Friday the 13th is
Classic Horror That Helped Define the Slasher Genre.
No
Horror Aficionado can
be without a copy of Friday
the 13th as a crown jewel of their horror movie collection,
and the DVD must be respectfully placed among the classics.
Release: 1980 Written by: Victor Miller Directed by: Sean S. Cunningham
Starring:
Betsey Palmer as Mrs. Pamela Voorhees Adrienne King as Alice Hardy Kevin Bacon as Jack Burrell Peter Brouwer as Steve Christy
There are events in
one’s life that we can designate as life
changing. Something occurs that alters the path that has been traveled
to the extent that it becomes a historical landmark
on your highway of life. I had one such event in my teen years (no, not
that. Jeez.) While spending a week in the hospital due to a baseball
injury I happened upon a movie on cable called Friday the 13th.
That started me on a journey that, as of yet, has no end.
Friday the 13th
starts out with a lesson in how the rest of the
film is going to be. The year is 1958 and two camp counselors at Camp
Crystal Lake decide to get a little hot and heavy in an attic loft.
Before they can get good and started though, they are met by someone
off screen that attacks and kills them both.
Fast forward to
1979 and we find a young
lady hitch hiking to Camp
Crystal Lake. She is going to work there as a cook during the camp
season. After several years of non-activity, Steve Christy (Peter
Brouwer) has decided to reopen the camp.
The problem is that a lot of people in the community would just as soon
not see the camp reopened. They did not nickname it Camp Blood for
nothing and the memories from 1958 are still fresh in the minds of the
townspeople.
Undeterred though, Steve and his
company of counselors decide to get the camp ready to be opened and
thus reawaken a nightmare that had gone dormant.
I will not bore you
with a total synopsis
of Friday the 13th. You can get that on a large
collection of sites out there in the abyss known as the World Wide Web.
But you, the Discerning Horror Freak, expect more!
You are reading a review about
one of the most pivotal films
to hit the horror world. Sean S. Cunningham (director), with help from
John Carpenter’s Halloween, set the
foundation for a completely new sub-genre of horror. Friday
the 13th helped to set the rules and
define the boundaries of the slasher film.
Cunningham
demonstrated the fact that setting the right tone
in a horror film is just as, if not more, important than how many ways
you can kill someone (although that is an important factor). He was
able to make the audience feel as if they were the one’s being
stalked.
Friday
the 13th was also a landmark film
for Tom Savini
(special F/X). He further proved his uncanny ability to get the most
effect out of the least financial backing. Savini will go down in
history as one of the greats in special effects - and Friday
the 13th helped him prove his mastery of the art.
Friday the
13th should
be found in any horror fans library. If
it is not, I would question their honesty and faithfulness to the
genre. You must have respect for this film. It can’t go on
just
any shelf with just any horror film. Could you imagine Friday
the 13th stuck between Valentine and Buffy
the Vampire Slayer Season One? No! No! A
thousand times no! Friday the 13th
belongs on a separate shelf surrounded by other classics in the genre.
Am I obsessed? Others may think so, but I like to call it being
particular.
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Cunningham
demonstrated the fact that setting the right tone
in a horror film is just as, if not more, important than how many ways
you can kill someone (although that is an important factor). He was
able to make the audience feel as if they were the one’s being
stalked.
Blink
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