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Overall Rating : 6.5/10
Directed By : Marcus Nispel
Jared Padalecki (Cry_Wolf)
Danielle Panabaker (Sky High)
Amanda Righetti (Return to House on Haunted Hill)
Travis Van Winkle (Transformers)
Supplied By : Warner Home Video/New Line Cinema
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : June. 13, 2009
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| PLOT A group of twentysomethings descends on the backwoods town near abandoned Camp Crystal Lake in search of a rumored marijuana crop. Whitney Miller finds the old Voorhees house and discovers a locket revealing that she resembles Jason’s mother. Jason arrives and, thinking she is his mother reincarnated, holds Whitney captive. Weeks later, Trent and his friends arrive to stay at his father’s vacation home, while Clay shows up to look for his missing sister Whitney. Meanwhile, Jason finds a hockey mask to cover his startling face and begins to satisfy his bloodlust with the hard-partying new arrivals. |
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| THE REVIEW In this retelling of FRIDAY THE 13TH, the story is quite different, but it starts of in familiar territory. The fi, starts off with one surviving camp counselor hacking off the head of one Pamela Voorhees who was responsible for killing the rest of them as a means to avenging the wrongful drowning of Jason. But of course Jason somehow survived the drowning and was watching on from nearby as his Mother was killed. As part of the somewhat extended introduction to Jason we then she him go through a group of pot smoking teens who are looking for a righteous Marijuana crop - but alas he spares one life. The life he spares is that of Whitney Miller....he does so because she closely resembles his beloved Mother lost years ago, the one that he kills for. This then sets up the basis of the story, in which sees a group of friends who gather at one of their parents' lake house which is located on Crystal Lake, who inadvertently run into terror when they meet up with Jason, a Crystal Lake legend. Among this group is Clay, who happens to be the brother of the aforementioned Whitney. When the Police fail to find Whitney and have given up, Clay makes it his mission to come to Crystal Lake in search of his sister himself. In this 2009 reboot of FRIDAY THE 13th, you have killer who has almost in escence spent his entire life living in the woods after the death of his Mother in 1981. Over the years, he and the woods have become one, and he's essentially a hunter who kills as a way of life via various witty skills. Now this may soumd like Ted Nugent, but who we are actually refering to is Jason Voorhees, the iconic villain whom spearheads the title. Many people hate the recent enflux of remakes, some will go as far as to bot see them at all, while others give them a chance, but for one reason or another are still left disappointed. I'll tell you the truth, that when I first get word of a remake, I do get a little worried - especially if it's a film that I love and believe that it shouldn't be touched....such as this entity, While this isn't tecnically a remake, but rather a "re-imagining" of a character that is introduced later in the series....you have to agree that Jason IS FRIDAY THE 13TH, and eventhough Pamela Voorhees is the original killer, it's Jason who grabbed the heart" of the Horror loving audience. But then again I do watch them with an open mind and i'm more accepting of them if they at least to some degree, try to add something new to the story. With that said, messing with Jason is a very gutsy move. The film starts off with a nice prologue set back in June 1981 on a dark and stormy night, this scene in particular reenacts the ending of the original film, and it depicts one surviving camp counseloroutwitting and beheading Pamela Voorhees. In the sequel to the original film, it's speculated that a young Jason, who did not drown after all, was actually watching on from somewhere as his beloved mother got her head chopped off, but this scene and scenario was never shown on film, that is until this remake. I though that the way that this was presented actually worked quite well. The grown up Jason Voorhees is who we are presented with following this prologue after coming back to present day, and old fans of the series may be a little surprised with the Jason that they find here as he is a little different than the one they may know. First and foremost, Jason has lived on his own in the woods all of his life, so sure, he's had to learn to fend for himself. I don't want to calls him a "woodsman" because that sounds a little corny, but that is truly what he has become. He is an expert in the art of killing, and quite smart, and dare I say that this is the most dangerous we have ever seen this character, because not only is he still as strong as he's ever been, this Jason can out think you are well. But the Jason Character isn't the only expansion here, also expanded is Crystal Lake itself. Not only doe Jason roam the familiar grounds of Crystal Lake, add here is the element of Crystal Lake having a set of underground tunnel-ways, which become a "lair" of sorts for Jason to store his handwork, this is also where he keeps the Whitney character hostage. As if the amazing wooded scenery wasn't atmospheric enough, the tunnels add more atmosphere and tension to the scenes that involve them, and overall, it makes for a film that is visually appealing. If you know and love the original 1o films and are a big fan, is this reboot going to be a big change a scenery for you? No, not necessarily, as there are plenty of nods to and spirit of the previous films present here in this update. There are a few things here that I wasn't a big fan of however, one of which was Jason's Mongoloid makeup. Accustomed to the "original" Jason, I am still used tr the facial look for Jason started by Tom Savini, the makeup that has a more bald and deformed look for the killer, which could be considered more "theatrical"(but hey, it worked for me). In this film, I guess you could say that Jason looks as realistic the part as he could look(he's not as bald and his eye is more glassy), i'm not 100% sold on it, but I guess that it's just me being picky, but you still can't deny that Derek Mears as a remarkable presence as the character. Marcus Nispel and Daniel Pearl, the two guy's who shot the remake of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE together(Pearl also served as Director of Photographer for Tobe Hooper's original Chainsaw), also work together here, and like that film, the look and feel of this FRIDAY is slick and well produced. As for the cast and acting, this film is essentially in three parts, the prologue, the first set of teens and then our hero and final set of teens o there is a lot of interacting by them, but truly not much acting is required on their parts as for most of them, their purposes are for the FRIDAY THE 13TH staples such as; the kills, the humor and the nudity. For the most part, Amanda Righetti's Whitney character, Jared Padalecki's Clay and Travis Van Winkle's Trent are the three character's who have the most solidity. And although Van Winkle's character may have been just another disposable duck, you have to admit that the guy is funny(this isn't the first time he's shown a comedic side), his death scene also happens to be one of the film's most brutal and memorable in my opinion. As I said, i'm not a real big fan of remakes unless they had something new to the formula, which is why I didn't wholeheartedly enjoy Rob Zombie's "re imagining" of HALLOWEEN. That film to me, felt like the same old thing, with no real improvements added to it, yes it did introduce some new things to the story, but the things that it brought to the table shouldn't have been. The things Zombie revealed to us about him were interesting i'll admit, but at the same time they stripped all of the mystery away from Michael, so the end result was a Michael Myers that wasn't nearly as scary anymore. This redux of Jason does very little to change him, in fact it uses things that we already know about him, to make him an even stronger presence. It doesn't go too far out of it's way to be something wildly original for a newer generation as it stays relatively close to what the first few films were all about.....new and most of the old appreciators should enjoy it. While the film's story doesn't make as big an impact as THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE's remake(that film was made at the perfect moment in time), it is still a remake that is well ahead of most. |
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| GORE
METER 6/10 Jason kills in various ways, machetes to the head, machete stabbings, slit throats, machete impalement, antler implaments, a bow and arrow and even bear traps. |
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MUSICAL
SCORE 6.5/10 Steve Jablonsky, the composer behind such scores for films such as THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake and TRANSFORMERS, conducts a score her that is hauntingly creepy and sprinkles about a little "ki" and "ma"(or whatever it is) for that old familiarity. | ||||
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM The remake, or "re imagining" for FRIDAY THE 13TH is honestly not a bad film at all, and does nothing to disgrace the series' legacy(in my opinion). If anything it brings Jason back to solid ground, after all, after you have changed Jason into some kind of space demon what more can you do with him. I apologize that my review is all over the place, after recently reviewing most of the original series, and for the fact that this film in particular has been reviewed all over the place, there's really not much more to add. But I will say that in my opinion it surpasses the humdrum HALLOWEEN remake, but not the remake for CHAINSAW MASSACRE. I guess i'm just to dedicated to the saw(the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is my favorite movie of all time), after all "the saw is family" as they say! The film's official website - www.fridaythe13thmovie.com This DVD will be released June 16, 2009 |
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