Few horror films and franchises are as well-known as Friday the 13th. However, after the first film’s release in 1980, prolific and respected film critic Gene Siskel, one half of the well-known Siskel and Ebert, tried to take it down by posting a scathing review in an attempt to hurt sales; his actions had the opposite effect.
If Siskel had been successful in deterring audiences from going out to see Friday the 13th, the horror world would be incredibly different today. In many ways, Jason Voorhees and Friday the 13th worked in tandem with other colossal horror franchises like Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Child’s Play to create the slasher sub-genre. However, Siskel couldn’t keep horror fans away from Sean S. Cunningham’s experimental release, which was his attempt to capitalize off John Carpenter’s Halloween.
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In comparison, Siskel gave Carpenter’s Halloween three and a half stars out of four possible, which was pretty incredible given the fact that Siskel tended to pan horror movies. However, despite his opinions, both films set new heights for success in a burgeoning sub-genre.
Gene Siskel’s Negative Review Of Friday The 13th Boosted Sales
In his review of Friday the 13th, Siskel called the movie “a meat cleaver in the forehead movie”. Siskel noted that Cunningham, the film’s director, was “one of the most despicable creatures to ever infest the movie business”. Attempting to convince people not to see the movie, he gave away the film’s big twist ending, revealing Jason’s mother, Pamela (Betsy Palmer) as the killer. His reasoning for doing this was not only inconsiderate to audiences, but strategic. Siskel previously stated that revealing a movie’s ending was a great way to deter audiences from going to the theater, citing that it is an effective and controversial weapon. Going a step further than just giving Friday the 13th a negative review, Siskel published the address of Charles Bluhdorn, who was the chairman of the board at Gulf and Western, the owners of Paramount Pictures. Siskel also published Palmer’s home city and encouraged disgruntled audiences to write her personally.
Siskel, along with his co-host of Sneak Previews, Roger Ebert, spent an entire episode of the television show berating the film and other slashers because they felt, ultimately, that these types of movies would only serve the purpose of making audiences root for the killers. This view of Friday the 13th was continued by Ebert, who went on to review Friday the 13th Part Two and give it a half star, stating that it ruined all his childhood memories. Ebert ended his review, which took a page out of Siskel’s review of the first film by explaining most of the plot and leaving little for audience enjoyment, by saying: “this review will suffice for the Friday the 13th film of your choice”. In 2002, Ebert reviewed Jason X and also gave it a half star rating.
None of this negative press affected the first film or the franchise in general. If anything, Cunningham’s low-budget film, which he made for only $550,000 ended up winning big at the box office with $59.8 million. To compare this with other prominent horror films of the time, The Shining had a $19 million budget and only brought in $45.7 million at the box office. Halloween had a budget of $300,000 and made approximately $70 million at the box office, which meant Friday the 13th stayed on par with the film it essentially ripped off and angered critics about in comparison.
