Friday the 13th is a 1980 slasher film directed by Sean S. Cunningham and written by Victor Miller, admittedly made to cash in on the success of Halloween, the film's theme was to take "mom and apple pie and turn it on its head."

Although the film was poorly received by most, if not all, mainstream film critics, it became one of the most popular slasher films in history. The film's box office success led to a long series of sequels.

Plot summary

A group of teenagers return to a summer camp, Camp Crystal Lake, to prepare it for reopening. Many years earlier, a young boy named Jason Voorhees had drowned at the camp, and shortly thereafter, the two counselors responsible were murdered by an unknown assailant, after which the camp was closed. The camp is finally reopened after several unsuccessful attempts. One by one, the new counselors are brutally murdered by Jason's mother, Pamela Voorhees.

In 1958 two teenagers snuck off to make out but were brutally murdered, first the male counselor then the woman. Nearly twenty years later the camp is reopened. What they do not know, however, is that they are being stalked. One counsellor, on her way to the camp, is picked up by the murderer and subsequently killed. Later, one of the counsellors encounters the killer and seemingly recognises her before being slain. The last counselor is freaked out by the murders and runs into the killer. The killer is able to stay calm for a moment and reveal her name to be Mrs. Voorhees (with her first name, Pamela being revealed later), and tells the girl the story of her son who drowned at the camp, blaming the counsellors. Suddenly Mrs Voorhees starts hearing her son's voice, pleading with her to kill the girl. To avenge her son she chases the counsellor through the woods of the camp and attacks her. The girl manages to decapitate her, saving her own life. After killing Mrs Voorhees she takes a boat out into the lake to rest, reasoning it to be the safest place. When morning arrives a body rises out of the water and grabs her. She wakes up, finding the attack in the boat to be a dream. The film ends with her asking if they found a boy in the lake. When it is revealed that no body was ever found the girl proclaims: "Then he's still there."

Cast

• Betsy Palmer .... Mrs. Pamela Voorhees
• Adrienne King .... Alice Hardy
• Harry Crosby .... Bill
• Laurie Bartram .... Brenda
• Jeannine Taylor .... Marcie Cunningham
• Kevin Bacon .... Jack Burrell
• Mark Nelson .... Ned Rubenstein
• Robbi Morgan .... Annie
• Peter Brouwer .... Steve Christy
• Rex Everhart .... Enos the Truck Driver
• Ronn Carroll .... Sergeant Tierney
• Ron Millkie .... Officer Dorf
• Walt Gorney .... Crazy Ralph
• Willie Adams .... Barry
• Debra S. Hayes .... Claudette

Notes

• The film's original working title was A Long Night at Camp Blood.
• Betsy Palmer agreed to be in the film only as a means to pay for a new car, believing the film to be trash.
• The film was shot at Camp NoBeBoSco in Blairstown, New Jersey.
• The "Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake" sign still hangs in the trading post of the camp (as of July 2006) on the right wall, near a cash register.
• The scene with the snake was not in the script and was an idea from Tom Savini after an experience in his own cabin during filming. The snake in the scene was real, including its onscreen death.
• The character of Crazy Ralph who warns the would-be counselors not to visit Camp Crystal Lake inspired filmmaker Tony Urban to name his company Crazy Ralph Films.
• There exists an uncut version of the film that is available outside the U.S. on DVD. This version is most notably available in Japan and in the UK (Warner owns the rights to the film in the latter).
• The Australian video version, as released on the Warner Home Video label, is complete and uncut. Look for the cover depicting Alice leaning and resting on the side of the canoe, for this is the unedited version.
• After being decapitated by Alice, the arms that seem to be Mrs. Voorhees' are actually the arms of effects man Taso Stavrakis.
• The following scenes were cut in order to avoid an "X" rating from the MPAA:
  • Annie's death was a little bit longer. It showed more blood come out of her throat after it was slit.
  • Jack's death was originally longer. There was an shot of Jack from a top view. In this shot, the arrow in Jack's throat turns, causing much more blood to shoot straight at the camera, and also in his mouth.
  • Marcie's death was a little longer. Originally, the axe hits her in the face and she slides all of the way down to the floor.
  • Mrs. Voorhees' death was actually longer. It took her a little longer to fall down and blood was squirting out of her cut neck.
  • A scene showing Claudette's death was filmed, but then left out of the final cut. Claudette was actually knifed in the neck.

Awards and nominations

• Golden Raspberry Awards

Nominated: Worst Picture

Nominated: Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress (Betsy Palmer)

• Mystfest

Nominated: Mystfest Award for Best Film

External links

• Film page at the Camp Crystal Lake web site

1980 films | American films | Friday | Friday the 13th films | Horror films | Paramount films | Warner Bros. films | Worst Picture Razzie Nominee | English-language films

Freitag der 13. (Film) | Viernes 13 | Vendredi 13 | 13日の金曜日 (映画) | Piątek 13. | Friday the 13th (filme) | Пятница, 13-е (фильм) | Fredagen den 13:e (1980)