Review of Friday the 13th (1980) by Dave Kehr for Chicago Reader — 16 Jan 1999

The crude technique of director Sean Cunningham borrows whatever sophistication it has from Halloween's precise and elegant point-of-view shots of the killer, though Cunningham often cheats by using the ploy inconsistently.

For all its shoddiness, the film manages, just barely, to achieve its ignoble goals--it delivers what it promises.