Linda Gross of the "Los Angeles Times" referred to the film as a "silly, boring, youth-geared horror movie," though she praised Manfredini's "nervous musical score," the cinematography, as well as the performances, which she deemed "natural and appealing," particularly from Taylor, Bacon, Nelson, and Bartram. "Variety", however, deemed the film "low budget in the worst sense—with no apparent talent or intelligence to offset its technical inadequacies—"Friday the 13th" has nothing to exploit but its title." "The Miami News"s Bill von Maurer praised Cunningham's "low-key" direction, but noted: "After building terrific suspense and turning over the audience's stomachs, he doesn't quite know where to go from there. The movie begins to sag in the middle and the expectations he has built up begin to sour a bit." Lou Cedrone of "The Baltimore Evening Sun" referred to the film as "a shamelessly bad film, but then Cunningham knows this. This is sad."