Friday the 13th (2009) — The Reviews Thread

[Mr. Cinema]

Anyone else notice that the rich guy's name is Trent. Same guy is also Trent in the first Transformers. I guess if he's in a film that Michael Bay is part of, he'll be Trent.

[Zen Peckinpah]

Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema

Anyone else notice that the rich guy's name is Trent. Same guy is also Trent in the first Transformers. I guess if he's in a film that Michael Bay is part of, he'll be Trent.

Much like how David Patrick Kelly plays characters named Luther in both The Warriors and 48 Hrs.

Favorite kill for me was either

Spoiler:

The sleeping bag roast was the most innovative, but my favorite was, still, easily machete through the skull, then lifting the body up just so we can get a quick shot of tits, which had me laughing. I also liked the arrow through the head and the cop's demise.

[Suprmallet]

I also quite liked

Spoiler:

The chick getting hit by the speed boat, and then when it went to a shot of her under the water, you could see bits of grue floating around her.

[droidguy1119]

As far as names go, I liked Officer Bracke. Tip of the hat to Peter, no doubt.

[dino88]

Originally Posted by Suprmallet

I loved the fact that this film was so filled with nudity. It seems like these days, filmmakers shy away from nudity in horror. It was nice to see this really taking advantage of the R rating.

I agree. It seems like recent films have forgotten what the slasher genre was all about. The nudity has always been a staple as much as the killing. I'm not hard up for nudity on film, but the truth is murder+tits=slasher, whether you like it or not.

I think the reason for the lack of the nudity lately is that they always try to cast popular young actors from tv series (7th Heaven, Disney, etc.) and these actors feel that they have this pure image to uphold. We don't care about familiar faces, we know they'll all be dead in the end.

[Ranger]

When people say that this movie has nudity, they mean as in nice boobies and no man ass, right?

[Solid Snake PAC]

lol....I think America is still too prude to accept a naked man on screen..though...mainstream wise we did have Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

In general though, I'm fine with nudity as long as it's necessary case to have it. And Slasher films, oddly enough, have to have it..it's part of the genre.

[DJariya]

Originally Posted by Ranger

When people say that this movie has nudity, they mean as in nice boobies and no man ass, right?

Yes, there is a very lively sex scene with some nice boobs and a topless water skiier.

[scott1598]

Originally Posted by dsa_shea

Like Inside? Oh, I forgot that Inside was actually suspenseful and gory.

or "Eden Lake" ...excellent DE title.

[scott1598]

Originally Posted by DJariya

Yes, there is a very lively sex scene with some nice boobs and a topless water skiier.

not to mention Kevin Bacon's johnson...oh wait.

[paradicelost]

Originally Posted by dino88

I agree. It seems like recent films have forgotten what the slasher genre was all about. The nudity has always been a staple as much as the killing. I'm not hard up for nudity on film, but the truth is murder+tits=slasher, whether you like it or not.

.

I disagree with that, the really great slasher films never had "a lot" of nudity in them. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser(though i don't know if you can place that in the slasher genre), Original My Bloody Valentine. None of those had more than maybe a few scenes of nudity(if that), it was films like the Friday sequels that didn't have a lot on acting or plot that threw in the nudity and sex to get butts in the seats. I think someone else mentioned how the makers of the original Friday the 13th didn't have the talent that Carpenter did so they went for more nudity.
Don't get me wrong it did seem to be a big part of bad slashers like Slumber party massacre, and the Sleepaway Camp sequels(which were bad but still very fun to watch). I mean when i was 13 all the tits in slasher films is what got me into horror films. The video store wouldn't let kids(young teens) rent movies that were basically R rated soft-core porn, but they did let you rent the r rated horror flicks(again funny in American society nudity=bad, violence=ok). So if you wanted to see tits you rented the newest slasher release.

[RATRUNICK]

The movie was not nearly as bad as I thought it’d be, which is about as much as I can say.We posted our own review at the Screenwriters League over here:

http://swritersleague.blogspot.com/2...not-sharp.html

[Patman]

Hey, if you can't enjoy the sight of topless water-skiiing, then I fear this isn't the movie for you. Talk about an unexpected turn for this updating of the F13 franchise. I usually watch these types of films in the movie theaters for the audience reactions moreso than mine, it's just funny to hear people squeal, gasp, get grossed out by the various ways to kill a human being in films of this genre. This film delivered on the killings, even made me sympathetic towards some of the characters, rooting for them to make it through the ordeal alive. There are some purely idiotic actions undertaken, but it goes with the territory.

"Nice nipple placement." now goes into my book of movie quotes.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

[dino88]

Originally Posted by paradicelost

I mean when i was 13 all the tits in slasher films is what got me into horror films. The video store wouldn't let kids(young teens) rent movies that were basically R rated soft-core porn, but they did let you rent the r rated horror flicks(again funny in American society nudity=bad, violence=ok). So if you wanted to see tits you rented the newest slasher release.

lol...I know, how messed up is that? "OK kids, it's alright to associate nudity with murder, but don't think about sex. If you see a naked woman just think about beheading her, don't think about having nasty, dirty sex with her."

I'm surprised our society hasn't raised more serial killers pushing values like this.

[scott1598]

Originally Posted by KillerCannibal

I enjoyed it. There were things that I felt worked really well, and others that weren't so welcome. I'll have a full review to post later this afternoon. My current score is 3 1/2.

Edit: here's my full review. Spoilerized because I wrote too much, and because there are spoilers.

Spoiler:

Before I even delve into this review I need to preface it by making one thing perfectly clear: I have a tremendous bias at play here. The Friday the 13th series was my Star Wars when I was growing up. I watched The Final Chapter on a seemingly endless loop. I used to sneak late night viewings of the series on USA long after my parents had tucked me into bed. I bought every single VHS tape and wore them out from continuous play (except for A New Beginning, I always hated fake Jason). I went into this remake with a mix of excitement and trepidation. On the one hand, I was happy to see all the love Jason has been getting lately. There is something awesome about seeing Jason pop up all over the place again – on subway posters, billboards, websites, magazine covers… it’s so refreshing to see my childhood icon being re-introduced to a new generation that missed the original series. Then again, on the other hand, I was worried Jason would be dropped into a 21st century flick that couldn’t do his legacy justice. This is, after all, Platinum Dunes, Michael Bay’s production company, at the helm. Marcus Nispel, he of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake fame, would be directing. I was concerned since the Chainsaw remake failed to hold up after successive viewings, and I couldn’t stomach seeing the same fate for Friday the 13th. As luck would have it, it didn’t turn out quite as bad as it could have, although it also wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be.

Do I really even need to provide any kind of plot synopsis for a Friday film? Attractive 20-somethings head out to a cabin in the woods for a weekend of sex, drugs and unexpected death. That’s really the long and short of it. The only addition to that most tried-and-true of plots is that there’s a guy (Jared Padalecki) who’s also headed out to Camp Crystal Lake to look for his missing sister, one of the film’s female leads (Amanda Righetti) from the fantastic pre-title sequence.

While it’s true that all the right elements of a Friday film are here, this certainly isn’t the series I grew up on. First and foremost, let’s discuss just how Jason has evolved over the last 30 years. For those not in the know, and there are surprisingly many of you, Jason isn’t really in the original Friday the 13th. Aside from a seat-jumping cameo during that film’s final 12 seconds, he was just there to provide the impetus needed to get Mrs. Voorhees’ blood boiling. The Jason of Parts 2-4 was a lean, forest-dweller who lived in a ramshackle cabin deep in the woods and hunted anyone unfortunate enough to enter the camp grounds. He was a mongoloid, but he had intelligence enough to eke out a meager living in the woods. After he was (seemingly) killed for good in The Final Chapter, A New Beginning resurrected “the legend” of Jason Voorhees and pissed off fans were bummed to find out that the film’s slasher was merely an imposter posing as the real Jason. Jason Lives brought back the real Jason, only now he was an indestructible zombie. Regardless of the liberties they took with him, that film, along with The New Blood, was plenty of fun to watch. Jason Takes Manhattan turned him into a goddamn teleporter. I shit you not. Jason Goes to Hell, aside from about 10 minutes at the beginning and end where we see he’s a fat, mutated demon-thing, doesn’t even have him in the film. Jason X finally took him to the only place he hadn’t gone: outer space. And you know what? It was way more fun than it had any right to be. Then horror’s two leading icons finally got the match-up everyone had been waiting for, the only problem was that Freddy vs. Jason (for the most part) sucked.

Jason in 2009’s remake is a much different beast than we’ve all become accustomed to. It isn’t really made clear whether he survived his apparent drowning as a child, or if he did indeed come back from a watery grave to exact revenge, but the film establishes that he’s been living comfortably by himself in the woods of Crystal Lake for some time. Hell, even the local residents seem to know he’s out there, killing lots of people, but they’d rather just leave him be than call the police (?!?). Also, we get two different flavors of Voorhees in one film. Sackhead Jason hangs around for the first third of the film until he finds his iconic hockey mask and chooses to don it for the remainder of the flick. And despite what the writers have said, there is nothing remotely cool about how he gets the mask. Considering his acquiring the mask in part 3 worked well in relation to the story, the way he does so here just seems way too convenient. Now, here is the area where I have the most issue: Jason is too intelligent in this film. He sets booby traps, has a rigged up lighting and security system, uses wounded victims as bait to lure others and, most confounding, he’s managed to dig a series of tunnels around Crystal Lake. I kept waiting for him to take off his mask to reveal Bob Vila has been behind it all. I can accept that Jason is a skilled marksman with a bow-and-arrow, as we learn in a typically grisly manner, and it’s a series fact he’s good with throwing knives and various weaponry. But the writers here are giving Jason a little too much credit in the brain department. He’s like Lenny from Of Mice and Men, just with a machete. He’s big, he’s dumb and he plays rough.

Another staple of the series that got the short shrift here are the kills. There are a few that are memorable here, but there are a couple others that just seemed extremely lazy. The worst offender of all is when Jason suffocates someone before impaling them on a clothes hook. Suffocation? Really? People have watched the Friday the 13th films for years for 3 reasons: the sex, the drugs and the kills. When you’re lacking in originality for a film like this, as a fan, I have to wonder why. Also, despite the filmmakers touting just how grisly this entry is, I was under whelmed by the level of gore on display. I don’t need an ultra bloody film necessarily, but when you’re going all over town talking about how graphic your film is then it should at least live up to that hype. I’ll cut Jason a break on this one, since it’s his first big new outing and all, but I expect them to ratchet up on the kill creativity when the sequel hits.

The cast here is, surprisingly, not nearly as bad as I expected. I didn’t recognize anyone, aside from The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond star Nick Menell, but they all did slightly better than I anticipated. Jared Padalecki plays Clay, the guy searching Crystal Lake for his missing sister. Aside from looking very serious the entire time I thought he did well. Hell, even Trent, the pole-smoking douchebag whose parents own the cabin, was good in his respective role. I think I most enjoyed Arlen Escarpeta as Lawrence, the film’s token (and majorly tokin’) Black Guy. We all know the fate of the Black Guy in a horror film, but Lawrence does better than most and the audience was definitely rooting for him.

I’ll admit that much of my initial hesitation to this remake was due to the choice of writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. This is the same duo responsible for Freddy vs. Jason, one of the worst entries for both respective series and featuring some of the most poorly written characters and dialogue of any film in either. To say Friday the 13th is a marked improvement would be a fair statement. Some of the dialogue here is actually smart and there is some wit to their lines for once. While I have stated that I don’t like some of the liberties they took with Jason as a character, they still retained some of his trademark qualities and did make some minor improvements to his behavior. I hate to say this is a complaint, but they should have given us some more time to get to know the characters for who they are. Shannon and Swift seemed to be so concerned with reminding us that the series loves sex and drugs that almost every other scene features one or the other. I love a good smoke session or cheesy sex scene on screen as much as any Friday fan, but after a certain point you wonder if these people know how to do anything else.

Other than my concerns over changing Jason, my main gripe is with the music. Harry Manfredini created a legendary score for the series. His work on the first 4 films is a large part of what made them so endlessly re-watchable. The film retained many of its distinctive cues throughout all the entries, so to have someone new come in and completely blow all of that out was unfortunate. Steve Jablonsky, a longtime collaborator on Michael Bay films, comes aboard to provide a pounding jungle beat score that didn’t match the film on display. For one, his work sounds so reminiscent of Tyler Bates (Halloween ’07, 300, The Devil’s Rejects) that until I read his credit I was convinced this was Tyler Bates. I don’t need a bombastic track that makes me think Jason is going to break out glow sticks and starting popping dance moves in the woods at any moment. Jablonsky not only produced a lackluster score, but he also elects to go for cheap scares by tossing in stingers intended to make people jump at red herrings. That, in my opinion, is the lowest form of terror in a theater.

I had no problems with director Marcus Nispel. He wisely chose to use famed cinematographer Daniel Pearl (Texas Chainsaw Massacre ’74 and ’03), so the film looks absolutely gorgeous. Seriously, this is easily the best looking Friday the 13th film ever. The lighting is awesome, the location shots are awesome; everything looks really great. The film’s look will undoubtedly be compared to the Texas Chainsaw remake, since they do look similar, but overall this film maintains a better atmosphere and will no doubt hold up far better than that film does now. I think it’s also important to mention that the film doesn’t rely on that frenzied, quick-cutting style that so many filmmakers are fond of these days. The action is fast-paced, but the shots are broad and simplistic in their framing. You get a good feel for what’s going on without having to risk getting a headache following the carnage.

I think that’s probably more than enough information to form an opinion on whether or not you should see this movie. I want people to see it because I love the smell of Jason in the air, and the more money this one makes the more likely we are to keep getting sequels. I could argue that we have enough Halloween, Nightmare on Elm St. and Texas Chainsaw Massacre films that more don’t need to be made, but Jason obviously has a special place in my demented heart. I need to see the film a few more times to really let it all sink in… Not because it’s some deep Lynch-ian existential thinker, but because I need to see this Jason in action more to determine his rank among the others. Bottom line: this is a cool flick that probably won’t live up to the lofty expectation of hardcore Jason nerds, but as a horror film its far better than most of the detritus we’re treated to each year.

just thought this incredible review had to be bumped in case anyone missed it.

[Torchur317]

It made $42.2M & it was # 1 at the Box Office....

[Suprmallet]

Originally Posted by paradicelost

I disagree with that, the really great slasher films never had "a lot" of nudity in them. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser(though i don't know if you can place that in the slasher genre), Original My Bloody Valentine. None of those had more than maybe a few scenes of nudity(if that), it was films like the Friday sequels that didn't have a lot on acting or plot that threw in the nudity and sex to get butts in the seats. I think someone else mentioned how the makers of the original Friday the 13th didn't have the talent that Carpenter did so they went for more nudity.
Don't get me wrong it did seem to be a big part of bad slashers like Slumber party massacre, and the Sleepaway Camp sequels(which were bad but still very fun to watch). I mean when i was 13 all the tits in slasher films is what got me into horror films. The video store wouldn't let kids(young teens) rent movies that were basically R rated soft-core porn, but they did let you rent the r rated horror flicks(again funny in American society nudity=bad, violence=ok). So if you wanted to see tits you rented the newest slasher release.

Sorry to tell you, Halloween has nudity.

[LickTheABCs]

Originally Posted by Suprmallet

Sorry to tell you, Halloween has nudity.

See anything you like?

[Suprmallet]

Also, Hellraiser has sex and nudity and the Cenobites themselves combine pain and sexual pleasure, all decked out in their S&M gear. That's a really bad example to use.

And by the time Hellraiser came out, Friday the 13th was on its 7th film, I believe.

[Dr Mabuse]

I guess it was better than the older stuff, but it kind of irritated me most of the time.

I just have a hard time with the... cardboard cutout characters and stuff any more I guess.

Spoiler:

the opening kill sequence around the camp fire was cool, he moved fast and looked menacing coming in with the machete.

[Torchur317]

Better than the older stuff?

[yoshimi]

Just saw it and had a great time. There were actually more 10 and under age kids in the theater than adults. Some woman brought a kid who couldn't even be in school yet. The boobs were nice and so were the kills.

[KillerCannibal]

Originally Posted by scott1598

just thought this incredible review had to be bumped in case anyone missed it.

Thanks for the bump. I did put a lot of effort into writing that, so I'm glad to see people are enjoying it.

[LiquidSky]

Thought I would post first and then read the thread. I just got back and had a blast! Good cheesy fun! Grade: 8.5/10.

[LiquidSky]

Originally Posted by BigDaddy

I noticed blurring in some of the scenes in my theater. I might have to watch it again. I had a good time the first time. Looks like it make back its whole budget in the first day. Pretty impressive.

I noticed some blurring too.