Friday the 13th

Originally conceived as a Halloween rip-off for the purpose of making some quick cash, director Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th would inspire ten sequels, a TV series, a remake, and an army of imitators.  The original holds up well enough all these years later.

After a brutal double murder in 1958, Camp Crystal Lake was shut down.  Attempts to reopen the camp were met with strange happenings, including fires and poisoned water, leading the locals to term the place "Camp Blood."  For some reason, Steve Christy (Peter Brouwer), the son of the original owners, thinks it's a great idea to reopen the camp, and recruits a group of teenagers to assist him in this endeavor.  Steve takes off to run some errands in the nearest town, leaving the teens to brave snakes, the rainy night, and a murderer who's determined to dispose of every one of them.

There's not really any character development, but the teens are, for the most part, believable and likable, if totally oblivious; it isn't until the very end of the film, when there is only one survivor, that she realizes everyone else is dead.  The actors are adequate; I particularly liked Robbi Morgan as the cheery Annie, who at first appears to be the Final Girl, until she gets her throat slit before even making it to the camp.  Jeannine Taylor and Kevin Bacon display the film's only nudity, which is nice because Taylor is easily the most attractive of the ladies.  Walt Gorney is fun as Crazy Ralph, who tries to warn the kids of the impending danger.  His approach - lying in wait in a cupboard until Alice happens to open it, emerging, and raving, "I'm a messenger of God.  You're doomed if you stay here!  Doooomed!" - is probably not the best, but it's an admirable effort.

The music rips off Psycho in a big way, but adds its own distinctive touch with the "ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma" sounds signaling the killer's arrival.  Makeup master Tom Savini does the effects work, and the teens die in inventive ways, including an axe to the head and an arrow through the neck.  The uncut DVD restores some excised gore, amounting to a few seconds of footage.  The identity of the killer is kept secret, leading to a nice surprise revelation and twist ending.

Friday is not without its mistakes - supposedly dead bodies move, and Annie mentions that she'll "be cooking for 50 kids," then, in her very next scene, complains, "I've always wanted to work with children.  I hate when people call them kids.  Sounds like little goats" - but, overall, it does quite well for a low-budget production.  Friday the 13th isn't as good as those other genre classics, Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street, but it is one of the more entertaining, definitive slashers.