Friday the 13th (1980)I am certainly one to enjoy a movie that has a slow burn if done properly, even a horror movie. But Friday the 13th is clearly not a slow burn. We're immediately thrown into Camp Crystal Lake in 1958, with a bunch of camp counselors huddled around a fire singing campfire songs. After two of the counselors wander off together to make some funny business, we are treated with a POV style murder of the two counselors. The young male is immediately gutted, and the scene ends with a freeze-frame of the final moment that the girl is alive. She looks genuinely terrified. Seatbelts should be buckled in, at this point.
Now it's present day, 1980. The movie overall has an excellent tone and does a great job of providing history of the camp, the events that occurred and how the small townsfolk feel about it. Good campy horror setting. They even have their own little nickname for the lake, Camp Blood. Crazy Ralph wastes no time making his presence felt. At this point, in the theaters in 1980, Ralph has to be suspect #1 by the time Annie is getting a ride to the lake. A shame, she almost made it! A-level effects on the throat slash, there. This was the first slasher flick where you really get to see a lot of the squeamish stuff.
Character introduction:
We get to meet the characters of the film now, the new counselors who are preparing to set up camp in two weeks. The movie is now loading up the foreshadowing. After learning that the townsfolk refer to Crystal Lake as "Camp Blood", Brenda remarks with having to deal with poisonous snakes next. She wasn't wrong. This was a really small form of foreshadowing, but I will mention more of it later. And I've always had a lingering question that part of me doesn't want answered because the mystery of it is too good: Was that a real snake they chopped into bits? Sure looked real, and this is why practical effects will always be miles ahead of digital effects. But as far as the characters go, their personalities show right away, as opposed to just showing up to camp and not saying much. All of them are outgoing.
Character Development:
The most underrated aspect of the entire franchise is its character development. I'm not sure if Ned is my favorite counselor in this movie, but he is certainly the most interesting. I'm not sure if anyone picked up on it, but he clearly had a crush on Brenda. The archery scene where he showed off his talent by nailing a target that she was standing right next to, the fake drowning scene where he lures her into a mouth-to-mouth situation. The desperate cornball line of trying to knock the other guys down a peg or two by passively downplaying their machismo. I like to refer to him as the Robin Williams of the group. He is the funny guy of the movie, comedian, jokester, etc... but the very first moment when we see him alone, he is staring solemnly across the lake at Jack and Marcie, with a facial expression that makes you feel like you're looking at a completely different character. Despite being the funniest member of the group, he is by far the loneliest soul, and it was completely evident in that brief moment, then he walks away with his hands in his pockets, whistling dixie. Ned notices someone walk into a cabin, and he is never seen alive again.
More Foreshadowing:
When Ned dangerously showed off his archery skills to Brenda, she stood there and remarked with "Are you crazy? I don't believe you! You come here to help me or scare me to
death?!" Brenda later that night begins hearing cries for help outside. She goes to investigate, and the killer turns the lights on. She turns around, and we get a shot of her standing in the exact same spot where Ned nearly killed her at the archery range. This shot of Brenda is the last shot where we see her alive.
Another bit of foreshadowing occurred when Marcie tells her nightmare story to Jack about her fear of thunderstorms. The rain is pounding hard, and then "the rain turns to blood and the blood washes away in little rivers". She ends the story with "I call it my Shower Dream". Later, as the thunderstorm arrives, Marcie is then axed in the face outside of the showers, where the blood washes down her face in little rivers. This is some of the most calculated foreshadowing I've ever picked up on in any movie.
Killer Reveal:
Nearly everyone is dead. The only important characters in the film that we know are alive are Ralph, who was last scene at the camp trying to scare away the counselors. Steve, who is making his way back to the camp. And Alice, who is discovering everyone is dead. Steve arrives at the camp, and is greeted by someone he recognizes. As if the movie couldn't get more intriguing, we get killer recognition, as he is gutted when he approaches the person. Who is alive? Just Ralph and Alice. As Alice begins discovering each body, Mrs. Voorhees arrives. it's hard to say how audiences felt in 1980. I'm sure many suspected her, but throughout the entire movie, Ralph was absolutely in the back of everyone's minds. He was clearly crazy, but was he right all along?
Betsy Palmer was the perfect actress for this, in my opinion. She had a dominant demeanor and a great raspy voice. You could hear in her voice as she was telling the story of Jason that she was coming out as the killer. Her voice got a little bit louder with every detail of Jason's drowning. Tremendous acting, here. I can understand the idea that "Kill her mommy" was kind of hokey for the movie. But 1) "ki ki ki, ma ma ma" derived from that very quote. And 2) In addition to being revealed as the murderer not only here, but in 1958, it shows that she is also completely bat shit insane. Her brain is squrimin' like a toad.
Oh, by the way...
May 9th, 1980
May 23rd, 1980
The Ending:
More solid practical effects as Mrs. V is completely decaffeinated. At the time, there were two ways to interpret the rise of Jason from the lake:
1) It really happened. Zombie Jason rose from the lake to pull in the killer of his vengeful mother.
2) It was a dream sequence, since she woke up in the hospital, and the two police officers are seen looking toward her right before Jason pulls her in and saw nothing.
With the way the franchise went, option 2 was obviously the correct interpretation. I am also in favor of that interpretation, because this was a very calculated movie in terms of how it was made. Seeing it break the reality rules would've brought it out of the element it created.
