Lets start at the very beginning. A very good place to start in my opinion. In the beginning, there was Alfred Hitchcock. And Al said, "Let there be Psycho." And there was Psycho, one of Al’s finest movies in my opinion.

And from Psycho the horrible progeny was spawned. That progeny was fathered by a man named John Carpenter. John stepped forth and said, "Let there be Halloween." And there was Halloween; it soon became one of the one of the highest grossing independent films ever made.

But, despite all that cash, John Carpenter just wouldn't let a sequel be made. The public became starved for the old fashioned "People get hacked by a psycho killer," type of entertainment.

Then comes Sean Cunningham. And he said, "Let there be Friday the 13^th."

And there was Friday the 13^th.

Lots of them.

The first begins with a particularly spooky scene in which to promiscuous teens are murdered by and unseen killer. What really works for this scene is the fact that you see the murder through the killer's eyes. I really respect Frank Black after watching this movie.

Fast-forward a few years. Several young men and women plan to restart a closed summer camp in the little town of Crystal Lake. While driving there, one of the women, Alice, hears a legend that the camp has a death curse placed on it. Alice, being a rational girl, completely ignores the story, as do the rest of the counselors.

Alice arrives and finds the crew all there, all getting ready for the big opening of the summer camp. The place has been closed for some time so threes a lot of cleaning up to do, which also serves as a plot device for the teens to break off from their main group so they can, one by one, get slashed up by an unseen killer.

Ya know, reviewing Friday the 13^th is a bit like talking about yesterday's weather. The only people who really care are those that are ether dead, live in caves, or aren't interested in the first place. If you fall into any of those categories they you should most defiantly run out and rent this movie at once. Even though it is nether as hip, nor as witty as several of the horror movies that have come out recently, it does have one thing that all horror movies should have (I’m not saying it’s a requirement but it helps): suspense. And lots of it. No, none of the actors are going to receive awards for there skill, and no, the script is probably not considered one of the greats of  literature, and yes, the ending is a bit of a cop out but, really, if you care about that, why the hell are you even considering watching a slasher movie?

Despite all the flaws mentioned above Friday offers some good thrills and chills. And I promise you that, no matter what, you will not be able to guess the killer's identity.

RATING(OUT OF A POSSIBLE FIVE)

SOME DARN GOOD OLD SCHOOL SLASHING

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