"Kill her Mommy, kill her" Friday the 13th

My immediate first reaction after watching “Friday the 13th” is OMG! Even though I do tend to get somewhat jumpy during scary movies, few rarely impress me and I definitely wasn’t expecting this one to scare me at all, especially since it was made in 1980 and lacked the special effects we have today. Yet, I was completely wrong and found myself screaming out loud and finding this as one of the greatest scary movies ever made, up there with my favorites of the original “Halloween” and “The Shining”. The fact that it was based in an isolated creepy camp that has an eeriness about it and watching it now knowing there weren’t any cell phones or for them in the film, working phones or power during a storm, makes it all the more scary even without a psycho killer there. Yet, right away things were made scary especially with the camera angle from the view of the killer. It seemed as if they used a hand held camera a lot because it moved around and viewed things as the killer would see them or made you feel like you were in the room with the counselors scared yourself. I also thought it was a nice touch how the camera would zoom in and out to feel the victim’s tension and to let the audience know the killer was near without giving away the surprise attack that makes you scream. The music was also really fun in a scary movie “danger is approaching” way while feeling more classic than cheesy. Even though the audience is given an idea through the music and camera that the killer is coming, you still somehow don’t exactly know when or how he/she will kill the victim or who it will be. The actual killings were also surprisingly really gory and cringe worthy, the way you saw the throats being sliced or the ax or arrows through the body were very impressive and disgustingly realistic. The more different and bloody the killings are, the scarier the movie is because it gets your imagination going instead of just one stab or shot. Yet, it’s also the tension the film created that makes it a good horror film. While watching each counselor walk alone or hear noises, it’s that few moments before that really keep your attention because you’re not sure where the killer is going to come out of. With Alice knowing she might die, her scenes had a “Shining” affect because she was isolated in the middle of nowhere alone and her scenes were slow yet creepy slowly building fear and giving the audience a little hope that she might escape. Yet, instead of the typical the sweet virgin girl lives ending because the psycho man let her beat him, the killer in “Friday the 13th” really leaves you screaming WTF! I don’t know if I should give it away but the whole time I’m thinking it’s Jason Voorhees yet when finding out it’s not him, even though he’s famous for “Friday the 13th”, really surprised me because the film didn’t have your average killer. The film gave you a similar Michael Myers like background of why this was going on except this time focusing on the mother of the famous scary killer being Mrs. Voorhees who I find may indeed be creepier than Jason. The actress who played her really got into character the way she played a crazed revengeful mother. Her line “kill her Mommy, kill her” has just as a scary ring as “red rum red rum” does. And even when you think everything is okay in the end, the filmmakers know how to get in that one last scream. I definitely am now interested in watching the different “Friday the 13th” movies to see if it holds up to this original.