Friday the 13th
By : Sinn

*caution - contains slight spoilers*

The early '80s were a heyday for horror, spawning not just one, but three horror icons who pretty much made their way into mainstream parlance and are still with us today. Razor clawed child murderer with the equally sharp tongue Freddy Krueger. Masked Michael Myers, cold psychopath and pure evil as good old Doctor Loomis liked to call him. And the subject of this piece - Jason Voorhees, silent, implacable, inhuman killing machine who stalks the trippers of Camp Crystal lake and whose hockey mask has become an enduring symbol of horror recognized by fans and non fans alike.

Jason Voorhees, terror of Camp Crystal Lake, export of killing who takes his bloody art of murder as far afield as Manhattan, and even space. Jason Vorhees, cold blooded and utterly silent psychopath whose hockey mask face has graced 10 films and is scheduled for another outing in the inevitable 21st century remake/sequel.

Oddly though, the opening chapter of the film series which sealed Jasons place in horror infamy, Friday the 13th, differs from the other two mentioned icons - Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers - in that Jasons on screen time is relatively low, and his role in the plot would change drastically for the rest of the movies. He would go seamlessly from cause of the killing to killer himself, unlike the other 2 horror icons who began and ended their time as maniacs.

Opening in the haven for trippers and soon to be bloodbath that is now famed in the annals of horror, Camp Crystal Lake, or Camp Blood as the locals now like to call it, by far the greatest weapon in Friday the 13ths arsenal of terror is its atmosphere. The music - ch ch ch cha cha - the intensity given by the camera work, the feeling that it's not just any random person getting butchered but rather that death is imminent, that it could be you.

Although the basic formula of the movie has been repeated a thousand times since, few imitators have come even close to capturing the spirit of the movie, and likely none have had either the influence on the horror genre as a whole or spawned the slew of sequels and spin offs that all stemmed from the original Friday the 13th.

Perhaps - poor fools - someone viewing Friday the 13th for the first time now after being fed on a diet of modern slashers which mostly bear the mark of it's influence, will think it dated or old hat, but for it's time it was a groundbreaking film. Many scenes you see in films today, over 20 years on, must tip a bloodied machete in silent tribute to the debt they owe.

By turns subtle and scary, and with a genuine air of mystery for the first time viewer - I'm deliberately trying to be somewhat oblique about some of my references here so as not to spoil it for anyone yet to experience this horror gem - even today Friday the 13th remains proud as one of the films which set the standards for, and was in large part responsible for the boom of interest in, that whole sub genre of horror called the Slasher movie.

I won't lie or look back upon the Friday 13th movies with rose tinted glasses. I, and doubtless most other horror fans would agree, there were far too many sequels, the movies kept on coming and riding on the back of the originals success long after Jason Voorhees should have hung up his hockey mask and retired to that great butchers yard in the sky, but none of that can detract from the unparalleled influence the opening chapter, and to a lesser extent the next 2 films, had on the world of horror.

Friday the 13th can take its rightful place and wear it's bloody crown of thorns in the Valhalla of gore as one of those movies that everyone who is a fan of horror must see. If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery then this film has more people singing its praise than almost any other in horrors long and bloody history.