Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18624 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-10-19
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 95 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
This splatter flick, along with John Carpenter's Halloween, helped spawn the great horror-movie movement of the '80s, not to mention eight sequels, many of which had nothing to do with the films that preceded them. It also gave birth to Jason Voorhees, one of the three biggest horror-movie psychos of the modern era (the other two being Halloween's Michael Myers and A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger). Forever duplicated, the original Friday the 13th popularized a number of themes and techniques that today are now clichés: the increasingly gory murders, the remote forest location, the anonymous and nubile cast, the murderer as cult hero, and, of course, the moral that if you have sex, you will die, very painfully. Still, if you have to see a Friday the 13th movie, this is the one to check out. A group of eager (and horny) teenagers decide to reopen Camp Crystal Lake, which 20 years earlier was closed after the shocking and mysterious murders of two amorous camp counselors. You can take it from there, as the teens get picked off one by one, during a dark and stormy night; of course, their car won't start and there's no phone. The ending stole shamelessly from Brian De Palma's Carrie, but it still provides a slight if campy shock. Look for a young Kevin Bacon as the requisite stud--you can tell that's what he is because when the cast appears in swimsuits, he's wearing a Speedo--who's the beneficiary of the film's best murder sequence, an arrowhead to the throat. Right after having sex, of course. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews

Psycho killer.
Friday the 13th is wickedly delicious. The twist ending is definitely the sole reason to watch this '80s classic. Look for a young Kevin Bacon, let's just say he doesn't have a huge part, hint hint! The formula still works, love-sick teenagers get killed one by one at a remote camp and who exactly is the killer? You may be surprised, I highly recommend this cool purchase. Enjoy!

ONE OF THE BEST DAMN ORIGINAL HORRORS
THIS IS WHEN HORROR WAS GREAT,SCARY AND IT WAS SCARY,BETSY PALMER DID THE DAMN FOOL,SHE WAS OFF THE CHAIN,SHE CAME OUT OF NO WHERE CUZ AT FIRST YOU THOUGHT SHE WAS A MAN,THEN AT THE CLIMAX OF THE END,SHE COMES OUT FROM THE MOMENT SHE APPEARED SOMETHING IN ME KNEW THAT SHE WAS THE PSYHCO KILLER,SHE WAS EXCELLENT!!!!!! SHE WHIPPED THE HELL OUT OF ADRIENNE KING
!! IT WAS A FIGHT TILL THE FINISH AND ONE OF THE MOST ENJOYABLE

The first and most influential slasher.
One of the first slasher movies and surprise twist, a FEMALE killer!!!
Talk about ground breaking for it's time.
Sickening, bloody, and terrifying.
The original Friday the 13th deserves a place in everyone's library.
Is it a good movie for kids? NO!
Brutal, quickly paced, excellently acted (by Mrs. Vorhees anyway)
A must see, this movie is legendary.
Recommended.