Stalk ‘n’ SlashCinema :: A 24 Hour Nightmare of Terror! (June, 1980)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Before June of 1980, summer camp probably brought to mind some fun in the sun, perhaps an inconvenient tumble in a patch of poison ivy, or maybe stealing your first kiss behind the canteen before gathering and singing songs around the campfire under a fat full moon. But after June 1980, thanks to filmmaker, Sean S. Cunningham, a rousing chorus of “Kum-Bah-Yah” rapidly degenerated into a brutally quick rendition of “Kum-Bah-Yeaaarrghh!” when a lethally sharp gardening implement was shoved into your spleen, leaving you to gargle the refrain … Wanting to cash in on the box-office success of Halloween, Cunningham combined elements of that film with a little Agatha Christie (Ten Little Indians), and then topped it off some good-old fashioned sideshow hucksterism and a liberal dose of Tom Savini-fueled grue. And as an end result, Friday the 13th struck a nerve at the box-office and galvanized many a critic, whose panties were soon knotted-up something fierce.

Other Points of Interest:

Poster campaign for Friday the 13th at the Archive.

 

 
Friday the 13th (1980) Georgetown Productions Inc. :: Sean S. Cunningham Films :: Paramount Pictures / EP: Alvin Geiler / P: Sean S. Cunningham / AP: Steve Miner / D: Sean S. Cunningham / W: Victor Miller / C: Barry Abrams / E: Bill Freda / M: Harry Manfredini / S: Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Robbi Morgan, Kevin Bacon, Jeannine Taylor, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson, Peter Brouwer, Betsy Palmer