Friday the 13th
United States
1980
95 Min
Color
1.85:1
English
Synopsis
In 1957, at Camp Crystal Lake, a young boy named Jason Voorhees drowned. In 1958, two camp counselors were murdered. In 1962, fires and bad water thwarted the camp’s reopening. Now, in 1979, Steve Christy finally reopens Camp Crystal Lake with the help of a few new counselors. Ignoring the warnings from a crazy old man, the murders start once again while a mysterious stalker prowls the area. Is it revenge that the killer is looking for? Who will survive the nightmare and live to tell the story? —IMDb
Director
Sean S. Cunningham
Like William Girdler, Oliver Hellman or even Ed Wood, Sean S. Cunningham had a successful career of starting films cheap and fast. Originally from New York, Cunningham had a vast knowledge of directing films and came to Hollywood. He started about the same time Wes Craven did. Cunningham meet Craven and decided to make a comedy-romance film called Together (1971). Then they both shocked the world with the rape and ultra-violence of The Last House on the Left (1972). Craven directed the flick and Cunningham financed and produced. However Cunningham wanted to get a mix of comedy and horror and made Case of the Full Moon Murders (1973) and then started other comedy films like Manny’s Orphans (1978) and Here Come the Tigers (1978) . Struggling in Hollywood Cunningham saw John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) and wanted to make a follow up type film but would possibly regret it. Cunningham brought Friday the 13th (1980) into the cinema in 1980, a year of many other horror films. Friday the 13th… read more
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Sunrise
2Jun13
It's amazing how this work conveys a panic-striken fear that an upcoming generation will not uphold values that previous generations felt they worked hard to refine. The observed horrors are less about (the over-emphasized) promiscuity of youth culture than revelations of incomplete nurturing from guilt-ridden/premature 'role-models.' Vorhees' age betrays her position as "adult," allowing for misdirected anxieties.
Joshua
4May13
One of the most misunderstood horror films of all time. Acting isn't so great, but is thankfully endearing in its happy-go-luckiness, which is what Friday the 13th is all about. "And then the rain turns to blood. The blood washes away in little rivers. Then the sound stops..." , "Must be my imagination." , "The boy! Is he dead too? ... Then he's still there." Smart bloody film on suppression and youthful naivety.
Matt Burgess
2Feb13
Hard to rate. The first hour is a excruciating dull slug to get through, zero suspense, poor pacing (did we really need a 4 minute shot of that girl making tea?), full of forgettable teens indistinguishable from the next. However, in the last 20 minutes, once everyone bar one is dead and crazy ass Betsy Palmer shows up, the whole mood shifts. Its eerie and beautiful and strange, a creepy campfire tale come to life.
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FRIDAY THE 13TH review
By Twitchfilm.com on April 28, 2011
Complete with all of the unhealthy trappings we’ve come to expect from a “Friday the 13th” film, comes this reasonably pleasing, polished new remake. Despite director Marcus Nispel and producer Michael
FRIDAY THE 13TH review
By Twitchfilm.net on July 17, 2010
Complete with all of the unhealthy trappings we’ve come to expect from a “Friday the 13th” film, comes this reasonably pleasing, polished new remake. Despite director Marcus Nispel and producer Michael
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The Luckiest Unlucky Day of Them All.
By Steve on March 24, 2011
Halloween may be the granddaddy of the bastard horror subgenera known as the slasher picture, setting the ground rules for a whole new generation of horror movies, but surly Friday the 13th deserves… read review
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