The setting: Camp Crystal Lake
From the jump, Friday the 13th doesn’t pull any punches, as it sets the stage for all the films to come. Two camp counselors sneak off to make out, and within the first 4 minutes of film, we get the first kill, and what is believed another to follow, right before the opening title and score.
Now, jump to present day on Friday the 13th, where a girl is looking for camp Crystal Lake (aka Camp Blood) and is warned by the local loony, old man Ralph, that the place she seeks, “has a death curse…and she’ll never come back again.” Well, this rings true, because while she's hitch-hiking to camp, she’s picked up by a jeep, chased through the woods by the driver, and killed.
The other camp counselors, which include a young Kevin Bacon (Jack), and cute redhead Adrienne King (Alice), make their way to camp to help set up. It’s pretty clear that jokester, Neddy, will be one of the first to meet his demise, and he does as the #4 kill. Jack and his girl sneak off to a nearby cabin to do the nasty (boob scene), and when she leaves to take a pee, Jack gets an arrow through his chest/lower neck (from someone lurking under the mattress), and she takes an axe to the head while in the head (bathroom).
Brenda responds to what sounds like a little boy’s cry for help, and goes out in the rain only to get waxed on the archery range. That leaves the camp director, who’s offed within minutes, Alice, and Bill (the Brave). But, it isn’t long before Alice finds Bill dead too, so she barricades herself in her cabin.
She sees a jeep pull up and runs out for help, only to find that her “help” is the killer. If you ask the average Joe who was the killer in the first Friday the 13th, they’d probably say Jason, or the hockey mask guy, but they’d be dead wrong, since it was Jason’s mother, Pam Voorhees, played by TV veteran Betsy Palmer. See, Pam is still distraught and avenging her son’s death, who drowned years earlier while camp counselors weren’t watching. And, it’s pretty clear that Pam has went off the deep end too, as she somewhat assumes the roll of Jason, and even talks to herself in his voice.
But, all her attempts to take out Alice are thwarted, and in the final struggle, Pam’s head is lopped off with a machete. Then, the sympathetic music starts to roll, and we see that Alice has fallen asleep in a canoe while out on the lake. As she wakes, lil Jason comes out of the water and drags her in, but it’s only a dream, as she wakes up hysterical in the hospital and asks if the boy was found. And, the next lines set this up for the sequel:
Officer: “We didn’t find any boy…"
Alice: "Then he’s still there…”
Friday the 13th not only sets up the premise for it’s sequels, but also for many movies to follow. But, I had to wonder what movies might have inspired this one, and I couldn’t think up a single predecessor that had a similar plot. It’s a simple one, yes, but it hadn’t really been done before (that I’m aware of), and Smokeskrene believes the mother/son relationship was taken from Psycho.After not having watched this for a couple years, it’s pretty tame by today’s standards, and even to it’s follow ups, but it’s still a great watch, and helped set in motion the long FX career of Tom Savini. Once this was released on Blu Ray, I knew I’d have to get it, even though my player is still sitting in the box awaiting it’s hi-def TV counterpart. But, while at the Fangoria convention in Chicago earlier this year, I was able to get it signed by Mr. Savini (as part of my ticket purchase), and I was going to have Ms. King sign it at Texas Frightmare Weekend in Dallas, but just couldn’t justify spending the 20 bucks. My loss, maybe, but I don’t pay for autographs for myself unless it’s a great deal, and preferably a bundle package.
Well, this officially starts the 13 Days of Friday the 13th. I encourage all fans to rewatch them all, and for those just getting on the Jason bandwagon with the new film, go review the originals and see how true FX were done with no CGI enhancements. Trust me, you’ll be in awe by how they pulled some of the things off.
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OVERALL RATING--3.5-- |
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