Borrowing heavily from themes in both John Carpenter's Halloween and Mario Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve, director Sean Cunningham could hardly have known that his little film would start an entirely new sub genre of horror film, that being the teen kill/slasher/snuff flick. Whether this is actually a good thing or not is debatable, but Friday the 13th did accomplish two things. It made a shitload of money for one, and two, it truly did revolutionize not only a new breed of horror film, but the horror genre in general. It's been a good eight years or so since I've watched any of the films in the series, so I thought it was long overdo to take a look see and reflect not only on the movies themselves, but also to see how they have aged some 30 years later. Wow, thirty years? So, as I recently did with my re-reviews of Freddy Krueger's exploits in the Elm Street series, allow me to take a nostalgic trip back in time to when the "body count" flick was cool, the killer was unstoppable, and someone always, and I mean always, had to wander off a mile into the woods to take a piss/have sex/or ask "is anyone there?" before getting abruptly whacked in the face with a sharp object. Those were the days, huh?

The plot is basic and simple. A summer camp that witnessed a young boy's drowning and two subsequent murders in the 1950's is set to reopen in modern day. Several attempts had been made to reopen "Camp Crystal Lake" in the meantime, but always failed due to odd fires being started, the water going bad, etc. Word soon spread amongst the locals that the place was cursed and people stayed clear from the aptly nicknamed "Camp Blood". Well, until modern day 1980 that is. "Camp Blood" has a new owner intent on renovating/reopening the place, along with hiring some fresh faced counselors to help prep for the grand opening. So we have a cursed, isolated location, young teenyboppers, what ever could be missing? Ah, yes. A crazed psycho killer.

While it's not what you would call a particularly "great" horror film in the true sense, this one works on several basic levels that would guarantee it's success. As mentioned above, Cunningham took the level's of violence found in Halloween and upped them by ten. I don't think audiences up until this point had seen young, fresh faced actors butchered in so many ways. It's almost like the filmmakers were like, "ok, how can we kill this one?", with each kill becoming more and more creative. Tom Savini's special effects are the real star of the film, and after having seen his work in George Romero's ultra violent and UNRATED Dawn of the Dead Cunningham and crew knew he was just the man for the job. Throats slit from ear to ear, arrows through the neck, and a now classic end decapitation sequence are some of the highlights. The R rated theatrical print is cut by several minutes, so seek out the UNCUT version to truly take it all in.

While the special effects are indeed the highlights and carrying card of the film, I was truly amazed by one thing re-watching this flick. The acting is really not all that bad. Wow. Maybe the same can't be said for the sequels, but I thought the cast was rather likable and no where near the annoyance levels as the films to follow. Adrienne King's character of our heroine Alice is tough and resourceful, and the rest, well, they sure are "disposable" but I wasn't really rooting for them to die. Betsy Palmer as Jason's whacked out and vengeful mommy really steals the show, what with her "kill her, kill her mommy...I will Jason." Good shit. Her decapitation at the end is simply awesome and I don't care how "old" this film is, that scene will stand out for all time. Again, way to go Tom Savini.

Another plus here, and it's something that the later films in the series don't really do, is take advantage of the isolated setting. Honestly, I felt that Cunningham could have done an even better job at building up the suspense amidst the cabins, woods, etc. but the film does have that "creepy country" vibe, though don't expect the atmosphere of say, Carpenter's Halloween. The main goal here is to get the kids in the woods, get them to wander off alone, then whack em' to death. And with this, the film succeeds. The pacing is nice and tight, with someone getting offed every fifteen minutes or so to keep your attention, and even though I've now seen this film at least 25 times in my life, I never really get tired of it. Guess that says something, huh? Harry Manfredini's classic score really adds to the mood, and the "ki ki ma ma" theme is so legendary cool I never get sick of it. Without Manfredini's score I really don't think this film would of had as much success, that's how key it was to this film.

Negatives? Of course, there is some relatively stupid shit going on amidst all the mayhem, but you know...so what. While often dumb and illogical, Friday the 13th opened the floodgates for the slasher film, and created a new brand of hyper violent, gory teen kill pics which everyone and their Aunt Sally tried to emulate. Sure, the sequels would get old very fast, and none of the knockoffs were really all that great, but this one is something special, and stands up pretty damn well some thirty odd years later. Classic.