Having rewatched the first three Friday the 13th films on the eponymous, inauspicious occasion, here is another stab at reviewing these classic slashers (and Friday the 13th Part 3).

Friday the 13th (1980)

Piggybacking on the success of Halloween, an opportunistic film crew headed to a lake in New Jersey with an incomplete script and a dream: to make the most terrifying movie ever made, or failing that, enough money for the actor Betsy Palmer to buy a new car. Director Sean S. Cunningham (who produced The Last House on the Left) took out an ad in Variety before the screenplay was completed, because who needs a script when your entire pitch is Summer Camp Massacre?

That he not only pulls it off, but also creates the archetypal slasher movie, is a minor cinematic miracle. Its quicky approach is apparent in awkward moments that clearly needed retaking, and shots that go on too long in that way you get in bad films. But this isn’t a bad film. It’s one of the greatest horror flicks of all time.

Sure it rips off more movies (Psycho, Jaws, Carrie) than Jason does heads, but Friday the 13th works a treat. Its simplicity is a strength, distilling Black Christmas and Halloween into a classic campfire tale. It has atmosphere to burn, the picturesque lake providing an eerie, autumnal backdrop for the bloodshed. And the kills are masterfully executed, with Tom Savini’s effects making mincemeat of Kevin Bacon.

Most surprising though is the genuine chemistry between characters, whose playful interactions and charming performances create a sense of fun that appears authentic, almost unscripted. Which would make sense given the lack of a script.

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

Part 2 dispenses with those quirky character scenes and goes all in on camp counsellor carnage. Set five years later, Jason has transformed from a child into an actual giant. This seems an unlikely growth spurt until you remember his birthday is “Friday the 13th”, which means he has an average 1.72 birthdays per year.

Like Jurassic Park 2, the sequel sends the characters to a neighbouring yet identical site to the original, because apparently that is more believable than simply having them reopen the condemned campsite/dinosaur theme park.

But again, the film works a scuzzy magic, darker and more delirious than the original without sacrificing its creaky rollercoaster charm. Steve Miner (Halloween H20) capably fills Cunningham’s shoes, delivering butchery at such breakneck pace that you wonder if he missed his calling as an Iceland delivery driver.

The sequel is somehow more stripped down than its bare-boned predecessor, the list of likeable characters as short as their shorts. But it contains the greatest scene in the entire franchise, when Ginny (Amy Steel) tries to trick Jason by dressing as his mother (Betsy Palmer). It is the only time in the series that someone has a plan that doesn’t involve running away from Jason, towards Jason, or sending him into space.

Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982)

Two years after being attacked at Crystal Lake, Chris (Dana Kimmell) returns to the site in what turns out to only be the second dumbest decision in Part 3. The worst move is the use of 3D, which disfigures the movie more horribly than Tintin‘s face.

A 3D chapter might work if well executed, but here the effect is laboured to the detriment of all else. Instead of being shot like a horror movie, we get random scenes where people do circus skills, solely to show off an effect that is no longer even included in screenings. It is so close yet so far from the original, when Cunningham would show an otter in the lake, such a simple shot that did so much to make us feel a part of the surroundings. Now it seems unthinkable that Miner would even point the camera towards the water unless someone was juggling in it.

The film is also too distracted by 3D yo-yos to tell us who any of the characters are. The fact Chris has been attacked by Jason before is confusing, making you question whether we are meant to have seen her in a previous instalment. Other characters are downright unlikeable, particularly the prankster Shelly (Larry Zerner), whose legacy is to provide the iconic hockey mask and essentially ruin Jason forever. More a result of the movie than the mask, Jason Voorhees stops being scary as soon as he puts it on, not least because he is suddenly free to roam around without hiding.

Then there’s the racism, casting the first black characters in the series as criminal stereotypes. And the series becomes deeply sexist, a charge that doesn’t actually apply to the original. Where Part 1 had a genuinely good-natured game of strip Monopoly, Part 3 sees Chris’ boyfriend (Paul Kratka) harass her for sex when she is traumatised by the assault. How does this warrant inclusion in a Friday the 13th flick? Is the 3D supposed to make it fun? The emotionally manipulative sexual harassment scene is coming up, put on your red/blue glasses now!