BLOOD WORK: HALLOWEEN HORROR DAYS ~ DAY 28: FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980)

My love affair with the FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise started a long time ago back when I was still taping the edited for television showings off of USA Network. I had a VHS tape with Friday the 13th parts V, VII, and VIII. That's far back for some. Not so far back for others. Anyway, every Friday the 13th I try to watch at least one Jason film if not more. This last February 13th I watched almost all of them and what films I didn't get to I watched the next day... Yes I know, I've got too much time on my hands. More to the point I like this franchise. I thought about skipping them this October since I watched them earlier this year. But with all the classic horror icons I've been watching lately I couldn't help myself.

Some may say it's blasphemy but the original Friday the 13th is not my favorite in the series. It is still a classic film that was very influential in its own right. The gore effects by Tom Savini are top notch. He is also the very first technician to design JASON. But Jason is barely in movie. That's what I don't like about the first film. SPOILER ALERT: Mrs. Voorhees, Jason's mother, is the killer. It's also the reason I don't care much for Part V. SPOILER ALERT: It's a Jason impostor killing people in Part V. I'm a Jason fan. I want to see Jason when I go to a Friday the 13th film. Technically Jason is in the original film and by virtue of it being the first it deserves a little respect. So let's get going...

THE PLOT

1957. Camp Crystal Lake, Ohio. A young handicapped boy was drown in the lake, his body was never recovered. In 1958 two camp counselors were murdered. The killer was never caught. The following three years the camp was met with various accounts of arson. Again, no perpetrator was apprehended. In 1962 another attempt to reopen the camp was met with bad water. The locals believed the camp was jinxed, cursed, and that no one should ever go there. One local claimed that the camp had a "death curse" on it calling it "Camp Blood." So the attempts to reopen the camp stopped... until 1980.

Friday June 13th 1980. A group of camp counselors arrive to do maintenance on the camp and get everything ready for the campers before they arrive. One by one the counselors begin disappearing. In the dead of night only one counselor remains, Alice. Then a woman arrives named Mrs. Voorhees. She comes after Alice with a knife saying, "Kill her, mommy. Kill her. Don't let her get away, mommy."

"I won't, Jason. I won't," she responds to herself.

THE GOOD

The special effects. I said it earlier and I am convinced this is the reason why the original Friday the 13th was so successful. TOM SAVINI nailed the gore effects in this film. He worked on several of the slasher flicks that started the 1980's horror boom and I am convinced it was his films that people found so popular. The really stand out deaths that showcase Tom Savini's work at its best, in my opinion, are Kevin Bacon's death with the arrow through the neck. The character Bill's death, pinned to the wall like a dart board. And of course the finale decapitation of Mrs. Voorhees.

Simplicity. Friday the 13th didn't try to be anything more than it was. It didn't bog the narrative down with a complicated convoluted plot. A group of carefree kids are alone in the woods with a homicidal maniac. That's it. It didn't try to wow the audience with an original plot nor blow away the director's guild by showcasing new and innovative photography or camerawork. All it did was display a classic story in the most realistic way possible for the time. It was this simplicity where the movie succeeded far better than any of its competitors.

THE BAD

Left behind. Tom Savini's work only got better as the years progressed. And what was so remarkable about the gore effects in Friday the 13th were later surpassed by Savini himself in later films. Now the simplicity of the story really stands out. It had no particularly interesting villain nor intriguing mythos. It was a simple revenge story without anything particularly special or noteworthy about the plot. This is where the later Friday the 13th films surpass the original, in my opinion. They gave us a wondrous villain in Jason and created a greater mythology. This is where I feel similar films like THE BURNING (1981), HALLOWEEN (1978), and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974) surpass the original Friday with either a stronger villain or a stronger story. But the Friday series would soon catch up with the others and once Jason received his iconic hockey mask he'd show that he was every bit as evil as the others.

THE VERDICT

Nobody likes death in real life. But most of us like a good roller-coaster thrill ride and that's exactly what a movie like this does. In 1980 audiences flocked to the theater for a cheap exciting thrill ride, far cheaper than going to the amusement park and for some just as thrilling. But beyond that the film falls behind especially given that it's missing the one thing that has made the franchise so memorable: Jason. But what if he's here more than we think? It's just a theory (I know I'm not the only one to have thought of this) but maybe Jason is possessing his mother's body. She speaks in his voice and gets this passive look in her eyes (as if she's not the only one driving). Maybe Jason is responsible for more than we think in the first film? Anyway, it's fun to theorize with the mythos. All in all I only go back to this film because it is the first and not for any real love of the film itself. Sort of like an obligation to watch. That's a little harsh I know but it's just my personal feelings. With the exception of Part V I actually prefer the sequels to the original.