What Was It Like to See Friday the 13th in Theaters in 1980?

In the summer of 1980, my boyfriend took me out to see a new movie: the original Friday the 13th. We didn’t know what we were in for.

Content Warning: This article describes gruesome killings from a notorious slasher movie. Even worse, it contains huge spoilers.

Getting Into the Movie

Like the audience, we cringed and groaned at all the right moments. There may have been a lot of handholding, too. And nervous laughter. We were no longer in a small theater in a mall. We were at Camp Crystal Lake.

My boyfriend started wince at the famous soundtrack. Every time the “ki ki ki, ma ma ma” came up. Or maybe he was scared and was trying to act cool.

Gruesome deaths happened right on the big screen. We had never seen anything like this. We weren’t sure if we liked it. The killings varied from gross to silly. (Could a killer really hide under a cot and thrust an arrow through Jack’s throat?)

But it’s not as if we walked out or anything. We still wanted to know who the killer wearing the hockey mask was — and about Jason, the boy who drowned in Crystal Lake.

Engrossed (pun intended!) despite ourselves, we spent the whole movie with our eyes fixed on the screen, both cringing and wondering who the killer could be.

It turned out to be Jason’s mother, Pamela Voorhees! (She was played by Betsy Palmer, who at that time was better known for TV appearances, including I’ve Got a Secret.)

And then, the heroine, Alice, defended herself from a brutal attack from Mrs. Voorhees by beheading Mrs. Voorhees with a machete! In slow motion! (If you dare, you can see that clip here.)

My boyfriend Bill gave out a disgusted groan when Mrs. Voorhees was beheaded.

And me? It’s complicated. I had about phobia of beheading scenes in movies. (It started when my parents took me to see Papillion in a drive-in.) Friday the 13th cured my phobia. Because instead of turning away, I kept my eyes fixed on the screen.

Somehow, the heroine Alice (no one was calling them the Final Girl yet) survived. Alice drifted on the lake on a rowboat. Gentle music played.

Everyone in the audience calmed down. The movie was over. We could relax. It was almost time to go.

A police officer calls out to her from the shore. Alice woke up and looked toward the shore. She started to smile…

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

In one of horror’s most famous jump scares, the corpse of Jason rose out of the lake and pulled Alice into the water.

Moments later, Alice woke up in a hospital. Phew!

We jumped out of our seats, just like everyone else. They got us! Later, we shook our heads at this. How dare they get us with such a cheap trick? Perhaps because cheap tricks work?

The Aftermath

Like many people, we walked out and told ourselves the movie wasn’t all that great. My boyfriend said it wasn’t scary.

I went home and was fine. Until I turned the lights out, and now and then, I started expecting Betsy Palmer to jump out of the dark.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

The movie certainly has its flaws. But admit it or not, it had us on edge.

The Critics of the Time

Critics complained that it was cheap, gross, and exploitative. Well, duh. Some even called it “boring.”

They said it was a cheap rip-off of the original Halloween. Jeez, not everything can be a John Carpenter movie.

Critics mocked the final jump scare, saying that it ripped off the final jump scare in Carrie. But it still worked, didn’t it?

Siskel and Ebert impaled the movie with criticism. Not content to complain that it was badly made, they repeatedly attacked the franchise. Some of their complaints made sense to me at the time. Now, I look back and think, “What?”

Rediscovering Camp Crystal Lake

For years, I avoided Friday the 13th. I believed the mainstream critics who claimed the movie was misogynistic. Or that the movie portrayed sex as bad. In reality, it’s more complicated than that.

Then, I started reading from fans who defended it. Including fans who disagreed about the accusations of misogyny. (On Medium, Leah Fennell also has another view.)

So I saw the DVD in a store and decided to watch it again. Phew! It was better than I remembered. The female characters were stronger than I remembered, particularly the heroine, Alice Martin.

And need I remind you that the central character is the heroine and survivor, Alice Martin? Not some guy.

Alice fans should visit the official site of actress Adrienne King, who played the iconic Alice. You can buy cool collectibles from your favorite Final Girl.

Also, you could argue that one of the strongest women characters in this movie is the killer, Mrs. Voorhees.

I watched the DVD with the commentary track (which included commentary from Betsy Palmer) and loved it even more.

At first, Betsy Palmer was far from a fan of the movie. After making it, as she later admitted, she thought, “What a piece of shit! Nobody is ever going to see this thing.”

But like me, after some time, she started to appreciate the fans. And the movie.

She is no longer with us, but fans can still visit the real camp that became known as Camp Crystal Lake.

There is even six-hour-long well-reviewed documentary called Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th.

A Note on the Razzies of 1980

The Golden Raspberry Awards (better known as the controversial Razzies) nominated Betsy Palmer for Worst Supporting Actress for her role as Mrs. Voorhees. Fuck you, Razzies. She was cool!

But that was far from the worst thing the Razzies did that year. In 1980, they nominated Shelley Duvall as “Worst Actress” for her performance as Wendy Torrance in The Shining. An “honor” they rescinded in 2022, stating, “We have since discovered that Duvall’s performance was impacted by Stanley Kubrick’s treatment of her throughout the production.”

Why did it take them until March 31, 2022, to rescind that dubious honor?

Perhaps because they came under fire in 2022 for announcing the Worst Bruce Willis Performance in a 2021 Movie category. After his family announced he was retiring because he was suffering from aphasia, the Razzies rescinded that category and the 1980 nomination of Shelley Duvall.

If you like my stories, or if you want to read more stories by authors like me, please click here to upgrade to full membership. This is an affiliate link, meaning I receive a financial incentive for new referrals.