FRIDAY, THE 13th (1980). Watching this again, while there are a lot of limitations in here, I feel it has aged better than many of its comtempories from that same era, including HALLOWEEN. H is very well done, certainly the "Better" film, but while it scared me on release in 1978 (First R movie I went to myself), it's now more subdued with more supernatural elements (Unstoppable Myers) while I find F13 more realistic and scarier.
While the sequels have their moments, most of them are dreadful and only a fast forward helps to get to the good stuff (An inventive moment like Jason's resurrection in F13 6 or a gorgeous fame like Debisue Voorhees
in F13 5..the sequels are also full of stock characters like the rutting teens and the "Goof" that really hastened the decline of the series. "Ned" in this one is annoying, to be sure, but no means, really, about him, he's just trying to impress Brenda and the teens in here having sex (Jack/Marcie) are in a relationship.
Whatever faults it has, still has those amazing Savini FX, better than average photography, a memorable music score and also one of the best Psychos ever in film. This film, and Betsy Palmer in particular, scared the Bejesus out of me when I first saw it, really cutting edge. Have met Betsy, Robbi Morgan and Adrienne King at cons and all were nice as could be, which also helps me still enjoy the film. ****