13 Things You Didn't Know About Friday The 13th
1. The Film Was The Victim Of A Hatchet Job
The legendary - and legendarily priggish - critic Gene Siskel hated horror movies, all horror movies - he even gave bad reviews to classics of the genre like Jaws, Alien and The Silence Of The Lambs.
So no one was surprised that, like the other critics, Siskel intensely disliked Friday The 13th - but even for him, his reaction was extreme. Labelling it a ‘meat-cleaver-in-the-forehead’ movie, he gave it zero stars, calling Cunningham “one of the most despicable creatures ever to infest the movie business.”
What was unexpected was that Siskel would take it upon himself to reveal to readers of the Chicago Tribune the twist ending to the film right at the beginning of the review, explaining Mrs Voorhees’ motivation and actions throughout the film. His stated rationale for doing so was specifically to try and ruin the film and so reduce the potential audience who might go and see it - it was a deliberate act of sabotage on his part for a movie he despised.
Incredibly, he even published the name of the chairman of the board of Paramount Pictures’ parent company, Gulf & Western, for readers to write to and complain about the film. Still more incredibly, he found out in which town in Connecticut Betsy Palmer made her home and suggested that his readers write hate mail to her as well.
Fortunately, he was misinformed, and Palmer never received a thing...