Friday the 13th

When I was asked to research a classic slasher film, I chose Friday the 13th. It's difficult to say, however, if I chose it because my brother was born on Friday the 13th of October - the most ominous date of all time - or because of my fascination of the fact that this franchise carries a legacy of 12 movies. Either way, I would most definitely pen it as a classic slasher film.

The first film was produced in 1980, was directed by Sean S. Cunningham, and featured a young Kevin Bacon in his first film.

Generally, the Friday the 13th movies involve Jason Voorhees as the primary antagonist. He is the son of camp cook-turned-murderer Mrs Voorhees. In some of the movies however, he may not have much screen time, but he still does manage to propel the plot as a psychological threat to some characters. For instance, in the first instalment, the protagonist, Alice, hallucinates him.

Similar to the Psycho franchise, there is a toxic mother/son relationship in Friday the 13th. Notice the trend. In the first movie of the series, it is Mrs Voorhees that is slashing the murders - a role switch to Psycho - and she does so to avenge the death of her handicapped son, Jason. By bravely making the female a killer, Friday the 13th breaks the common convention of having a male killer in slasher films.

Most of the victims are young, attractive and usually partake in activities such as sex and drug taking. There seems to be an unwritten moral code in slasher films that punish bad behaviour.

In the first instalment, especially, Alice Hardy is the heroine. She is the final girl - a conventional concept to slasher horror. Unlike the rest of her peers, she is considerably virtuous and was able to kill off Mrs Voorhees by beheading her with a machete. This subgenre is one of the few film genres which features a strong, independent female lead.

Overall, Friday the 13th ignited the '80s slasher-flick boom by its conventional employments and by its unconventional employments.