The reopening of the long closed Camp Crystal Lake (due to its violent past the locals have named it Camp Blood) brings death to the young adults preparing the camp for its grand reopening. The counsellors are knocked off one by one in splattery ways by an unseen maniac. Tom Savini supplies the special effects so you know you're in good hands.
Black Christmas and Halloween built the structure laid out by the German krimis and Italian giallos but Friday the 13th designed the interiors. Much like the giallos before it, each death is treated as a set piece. It lacks the artistic boundary pushing of its Italian cousins but it still hits the mark on visceral slayings. It stumbles this soon out of the gate but the genre would eventually master it, get lazy and crumble into itself. Friday the 13th is good for what it is. It's a blueprint and is only formulaic because of how much it was impersonated. Friday the 13th deserves its status as a slasher classic. It's unimaginable where the genre would be without it. It's not my favorite of the series (2, Final Chapter and VI outrank it in my book) but it should still be viewed by any fan of 80s horror.
7/10
7/10
You leave this movie alone!
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