Amazon.com essential video: This splatter flick, along with John Carpenter's Halloween, helped spawn the great horror-movie movement of the '80s, not to mention eight sequels, many of which had nothing to do with the films that preceded them. It also gave birth to Jason Voorhees, one of the three biggest horror-movie psychos of the modern era (the other two being Halloween's Michael Myers and A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger). Forever duplicated, the original Friday the 13th popularized a number of themes and techniques that today are now clichés: the increasingly gory murders, the remote forest location, the anonymous and nubile cast, the murderer as cult hero, and, of course, the moral that if you have sex, you will die, very painfully. Still, if you have to see a Friday the 13th movie, this is the one to check out. A group of eager (and horny) teenagers decide to reopen Camp Crystal Lake, which 20 years earlier was closed after the shocking and mysterious murders of two amorous camp counselors. You can take it from there, as the teens get picked off one by one, during a dark and stormy night; of course, their car won't start and there's no phone. The ending stole shamelessly from Brian De Palma's Carrie, but it still provides a slight if campy shock. Look for a young Kevin Bacon as the requisite stud--you can tell that's what he is because when the cast appears in swimsuits, he's wearing a Speedo--who's the beneficiary of the film's best murder sequence, an arrowhead to the throat. Right after having sex, of course. --Mark Englehart
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - A dreadful disappointment.
Authenticity, creativity, style, and a spine-chilling sensation are some of the most compelling characteristics that make for a truly impressive horror film. Unfortunately, "Friday the 13th" does not even remotely approach those characteristics. This movie is an absolute atrocity that suffers from a variety of unforgivable flaws.
The opening scene takes place in the year 1958 at a summer campsite where a group of teenage camp counselors are enjoying a nice, quiet evening by the campfire. Two of the counselors are brutally murdered by an unknown character after attempting to slip away ... Read More
Rating: - Arguably the most influential slasher film of all time
The original Friday the 13th is not the first, the most original, or the best slasher film ever made, but it is arguably the most influential. You almost have to take off one of your socks to count all of the sequels (and impending remake) this slasher granddaddy has spawned, and I daresay the majority of slasher films littering the genre in all the years since were constructed on the generic and simple framework of the Friday the 13th formula. Critics are still foaming at the mouth in indignation over this film all these years later, so you know it did something right. Of course, by today's ... Read More
Rating: - 9 minutes
when the murders start happenning , time 9 minutes each time until the next one occurs. also the girl who plays dr.carver on days of our lives is in this one.
Rating: - The first
I first saw this movie when I was in seventh grade. I'll have to admit that I watched all of the Friday the 13th movies in order and rented them all from my local video store. I enjoyed all of them very much. After I saw the first I had to see more.
I had seen this movie again about ten years ago and I had recently seen it again a few months ago. My views have changed a little bit about the movie over the years.
I found the movie captivating when I saw it when I was 13. Ten years ago I was still excited with the movie even though I knew who the killer was. The kill scenes ... Read More
Rating: - Psycho killer.
Friday the 13th is wickedly delicious. The twist ending is definitely the sole reason to watch this '80s classic. Look for a young Kevin Bacon, let's just say he doesn't have a huge part, hint hint! The formula still works, love-sick teenagers get killed one by one at a remote camp and who exactly is the killer? You may be surprised, I highly recommend this cool purchase. Enjoy!
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