Friday the 13^th (1980): With countless spin-offs and follow-up films, this classic horror movie is a must-see. With thrills and frights at every turn, it will keep you on the edge of your seat. Friday the 13^th was the beginning of a booming franchise of films and story-lines, so to appreciate what came after, you have to first fall in love with this film.

Friday the 13^th – Plot Summary

When the film begins, it takes you back to 1958 when two camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake, Barry and Claudette, sneak away to have sex. Unfortunately for the pair, as they begin to undress, someone sneaks in and kills them.

Fast forwarding to June 13^th in the present day, the film shows Annie asking for directions to Camp Crystal Lake, which recently reopened. Instead of receiving directions, a man named Ralph comes out and warns Annie, along with patrons in the diner, that they are all doomed. After the unsettling interaction, Annie gets a ride from a friendly truck driver who agrees to drop her about halfway to camp.

Enos

On the way, the driver, Enos, warns Annie about the camp’s dangers, telling her about a drowning that occurred in 1957, followed closely by the double murder. Enos drops Annie off as agreed, and she ends up getting a ride from a different driver in a Jeep. Instead of stopping at the camp’s entrance, the drive continues, scaring Annie. She jumps out and runs, only to get chased down and killed by the unknown person.

Friday the 13th; The Counselors

Meanwhile, at the camp, the other counselors are preparing for campers. They have some strange incidents, but things take a turn for the worst when the killer begins picking them off one-by-one. One pair gets brutally murdered when they sneak off to have sex, another is killed coming back to the camp from town, and, when the lights at the camp go out, Bill is also killed while investigating the issue.

Alice

Alice, one of the counselors, is left alone. She thinks she hears Steve and runs to warn him, but instead of finding Steve, she finds an old woman. The woman introduces herself as Mrs. Voorhees and reveals that she is the mother of the boy who drowned at the lake in 1957. She blames her son’s death on inattentive counselors, who were too busy having sex to realize that Jason was drowning in the lake. She tells Alice that today would have been Jason’s birthday and suddenly, she turns violent, revealing herself as the killer.

Friday the 13th: The Bodies Pile Up

The two go after one another, with many close calls and a lengthy chase. Alice finds Steve’s and Annie’s bodies while she’s running from Mrs. Voorhees. Alice continues to get chased all over camp, quite literally running for her life. Finally, Alice is able to kill Mrs. Voorhees by the lake. In shock, Alice gets in the canoe and falls asleep in the middle of the lake.

The next morning, police arrive. They call to Alice and as she wakes up, the body of Jason, the boy who drowned years ago, grabs Alice and pulls her into the lake. She wakes up in the hospital and the police tell her that everyone else at the camp died, but that Jason was never found.

Friday the 13^th – Trivia

• The film was advertised before it even had funding or began filming. Apparently, this ploy worked, because the interest for the film skyrocketed.
• Special effects master Tom Savini was one of the first people hired on to the project. His work in the 1978 horror flick “Dawn of the Dead” made him very sought after
• Camp Crystal Lake in the film is actually Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco and it is still operational today.
• Harry Crosby was temporarily blinded by fake blood and had to be taken to the hospital, but ultimately ended up ok.
• Victor Miller, the screenwriter, is not a fan of the sequels. He loved his story because, in it, Jason was not a villain. The following films turned Jason into the killer.
• Friday the 13th was filmed at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in New Jersey. The camp is still in service
• Actress Betsy Palmer hated the script despite the fact that the movie eventually made her famous
• Producers of Friday the 13th admitted that they were riding the coat-tails of John Carpenter’s “Halloween”. Nobody cared
• The movie’s budget was $550,000 but it made over $40 million to date

Friday the 13th Cast

Betsy Palmer – Mrs. Voorhees
Adrienne King – Alice
Jeannine Taylor – Marcie
Robbi Morgan – Annie
Kevin Bacon – Jack
Harry Crosby – Bill
Laurie Bartram – Brenda
Mark Nelson – Ned
Peter Brouwer – Steve Christy
Rex Everhart – The Truck Driver
Ronn Carroll – Sgt. Tierney
Ron Millkie – Officer Dorf
Walt Gorney – Crazy Ralph
Willie Adams – Barry
Debra S. Hayes- Claudette
Dorothy Kobs – Trudy
Sally Anne Golden – Sandy
Mary Rocco – Operator
Ken L. Parker – Doctor
Ari Lehman – Jason