* (out of four) Counselors begin to set up for the re-opening of Camp Crystal Lake after it was closed decades earlier following some grisly unsolved murders. Unfortunately, the murders continue now that they are re-opening it.
This is one of the most famous of all slasher movies, put right up there with Psycho, Halloween and A Nightmare On Elm Street, and has been followed by nine sequels and a spin-off (Freddy Vs. Jason). Jason Vorhees (who actually is only in this one for the briefest of moments) became one of the slasher movie icons and seems to continually make money when one of his films opens. Why? I can answer that in four simple words: I have no idea.
Director Sean S. Cunningham manages to milk just a little bit of atmosphere with his ultra-low budget and nightime locations, but not very much. The script (assuming there was one) must have been less than five pages, since most of the movie consists of characters walking around in the darkness for no reason. The movie is amateurish, for one thing, but that's not the main problem: the main problem is that it does the absolute worst thing a movie can do.
It manages to be absolutely and utterly boring.
There are no differences whatsoever between the various characters. I didn't even catch most of their names, and the ones I did catch I quickly forgot. The actors either a, do the best with the nothing they're given (Betsy Palmer, Kevin Bacon), or b, are as unconvincing as the day is long (pretty much everyone else).
Additionally, absolutely nothing happens. It just goes on and on and on. It's just plain dull.
On the other hand, it does get one thing right that almost every other horror movie in history has gotten wrong: the ending. The final 20 seconds of the film are genuinely great. They were amusing and creepy. In fact, the entire last two minutes or so worked pretty well.
Palmer's very over-the-top performance is a little bit of fun to watch. Not a whole lot, but a little. Keven Bacon, in one of his first films, shows that he definitely already had both talent and skill and does the most any actor could have done with what he was given.
And Tom Savini's makeup is very convincing. I'm not a fan of blood and gore, but those who are will find the few on screen murders to be satisfying and realistic. I assume. Considering the kind of fanbase this piece of garbage has.
It still stinks pretty badly.
This movie was made for about $700,000 and somehow managed to make $37 million at the box office. For some reason, teens flocked to see this. I can't imagine why. It's simply and utterly awful.
This is one of the most famous of all slasher movies, put right up there with Psycho, Halloween and A Nightmare On Elm Street, and has been followed by nine sequels and a spin-off (Freddy Vs. Jason). Jason Vorhees (who actually is only in this one for the briefest of moments) became one of the slasher movie icons and seems to continually make money when one of his films opens. Why? I can answer that in four simple words: I have no idea.
Director Sean S. Cunningham manages to milk just a little bit of atmosphere with his ultra-low budget and nightime locations, but not very much. The script (assuming there was one) must have been less than five pages, since most of the movie consists of characters walking around in the darkness for no reason. The movie is amateurish, for one thing, but that's not the main problem: the main problem is that it does the absolute worst thing a movie can do.
It manages to be absolutely and utterly boring.
There are no differences whatsoever between the various characters. I didn't even catch most of their names, and the ones I did catch I quickly forgot. The actors either a, do the best with the nothing they're given (Betsy Palmer, Kevin Bacon), or b, are as unconvincing as the day is long (pretty much everyone else).
Additionally, absolutely nothing happens. It just goes on and on and on. It's just plain dull.
On the other hand, it does get one thing right that almost every other horror movie in history has gotten wrong: the ending. The final 20 seconds of the film are genuinely great. They were amusing and creepy. In fact, the entire last two minutes or so worked pretty well.
Palmer's very over-the-top performance is a little bit of fun to watch. Not a whole lot, but a little. Keven Bacon, in one of his first films, shows that he definitely already had both talent and skill and does the most any actor could have done with what he was given.
And Tom Savini's makeup is very convincing. I'm not a fan of blood and gore, but those who are will find the few on screen murders to be satisfying and realistic. I assume. Considering the kind of fanbase this piece of garbage has.
It still stinks pretty badly.
This movie was made for about $700,000 and somehow managed to make $37 million at the box office. For some reason, teens flocked to see this. I can't imagine why. It's simply and utterly awful.