Friday the 13th: The Bloody Thumb Review

Continuing our week long F13-fest is a review by a far superior film reviewer than myself:

Friday the 13th: The Bloody Thumb Review

Tagline- From the producer of Last House on the Left comes the most terrifying film of all time.

STATS

1980, 90 minutes Rated R

“Camp Blood? They’re opening that place again?” Lady at Diner

PLOT

Camp Crystal Lake, is not a nice place. Drownings, Murders, poison water, all plague the history of the camp. The locals even have another name for the place, they call it Camp Blood. Some even say the place has a death curse.

No matter what you think, Crystal Lake has a dark past. A past full of death. But Steve Christie thinks he can move the camp beyond that. He thinks what’s past is past. It’s time the camp grew out of the Camp Blood image.

Only, the curse isn’t ready to let the camp go. It still has its hooks in camp Crystal Lake and its not about to let go. One by one the counselors taste the curse. One by one they fall under the knife of the mysterious figure.

In the end, will any survive? Or will Camp Blood destroy them all?

CAST

Walt Gorney IS Crazy Ralph, Hero of the Friday the Thirteenth series. Okay, well, maybe not the hero. Maybe he’s not even the main character of the movie. Really he only even has a few minutes of screen time, but you have to admit, his few moments of screen time are among the most memorable in the entire series. I can’t even count the amount of times I’ve uttered the line “It’s got a death curse” under my breath as we walked into my wife’s mothers house. He’s only in the first two movies, but it was enough. He was born on the 14 of march 1914 in Nevada, and he died of cancer on June 6, 1989. Usually he is only cast as an extra, and has had very few film roles even in that capacity. This is defiantly the biggest and brightest moment in his entire film career.

Long Island native Adrienne King plays the lead female role of Alice. She starred in Friday One, had a small role in Friday 2, and pretty much nothing else. All her other film credit’s fall under the category, “Archive footage from Friday one and Two”. So don’t go thinking your going to rent all the Adrienne King movies this weekend and have a film festival. You’ll pop in Friday one and two and end up going to bed early. Alice is your common, reluctant female lead. She’s just innocent enough to make us worry about her, and not innocent enough for us to find her interesting.

Oh… And there is also this guy I doubt you heard of named Kevin Bacon in this movie. Not sure who he is, but I think he was in Dirty Dancing or something. (Sarcasm alert. Sarcasm Alert)

Oh, and there is another very important person in the cast whom I’ve left out on purpose. I’d hate to give the killer away in the review. Even though most of you have seen it, you still never know who might stumble in.<p>

“A real prophet of Doom, Ain’t he?” Trucker

CREW

Directed by Sean S. Cunningham. Sean also directed Deep Star Six, but he is better known as a producer. His first production effort was working with Wes Craven on the infamous film Last House on the Left. He also Produced all Four House films, Jason X, Jason Goes to Hell, Freddy Vs Jason, and Deep Star Six. Among others.

Written by Victor Miller.

Produced by Steve Miner. Steve went on to direct parts two and three of the Friday the 13th series, as well as directing Halloween H20. He also directed House, Soul Man, Forever Young, Lake Placid and the film Warlock. He’s also worked on numerous TV shows including the Wonder Years, Smallville, Felicity, Dawson’s Creek, and the vastly underrated Chicago Hope.

The memorable music was done by Harry Manfredini. He did the music to Freddy Vs. Jason, Jason X (2001), Wishmaster (1997), Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993), My Boyfriend’s Back (1993), House IV (1992), Kickboxer 3: The Art of War (1992) Aces: Iron Eagle III (1992), Cameron’s Closet (1989), Horror Show, The (house 3) (1989), DeepStar Six (1989), “War of the Worlds” (1988) TV Series (season 2), Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988), House II: The Second Story (1987), Slaughter High (1986), Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), House (1986), Hills Have Eyes Part II, The (1985), Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985), Zombie Island Massacre (1984), Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D (1982), Swamp Thing (1982) and Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) among others.

“We ain’t gonna stand for no weirdness out here” Police Officer

FUN FACTS

-US working Title: A Long Night at Camp Blood

-Sean Cunningham has been quoted as saying that the type of actors that he sought for the film were “good-looking kids who you might see in a Pepsi commercial”

-Harry Crosby, the guy who played Bill, is the Son of Bing Crosby, and the Uncle of Star Trek Next Gen blond Goddess Denise Crosby.

“I guess I always wanted to work with children. I hate when people call them kid’s, it’s like little goats.” Annie

MISTAKES

Annie says she hates it when people call children “kids”. Yet earlier, she says she’ll be cooking for 50 kids and ten staff.

“He neglected to mention that downtown they call this place Camp Blood” -Ned

SUMMATION

First off, I just want to say, Don’t worry, I’m not even going to touch upon the controversy. I could really care less about the whole, Halloween vs. Friday the 13th debate. It doesn’t matter to me that this movie borrowed from the other, and that later the other series borrowed from this one. Doesn’t matter to me in the least. I’m also not going to say which is better. They each have their parts that are better then the other, and parts that are worse then the others. So that’s it. No more Halloween talk.

This is a Friday the 13th review. So back to Friday the 13th.

This is, without a doubt, one of the most famous slasher movies ever made. Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street. They all make the base of what we call the slasher genre. The only thing is, this movie, in my opinion is not a slasher movie.

I’ll let that soak in for a moment.

In my opinion this movie owes more to the Italian Giallo films then it does to the Slasher sub genre. In the slasher films, we have a readily accessible killer running around dispatching people without qualm’s or remorse. The “Slasher” is always someone with a readily identifiable look. It could be the Santa Suit, in the Silent Night Deadly Night Movies. The parka in Urban Legends, the Gorton’s fisherman outfit in the I Know movies. In a slasher movie the killer has a look, and an identity. Even if we don’t know whose under that mask, we know who the killer is as soon as we see them, even if we don’t know who is under the mask. The Slasher is the star of the Slasher movie. In a Giallo film, the killer is never seen on screen till the end, usually, it’s just hands and everything is done from the angle of the camera.

Giallo is as much a whodunit as it is a film about blood letting.

In first film in this series, we never see the killer till the end. All the murders are done from camera angle, and we often don’t know if it’s the killer or the camera until some one dies.

I think that’s part of what I enjoy about this movie over the other Friday the 13th movies. Starting in Two, Jason becomes the star of the show. In my opinion as soon as the killer becomes a star, he loses some of his impact. The story shifts away from the story of the kids and becomes about the killer.

This movie, is in my opinion, far better then most people are willing to give it credit for. It holds up amazingly well for its age. I mean come on, this movie is over TWENTY YEARS OLD. Yet, it manages to avoid looking too dated. I know there is a lot who would disagree with me on that point, but I still think the look holds up.

The movie is well paced, it doesn’t suffer from many slow spots like some of the movies in this genre. We don’t hate the characters, even though some of them are flat and uninspired, but there is no one you really hate to watch.
As I’ve said before, I like this movie. It’s my favorite of the “Slasher” genre (even though it’s not a slasher, but I already went into that) There is lots of foreshadowing in the film if you know where to look, plus it has an interesting usage of colors. A lot of red and blue balanced against each other, and a lot of washed out, worn looking colors peppered through out. Even the truckers yellow T Shirt in the beginning is washed and faded instead of bright.

All in all, if you like Slasher films or are a fan of Italian Giallo I suggest giving this film a try. I really suggest this film to all fans of horror. Even if you end up disliking it, it’s still an important part of horror history.
Four out of Five Bloody Thumb Prints

More Ralph Quotes

“I’m the messenger of God! Your Doomed if you stay here!”

“I gotta warn you, your doomed if you stay! Go! Go!”

“Doomed! You are all Doomed!!!”

and finally, a Ralph quote so nice, he said it twice.
“It’s Got A Death Curse!!!!” Crazy Ralph