Friday the 13th (1980)

If Halloween was the slasher film’s first bow, Friday the 13th was the standing ovation. The film comes on hard core with the gore and never lets up. Friday the 13th is a low budget movie — and it shows. It is saved by the urban legendesque, campfire-tale that is Jason Voorhees, and by the bloody clever makeup effects of Tom Savini.

The film touched a chord that it’s been pulling ever since, playing off our natural fears of being alone in the woods. Jason’s mother, Pam Voorhees, actually does the killings in this film, but the story of Jason Voorhees has become such a part of our culture that we often forget that now.

Plot summary for Friday the 13th:
The mother of a young boy who drowned at Camp Crystal Lake in the 1950s has come back for revenge. Her targets — any teens within a radius of the camp, which is being prepared for a reopening. Mama Voorhees believes revenge is a dish best served with a large machete, and teen blood is soon being spilled all through the woods. In the end it will be up to one teenage girl to fight off the woman who has come back to avenge “Jason … sweet, innocent Jason.”

Memorable scene from Friday the 13th:
Kevin Bacon (in his film debut) lights up a doobie in a hammock before getting speared through the throat with an arrow. Talk about a buzz killer.

Memorable quote from Friday the 13th:
“He neglected to mention that downtown they call this place Camp Blood.”

Why Socreepy loves Friday the 13th:
Despite having the production values of a first grade Christmas pageant, the film’s creep factor somehow manages to seep through. Like all well-told horror movies, the surprise ending is a real talker. This film works because, like its killer(s), it never lets you go. Just when the heroine thinks she is home-free, a worm-ridden Jason jumps out of the lake and grabs her by the neck. From that moment, a star was born with a worm-ridden fact that only a mother could love.

Frightening Fact:
It was Friday the 13th’s special makeup effects desginer, Tom Savini, who thought of having Jason attack Alice at the end of the movie. When the film opened, Savini went from theater to theater to gauge the audience’s response to the scene.