Brian's Review - Friday the 13th (1980)

Don't waste your time at this summer camp.

Released: 1980
Genre(s): Horror, Thriller

"Friday the 13th" is lauded as one of the greatest horror movies of all time, having experienced significant box office success at its release, and creating a cult following that has allowed it to cement itself into the quintessential pantheon of slasher films. While I can't argue against its importance to the genesis of its own franchise, this is a film that time has not been kind to. "Friday the 13th" works on a stop-and-go dynamic that fails to invoke the same consistent suspense that John Carpenter's "Halloween" did two years before the release of this movie: there are plenty of moments where the tension begins to build, when suddenly it inexplicably fades away as the scene cuts to something unrelated, deflating any sense of impending doom that may have been generated. The other disastrous directing choice that is all too apparent is the emphasis of gore over genuine scares - almost every kill lacks the proper buildup to incite true thrills, instead falling back on gruesome gore effects to sell what is ultimately an underwhelming scene. The characters themselves are no more than lambs to the (literal) slaughter, clueless, two-dimensional cardboard cutouts, who even come across as somewhat unlikable. The inability to feel remorse for most, if not all, of the victims takes away a lot of the potential terror this film desperately tries to produce. I can't hate "Friday the 13th," but it wastes far too much time meandering around Mediocrity City (MedioCity?) to be considered one of the greatest horror movies of all time. I'd recommend checking out the original "Halloween" for a more bone-chilling fright fest, or, at the very least, watching the sequel "Friday the 13th Part 2," which spends a good portion of its opening moments recapping this entire film in all of its lackluster glory.

Rating (out of 5): 2