this is the first film in what would become the most successful series of horror films of all time . 
a fair warning to those of you who might be inclined to watch this movie for the first appearance of everyone's favorite goalie-mask-wearing homicidal maniac . 
jason , the guy who single handedly controlled the overpopulation problem around the crystal lake area , doesn't start his quest to find the most interesting household item with which to kill someone until the sequel . 
while he does have a small role in this film , we the audience have to depend on another blood thirsty maniac to rack up the body count . 
the plot , like every other friday the 13th movie goes something like this -- crazed killer murders as many unsuspecting teenagers as he/she/it possibly can in the space of a 90 minute movie . 
the reasons that the afore mentioned unsuspecting teenagers come into contact with the bloodthirsty killer are usually of little importance to the story . 
but for those of you out there that might actually care about such trivial matters in a movie such as a plot , here are the basics . 
a bunch of unsuspecting teens get a summer job at a long closed summer camp . 
they are days away from the arrival of the kids and they are spending their time fixing the place up and making sure it is ready for the kids . 
sadly , they start being butchered one by one by the bloodthirsty killer . 
at this point i would usually say something about the quality of acting , directing or maybe something about the high quality of the production . 
since i'm not going to do that , feel free to assume that if i did , it wouldn't be positive . 
i will say that this movie looks as if it was made for about a hundred bucks , and that includes the actors' salaries . 
if you are used to recent horror films like scream , you are in for a bit of a surprise . 
the only saving grace for friday the 13th is that it was really the first of its kind , with the killer taking real pride in their work . 
using as many methods of murder as they could . 
none of this single murder weapon stuff life that unimaginative leatherface in chainsaw massacre , or the creatively stifled imagination of halloween's michael myers who just used brute force or a really big kitchen knife . 
nope , in the friday the 13th movies , you can always count on the killer taking great pride in his work . 
one fun fact about this movie is that the cast includes a very young kevin bacon , although after this movie it is a wonder he ever worked again . 
the main reason to see friday the 13th is if you want to watch all of the series from the beginning . 
if not , stick with the later films with jason , everyone's favorite hockey fan . 
friday the 13th is the sort of movie that is fun to sit down and get a couple of scares from , just don't sit down expecting a whole lot .