Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave

To say Friday the 13th had an impact on horror movies would be an understatement. I don’t know about you, but this is the first slasher movie I ever watched. I would always watch this movie before I would go to camp each summer I would watch Friday the 13th the night before I would leave. And yes, in the beginning of camp I would freak out about going to the campfire circles. LOL

PLOT

Alice (Adrienne King) as well as a group of counselors, led by owner Steve (Peter Brouwer) are fixing up and planning on reopening Camp Crystal Lake, which was closed twenty two years earlier because of horrible murders that occurred there. The locals warn them not to reopen that there is a blood curse, but they do not listen. Slowly, they are stalked and killed one by one by an unknown killer.

MY THOUGHTS

You’re doomed! You’re all doomed!-Crazy Ralph

As I mentioned before, this was my introduction to slasher movies. From that point I was a fan. So this movie will always have a soft spot in my heart for this reason.

Although this is a slasher movie, there are only 10 kills in this movie. For some reason I thought it would be a lot more. Most are off screen, or we see the build up to and the results afterwards. Though, one of the more famous kills is when Jack (Kevin Bacon) gets the arrow through the neck. Another kill is the one where Alice decapitates Mrs. Voorhees (Betsy Palmer). One of the main highlights of this movie is the special effects by Tom Savini. Overall, not bad for the era it was made.

Another highlight of the movie is the music. I like how they used music in the movie when the killer was present. I think that was a great idea from Harry Manfredini. Manfredini also came up with the sound “ki ki ki, ma ma ma”, based on the line “Kill her mommy!”.

As far as the acting and characters, I think the actors did a good job. I like all the characters to the point that when they die I feel bad for them. Not award winning acting but I think they did a good job. If I sympathize with the characters when they die, they did their job.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie and I will watch this movie at least once a year (especially on a Friday the 13th). Friday the 13th helped start the slasher trend that continues today.

The film made $39,754,601 on a budget of $550,000. The MPAA told the producers of Friday of 13th to scale back on the gore for the sequel, since they regretted the amount of gore that had gotten through in the original (and the subsequent critical backlash). After the film’s success, Adrienne King was stalked by an obsessed fan. Terrified, she asked that her role in Part 2 be as small as possible. She did not take any other roles or make convention appearances for almost 20 years after its release. Bing Crosby’s son played in this movie as Bill (Harry Crosby). If you want to see my other Friday the 13th reviews, click here: Friday the 13th Franchise.

Let’s get into the rankings:

• Kills/Blood/Gore: 3.5/5
• Sex/Nudity: 1/5
• Scare factor: 3.5/5
• Enjoyment factor: 5/5
• My Rank: 3.25/5
• IMDB: 6.4/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: critics:6.3/10 audience: 6/10
• Letterboxd: 3.1/5