... Flash forward to the present day - Friday June 13th that is - and we witness a girl named Annie on her way to work at the Camp as a cook for the summer. Needless to say, she passes through a town full of stereotypically creepy inhabitants, who warn her to stay away from the place they call ... Read review
No matter how many sequels they've made or how big a hit it was in 1980, it's difficult to ... more
view the firstFriday the 13thas anything but a quickie designed to cram in as many elements from horror movies that had been hits in the late 1970s--most obvious...
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No matter how many sequels they've made or how big a hit it was in 1980, it's difficult to ... more
view the firstFriday the 13thas anything but a quickie designed to cram in as many elements from horror movies that had been hits in the late 1970s--most obvious...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
From Platinum Dunes and director Marcus Nispel (“The Texas Chainsaw ... more
Massacre”) comes a re-imagining of the classic horror film “Friday the 13th.” Searching for his missing sister, Clay heads up to the eerie woods of legendary Crystal Lake, where he stumbles on the creaky remains of rotting old cabins that lie in wait behind moss-covered trees. And that’s not the only thing hiding under the brush. Against the advice of police and cautions from the locals, Clay pursues what few leads he has, with the help of a young woman he meets among a group of college kids up for an all-thrills weekend. But they are about to find much more than they bargained for. Little do they know, they’ve entered the domain of one of the most terrifying specters in American film history—the infamous killer who haunts Crystal Lake, armed with a razor-sharp machete… Jason Voorhees.
Despite repeated warnings to stay away, a group of fun-loving but none-too-bright ... more
teenagers set out to reopen the eerie Camp Crystal Lake, which closed 20 years earlier after a series of bizarre and unexplained deaths. Now someone is lurking in the woods, spying on the happy campers, and plotting a gory, grisly revenge on those who would disturb the camp's slumber. A classic of the horror genre.
In 1980 Friday the 13th introduced moviegoers to a new kind of terror! With ten popular ... more
sequels the series is the most successful horror franchise of all time and the character of 'Jason' an icon known around the world as the first name in evil. Now the story continues in comics form! When a group of bickering teens comes to Camp Crystal Lake for a summer clean-up job they awaken the terrifying Jason Voorhees. As the slaughter begins and Jason closes in they formulate a desperate plan to survive - but who if anyone will make it out in just the one piece? Writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (Jonah Hex) and artist Adam Archer present a gory razor-sharp take on the Friday the 13th mythos! Warning: Adults Only!
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From Platinum Dunes and director Marcus Nispel (?The Texas Chainsaw Massacre?) comes a ... more
re-imagining of the classic horror film ?Friday the 13th.? Searching for his missing sister, Clay heads up to the eerie woods of legendary Crystal Lake, where he stumbles on the creaky remains of rotting old cabins that lie in wait behind moss-covered trees. And that?s not the only thing hiding under the brush. Against the advice of police and cautions from the locals, Clay pursues what few leads he has, with the help of a young woman he meets among a group of college kids up for an all-thrills weekend. But they are about to find much more than they bargained for. Little do they know, they?ve entered the domain of one of the most terrifying specters in American film history?the infamous killer who haunts Crystal Lake, armed with a razor-sharp machete? Jason Voorhees.
Advantages: Good music, some gory effects Disadvantages: Poor acting, not particularly scary
...to the present day - Friday June 13th that is - and we witness a girl named Annie on her way to work at the Camp as a cook for the summer. Needless to say, she passes through a town full of stereotypically creepy inhabitants, who warn her to stay away from the place they call "Camp Blood". This is because a young boy drowned in the lake in 1957, not to mention the two murders the year after. Meanwhile, five other workers, including Kevin ... ...Overall, I would say that Friday 13th is definitively a film to watch if you love old horror movies, or if you've seen the sequels and want to know how the original started them all off. Also, if you're a fan of Halloween, The Evil Dead, Psycho, Carrie, or the Goosebumps book The Curse of Camp Cold Lake (lots of similarities there), you should enjoy this. However, don't expect too much from it. If you're just watching out of curiosity, or you've ... more
I must warn you before I begin - this review contains PLOT DETAILS including the ENDING, since I thought it was necessary to mention these as part of my evaluation of the film. If you still want to watch the film, and this puts you off, then don't read onwards. Just don't say I didn't warn you!
I do like a good slasher film, and after loving Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street, I was desperate to see how the third of the three most influential slashers compared. However, I was overall quite disappointed with Sean S Cunningham's effort, even if it was a nice surprise to see an actor the calibre of Kevin Bacon in a film this cheap! I suppose it was him before he was famous, but it still caught me off guard. This was made in 1980 for those who are interested, so this is its 25th anniversary year, which probably means there will be a new DVD version soon if not already.
The film begins in 1958 at Camp Crystal Lake Summer Camp, and just as two young camp guides begin to get intimate, they are killed off in your average horror movie way. Flash forward to the present day - Friday June 13th that is - and we witness a girl named Annie on her way to work at the Camp as a cook for the summer. Needless to say, she passes through a town full of stereotypically creepy inhabitants, who warn her to stay away from the place they call "Camp Blood". This is because a young boy drowned in the lake in 1957, not to mention the two murders the year after. Meanwhile, five other workers, including Kevin Bacon, also find their way there for the summer, and begin to have fun in the lake etc. However, when stormy weather kicks in (well what else were you expecting?), they begin to be picked off one by one in fairly gory ways by some unseen killer…
The plot is your average slasher/horror template, and to be honest, the same could be said for the film as a whole. Nothing particularly stands out, and although it's not rubbish, I really don't see why this is hailed as one of the greatest horror films ever. Yes, it has some gory deaths (Kevin Bacon is stabbed through the neck, causing blood to spurt into his mouth; and another girl gets an axe in the face - cue some nice looking make up effects) and some good twists and turns, but nothing stood out to me as being that original or genre-defining. Of those twists I mentioned, the biggest is the identity of the killer. If you didn't already know, it would probably come as a surprise to discover it is a seemingly pleasant old woman, Mrs Vorhees, mother of the drowned boy. Also, the character of Annie, who seems at the beginning to be the main character, is the first to be killed off. I have only ever seen this in Scream. The scariest moment of the film is the ending. Similarly to Carrie, just as you think the end is here, the main heroine is grabbed by the undead boy and dragged under water. This actually made me jump, and I did not see it coming. However, although she wakes up and it seems this was a nightmare, the doctors say they found no boy, leaving the final lines: "he must have gone…" Hence the Jason Vorhees sequels.
The acting - as you would expect - is pretty poor, and the cast are pretty much unknown (or at least to me they were). There is a lot of kissing and sexual references between the characters, and a game of strip poker, but no nudity or sex is actually shown. The violence is also fairly short lasting, and by today's standards this would not warrant an 18 rating. The direction isn't as good as some horror films. During the final chase between Mrs Vorhees and the heroine, there is practically no tension, and all "surprises", such as her crashing through a door when you thought she had gone elsewhere, were quite predictable. When the two did meet up and try to kill each other, the "fighting" if you can call it that was terrible - completely weak and pathetic. I know that one was an old woman and the other had been running round all evening, but this was ridiculous! There were also a lot of horror clichés, such as the girl who hears a strange noise and goes out with a torch to investigate, the lights suddenly going out just before something happens, and the good-looking sex-mad young people who get killed off.
I admit there was a very spooky atmosphere, thanks to the enclosed setting of the huts and the eerie lake. But the second half of film is pretty much pitch black, making it very hard to see what is going on. To get the best viewing experience, watch at night or in a room with the curtains fully drawn, as it is easy to get reflections in the daytime. Another good point is the music. I must say I found it quite scary and exciting at various places, with lots of echoing noises which were unlike anything I had heard before. Not quite as good as the music from Halloween, since it didn't really have a memorable tune; it was more a collection of noises, but still effective.
Overall, I would say that Friday 13th is definitively a film to watch if you love old horror movies, or if you've seen the sequels and want to know how the original started them all off. Also, if you're a fan of Halloween, The Evil Dead, Psycho, Carrie, or the Goosebumps book The Curse of Camp Cold Lake (lots of similarities there), you should enjoy this. However, don't expect too much from it. If you're just watching out of curiosity, or you've heard that this is one of the greatest slashers of all time, you will be sadly disappointed. Compared to modern films, this seems dated, tame and quite predictable, with nothing to stand out from the crowd.
____________________________________________
Friday 13th is available on DVD for £11.99 from www.store4dvds.co.uk. I am only reviewing the film itself, not the DVD, so I can't say about extras.
Directed by: Sean S Cunningham Starring: Adrienne King, Betsy Palmer, Harry Crosby, Jeannine Taylor, Kevin Bacon, Laurie Bartham, Mark Nelson Classification: 18
Crystal Lake is a truly beautiful location, with an ugly past. Several years before, a young boy died at camp while his counsellors weren't keeping an eye on him. Since then at subsequent camps, there have been a number of deaths and strange occurences, encouraging everyone to keep away from the area. Then someone decides to start the camp up again and a group of counsellors arrive to prepare the site. Unfortunately, someone doesn't seem to want ... ...picked off and killed horribly. Will any of them survive? And what have they done to incur the wrath of the killer? Good acting is not something that most horror films are famous for, and this one is really no different. With the exception of a very young Kevin Bacon, none of the other actors are well known, and this is for a reason - they really aren't that good. The actress with most screen time is Adrienne King, who plays Alice. King is wooden ...
sunmeilan 02.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Friday The 13th (DVD)
Advantages: amusing in retrospect, excitable score Disadvantages: dated, weak direction and acting
Friday the 13th (1980)
…that leads to Camp Crystal Lake and onward through one of the longest running movie series of all time. I imagine few people are unfamiliar with this particular story/concept, but in the interests of good authorship I will not give away too many details of the plot. Producer/director Sean S Cunningham, who made his name producing Wes Cravens quite sickening Last House on the Left (1972), didn’t find true fame until his collaboration ... ...direction and acting. Friday the 13th is an iconic film. Just look at the number of spoofs, replicas and rethinks that have followed it, Saturday the 14th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Sleepaway Camp and Scream to name but a few. On the whole it is quite entertaining, but offers nothing in the way of plot, characters or genuine scares (except to people with a phobia of knives); merely a few jump moments. I found myself laughing through much of the ...
ThePolarOne 27.02.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Friday The 13th (DVD)
Advantages: Jumpy, Funny, Scary, Betsy Palmer is BRILLIANT! Disadvantages: Dated, bad acting (hilarious, so could also be advantage!)...
*** wHAT IS FRIDAY THE 13Th ***
Friday The 13th is an incredibly popular horror series that comprises of (to date) 10 movies and a VS movie (Freddy Vs. Jason). The first movie was originally released back in 1980 and was only intended to be a small movie but then went on to be released worldwide gaining a massive audience and fan circle! The movie, generally, recieved terrible reviews all round with critics deeming it 'rediculous' and 'pointless ... ...To Crystal Lake: Making Of Friday The 13th' which luckilly for you guys I have had the opportunity to watch! It includes interviews with Sean S. Cunningham, Steve Miner (Director of Part 2), Adrienne King and amazingly Betsy Palmer!!! She is absolutely hilarious when she tells her storys of why she chose to do this movie as it was so different to everything else she ever did. She also gives great insights such as when her and Adrienne King were re-hearsing ...
ghost_w1 25.11.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Friday The 13th (DVD)
Advantages: Good for a laugh Disadvantages: Bad for a scare
...fans of the Halloween and Friday the 13th series of movies, at least that’s what I have found going into some horror movie chatrooms on my Internet travels. Well I have one thing to say to these people: Yes Halloween IS better than Friday the 13th Despite the belief of Friday the 13th fans, without Halloween Friday the 13th would not have come about, seeing as it was created 2 years after Halloween, when the slasher horror craze was about to ... ...is all about. Friday the 13th is a kind of tale you would tell around a camp fire, an old summer camp (Camp Crystal Lake aka Camp Blood) has a dark and disturbing past, a boy drowning, two of its staff killed and a few fires tossed in make it a place you would send your kids, unless you wanted them shut up perminatly that is. A few odd years later and there is a bright idea to re-open the camp for a new generation of little kids…of course nothing ...
3rdRockSatan 08.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Friday The 13th (DVD)
Advantages: Astonighingly shocking camera angles,excellent eery music score and one of the most memerable horror endings in film history!!! Disadvantages: Cheap and sleazy but why should that put you off.
...It's obvious that friday the 13th was a cheap knock off of halloween you won't need the louzy commentery to tell you that,but what makes friday the 13th so special yet so unique is the engenious use of camera angles, for a low budget film this was a mistake but yet remains it's greatest backbone throughout the film.
Friday the 13th posseses another unique horror film music score which blends in perfectly with the creepy camera angles showing the ... ...a man has uttered the words chi and cha through a distortion amp and has allowed the maximum effect of the feedback to echoe back through to give an eery and haunting emotional edge.
The film is a bit disapointing in my opinion just at the start, because of the low budget the director only shot about 5 mins of camp crystal lake in 1958 when the camp was lively and thriving with kids, i mean for a film that started a legacy of sequels all based around ...
darkangelwing 08.08.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Friday The 13th (DVD)
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Advantages: Great storyline, great special effects - Great everything! Disadvantages: None that I can think of!
This new Friday the 13th is awesome, and definitly my favourite out of all the Friday the 13th films. This films again shows him with his mask, his machete and all his classic horror features.
If you're a fan of horror, then you will love this film. It is scary and it is jumpy. I recall 'jumping' out of my seat once, and it was a jump at that. Everything's quiet and calming down and boom, sharp loud sound effects and a machete out of no where and I was in the air!
This film shows you where Jason finds his classic mask, and he again uses his machete as his primary weapon, however I must tell you that during the movie he also uses a Bow and arrow to kill a certain person on a boat and it was so cool!
Also, when this film starts you settle into all the characters and their story etc.. but then within 10 minutes pretty much all ...
Advantages: A 3-D bonanza (sort of) Disadvantages: Just cheap thrills
Friday the 13th Part 3 (3-D) (1982)
To refresh your memory again here is a short recap of previous events. If you have not watched the previous films then skip this paragraph to avoid spoilers. In the original we discover Mrs Voorhees to be the killer. The reason being that her child, Jason, died in the fifties as a result of careless camp counsellors who were making love instead of watching him. He drowned in Crystal Lake and the next year two counsellors were killed, resulting in the Camp?s closure. In 1979 there was an attempt to re-open the camp, which left only one person alive and Mrs Voorhees dead. In Part 2 a new camp was to be opened on Crystal Lake but this time a fully grown Jason, returned from who knows where to avenge something or other (legend says he saw the death of his mother), kills everyone in sight. Despite being ...
are said to have not been employed since. That would be funny if you didn?t think that it was actually pretty true. It would have been useful that when they are telling the audience the ?rules of a parody? they should have adhered to some of the rules and made some better ones up.
Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th, apart from have a stupidly long title, is a prime example how not to make a parody and that?s pretty much the only use for it. Even with alcoholic drink with it you?ll need a vat of it and probably have to give yourself a good dose of alcohol poisoning to be able to truly enjoy it without having thinking you?ve wasted more than an hour of your life. There was a reason why this wasn?t put up against Scary Movie in the theatrical release, in fact as you?ve read this review you have found out there are many ...
The story takes place in the midst of Camp Crystal Lake, which is alleged to be subject to a 'death curse'. This curse becomes a grim reality as the camp counsellors are murdered one by one.
Remake Of
Friday The 13th ( 2009 United States of America ), Friday The 13th ( 2009 United States of America ), Friday The 13th ( 2009 United States of America ), Friday The 13th ( 2009 United States of America )
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
WARNER HOME VIDEO; CINRAM LOGISTICS
Release date
29/09/2003
No of Discs
1
Catalogue No
D 011172
Barcode
7321900111720
Languages
Main Language
English
Technical information
Special Features
Audio Commentary - 1. Sean S. Cunningham - Director, Featurette - 1. RETURN TO CRYSTAL LAKE: The Making of FRIDAY THE 13TH, Original Theatrical Trailer
Sound
Mono
Dubbing Sound
Mono English
DVD Description
Despite repeated warnings to stay away, a group of fun-loving but none-too-bright teenagers set out to reopen the eerie Camp Crystal Lake, which closed 20 years earlier after a series of bizarre and unexplained deaths. Now someone is lurking in the woods, spying on the happy campers, and plotting a gory, grisly revenge on those who would disturb the camp's slumber. A classic of the horror genre.
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