Alright it's time for a review that many cult followers of this franchise might not find very good, to say the least. I recently saw the original Friday the 13th for the first time in my life, surprisingly. I am a huge fan of horror films, but have never ventured to see this one, as I know of Jason Voorhees and his ridiculous legacy already (hence the 10 sequels and the 2009 remake). After seeing this film, however, I can't lie and say that it lived up to the classic hype, because for me, it definitely did not.
After seeing countless sequels and reboots of many franchises, I begin to wonder if Hollywood really is running out of ideas. Then I see a film like Jason X or Freddy vs. Jason and that thought is chased out of my mind. While some argue that there are no more original movies left, I do not agree. I just think there are more films being produced that incorporate other aspects from various films in brilliant ways. Friday the 13th, however, was the complete opposite of what I was expecting. I was expecting an original slasher film that began the decades-old legacy of the hockey mask-wearing psychopath Jason. However, I was honestly very disappointed to find out that Jason was not even in this film as the classic version of himself that horror fans love. Given the marketing and posters and hype before I saw this film, I was expecting to see the actual face of this franchise, but that was not the case. Even one of the original posters has the hockey mask on it, so I was very misled. Keep in mind that I have never seen this film before, so I guess I just did not know what to expect.
Another thing that was a concern for me was this film's lack of A. original content and B. diversity. As for original content, this film was nothing more than an hour-and-a-half slasher fest. Which I have come to expect from these kinds of horror films, but being one of the founding films of this genre, I expected a lot more. My biggest problem was the straight-up ripoff of a lot of the plot of Hitchcock's Psycho. Given that film is one of the best and influential horror films of all time, it is easy to take some elements here and there to modify for a film. Friday the 13th, however, had almost identical characteristics of Hitchcock's masterpiece. The mother/son plot twist and psychological elements were practically the same idea. And the fact that the main antagonist wields a massive knife? How original. I expected to see more original uses of weapons and death in this film, but I understand that laziness in filmmaking is a big problem. My other problem with this film was its lack of diversity. It was the modern 1980, and not one actor of color had a leading role in the film. This might not have been the director's intention, but nowadays that would be a huge problem.
Speaking of the cast of the film, those who were involved played their parts very well. I for one had no clue that baby Kevin Bacon was in this film, so I was pleasantly surprised by his great performance. The true protagonist of the film, who of course did not drink, smoke, or have sex, was Alice, the final girl (played by Adrienne King). Her relentlessness against the killer, who ended up being Pamela Voorhees, was formidable, and she held up to be the best part of the film. Not just the good acting part, but her character seemed to be the only reasonable one as well.
Overall, Friday the 13th is an entertaining start to the legendary franchise, but nothing to rave about. It refused to show any original ideas other than the beginning of Jason Voorhees, which even then, did not show him until the end coming out of the lake. I would recommend this film to beginners of the slasher genre, but do not expect too much.
My Rating: ★★★
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