The Original Film
Friday the 13th (1980) is an influential horror film. Alongside The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Halloween (1978), it solidified slasher films as a new horror subgenre and mainstay in pop culture. But its not nearly as close to perfect as those two.
Friday the 13th contains lackluster characters, barely has a story, and contains a few scenes that linger too long. And the final fight between Pam Voorhees and Alice, the final girl, isn’t executed as well as you would expect it to be. Honestly, it feels slightly amateur.
There are a few things this movie does well. It makes excellent use of POV shots and freeze frames. It has a couple good kills, a beautiful setting, and introduced the world to the name Jason Voorhees.
The Characters
Camp Counselors
The counselors are a group of friends preparing to reopen Camp Crystal Lake, a camp that has a reputation as a cursed location. It has a history of bad events, including the murder of two counselors in 1958 and the drowning of a young boy in 1957.
Friday the 13th is essentially a hang out movie. We watch the characters set up camp, goof off, and play games. If the characters weren’t so flat, this would’ve been fun to watch. Instead, Ned is an annoying clown. Brenda is a lively person, but she doesn’t have as much room to show off her full range of personality. The only thing we learn about her is that she likes to read and play board games.
Jack is the cool guy. But honestly, the only thing that makes him cool is that he’s played by Kevin Bacon. Bacon is the kind of actor you just have to pay attention to on the screen. There’s also Bill, who gives off a macho, nature man vibe similar to Rob Dier in The Final Chapter. Unfortunately, he only shows this side of him when he kills a snake. He never fights the killer one on one or tries to save anyone’s life.
Pam
Pam Voorhees is the villain in this film. She’s murdering people to avenge the death of her son, Jason, who she believes drowned at Crystal Lake when counselors were neglecting him. She’s a decent antagonist with a reasonable motive, but she’s no Jason Voorhees. Jason keeps you glued to the screen. His mother doesn’t.
We don’t see Pam until the final act. Prior to this, the killer is never actually shown on screen during any of the chase or murder sequences. I don’t mind this. It adds suspense and takes the film into murder mystery territory.
The Setting
The setting is beautiful. I’m a nature lover. Any film that takes place in the woods and shows off trees, lakes, and sunlight is going to get a thumbs up from me for the setting.
The summer camp environment adds a nice touch to the atmosphere too. When you take an innocent place and transform it into a site for terror and mayhem, it makes the story more unsettling. Plus, cabins can have a claustrophobic, unnerving aura about them, especially in the dark. Friday the 13th utilizes this fact to its advantage.
The Kills of Friday the 13th (1980)
There isn’t really much to talk about in terms of kills. Ned, Brenda, and Bill die offscreen. Steve, the leader of the camp, is stabbed in the stomach, but we don’t actually see the knife enter him. We only see his reaction. The same goes for the camp counselors in the opening sequence. Without a doubt, the best kills are Annie, Jack, and Marcie.
Annie is hitchhiking to the campground and is picked up by Pam along the way. Pam drives by her stop and refuses to turn around. Frightened, Annie jumps out of the jeep while its in motion. She runs into the woods, but Pam catches up to her and slits her throat. Blood slides down her neck like an avalanche.
Marcie’s death scene is suspenseful. It’s raining and its night. She takes a trip to the bathroom and gets the sense someone else is in there with her. She checks the stalls and finds no one there. Right when she thinks she’s imagining things, she turns around and receives an axe in the head.
As for Jack, he’s lying in the bottom bunk of his bed, waiting for Marcie to come back to the room. Blood droplets fall on his forehead. He’s confused about their source. He’s unaware Ned’s dead body is in the top bunk above him. Before he can investigate, Pam shoves a spear through his throat from underneath the bed. A very painful way to go.
Alice: The Final Girl of Friday the 13th (1980)
Alice is my least favorite final girl in this series. She lacks the feminine grace of Chris in Part III, the boldness of Trish in Part IV, the relatability of Ginny in Part II, the depth of Tina Sheppard in The New Blood, and the alluring nature of Pam in A New Beginning.
Alice is a vanilla character. She’s not charismatic and doesn’t have much personality. She’s just a girl who goes to camp, sees all her friends killed, and fights the killer at the end of the movie. I have a very hard time rooting for or becoming invested in her.
Better Choices For Final Girl
The final girl of Friday the 13th should’ve been Annie or Marcie. If it had been one of them, this movie definitely would’ve landed higher on my list of best Friday the 13th movies. They are better characters than Alice and easier to root for.
Annie
Annie is adorable and innocent. She likes to cook too. It’s always been her dream to be a camp counselor. Clearly, she loves children and helping others. She strikes me as the kind of person that would make a great elementary school teacher or nurse.
Annie died too soon. She should’ve at least made it to Crystal Lake and interacted with the other counselors to show audiences what type of relationship she had with them. Brenda or Alice should’ve taken her place as the first victim of the group.
Marcie
Marcie is Jack’s girlfriend. She’s another variation of the sweetheart archetype. She’s a jokester and talks to herself out loud when she’s alone. Marcie is also afraid of thunderstorms. That last trait could’ve led the story into interesting territory if she was the final girl. Why? Because a storm hits the camp when night falls.
The storm ends before the action between Alice and Pam spills outside, but if Marcie had been the final girl I’m sure the writers would’ve had enough common sense to continue the bad weather. In this alternative scenario, Marcie would’ve had to simultaneously fight for survival and conquer her fear of storms. This third act would’ve been more engaging than the one the audience receives.
