Warning: Movie Spoilers Ahead!
Trigger Warning: Murder
So I couldn’t finish up the horror genre without discussing one of the biggest horror movie franchises - Friday the 13th (1980). This film isn’t exactly the best horror film - movie critic Mike Massie even noted that “although nothing about the film stands out as incredibly imaginative, the production isn't without a certain level of amusement” - but it is unique and spurred an entire franchise which has done very well for itself. Even the date, Friday the 13th, is now synonymous with bad luck and misfortune.
The thing that I think makes this movie so successful is the campiness of it. It didn’t set out to be a worldwide thriller, and if anything, the camera work is very experimental. The audience follows a group of camp counselors as they prepare for a summer with kids, but slowly they get slaughtered one by one. The really cool thing about this idea - this is a MAJOR spoiler - is that Jason, the supposed killer and the killer in the succeeding movies, is not the killer in this film. But, since we don’t actually see the killer for the most part, just a hand or machete as the killer claims their victims, you can’t even tell that this killer would be anyone different!
And, in fact, this movie and the plot relies on a backstory told in little spurts. Jason, the future killer, was just a kid at the summer camp years ago, who unfortunately drowned. In future movies of the franchise, this is obvious as he has a fear of water and is back with a vengeance, but in this first movie it’s actually Jason’s mother claiming revenge. Her son died because the counselors were too busy (you can imagine what they were doing) to notice he was drowning. The sad part is that these new counselors had nothing to do with that incident and most of them don’t even know about it, but they’re still forced to pay for the accident with their lives.
Because this movie is from 43 years ago, it’s not super graphic and it’s actually a little on the funny side, so if you’re looking for an easy horror movie, this is the one! Give it a watch and let me know what you think in the comments!
Massie, Mike. “Friday the 13th (1980).” Gonewiththetwins.com. https://gonewiththetwins.com/new/friday-the-13th-1980/.
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