Friday the 13th (7/10 machete)

Below is a movie review of Friday the 13th (the first one) from a friend of mine James the Worthy Critic (aka John Stamos).

What can possibly be written about a movie that is 28 years old and helped to spawn an entire genre? It was 1980's film "Friday the 13th" that ushered in a new age of horror. Slasher films were nothing new, with John Carpenter's Halloween being released two years earlier, but Friday the 13th set the tone for violence and opened the door for several copycat films.

The film begins in 1958 where two Crystal Lake camp counselors were ruthlessly slaughtered while making love inside a barn. These grizzly murders led to the camp being closed down for over twenty years and caused the community to assign the moniker of "Camp Blood" to the area. Now, someone has decided to re-open the campground and soon the memories twenty years removed become a harsh reality for the new camp counselors. One by one, these youngsters get murdered in extremely graphic fashion and it's up to the sole survivor to fend for herself when the killer is finally revealed. SFX master Tom Savini provided the gore effects and Sean Cunningham did a good job directing the film. In my opinion, the gritty look of the film made it look almost documentary style and it really added a lot to the movie. Another thing that makes this movie so good is the pacing. Unlike most of the sequels, the killer in this film stalks the victims and watches them long before disposing of them. Let's not forget the music and the "ki-ki-ki-ki-ma-ma-ma-ma".

The only negative I can draw from this movie is the acting. Of course, with the small budget it had they couldn't exactly hire the upper echelon of Hollywood talent. Then again, none of them would have liked the script. Also, there was not a lot of character development. In a movie like this, people just go to see kids being murdered with any kind of garden tool/weapon available. I always wanted to see Jason kill somebody with a squeegee (Heck, he used a party favor in Part 6). I'll give this movie a 7/10. Definitely worth owning on DVD.