The 1980 Slasher That Launched Kevin Bacon's Career Just Turned 46-And It's Still Haunting

On May 9, 1980, the horror genre was forever changed. The release of Friday the 13thinspired one of the longest-running horror franchises and has become a cult classic.

The film follows teenage counselors as they attempt to reopen Camp Crystal Lake, a summer camp with a grim history of drownings and murder. They are killed off one by one by a secret killer.

It was directed by Sean S. Cunningham and starred Kevin Bacon, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Jeannine Taylor, and Mark Nelson.

Friday the 13th was one of Bacon's very first roles. He would later act in projects such as Footloose (1984), Apollo 13 (1995), A Few Good Men (1992), and Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011).

"There was no transportation," Bacon said in a 2019 interview with GQabout the filming process. "I think they would drop me off on the way back at a bus stop, and I would have to get the bus stop and try to get back to Manhattan."

The film reportedly had a production budget of $550,000. It made $5,816,321 on opening weekend and grossed $59,754,601 worldwide. It was a hit.

"I would say the number one photograph that's shoved in front of me from fans to sign is one of me dead," Bacon revealed. "And that's always been a little strange to me."

According to Collider, the film "didn't reinvent the wheel, but it definitely helped create a roadmap for future slashers that many adhered to for years to come."

Although Friday the 13th may not have originated showing the killer's POV, "it was used in a more pronounced way to add mystery and tension while keeping the plot moving," the publication argues.

In a 2016 interview with the Daily Dead, King shared the importance of composer HarryManfredini.

"He gave each character a little libretto. So even when the killer isn't onscreen, but they're around, you hear their theme," she said. "I don't really think that had been done before."

The slasher reveals the killer to be Pamela Voorhees, whose son Jason was drowned at the camp 20 years earlier. She blamed the councilors' negligence for his death. (Spoiler!)

"In terms of women not being victims, or a woman being the killer, it hadn't really been done before," King said. "And who would have ever guessed that the killer could have been a woman? A sweet lady, too, Betsy Palmer. No one saw that coming."

The Friday the 13th franchise spans 12 films, with the last movie released in 2009.

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This story was originally published May 9, 2026 at 5:11 AM.