Kevin Coughlin
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FULL WATCHALONG - FRIDAY THE 13TH
🕑 Added 2025-04-13 19:40:55 +0000 UTCFriday the 13th (1980) is the slasher that launched a thousand summer camp cancellations. It may not have invented the genre, but it definitely sharpened the knife. Set at the doomed Camp Crystal Lake—a place with more bad vibes than a basement Ouija board session—the film follows a group of horny, good-natured counselors who make the fatal mistake of showing up to work. One by one, they’re picked off by a mysterious killer with a very personal axe to grind (and a few other weapons, just for variety).
This movie is pure early-80s horror DNA: low-budget charm, practical gore, horny teens, and a killer who isn’t even the one you came to see. That’s right—Jason Voorhees, the hockey-masked icon of the franchise, is not the killer here. Instead, we get the deeply unsettling (and criminally underrated) Betsy Palmer as Mrs. Voorhees, a sweater-clad maniac with the best maternal motivation since Psycho. Her switch from “helpful stranger” to knife-wielding lunatic is easily one of the most bonkers third-act turns in horror history—and it works.
The film itself is a scrappy little beast. It leans hard on atmosphere—rain, fog, creaky docks, and that now-iconic ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma sound design that still creeps people out decades later. The kills are inventive for the time, with Tom Savini’s practical effects stealing the show (that Kevin Bacon throat-arrow, anyone?). And yes, it's dated in spots. The pacing can drag. Some performances feel like they wandered in from a community theater production. But there’s something about the grainy grit of it all that makes it feel real—like you’re watching something you probably shouldn’t be.
Friday the 13th might not be high art, but it’s bloody, creepy, and essential. It set the formula that would dominate horror for the next decade, and even if it’s rough around the edges, it’s still a damn fun watch. Just don’t go swimming. Or hiking. Or breathing too loudly in the woods. You know what? Maybe just don’t go to camp at all.
Comments
Shuntly
I did already know Jason wasn't in it, they mention it in Scream that it was his mother. So once she was gone and I was falling asleep I figured it's all over now and I'll just watch the outro during breakfast. That did end up being a fun decision. The guy saying they're all doomed must be the inspiration for this one guy repeating that in Cannibal The Musical, I never knew what that was about. There were a few more details like that and it was cool to see the source of them. Well. while I'm praising the man choosing the movies instead of the one doing the reaction, that crochet blanket always fits the lighting in the room so well, I love the fade of the colors and if I have to think about the movie for a while I'm just watching that while listening. Must have taken so long to make.
Kevin Coughlin
Kevin does too!
Lazy Boy Stays Up Late Watching Video Tapes
You say horror, I say comedy 😂
RamboHomerMcFly
tara: u and ur husband r the only ones who can right an internet-wrong...hot to trot with john candy and bobcat goldwaith. plz rectify this online absence.
RamboHomerMcFly
tara: u and ur husband r the only ones who can right an internet-wrong...hot to trot with john candy and bobcat goldwaith. plz rectify this online absence.
RamboHomerMcFly
tara: u and ur husband r the only ones who can right an internet-wrong...hot to trot with john candy and bobcat goldwaith. plz rectify this online absence.
RamboHomerMcFly
tara: u and ur husband r the only ones who can right an internet-wrong...hot to trot with john candy and bobcat goldwaith. plz rectify this online absence.
Makaab
Boy, Mrs. Vorhees sure does have some hairy-ass knuckles :-D (yes, I know, before you say it) Tom Savini did a great job on this film. His acting is spot on :-D
Derek Smith
I recommend ghost ship or sleep away camp. If your doing mild horror.
Kevin Coughlin
Shaun and HF are on the channel, At worlds end is coming soon!
TheHigh
hey! just watched your reactions to bruno and American werewolf in London! , i would love to recommend a film or two for you to watch! these would be: "dead mans shoes" one of the best British films by a long shot , if you can react to this avoid all spoilers to it and a word of warning its a pretty brutal yet emotional film. and the other i would recommend would be if you haven't already seen them are the "cornetto trilogy" its 3 fantastic British comedy films know as the trilogy: "Shaun of the dead" "Hot fuzz" "The worlds end" peacccee
