October 13, 2017: Friday the 13th (1980)

When an opportunity like this arises, you have to commemorate it appropriately. So when I saw that October 13th was a Friday, I knew I had to watch and review the 1980’s teen slasher, Friday the 13th. Director and Producer, Sean Cunningham, wanted to cash in on the Halloween franchise money and created his own villain, Jason Voorhees. Friday the 13th would help establish the genre, teen slasher flicks, and many of the iconic tropes. Plus, it features a young Kevin Bacon so you know it will be good.

The music for this film was very intentional. Harry Manfredini decided to only have music playing when the killer was present. If you pay attention to the music, you will notice that there is never any music playing in the non-killing scenes. Manfredini used the lack of music to create bigger scares. Manfredini also was inspired by John Williams’ score of the iconic 1975 film, Jaws. He liked the idea of the music representing the killer without the audience actually seeing the killer. The shark in Jaws had the iconic menacing tones and so does Jason. Fun Fact: It is not “Ch-Ch-Ch-Ah-Ah-Ah”. It is written as “Ki-Ki-Ki-Ma-Ma-Ma” Manfredini wrote that after the final reel when Jason’s Mom is saying “Kill her, mommy.”

This is a classic 80’s horror flick. A psychotic killer is out and about killing horny teenagers. What’s not to love about this? This film was in the beginning of the teen slasher flick and it just rings with nostalgia. This movie is always connected to the iconic Jason Voorhees mask which doesn’t make an appearance until Part 3 comes out in 1982. Part 2 shows grown Jason with a bag over his head, along with red hair and a beard. In the first film, Jason is seen as the victim, not the killer and there’s a reverse “Psycho” happening. What I mean by that is that it is Jason’s mother who has Jason as a split personality whereas in the original Hitchcock film, “Psycho”, it was the son who had the spilt personality of his mother. This movie pays homage to many classic films like Psycho, Jaws and especially Halloween. Throughout scenes of this film, we are seeing the teenagers from the killer’s point of view, just like Halloween. Cunningham took the best qualities of these films and made Friday the 13th. It is a nice tribute.