’m looking for a classic horror movie, and I don’t have to look further than this film.