Sightlines · reception

How Friday the 13th was received

1980 · Sean S. Cunningham · Friday the 13th on Sightlines

The arc

Critics loathed it in 1980 — Siskel and Ebert waged a personal crusade against it, with Siskel calling director Sean Cunningham 'despicable' — but it was a box-office smash, and four decades on it's canonized as a foundational text of the slasher boom.

What’s debated

Fans still argue over whether the original is a genuinely effective whodunit-slasher or just a scrappy Halloween cash-in that got lucky — and whether it's been wholly eclipsed by the franchise it spawned.

Its footprint

Harry Manfredini's 'ki ki ki, ma ma ma' score cue is one of horror's most imitated sounds, and the film anchors the famous trivia-question scene in Scream — proof it's a slasher-literacy litmus test.

Where it stands

A Mount Rushmore slasher: required viewing for horror completists and a perennial Halloween-season rewatch, even if purists rank Halloween above it.

Did you know? Sean Cunningham took out a full-page Variety ad announcing the title — complete with logo — before a script even existed, essentially selling the movie on its name alone.

Named by the director

• Halloween (1978) — Cunningham has openly said the film was conceived to capitalize on Halloween's runaway success — he's cheerfully admitted it began as an attempt to imitate it.