Famed movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert hated the Friday the 13th franchise for its portrayal of violence against women and its negative view of human nature. Gene Siskel went as far as to ruin the twist ending of Friday the 13th in his written review to deter people from seeing it.

The original Friday the 13th,  while iconic, feels like a film student movie rather than one for general audiences. At its best, it will have audiences sitting on the edge of their seats admiring gore, but the majority of the film seems dedicated to nothingness like a neorealist film.