Friday the 13th

I would personally rate this as one of the best horror films of the eighties ( and there were some good ones! ) I suppose it seems rather tame these days - there is hardly any bad language, only a small amount of sex and the violence is over rather quickly - no lingering scenes of carnage we are used to today. It almost has an innocence about it that I find rather appealling. What you should remember is that in it's day there was a lot of censorship in Britain and F13 did push the boundaries somewhat - it was far gorier than Halloween and other slashers from the seventies. And what may be seen as horror cliches now must be put into context - a lot of these devices were new in 1980. It set a new standard which many subsequent films tried to emulate and was far more influential than Halloween in my view. This was one of the first films that really shocked me and as such will always be a firm favourite.

There is nothing scary about this film. Nothing. Not even sure why it has an 18 rating. Don't waste your time!

See now this movie surprised me having seen Friday 13th Remake i was surprised at how nothing it was like the orginal. Good twist at the end and setting me up nicely to continue watching the Friday 13th series. Good horror for its time worth a watch defo.

So, the most recognisable of slasher flicks, and pretty much the template for horny teenagers in peril stories. And what humble beginnings it has.

I tried to watch it objectively, well aware that special effects and filming techniques have come a long way (for better or for worse) since 1980. I've read the script, seen some of the sequels, and seen Scream (so I know who the killer is) but the sign of a good film is one you can watch in full knowledge of the ending, and every jump scare and twist, and still enjoy. (Alien springs to mind.)

Remove the special effects (which are functional, and good for the time, which is it to be expected from the talent involved) however, and you have a pretty mediocre murder mystery. It's so mediocre the killer can't be bothered to show up in person until the last 10 min. If the killer had been one of the other campers, then it could have been a cute little whodunnit, showing up on ITV 3 on a Sunday afternoon. (There's very little nudity, and no bad language.) As it is, the special effects are the only thing that make the film memorable. The acting is mediocre, and the direction fails to elicit any tension suspense, or scares. (The only scare is famously at the very end, and not part of the original story.)

To its credit, in the bonus material on the Blu-ray the cast and crew claim that they never intended the film to be anything more than what it is. Maybe the cult following and franchise milking has raised expectations that the film itself couldn't live up to. But as it is, it lacks the control of Halloween, the flare of Bay of Blood (from which it borrows heavily) or the tension of The Haunting.

It's not terrible, just not very average. How the hell it spawned 22 sequels and a Saturday morning cartoon show, I'll never know. (And for the record, it's better than Elm Street – just.)

Quite disappointing- maybe because Ive seen so many horror/slasher films that came after this one and cannot appreciate its impact in 1980.

last 20 minutes quite exciting but before that a bit dull