Hello, and welcome to 10 Nights, 10 Frights! For the next two weeks, I’ll be taking you on a trip into old nightmares, as I revisit some on my favorite horror movies. The art of the jump scare, the psychological terror, and the value in buckets of blood. So sit back, relax, and don’t bother locking the door. It won’t make a difference.
I love slasher films. There is such a craft to the rising tension for the ultimate jump scare. Friday the 13th is one of the true Hallmarks of horror, with blood and shock waiting around every corner. While the franchise would ultimately become the playground of Jason Vorhees, the most maniacal man in a hockey mask that I’ve ever known, the best film belongs to his mother. Where later movies would focus on the brutality of Jason, and how impossible is to slay him, I find the original narrative to be much more entertaining. Anybody can create an unkillable monster, but not everybody can make a killer who you understand. With creative direction and a smart series of events that isolate the characters, The original Friday the 13th makes killing fun in a way few others do.
A big part of what makes the original Friday the 13th so enticing and enjoyable is the mystery surrounding the killer. Many of it’s horror successors would try to replicate this, to mixed effect. But the original Friday leaves you scared throughout the whole movie because the killer could be anybody. The ultimate reveal takes advantage of this, as a very nondescript woman is ultimate is the ferocious murderer. Her bloodlust unparalleled, Mrs. Vorhees leads the way to one of the most memorable horror icons of all time, her son Jason. In many ways though, Mama Vorhees is superior, because she is so unassuming. When she first arrives on scream, you don’t suspect anything from her. She looks like every other mid-western mother of her era. And that’s what makes her so scary. All it takes is the death of a child to instill a rage like no other.
Of course, the movie is far from perfect. There is bad acting throughout, and the characters have as much depth as a puddle in the middle of the desert. However, these characters are still engaging, and you almost want to watch them suffer for how cliched they are. You know from the opening of the movie that there is going to be a bloodbath, as horny teenagers die at the camp. The mystery of who will die and when is more fun than the actual kills, which is saying something when you consider how great they are. My personal favorites include the death by arrows, and even more so the death of Kevin Bacon, who dies with an arrow to the throat when he’s about to get it on.
In a genre littered with awful acting, awful scripts, and laughable villains, the original Friday the 13th holds up remarkably well for it’s timeless setting, strong pacing, and relentless final act. Oh yeah, and the single greatest jump scare of all time when you think everything is safe at the end of the movie.
