Friday the 13th

The oil truck thunders along the road.

CUT TO:

EXT. RURAL CROSSROADS – DAY

The oil truck has stopped. Annie stands alongside the driver's side.

OIL MAN

Don't let the spooks getcha, Annie.

Annie smiles.

ANNIE

No sweat. Thanks a lot for the lift.

He nods and shakes his head with the sense of what might have been if he were thirty years younger. He puts it in gear and roars off.

Annie looks around and sees an old gas station. It is closed. There's a sign which reads: "No Gas 'Til Sat." A mangey dog sits on the stoop watching Annie.

Annie kneels down and calls the dog. The dog comes. Annie pets him and then heads off up the road.

The dog watches her go.

CUT TO:

EXT. RURAL HIGHWAY – DAY

Annie is beginning to get worried about the time. It's hot and she's late.

She looks up.

From her POV a Jeep barrels along the road towards us.

Annie puts out her numb.

CUT TO:

INT. JEEP – DAY

From the DRIVER'S POV, we see Annie waiting for a lift. The DRIVER, unseen, shifts down until Annie is alongside. The Jeep, an uncovered model, stops. Annie smiles a big delicious smile at us as we sit in the Driver's seat.

ANNIE

Hiya! I'm headed for Camp Crystal Lake. Can you help me out?

Apparently the Driver nods, because Annie beams at us. She tosses her pack in the back and hops aboard. The Driver accelerates.

CUT TO:

EXT. RURAL ROADS – DAY

The Jeep roars along the road. The sun and shadows keep us from seeing the Driver.

CUT TO:

INT. JEEP – DAY

Still in the DRIVER'S POV, the CAMERA watches as Annie looks around, admires the woods, the Jeep, the day. Things are going her way.

ANNIE

I can't remember being this excited about anything. I want to be a teacher when I finish at Southern State. I guess I've always wanted to work with children. I hate it when people call 'em kids. Sounds like little goats.

The forest outside the speeding Jeep is deeper and signs of civilization have all but disappeared. Annie still turns and looks at the CAMERA when she speaks to the Driver.

ANNIE

(continuing)

The job market for teachers is supposed to be the pits these days, but I don't care. When you have a dream as long as I have, you'll do anything...

A look of surprise passes Annie's young face.

ANNIE

(continuing)

Wasn't that Camp Crystal Lake? Just back there?

CUT TO:

EXT. RURAL ROADS – DAY

In the F.G. the sign for Camp Crystal Lake. In the B.G., the Jeep roars off into the distance.

CUT TO:

INT. JEEP / DRIVER'S POV – DAY

ANNIE

(frightened, confused)

I think we better stop... Please stop... Please! Stop!

The Jeep's speed increases.

ANNIE

(continuing)

Please!

Annie grabs for the ignition key, but the Driver's hand darts out and slaps Annie away. We see that this hand is missing its little finger!

Panicked, without any other recourse, Annie looks about her and then leaps from the moving Jeep, aiming for the relatively soft underbrush alongside the narrow road.

CUT TO:

EXT. ROADSIDE – DAY

Annie lands, rolls, is upended, scratched by brambles, and flips. She scrambles to her feet and starts running towards the camp.

CUT TO:

EXT. RURAL ROAD – DAY

The Jeep stops, turns quickly, heads back for her.

CUT TO:

INT. JEEP – DAY

From the DRIVER'S POV we see Annie run, looking back in fear.

CUT TO:

EXT. ROADSIDE – DAY

Annie's feet pound the hard-packed dirt. She looks over her shoulder to see the Jeep. The sun flares on the Jeep's windshield, keeping us from being able to see any details of the Driver.

In a final desperate move, Annie drives into the underbrush to escape.

The Jeep skids to a stop.

CUT TO:

EXT. ROADSIDE / WOODS – DAY

The CAMERA becomes the Driver and chases into the thicket. Branches and briars snap back at us. Just ahead, the terror- stuck Annie stumbles and falls. She screams as a knife flashes past her in a blur.

When the knife has passed, all we can see is a look of surprise on Annie's face.

THE CAMERA PULLS BACK. Her throat has been cut. She collapses out of FRAME.

A bird soars across the sky above.

The TRACK is SILENT.

CUT TO:

EXT. HIGHWAY – DAY

A gaily decorated camper-van travels along the highway. We hear rock 'n roll OVER coming from a car radio as this much-in- need-of-repair vehicle passes a slower car.

CUT TO:

INT. CAMPER VAN – DAY

In the camper van are three young people. They are full of fun, fresh and expectant as they head towards Crystal Lake. They are instantly likeable.

At the wheel is NED, a short 22-year-old whose well-developed upper body is a tribute to his weight-lifting. He is nice- looking, a joker who is always trying to get some attraction. He is funny and alert.

Next to him is JACK, an athlete whose clean-cut look is as American as popcorn. He is quieter, two years younger and not as smart as Ned. He has to think things through.

MARCIE is Jack's girlfriend. She is leaning over the front passenger seat so she can messenger Jack's shoulders.

She is a funny girl, pretty, and always looking for fun. She enjoys every minute of every day. She hasn't been touched by tragedy.

MARCIE

Sex is all you ever think of, Neddy.

NED

There you are dead wrong.

JACK

Ha!

NED

Sometimes I only think about kissing women.