Review of Friday the 13th (1980) by Movieznp — 07 Mar 2019

Of all the "classic" slasher films which started a franchise, this is most definitely the weakest one. First Nightmare movie - top notch. First Halloween movie - top notch. First Evil Dead movie - top notch. First Friday the 13th - .... bleh ..... I don't mean it's bad and **** but is totally rough. I find the Friday the 13th franchise to be most successful among the ones I mentioned, including Exorcist franchise, but it doesn't have anything so investing for me to be passionate about this franchise whatsoever. The first movies in the other franchises had something that kept me intrigued, even though the rest were mostly trash. .

Good : Betsy Palmer gives a very creepy and unsettling performance. She was the saving grace of the movie to some extent. The final twist in the end, seems a bit clichéd today, but wasn't so common back then (I think), anyways, it worked for me. Even though it gets unnecessarily loud sometimes, it works for a movie like this. And throughout the movie, it has the "point of view" style of telling the story, the kills in particular. It helps to build the suspense throughout the film, until the final twist in the end. And, the practical effects, holy **** They have not dated at all. The decapitations, the impaling, the axe to the face ..... they look very good. That's probably the biggest positive of this film. .

Mixed : A lot of kills happen off-screen. Some are just slitting the throat stuff, which isn't too exciting, but some were totally insane kills. I would've loved to see them. But again, this movie had very little to do. Showing all those kills would've meant a gore sequence after a gore sequence, rather than an actual film. That would've made me love this film even less. .

Bad : The biggest flaw of this film is that it doesn't feel exciting. The excitement is there, but when we get the "point of view" style things indicating a kill is going to take place. And, towards the end of the movie. Even the way they end it is stupid. When someone could've been killed easily, the person was just knocked down a couple of times before getting killed. And, the way they decided to end this film for good wasn't so appreciable at all, if they were to bring Jason Voorhees back in the second film. The screenplay was mediocre at best. The director could've done a better job. If only John Carpenter or Wes Craven directed this film, it would've been a little better to watch. The acting, except that of Palmer, looks really fake. The plot is really thin, and my main complaint won't be that. But, they could've made it more interesting and thrilling. The first Nightmare on Elm Street movie had no big, twisted and complicated plot. But it was damn good and exciting right from the beginning to the end (before the twist). It didn't have so much of a better script, it just had some creepy dialogues for Freddy, and may be some creepy imagery. But the majority of the credit for the film being good goes to the direction of Wes Craven, rather than his screenplay. So here, by the same rationale, I would blame the director for the movie being inferior to its contemporaries. The movie is like everything is normal, wait let's kill him/her and make it exciting for a brief period of time, and it's normal again. There are some pretty good jumpscares, especially the one involving Jason Voorhees. But the rest, even though they're good, they are so illogical and sometimes it's clear that it was just the screenwriter's convenience. None of the characters, except that played by Betsy Palmer, are interesting. The backstory of Jason was interesting but I don't think I would ever want to see a solo Jason story, unlike a Freddy's origin story. .

Conclusion : It's just an old film, people feel nostalgic about, and was the one which marked the beginning of perhaps the most successful horror franchise in the history of American cinema. Hence, it's a "classic". If you haven't seen it till date, and think it's one of the best old films that got everything right, it's not a movie like that. .

Rating. .

Score : 6.