Ranking every Friday the 13th film from worst to best
By Wesley Lara
4. Friday the 13th (1980)
Directed by Sean S. Cunningham
The legend that started it all…at number 4. Again, this list varies with the timeline of each film and the first Friday the 13th, while being one of the best in the franchise, is not the best — at least in my opinion.
Its success is almost unparalleled in the world of independent cinema, costing a mere $500,000 to make and earning almost $60 million in box office revenue. Remember, this was 1980, so that number has shot through the roof at this point thanks to inflation. It was the beginning of a cultural phenomenon that would come to define horror for two decades before its eventual stalled state in 2019.
The best part is that the legend didn’t even start with Jason. I mean it did, but not in the form of a killer like in every other installment. That title goes to his mother, Pamela Voorhees, who stalks the kids at Camp Crystal Lake and picks them off one-by-one as her idea of revenge after the supposed death of her son, Jason, at the lake.
It’s a pretty tragic story, to be honest, and the character of Pamela has continued to receive sympathy from forgiving fans of the franchise long after the film’s release. People can really empathize with a family tragedy and Betsy Palmer’s unnerving, yet sad performance as Pam helped her retain popularity throughout the various installments.
Friday the 13th has held up for its simplicity and tight story concerning the mysterious deaths of the staff members at the camp. Kevin Bacon himself even appears as one of Pam’s unfortunate victims and though he might be embarrassed to mention it, it is immortalized now thanks to the series’ longevity. The first film was just a ragtag group of people wanting to make a fun, whodunit murder mystery on a shoestring budget and their efforts were rewarded with a legendary franchise that is still talked about to this day.