Friday the 13th Is Classic Slasher Fare!

*Warning. This review contains spoilers.*

John Carpenter's masterpiece "Halloween" is the movie that invented the slasher genre. Modern horror films wouldn't be as popular if it wasn't for the film's scary premise, great casting, and its iconic villain, Michael Myers. After "Halloween," a gigantic batch of slasher films came along, and the first one up was Sean S. Cunningham's horror favorite "Friday the 13th."

The plot: Ever since the terrible coincidences in 1958, Camp Crystal Lake has been shut down and hidden for years. Now, it is finally being reopened, and for Alice, Bill, Jack, Marcie, Brenda, Ned and Annie, it's going to be a dream come true being the counselors at the camp. But they didn't listen to the locals when they warned them that they were all doomed if they didn't get out. And today is Friday the 13th. And an unknown assailant is stalking the campsite, killing the counselors one by one. Who could it be? What do they want? And can anybody stop them?

Everybody remembers "Friday the 13th" for being the movie that spawned slasher icon Jason Voorhees. And as much as I love most of the sequels, what makes the first film a classic is the fact that Jason isn't the killer. It's really his mother, Pamela Voorhees, who is out to get all of the counselors that were off boning each other while her poor mongoloid son was drowning. "Mrs. Voorhees is the perfect mother," says actress Betsy Palmer, who starred as the killer. "Not only will she kill for her son. She'll die for him."

What set "Friday the 13th" apart from "Halloween" was that it was more graphicly violent than its predecessor. Thanks to makeup genius Tom Savini, this film has some of the coolest deaths ever.

"Friday the 13th" created the classic horror cliches that everyone should know by now. Repeat after me: "If you have sex, you die." "If you drink or do drugs, you die." "If you're curious about what's behind a door, you probably shouldn't open it." You get it.

The movie is gory, but unlike other 80's slashers, it has the ability to be scary when needed. Some of the death scenes made me jump, especially Kevin Bacon's famous demise. I was absolutely stunned when that arrow came up through the bed. Jason's eerie echoing still creeps me out, and aficionados love that ending.

The acting is decent, the deaths are great, and the scares are well-timed. Basically, "Friday the 13th" is a classic.