Friday The 13th In More Ways Than One, Apparently
Well I thought I'd try something new and not talk about TV or movies, only to then realise that I'd done nothing all day. So anyway, last night there was a party over the back which began at around 1.30am and its noise kept me up for much of the night. Bleh. I used to be a wake-up early type of person, yet these last few weeks my start date keeps getting later and later, now averaging around (shock, horror) 9am. As a testament to my sleepiness, it took me until now to realise that last night's viewing of the famous horror flick Friday The 13th on TV2 coincided with...friday the 13th. I had no idea it was a Black Friday. Possibly because I consider anyone who believes in any kind of superstition from lucky charms to horoscopes to be in need of a serious reality check and subsequently don't care when such a date arises. But anyways, now I understand why they decided to haul this grandmother-of-modern-slashers out of retirement, as the quality of the film itself failed to answer this question.
In a nutshell, I should start by saying that the idea of Friday the 13th being a classic is a misconception. It was popular at its time, hell it even spawned 10 (count them, 10) sequels - 11 if you count the recent Elm Street-crossover Freddy vs. Jason - and there are elements stolen from this movie by pretty much every moder slasher flick since. In that sense, it is an important film in the history of cinema in that it helped shape a genre. But this is nothing to the standard of John Carpenter's brilliant Halloween or even Brain De Palma's solid supernatural horror Carrie - both of which could be said to have influenced it (nearly all in one night, the killing of horny teens). This is a poorly written cheesefest, worth watching if you're into the camp horrors of the 70s and early 80s but probably not worth having to live through tiredness the next day for, as I have discovered. It's main saving grace would be the killer, whose identity I shall now spoil as you should already know who it is from watching the opening of Wes Craven's brilliant feature-length-in-joke Scream (afterall, if you haven't seen Scream then I take pleasure in spoiling the ending of this movie just to punish you for not having done so). The villain turns out to be the mother of a child who had drowned at the camp where the film is set, a mother who is determined to both get revenge against the councillors who didn't help (not the one's who were actually there in the movie, it's kind of an anti-councillor complex) and to get the camp closed down for good by scaring everyone away. The killer was actually creepy - scary even - because she seemed like a typical next-door neighbour middle-aged lady... only one who could just knock on your door one day and suddenly stab you in the stomach as you open it. Insanity is scary - the fear of the unknown - and I applaude the film for creating that kind of fear, if achieving little else of what it sets out to do. I also commend it for killing this really annoying bitch whose mere presence ruins the first 20 minutes before she gets gutted in a scene of complete and utter predictability.
But I think that predictability goes to show the film's influence on contemporary horror - we expect certain things in this film and the plot fails to surprise, but only because so many movies have copied it since. I guess it would be impossible to enjoy the film today as it was enjoyed back when it first came out in the early eighties, and so it may be unfair in awarding it a D+ or 1.5/5. If you do decide to see it out of curiosity or, like me, to understand why it is spoken about so often in discussions on the most influential horrors of the 70s and 80s, look for a young Kevin Bacon from the 20 minute mark onwards. He plays a horny, often-shirtless, speedo-wearing 80s teen employed for the sole purpose of drawing in the female viewers but who is given the only unpredictable and commendable death in the whole movie.
Overall verdict: This movie proves that Kevin Bacon is in every movie.
About Movie Grades
In a nutshell, I should start by saying that the idea of Friday the 13th being a classic is a misconception. It was popular at its time, hell it even spawned 10 (count them, 10) sequels - 11 if you count the recent Elm Street-crossover Freddy vs. Jason - and there are elements stolen from this movie by pretty much every moder slasher flick since. In that sense, it is an important film in the history of cinema in that it helped shape a genre. But this is nothing to the standard of John Carpenter's brilliant Halloween or even Brain De Palma's solid supernatural horror Carrie - both of which could be said to have influenced it (nearly all in one night, the killing of horny teens). This is a poorly written cheesefest, worth watching if you're into the camp horrors of the 70s and early 80s but probably not worth having to live through tiredness the next day for, as I have discovered. It's main saving grace would be the killer, whose identity I shall now spoil as you should already know who it is from watching the opening of Wes Craven's brilliant feature-length-in-joke Scream (afterall, if you haven't seen Scream then I take pleasure in spoiling the ending of this movie just to punish you for not having done so). The villain turns out to be the mother of a child who had drowned at the camp where the film is set, a mother who is determined to both get revenge against the councillors who didn't help (not the one's who were actually there in the movie, it's kind of an anti-councillor complex) and to get the camp closed down for good by scaring everyone away. The killer was actually creepy - scary even - because she seemed like a typical next-door neighbour middle-aged lady... only one who could just knock on your door one day and suddenly stab you in the stomach as you open it. Insanity is scary - the fear of the unknown - and I applaude the film for creating that kind of fear, if achieving little else of what it sets out to do. I also commend it for killing this really annoying bitch whose mere presence ruins the first 20 minutes before she gets gutted in a scene of complete and utter predictability.
But I think that predictability goes to show the film's influence on contemporary horror - we expect certain things in this film and the plot fails to surprise, but only because so many movies have copied it since. I guess it would be impossible to enjoy the film today as it was enjoyed back when it first came out in the early eighties, and so it may be unfair in awarding it a D+ or 1.5/5. If you do decide to see it out of curiosity or, like me, to understand why it is spoken about so often in discussions on the most influential horrors of the 70s and 80s, look for a young Kevin Bacon from the 20 minute mark onwards. He plays a horny, often-shirtless, speedo-wearing 80s teen employed for the sole purpose of drawing in the female viewers but who is given the only unpredictable and commendable death in the whole movie.
Overall verdict: This movie proves that Kevin Bacon is in every movie.
About Movie Grades
posted by Steve @ 6:28 PM
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