Friday The 13th (1980)

In the spirit of October I decided there'd be no better way to kick off the spookiest month than with an old standard. In this case, Sean S. Cunningham's Friday The 13th. The slasher to jumpstart 80's horror and a surprise matryoshka doll of a franchise, watching it years later reminded me why I could barely remember much of it. Because, just like said doll, taken in its own context Friday The 13th is a disappointingly hollow experience. Now I find nothing wrong with the "slasher" formula but I do need something to supplement the basics. Scriptwriter Victor Miller's idea of supplementation was apparently: gags. In a way the film is very self aware with its gaggle of instantly killable teenagers, campy character actors, and an admittedly fun villain. But there's a lot of waiting to get to the good stuff; not the kills mind you, but I mean the hokey slasher cheese that the film promises.

The teens are given pure busywork while they wait to be picked off, and it seems the script is simultaneously trying to rush to get to the memorable parts, while also stalling to fill up the runtime with such fun scenes like: watching people swim, watching people talk to a creepy old dude, watching people strip, watching people walk around in the dark. As for the kills themselves (the "scooby-snack" of the slasher film) they are disappointing as well. Especially considering makeup artist Tom Savini's involvement, for some reason Cunningham is quick to cut away from the carnage despite knowing exactly what kind of movie he's making. And the most memorable bloodshed only comes right within the last fifteen minutes or so, making it feel like a waste of a devil-may-care Betsy Palmer.

There is the odd moment where the film strips align to produce a fun scene, or maybe a shot might accidentally look good. I also find the "ki-ki-ki-ha-ha-ha" refrain to be honestly one of the most iconic things about the film even though the actual music isn't far from budget Bernard Herrmann. There's also something to be said of the comfort one could derive from such a nostalgic, meat-and-potatoes horror film to sink in and set the mood. But I'm not buying it, there's simply too many better options at the blood bank. There's Carpenter's Halloween, Soavi's Stage Fright, Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre. With such variety in the genre, it's hard to find what makes this the likely inception for one of the longest running horror franchises other than its low cost of production and Kevin Bacon.