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They were warned, they were told to stay away from Camp Crystal Lake…they didn’t listen and now on Friday the 13th – they will pay the ultimate price; their lives.
When a group of camp counselors travel up to the camp where a series of grisly murders and disasters have occurred since a young boy named Jason drowned, they thought they were doing the local townsfolk some good by re-opening the camp. Unfortunately for them a killer is on the loose and is picking off the young people one by one in various, violent and gory ways.
Friday the 13th really helped to build the slasher genre. It was a super gory/violent film for its time and broke box office records for this type of film exceeding the expectations of the filmmakers and the studio involved. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t fare to well with age. The characters’ deaths aren’t nearly as shocking or gory as they once were the mystery of the killer is pretty wide known so the whole “Who-dun-it?” aspect is completely ruined and the acting doesn’t warrant any award winning performances. However, despite its short comings based on films now – those films that have pushed the envelope further, would not be here if it wasn’t for Friday the 13th.
Your basic slasher formula runs rampant here, the promiscuous kids all get hacked off, the virgin “nice” girl is the one to take the villain down, and the kills are wildly violent and effective for the film’s age. With this new edition we are finally seeing the film fully uncut, which amounts to about 45 seconds of footage, and in a newly remastered transfer which hurts the film more than anything. A lot of the skin tones on the actors’ make up does not match their own, particularly Kevin Bacon’s infamous death, so that takes away from the overall effect of the scene and this new transfer shows the inconsistency more than it should. However, it is the best the film’s ever looked and sounded, not to mention the extras are pretty satisfying for a film of this caliber. If you’re a fan of this film, this is the edition to own.
