E's Reviews RETRO: Friday The 13th (Uncut)

I have something to admit, and I’m not proud of it...I have never seen the original Friday the 13th before this week when I was coercer into doing so for another retro review. I was not disappointed.

The film is directed by Sean S. Cunningham and stars Betsy Palmer as Mrs. Voorhees, Robbi Morgan as Annie, Adrienne King as Alice, Jeannine Taylor as Marcie, Kevin Bacon (YES! THAT KEVIN BACON!!!) as Jack, Harry Crosby as Bill, Laurie Bartram as Brenda, Mark Nelson as Ned, Peter Brouwer as Steve Christy, and Willie Adams as Barry.

The film is about a group of young...I’m assuming college aged kids...who are all hired by Steve Christy to help him re-open Camp Crystal Lake 2 decades after a couple of camp counselors were found brutally murdered. Sounds like a great idea, right? Well, unfortunately for our cast of characters, history tends to repeat itself in bloody fashion. For those who have never seen this movie, I won’t spoil what happens. Instead, I’ll go over certain aspects of the film that I liked, what I didn’t, and what I thought of the effects, cinematography, script, and acting.

Let’s start with the cinematography and setting. The camp itself is a really interesting set. While watching the movie, I was drawn into this almost claustrophobic world of the forest and dilapidated camp that these young people are fixing up before camp begins in the summer. They felt isolated, alone, and that was genuinely terrifying. The camera work and the shots are great, especially when one of our potential victims is faced with the killer. It felt like we were watching the kills directly through the killer’s eyes, and I appreciated that. The effects used were low budget and traditional. You could tell you were looking at rubber and fake blood when a character would get stabbed or have their throat slit (there’s even a scene at the beginning where a character has their throat slit, they’re making a face like they’re in agony...kind of...and the blood takes a second or two before it starts spilling out). For low budget effects and a film that only cost 700 grand to make (it went on to make over 59 million dollars at the box office back when it released in theaters...yikes...) I felt that they were effective and reminded me how much I loved practical effects.

The script was as cheesy as you’d expect for a slasher film. But this movie didn’t all the way feel like a slasher...it almost felt like the writer/director Sean S. Cunningham had seen Halloween and thought “we need to make a slower film, something with more mystery to it!” And that was something else I really enjoyed. I knew who the killer was, but it was interesting to see that they tried to hide that fact for first timers throughout the movie. You never see the killer, their identity, or hear their voice until the third act. The script did suffer at times from inconsistencies, like how the counselors come off as clean cut kids, and then when the second act begins, they’re smoking weed, having sex, and drinking alcohol. As soon as I saw that I actually said out loud “and now you’re all dead!” because that’s the slasher movie cliche that was made famous in the 70s and 80s...if you’re a teenager and you’re doing things that society frowns upon, like pre-marital sex or drugs, then you’re automatically a victim. No other franchise makes this more obvious than the Friday the 13th franchise. The acting was generally what you’d expect from a cheesy 80s slasher. The performances were just alright, but I didn’t really expect much considering they were there as victims for the killer.

I really did enjoy the film, I felt like it was a great popcorn feature and I actually think it benefits from repeated viewings (I watched it three more times after the first to really get a feel for it). The violence wasn’t too over the top, the kills were interesting (most of them happen off-screen believe it or not), the mystery of who the killer is was great, the score was awesome (CH-CH-CH AH-AH-AH!), the setting was fantastic. The only issue I had was some inconsistencies with the character’s behaviors. Other than that, this film is a classic and I highly recommend viewing the Uncut edition like I did. Also, Betsy Palmer is amazing in this film. Her performance steals the show!

Final Score: 8.5/10