Editing Friday the 13th (1980 film) (section)

====Original theatrical reviews====
Linda Gross of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' referred to the film as a "silly, boring, youth-geared horror movie", though she praised Manfredini's "nervous musical score", the cinematography, as well as the performances, which she deemed "natural and appealing", particularly from Taylor, Bacon, Nelson, and Bartram.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|page=7|title='Friday the 13th': Encamped in Gore|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22929125/the_los_angeles_times/|via=Newspapers.com|author=Gross, Linda|date=May 15, 1980|access-date=August 19, 2018|archive-date=August 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819082833/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22929125/the_los_angeles_times/|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', however, deemed the film "low budget in the worst sense—with no apparent talent or intelligence to offset its technical inadequacies—''Friday the 13th'' has nothing to exploit but its title."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Friday the 13th |url=https://variety.com/1979/film/reviews/friday-the-13th-1117791118/ |journal=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |access-date=June 25, 2017 |date=December 31, 1979 |archive-date=April 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414011028/https://variety.com/1979/film/reviews/friday-the-13th-1117791118/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The Miami News]]''{{'}}s Bill von Maurer praised Cunningham's "low-key" direction, but noted: "After building terrific suspense and turning over the audience's stomachs, he doesn't quite know where to go from there. The movie begins to sag in the middle and the expectations he has built up begin to sour a bit."<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Miami News]]|location=Miami, Florida|title='Friday the 13th' will scare the bejabbers out of you|author=Von Maurer, Bill|page=8A|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14988147/fridaythe13thwillscarethebejabbers/|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 19, 2018|archive-date=August 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819051133/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14988147/fridaythe13thwillscarethebejabbers/|url-status=live}}</ref> Lou Cedrone of ''[[The Baltimore Sun|The Baltimore Evening Sun]]'' referred to the film as "a shamelessly bad film, but then Cunningham knows this. This is sad."<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Baltimore Sun|The Baltimore Evening Sun]]|location=Baltimore, Maryland|date=May 14, 1980|page=8A|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22929897/the_evening_sun/|via=Newspapers.com|author=Cedrone, Lou|title=Adams is good for laughs; '13th' is good for nothing|access-date=August 19, 2018|archive-date=August 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819082759/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22929897/the_evening_sun/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Many critics compared the film unfavorably against John Carpenter's ''Halloween'', among them Marylynn Uricchio of the ''[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]'', who added:  "''Friday the 13th'' is minimal on plot, suspense, and characterization. It's not very original or very scary, but it is very low-budget."<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]|location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|author=Uricchio, Marylynn|title='Friday the 13th': Unlucky Day for Moviegoers|via=Newspapers.com|page=16|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14988209/friday13thunluckydayformoviegoers/|access-date=August 19, 2018|archive-date=August 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819051136/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14988209/friday13thunluckydayformoviegoers/|url-status=live}}</ref> Dick Shippy of the ''[[Akron Beacon Journal]]'' similarly suggested that Carpenter's ''Halloween'' played "like [[Alfred Hitchcock|Hitchcock]] when compared to Cunningham's dreadful tale of butchery."<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Akron Beacon Journal]]|date=May 15, 1980|page=F6|via=Newspapers.com|author=Shippy, Dick|title=Sex and slaughter in wholesale doses|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14970260/sexandslaughterinwholesaledosesf/|access-date=August 19, 2018|archive-date=August 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819051150/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14970260/sexandslaughterinwholesaledosesf/|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[The Burlington Free Press]]''{{'}}s Mike Hughes wrote that the film "copies everything, that is, except the quality" of ''Halloween'', concluding: "The lowest point of the movie comes near the end, when it exploits the genuine grief and madness of the villain. By then, things simply aren't fun anymore."<ref>{{cite news|page=4D|work=[[The Burlington Free Press]]|location=Burlington, Vermont|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14969717/thrillerbadlycopieshalloweenfridayt/|via=Newspapers.com|author=Hughes, Mike|title=Thriller Badly Copies 'Halloween'|date=May 20, 1980|access-date=August 19, 2018|archive-date=August 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819051158/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14969717/thrillerbadlycopieshalloweenfridayt/|url-status=live}}</ref> Ron Cowan of the ''[[Statesman Journal]]'' noted the film as a "routine 'endangered teenagers' [[Exploitation film|exploitation]] movie", adding that "Cunningham betrays a rather plodding approach to suspense for most of the film, sometimes allowing his camera to act as the killer, sometimes as the victim. And the victims, of course, deliberately put themselves in peril."<ref name=cowan>{{cite news|work=[[Statesman Journal]]|location=Salem, Oregon|title='Friday the 13th' bodes bad luck|author=Cowan, Ron|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14988122/fridaythe13thbodesbadluck/|via=Newspapers.com|page=5C|access-date=August 19, 2018|archive-date=August 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819082746/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14988122/fridaythe13thbodesbadluck/|url-status=live}}</ref>

A significant number of reviews criticized the film for its depiction of violence: ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' derided the film, writing: "Gruesome violence, in which throats are slashed and heads are split open in realistic detail, is the sum content of ''Friday the 13th'', a sick and sickening low budget feature that is being released by Paramount. It's blatant exploitation of the lowest order."<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|title='Friday the 13th': THR's 1980 Review|author=''The Hollywood Reporter'' Staff|date=November 1, 2014|orig-year=1980|access-date=August 19, 2018|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/friday-13th-read-thrs-scathing-745573|archive-date=August 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819082900/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/friday-13th-read-thrs-scathing-745573|url-status=live}}</ref>  Michael Blowen of ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' similarly referred to the film as "nauseating", warning audiences: "Unless your idea of a good time is to watch a woman have her head split by an ax or a man stuck to a door with arrows, you should stay away from ''Friday the 13th''. It's bad luck."<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Boston Globe]]|title=Bloody 'Friday' is nauseating|author=Blowen, Michael|page=12|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22929383/the_boston_globe/|via=Newspapers.com|location=Boston, Massachusetts|access-date=August 19, 2018|archive-date=August 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819082813/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22929383/the_boston_globe/|url-status=live}}</ref> The film's most vocal detractor was [[Gene Siskel]], who in his review called [[Sean S. Cunningham|Cunningham]] "one of the most despicable creatures ever to infest the movie business."{{sfn|Bracke|2006|p=45}} He also published the address for [[Charles Bluhdorn]], the chairman of the board of [[Gulf+Western]], which owned Paramount, as well as [[Betsy Palmer]]'s home city and encouraged fellow detractors to write to them and express their contempt for the film. Attempting to convince people not to see it, he even gave away the ending.<ref>{{cite news |first=Gene |last=Siskel |title='Friday the 13th': More bad luck |page=A3 |date=May 12, 1980 |work=Chicago Tribune |location = Chicago, Illinois }}</ref> Siskel and [[Roger Ebert]] spent an entire episode of [[Sneak Previews|their TV show]] berating the film (and other slasher films of the time) because they felt it would make audiences root for the killer.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Freddy V Jason |last1=Hewitt |first1=Chris |last2=Smith |first2=Adam |journal=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]] |issue=March 2009}}</ref> [[Leonard Maltin]] initially awarded the film one star, or 'BOMB', but later changed his mind and awarded the film a star and-a-half "simply because it's slightly better than ''Part 2''" and called it a "gory, cardboard thriller...That younger viewers made it a box-office juggernaut is one more clue as to why SAT scores keep declining. Still, any movie that spawns this many sequels must have done ''something'' right".{{sfn|Maltin|2000|p=491}}