Friday the 13th From:Betsy Palmer , Adrienne King , Jeannine Taylor , Robbi Morgan , Kevin Bacon , Paramount , Sean S. Cunningham ,
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See larger picture. | | Amazon Sales Rank:# 9338 User Rating: Customer Reviews List Price:$9.98 Amazon.com's Price:$8.99 Prices subject to change. You Save:$0.99 (9.92%) Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours |
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Paramount
EAN: 9780792158790
Format: Closed-captioned
Format: Color
Format: Widescreen
Format: NTSC
ISBN: 0792158792
Label: Paramount
Audio Format: Dolby Digital 2.0
Audio Format: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Manufacturer: Paramount
Number Of Items: 1
Packaged Height: 60 hundredths-inches
Packaged Length: 740 hundredths-inches
Packaged Weight: 25 hundredths-pounds
Packaged Width: 540 hundredths-inches
Publisher: Paramount
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 1999-10-19
Running Time: 95 minutes
Studio: Paramount
Theatrical Release Date: 1980-05-09
Product Description:
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/22/2006 Run time: 95 minutes Rating: R
Customer Reviews:
1 of 5 customers found the following review helpful:
 A dreadful disappointment., 2008-11-01
Authenticity, creativity, style, and a spine-chilling sensation are some of the most compelling characteristics that make for a truly impressive horror film. Unfortunately, "Friday the 13th" does not even remotely approach those characteristics. This movie is an absolute atrocity that suffers from a variety of unforgivable flaws.
The opening scene takes place in the year 1958 at a summer campsite where a group of teenage camp counselors are enjoying a nice, quiet evening by the campfire. Two of the counselors are brutally murdered by an unknown character after attempting to slip away and make love. Following this incident, the movie fast forwards to the present. The current owner of the campsite, Steve Christy (Peter Brouwer), decides to revive the campsite for the summer with the assistance of some teenagers. Unbeknownst to them, there is a psychopathic killer lurking somewhere in the vicinity and it is obvious that Christy and the counselors are in grave danger. In addition to the aforementioned murder from years earlier, it is also revealed that a young boy drowned in the lake at the campsite during the year 1957. At this point, the audience is left to wonder what relevant connection these past incidents have to the present.
An immediate problem with this movie is the cardboard characters. They are very unappealing, monotonous individuals. Combine this with heavily uninspired acting and the characters are practically non-existent. They could have been replaced with mannequins and the film would not have been any less exciting.
The movie also becomes bogged down with predictable scenes and plot points. For example, there is a scene where Annie (Robbi Morgan) hitches a ride with a mysterious character driving a Jeep. The driver's identity is not revealed and the entire scene is shown through the eyes of the driver using a point of view shot. Already, one can probably deduce the outcome of this situation. From the moment that Annie looks into the camera and speaks, it is obvious that the killer is sitting right in the driver's seat and Annie is mere moments away from facing her death.
There are scenes that are meant to be fearsome and horrific, but are laughable to say the least. Some of those scenes are slightly more intense than others, but they resort to the following sequence of events: The killer attacks the victim, the victim bleeds vigorously, and the scene ends. The excessive use of this gimmick quickly becomes tiresome and reiterated.
Now for the ultimate disappointment! Approximately twenty minutes before the film ends, the level of excitement finally begins to pick up. This is the film's golden opportunity to slightly redeem itself. Guess what?! That opportunity is completely destroyed thanks to the following two elements: The villain and the music. Without giving too much away, I can say that the villain is a disturbed psychopath whose mind is possessed by a deceased individual. After becoming familiar with this character's background, it became quite evident that I was watching a totally inferior, second-rate imitation of the character, Norman Bates from Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1960 thriller, "Psycho." This brings me to the point concerning the music. "Psycho" featured one of the most captivating musical scores ever composed, with its two-note motif being a memorable attribute. Amazingly, the music from the climactic scenes in "Friday the 13th" is strikingly similar to that of "Psycho" and at times, it is an exact note-for-note copy!! I was quite dismayed by such shameful rip-offs!
Classic horror films like "Psycho" and "Halloween" give audiences a true sense of artistry without having to resort to lazy, senseless gimmicks. "Friday the 13th" completely fails to be entertaining at that level.
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