After many years of putting off watching horror movies and having a bad experience with The Exorcist as a child, I’ve finally become akin to all things horror. This past year alone I’ve seen so many horror films but I never really had the opportunity to visit the classics, the films which so many horror films of today take their cues from. Last night I decided to sit down and take a crack at one of the most famous horror films ever made, Friday the 13th.
The story is as follows: On Friday the 13th, a group of camp counselors are helping the owner of Camp Crystal Lake ready the campgrounds for a new season after it had been closed due to a double murder occurring there in 1958, right after a boy named Jason had drowned. As the counselors continue prepping the grounds and having fun with each other, an unknown assailant begins picking them off one by one with the intention of making sure that Camp Crystal Lake never opens again.
I’ve learned to use the word campy to describe certain horror films but it wasn’t until I saw this movie that I understood what that definition truly meant. I now completely understand it and it makes everything so much clearer with respect to the rest of the cookie cutter horrors that exist out there. This is based at a camp, it has your typical bad horror acting, it provides some laughs and also creates a lot of suspense with the promise of some bloody kills. While Friday the 13th isn’t necessarily a masterpiece, it is the ideal campy film and will keep your body tense as soon as you start hearing the famous “ki ki ki, ma ma ma” noise.
Like I said above, the acting isn’t great by any means, as you might be able to tell from the cast of no-names (excluding Kevin Bacon of course). The film stars Adrienne King as Alice, Harry Crosby as Bill, Laurie Bartram as Brenda, Jeannine Taylor as Marcie, Kevin Bacon as Jack, Mark Nelson as Ned, Peter Brouwer as Steve Christie and Robbi Morgan as Annie. The reason the movie ends up being a quality horror flick is because director Sean S. 
Cunningham was able to bring out some real terror from his cast, create a creepy atmosphere in an isolated place, made good use of the first person camera technique and limits the amount of music used throughout the film.
SPOILER While I really enjoyed the overall atmosphere of the film, my favorite part comes at the end. After the big reveal and Alice manages to escape death, we see her sleeping in a canoe safely away from danger only for a decomposed Jason to rise out of the water and pull her down with him. To me, that is a clear sign that this is where Jason the killer is born and why I now must watch Part 2 so that I can finally see him in old school slasher form, none of that Jason X bullshit. END SPOILER
While Friday the 13th wasn’t everything I’d hoped it would be, it did provide a few good scares, some classic looking kills (like the final machete kill near the end), and made it clear to me why teens of the 80s will always be fearful of the trademark “ki ki ki, ma ma ma” noise that lets you know a killer is close. Without a doubt it is required viewing for horror fans but I would even suggest it to those that aren’t, it’s an easy way to test out the waters of the genre and prepare you for some of the scarier films out there. If I liked it, I think most of you will as well.
Rating: A must-see for any horror enthusiast or for those that want a good Halloween scare (6/10)
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