When most people think about Friday the 13th as a franchise, Jason and the hockey mask come to mind. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The creators unknowingly struck gold when giving their brutish killer a goalie mask, creating one of the most iconic horror villains of all time. But it didn’t start that way. Not for Jason. The original 1980 Friday the 13th is a rare example of an original film overshadowed by its more iconic sequels. When listing franchise rankings, people generally won’t put the original Friday the 13th at the top of their lists. Far from its more bombastic and over-the-top sequels, the original Friday has a charm about it that seems to have only grown with time.
Director Sean Cunningham, most well-known for family films that never seemed to quite land, was desperate for a hit. One day, he called screenwriter Victor Miller regarding the recent success of a low-budget shocker named Halloween. Cunningham told the writer: “Let’s rip it off”.That’s about as cynical a start to the story as you can get, and despite this, Friday the 13th managed to have an identity all its own. The original film told of several teenage counsellors working on reopening the long vacant Camp Crystal Lake, a place long associated with local superstitions. On Friday the 13th, the counsellors become stranded at the camp during a fierce thunderstorm, unaware they are being stalked by a vicious killer who picks the teens off one by one.
Friday the 13th is about as basic as you can get when it comes to horror. Many would argue too basic. It’s also is hardly the critical darling that Halloween ended up becoming, many calling it derivative, sleazy and exploitive. That this quaint campfire ghost story threw the nation up in arms so effectively is funny in hindsight, since Friday the 13th by today’s standards is horror vanilla. But that’s precisely why it’s good. Shot at a real camp in New Jersey, Friday the 13th decorates itself with gorgeous and iconic scenery used for Crystal Lake. The camp itself is nothing other than warm and inviting, and in the midst of a great storm, it feels like a safe haven. And yet there is something about its cozy charm that adds to the atmosphere. That the camp feels like a place you should be safe in only makes the killer all the more threatening. This is vanilla, with a hefty serving of cherry dressing to give it that extra gory touch. Fitting since fake blood is often cherry-flavored.
The special effects were created by Tom Savini, who recently shocked the nation with the critically acclaimed Dawn of the Dead, and who would build quite a name for himself in the decades that followed as a man who knew how to make onscreen violence look real. The effects he punctuates Friday the 13th with are iconic today, including brutal throat slashings, axings and beheadings. Some would say the effects, along with the score, are the only things noteworthy about the original. Harry Manfredini’s creepy Ki Ki Ki Ma Ma Ma score is not only the franchise’s signature but also a slasher staple and one of the most iconic horror scores of all time. I’m not going to argue that the music and effects don’t elevate the film. Even without those elements, Friday the 13th does have a lot to offer as a horror film.
Despite its reputation, I would happily rank Friday the 13th among the decade’s best in terms of horror, and would place it comfortably alongside Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It helped popularize the use of summer camps in horror, flipping them in much the same way Halloween turned the safety of the suburbs on its head. Friday the 13th has some very clever setups for scares, really milking the suspense so the audience is constantly on edge even without its famous special effects. A couple seek shelter in a cabin, unaware that a corpse is in one of the bunk beds. Entire scenes play out as we anxiously await the couple to make the grisly discovery. A counsellor goes into the outhouse, unaware that the killer has crept in behind them while they are in the stall. They leave and go about cleaning up, unaware they are being watched as we wait for the attack to come. There are some genuinely effective moments here, as well as a macabre sense of humor. One can’t help but get a healthy chuckle out of colorful characters like Crazy Ralph. And a game of strip monopoly is about as clear-cut a slasher setup as you can get. The game even foreshadows the survivor of the movie, with the lead being the only one who doesn’t end up showing skin.
And yet the famous Jason Voorhees isn’t the one doing the killing here. The story is still centered around him, but on this first go around, it’s someone else picking up the machete. While today the killer’s identity is known by most, at the time, this was a mystery. Unlike Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween, which revealed the identities of their villains early on, Friday the 13th holds off on it. We only catch fleeting glimpses of the killer throughout the movie. A hand moving a branch here. A creeping shadow there. We know nothing about who they are or what they want. Only that they seem to be filled with rage. The mysterious unknowable nature of the killer remains one of the film’s creepiest aspects.
Friday the 13th boasted a cast of young and likable leads, including a young Kevin Bacon who would later rise to superstardom following the smash success of Footloose. The characters are archetypes to be sure, but they are among the more fleshed out and likable casts in a Friday movie. Jack and Marcie are young and in love. Brenda has to put up with Ned’s unwanted advances. Bill is quiet, but at the same time capable. Alice tries to be responsible but isn’t above sharing grass with her friends. This is a pretty good horror ensemble. Just don’t get too attached to anyone. This is Friday the 13th after all. Even if they survive this movie, there are always the sequels. And we all know Jason takes no prisoners.
The original Friday the 13th was almost universally panned upon release, but word of mouth turned it into a surprise hit for 1980, much to the chagrin of film critics everywhere. It almost seems like fate that the series went on as long as it did, with the sole survivor of this summer camp stalk and slash frantically asking Where’s Jason?” as the movie ends. And of course, Jason would live on in sequels that are still going to this day, most of which don’t even take place on Friday the 13th. Let’s be clear. I do love many of the sequels, and would happily rank Friday the 13th among my favorite franchises of all time. And despite often being discarded, that is all possible because of the original Friday the 13th’s success, a success that I truly feel is well earned.
No Jason, no mask, no sale is what many say when coming to this franchise for the first time. To that I say nonsense. Friday the 13th is perhaps the perfect campfire ghost story put to film. That each sequel becomes more insane almost makes it feel like a game of telephone of stories passed from one person to the next, as things often do around the fire at night. The original film is genuinely creepy and well-paced, and to those willing to go in without the expectations set by seeing Jason in space, you are in for a real treat. Jason is a campfire ghost story, and how appropriate that the series begins in such an iconic way. You can just hear someone whispering it as the sun hangs low and the embers of a dying fire cast off a glow both comforting and disquieting:
“It all began on Friday the 13th.”
