Friday The 13th 1980 Thought In And Out Of Theaters Quickly Upon Release

Way back in May of 1980, not much was really known about Sean Cunningham, Harry Manfredini, Steve Miner, Kevin Bacon and the rest of the cast and crew of Friday The 13th 1980. All that was known about the film itself was that is was a negative pick-up and that critics thought Paramount was crazy to give a small independent film such a big marketing push and wide release in U.S. theaters.

A few days before the film’s release on May 9, 1980, Variety Magazine published their review of the film, which fell in line with most other critical reviews of the film at that time. Perhaps the reviewer's opinion on characters and story could have some merit, however, one sentence in the review could not have been more further from the truth.

“Aside from the bloody mayhem excised from the advertising, this Paramount Pictures pickup is dull fare that will be in and out of the marketplace quick.”

Oh how wrong the critics and industry observers were as Friday the 13th went on to dominate the box office for multiple weeks and spawn quite possibly the greatest horror franchise in cinematic history! Check out a portion of the review below. What are your thoughts on this review. Could the review have actually had some merit at the time?