Friday the 13th (1980)
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A group of teenage camp counselors are hunted by an unknown killer while attempting to reopen a summer camp with a tragic past.
The story
In 1979, a group of counselors arrives at the remote Camp Crystal Lake to prepare the grounds for a reopening. The site has a troubled history involving a tragedy in the late 1950s. As the counselors work to refurbish the cabins and prepare for the upcoming season, they find themselves stalked by a mysterious and violent assailant. Amidst the isolation of the woods and the looming threat of a storm, the counselors must survive the night as they are picked off one by one by a killer who seems to be haunting the grounds.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1958, two counselors are murdered at Camp Crystal Lake. In 1979, a new group of counselors arrives to reopen the camp. Among them are Alice, who is joined by others like Ned, Jack, Bill, Marcie, and Brenda. As they work, a mysterious killer begins picking them off. Annie, a cook, is attacked early on while traveling to the site. The counselor Steve Christy is also killed by the assailant. The mystery of the killer's identity remains until the final act, where it is revealed that the killer is Pamela Voorhees, the mother of a boy who drowned in the lake in 1957. She blames the counselors for her son's death. After a final confrontation on the shore, Alice manages to defeat Pamela. The film ends with a chilling moment where the spirit of her son, Jason, rises from the water to grab Alice as she sleeps in a canoe.
- First release year
- 1980
- Runtime (minutes)
- 95
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Sean S. Cunningham
- Writers
- Victor Miller · writer
- Cast and characters
- Betsy Palmer · Pamela Voorhees; Adrienne King · Alice; Harry Crosby; Laurie Bartram · Brenda; Mark Nelson · Jack; Jeannine Taylor · Marcie; Robbi Morgan; Kevin Bacon · Ned
- Genres
- slasher; horror
- Themes
- teen sexuality; mother-son relationships; vengeance
- Tone and mood
- suspenseful; violent
- Setting
- Camp Crystal Lake, 1979
- Premise and plot tags
- slasher; survival; mystery
- Content notes
- violence
- Reception
- The film was a major box-office success but received largely unfavorable reviews from critics at the time, who criticized its graphic violence and deemed it an exploitation film. However, it has since gained a significant cult following and is considered a classic of the slasher genre.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 22 · scale: 100 · review count: 11
- Production trivia
- It was the first independent slasher film to be acquired by a major motion picture studio.; The character of Alice is considered a prominent example of the 'final girl' trope.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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