Friday the 13th

release year: 1980
genre: horror
viewing setting: home Bluray 12/16/22 and home DVD 2/12/09 (and several other times in the 80s and 90s)

synopsis: A murderer stalks and kills counselors at a summer camp.

impressions: I've seen this movie several times before, and of course all the sequels, but the time had come to fully delve into the Bluray collection, so here we are. This movie seems cliche now, but what people need to remember is that it and others from its time actually _created_ those cliches. The unknown killer...the victims who do nothing to protect/save themselves...people wandering around unsuspecting as the body count piles up...protagonists knocking the killer out and then running away instead of finishing the job...none of this stuff happened before the late 1970s. In a sense, this is almost a murder mystery, because you don't know who the killer is, and there are several potential suspects. The suspense is still top-notch, the music is famously creepy, and the gore was fairly graphic (especially for its time.) There's also an ambiguous ending which leaves you wondering what really happened, at least until the sequel.

body count: 10

notable kills: arrow through throat from below, while lying on cot

acting: Adrienne King is the main girl, who's quiet but mostly competent when she has to be. Peter Brouwer is a socially-odd camp owner. Kevin Bacon has an early role as a counselor.

final word: Still a classic.

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