Friday the 13th by Sean S. Cunningham (1980)
At the Crystal Lake summer camp, a group of young people are stalked and killed by a mysterious killer.
Quote.
“Steve should never have reopened this camp: there have already been too many tragedies! Did you know a boy drowned? And the year after, two kids were killed? There was no one to keep watch! They were making love while that poor boy drowned! His name was Jason. I was working the day of the tragedy, preparing meals here: I was the cook.
And they should have been watching! Every minute!! Jason didn’t… didn’t swim very well.”
(Pamela)
Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake.
The Crystal Lake summer camp is certainly not an idyllic place to spend a vacation.
Mysterious and bloody events have turned it into something sinister and unadvisable, ever since that distant 1958, when a young couple of attendants was brutally killed.
The camp was closed and the perpetrator of that murder remained at large, no one ever knew his name.
It seemed all over, all destined to become yet another terrifying legend to be told around a campfire, to some group of kids looking for thrills.
But memories of the past often become confused and fade, with the passage of time.
And here we are in 1979.
A new owner appears on the scene with six counselors intending to reopen it.
But history repeats itself. New murders, creatively perpetrated by a mysterious killer who moves in the shadows.
And then there’s that strange lady who suddenly appears.
She says her name is Pamela Voorhees and talks about a boy, named Jason, who drowned in the lake a few years earlier.
Considerations.
Sean S. Cunningham directs and Victor Miller writes this horror film that helps define and consolidate many of the typical elements of the slasher genre. Friday the 13th indeed takes place in an isolated location and features a group of young victims and a mysterious killer with a personal motive.
The final sequence gives us some of the most iconic and well-known images of 1980s horror cinema. But not only that, Jason’s sudden appearance, suspended between dream and reality, leaves the doors open for possible sequels. Sequels that would soon follow and, along with remakes and spin-offs, would give birth to one of the longest-lasting horror film series.
Jason, the monster wearing a hockey mask from the third installment onwards, would become one of the most recognizable and feared characters in genre film history.
Friday the 13th was a huge commercial success. It grossed about $60 million at the box office on a budget of only $550,000. It also had a significant impact on popular culture, influencing many other slasher films and generating a wide range of merchandise, including comics, novels, video games, and toys.
It was one of the first films to feature a very young Kevin Bacon.
Despite its success, it divided critics. Some judged it negatively for its graphic violence and lack of a complex plot. However, it was also praised for its ability to create tension and its innovative murder sequences. Sequences created thanks to the stunning special effects by Steve Kirshoff, Taso Stavrakis, and Tom Savini.
Friday the 13th, over the years, has rightfully earned its place as a classic of horror cinema.
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