Friday The 13th/Review 2

From The Grindhouse Cinema Database

< Friday The 13th
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Friday the 13th is one of the most well known slasher films. There has been a ridiculous amount of sequels, a crossover, and of course a remake. This is a huge franchise. So how does the first film fare?

The icon of the series is the hockey masked slasher Jason Voorhees. However Jason is not the killer in the first film. He is in the movie, but only briefly and shown as a child. He isn't the killer until the second movie, and he doesn't wear the iconic hockey mask, until the the third. Jason's mother is the killer in the first movie, and is played by Betsy Palmer, which came as a surprise to a lot of people. The first two in the series are very effective, but after that they are bad but usually in an enjoyable way.

The movie keeps the killer hidden for most of the movie, showing first person shots, and revealing only an arm for a while. When they do reveal the killer, there is a slight downfall. The problem is that once the killer is revealed, the rest of the movie is a fight between Betsy Palmer and the remaining girl. This is how many slasher films end, but it doesn't work so well here. The issue is that the scene is a physical scene, and Betsy Palmer wasn't good at physical acting. The fighting looks laughably bad. I don't blame her though, I mean she was pretty old when the movie came out, so you can't expect her to be up for intense fighting.

The movie has a pretty good cast. Some of the characters are quite annoying, one is really funny, and one becomes the big star Kevin Bacon. Tom Savini did the special effects and they look great. He is awesome in everything he's in. He acts and does special effects and makeup for many horror movies including Dawn Of The Dead, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Creepshow. Some special effect highlights are the arrow through the neck, and the design for young Jason.

Friday the 13th is one of the greats. It's old but holds up pretty well. Don't watch the remake or sequels without seeing the original.

Reviewed by Sam Paul - 10/6/12

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