Panned by critics during its initial release, Friday the 13th (1980) is arguably the quintessential American slasher. It also launched a seemingly unstoppable franchise. With an iconic villain (Jason Voorhees), an instantly identifiable location (Camp Crystal Lake), and a rabid fan base that expresses its adoration through everything from clothing to tattoos, the Friday the 13th franchise still has an indelible presence in the popular zeitgeist nearly 40 years later. The film has generated countless sequels, inspired a comic book and a television series, and even resulted in a survival horror video game; yet, there is a surprising dearth of scholarship devoted to the franchise.
In honor of the original film’s 40th anniversary, Horror Homeroom presents our first ever special issue. With 17 original essays, both academic and personal, we hope to celebrate the cultural and cinematic legacies of this much maligned series.
People-including the creator-have always loved to dismiss the original as a cheap rip-off of Halloween. This is quite unfair, and in the case of the creator, outright lying. He KNOWS better. While there are similarities, there are profound differences, and Friday the 13th probably owes more to Agatha Christie than to John Carpenter. While I love Halloween, this movie is a masterpiece in its’ own right, and probably more of a true slasher film. Probably the greatest pure slasher movie ever crafted, in fact. Fact is, Cunningham is embarrassed to admit that he actually put any effort into the film because, in his social realm, slasher movies are not respected. He’d rather claim that he threw the movie together as a piece of junk designed to cash in on someone else’s work….than to simply come right out and say that he actually took the project seriously, or that he put any actual effort or care into its’ outcome. Very sad.