Friday the 13th (2009) — The Reviews Thread

[scott1598]

since people are starting to see and the other is getting lengthy...

Movie:
"Friday the 13th" (Starring: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Aaron Yoo, Amanda Righetti)

Release Date:
2/13/2009

Rating:
R

Rotten Tomatoes Reviews:
Fresh:40 Rotten:113 (26% as of 7/14/09)
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/frid..._13th_prequel/

Info:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758746/

Trailer:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/fridaythe13th/

Poster Art:

[scott1598]

Please, please only post if you've seen the film and use spoilers for any parts that might want to be not spoiled for the rest of us.

From previous thread...

Originally Posted by BigDaddy

Just got back and had a great time. A whole lot of nudity which kind of surprised me. Some good kills. Not scary at all but it was fun. I think the Chainsaw Massacre remake was a little better but that may because I heart Jessica.

Originally Posted by SkipKassidy

I just got back from a screening in Houston. Not bad at all. Audience was yucking it up throughout, laughing and making jokes.

Some good inventive kills as well. Gotta love Jason's can-do attitude. A mongoloid that sets goals and sees them through.

Originally Posted by ruddiger_718

I caught the premier in los angeles screening last night and had a good time. I thought there was going to be more blood, but I was satisfied, I don't want to get into it too much with spoilers, but I had a pretty great time with a full audience, so I suggest you do the same. After the credits were over, I noticed that Derek Mears who played Jason stuck around when everyone got an autograph. He couldn't have been a nicer guy, you could tell he was so happy to be there, and was relieved that all of the fans were having a good time being there.

[Giles]

Originally Posted by ruddiger_718

I caught the premier in los angeles screening last night and had a good time. I thought there was going to be more blood, but I was satisfied, I don't want to get into it too much with spoilers, but I had a pretty great time with a full audience, so I suggest you do the same. After the credits were over, I noticed that Derek Mears who played Jason stuck around when everyone got an autograph. He couldn't have been a nicer guy, you could tell he was so happy to be there, and was relieved that all of the fans were having a good time being there.

I was going to make a comment on that, since the recent 'My Bloody Valentine' remake also seemed like there some possible interference was done in order to get's it's R-rating. Since there was word that the unrated cut for 'Friday the 13th' (2009) was recently finalized I can't wait to see the extra grue and restored storyline for the home video edition.

[Darth Maher]

I thought it was great. Definitely a respectful remake to the original four movies.

[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.

[KillerCannibal]

^ Great review. I'm glad to see you fixed the typo.

[BigDaddy]

Originally Posted by KillerCannibal

^ Great review. I'm glad to see you fixed the typo.

Your review was great by the way.

[GizmoDVD]

Originally Posted by BigDaddy

Your review was great by the way.

I'll echo that statement. Going to see it tomorrow afternoon.

[Sex Fiend]

Originally Posted by BigDaddy

Your review was great by the way.

Double echoed...

Seeing it tomorrow night with my girlfriend, who ordinarily cringes at the mere thought of any horror film. But she insisted on going just because it's Friday the 13th on an actual Friday the 13th. That's why I love her...

[CreativeMind09]

We'll soon find out if Michael Bay "transformed" this remake into something worth watching.

[Zen Peckinpah]

Just got back from the midnight show. I'll spoilerize a full review, but I'll tell those of you who haven't seen it to see it because it's good. Obscenely good. Part 3/Final Chapter/Jason Lives good. Not perfect, but exactly the hard reset Jason needed.

For those of you who saw it:

Spoiler:

Coming from something who despised the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which director Marcus Nispel and producer Michael Bay were also involved with, I have the utmost pleasure of reporting that their effort to bring back Jason and the Friday the 13th franchise has succeeded. It's not bad.

Scratch that. It's really, really, really fucking good. Oscar material? About as hopeful as killing him for good: it'll never happen, and it probably shouldn't. Immensely entertaining? Yes. Very much so. Even more shocking, the last person I would have expected to be behind bringing back America's favorite homicidal zombie goalie was the director of Pearl Harbor and Armageddon. But he did it, and it's easily the best horror remake/reboot to come out of the whole unfortunate craze since Zack Snyder's ruthless, no-holds-barred Dawn of the Dead update back in '04. Like that film, it doesn't aspire to scare. It's not Slumdog Millionaire, but knowingly so thanks to a fair amount self-awareness circulating plenty of adrenaline.

Just like the other films, you don't need to describe the plot, but I guess I have to since this is a review. In 1980, a camp counselor decapitates psychotic local Pamela Voorhees in a last stand after the latter had committed several murders. Nearly three decades later, a group of idiots go camping, unwittingly bearing witness to confirmation of one of the guys' campfire legends: that Pamela's handicapped son Jason has indeed not drowned and lives in the woods, protecting the Crystal Lake territory like he's Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino only that his Gran Torino is a garden of weed. Naturally, all of them die, except one, who gets holed up under his shack. More idiots come, including the Asian version of James Franco in Pineapple Express, a sandy-haired douche, three attractive girls, an African-American guy, and another sandy-haired douche who probably studied William Zabka's performance in The Karate Kid for inspiration for being a dickface. Then there's the missing girl's loner, motorcycle-riding brother looking for her. Jason kills most of them, preferably with a machete but also sneaking in with a bow and arrow, a tire iron, and an axe.

Read the last sentence again, and you'll see what separates this from remaking Texas Chainsaw or Halloween. Those films were originally based around atmosphere over violence and were scarier because of it, so when the remakes came around they underwhelmed and disgraced. None of the Friday the 13th movies ever aspired for what either film did, and by simply maintaining that same momentum this time, as well as executing a great slice of entertainment in the process. Like I said, as long as you're not expecting Oscar material, this movie delivers straight up.

It's not without flaws, mainly attributing to a weak and overly bombastic score lacking the older films' archaic cheesiness with too much industrial influence and the obvious acting fallacies, but I can say this much. Jason is back, and permitting his machete skills help it do gangbusters at the box office (something I think is possible after the sold-out show I was at), we'll get more.

P.S.: Seeing the Paramount logo beforehand was completely, utterly awesome. No wonder they got it right.

Another thing: curse my screening for not showing the Inglorious Basterds teaser. I saw it, yes, but it would've been great to see on the big screen. We did get Watchmen, Observe and Report, and Transformers 2 (which also looks pretty goddamn entertaining) though.

Last edit, two things:

1. Some great nudity here.

Spoiler:

2. The Steve Holt-like douche's girl scream

[OutRun2]

Was it better than MBV?

[dino88]

I went to the midnight screening as well and I have to say I loved it. It far exceeded my expectations and I give it 4 stars. I wasn't expecting much after seeing it advertised as being from the same people that brought you "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (remake of course) because I thought that movie blew. Compared to other recent remakes, I put this up there with "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Dawn of the Dead", but I guess it's all subjective as to how much you liked those films. For a slasher flick you can't ask for much more. Plenty of deaths, blood and tits. Definitely check in out in the theater on a packed night (preferably this weekend) because being with a crowd that loves horror as much as I do reminded me how much fun going to the theater used to be.

Spoiler:

The film even went further to show a more human side to Jason than I ever remember seeing. We don't just see him magically appearing from behind a tree or behind a victim one second and in front the next. I first thought about this during the scene when the 2 are hiding under the cabin and Jason comes back with the body. We get to see him going about his business from a different perspective, rather than just killing. I even found myself feeling a bit bad for him at the end right before he died. When he reached his arm out to Amanda (I think that's her name?) right before getting skull fucked, you almost felt sorry for him for that split second.
One last thing. I always thought that Jason killed to avenge his mother's death. Who knew the only reason behind the killing was to protect his weed?

[paradicelost]

Just read the review and am glad that it seems at least average, going to go check it out today.
About the review though, let me quote something, "(Jared Padalecki, "Gilmore Girls")".
Dude, Gilmore Girls, really. I mean you couldn't have said "Supernatural".
Great review though, it makes me look forward to it a little bit more.

[Larry C.]

Thanks for the reviews guys can't wait. Gonna check out Jason tonight!!!

[scott1598]

if only Rotten Tomatoes reviewers could take this movie for what it is and not think so serious about it.

[SkipKassidy]

ignore post.

[Matthew Chmiel]

This one will be quick as I'm headed to work.

I caught a midnight screening at a theater which decided to put it on it's IMAX screen (which was awesome, but no Transformers teaser). It looked fucking gorgeous and was extremely loud (to the point that I even jumped a few times during the proceedings).

Simply put, I really dug the flick. It's not as good as the best in the series, but it's a gigantic step-up from the past few outings we've gotten in the past twenty years (despite my love for Jason X). I came for gratuitous violence, nudity and drug use; and the film was able to deliver major on all three counts. It's extremely fast paced (unlike the horrific My Bloody Valentine remake a month back) and has some good jumps or some very (intentional?) funny moments.

I really don't see someone who enjoys Friday the 13th movies for what they are really coming away disappointed from this.

[riley_dude]

From the San Francisco Chronicle...

Hopefully, there's something in President Obama's stimulus package that will help the ailing slasher-movie industry. Not only are horror filmmakers running out of ideas for this genre, but they can't even remake the old ones with any skill.

The reboot of the "Friday the 13th" series is a pretty big mess - not particularly scary or interesting or even gory by 21st century movie standards. The makers of this film have removed the handful of redeeming qualities from the original and added rejected subplots from "7th Heaven" and "The O.C.," where most of the cast members seem to have been recruited. If it wasn't for a topless waterskiing sequence, there would be nothing memorable to recommend to your friends.

It's not as if director Marcus Nispel had an especially difficult task, making a movie that equaled the original. "Friday the 13th," released in 1980, was an inferior knock-off of John Carpenter's "Halloween." The makers of the first "Friday" didn't have a better story or technical skills than Carpenter, so they ramped up the sex, gore and depravity. Their one genius idea was accessorizing Jason with a hockey mask, and they didn't get around to that until the third movie in the series. The best part about the original "Friday" was the chance for teen moviegoers to defy their parents and the critics, who had declared a national crisis because of the horror picture. If Siskel and Ebert spent an entire show trashing the movie, then we have to see it!

Ten sequels later, including the "Freddy vs. Jason" movie, it's hard to generate much outrage for this series re-launch, which despite several decapitations and impaled heads seems tame in the "Saw" and "Hostel" era. "Friday the 13th" has enough credited writers to field a hockey team, and each of them was able to contribute one-third of a good idea. (In addition to the topless waterskiing scene, there's some inventive use of a wood chipper.)

"Friday the 13th" begins with a short and grainy scene involving the history of Jason, his mother and Camp Crystal Lake. After Jason takes out several campers in a second pre-credit sequence, we move ahead to present day, where a strapping young Josh Brolin look-alike (Jared Padalecki) searches for his sister. Of course he runs into Jason, who also terrorizes a group of college students staying in the vacation house of a rich kid.

Notice that you didn't see the words "camp counselors" once? Creating a "Friday the 13th" movie without counselors is like making a "Godfather" movie without any mobsters. But these filmmakers try anyway, filling the story instead with modern product placement - including GPS devices, a Cadillac Escalade and an underground dungeon that looks like it was made by the same subcontractors responsible for Jame Gumb's lair in "Silence of the Lambs."

Both groups of machete fodder are made up of five or six stereotyped young people, who couldn't possibly be friends in real life: the spoiled wealthy kid, the pot-smoking tech nerd, the black guy who wants to start a rap label, the sensible girl who keeps complaining that everyone should turn around and drive home ...

No chance of that happening. Twenty-nine years may have passed, but the self-preservation skills of American teenagers hasn't gotten any better. Neither has the ability to make a great horror film.

-- Advisory: This film contains violence, profanity, sex scenes, drug use and that creepy "ki-ki-ki ma-ma-ma" sound effect (which would make a really badass ring tone).

[Zen Peckinpah]

Originally Posted by OutRun2

Was it better than MBV?

Yes, oh yes. And I didn't think it'd do it.

[iggystar]

Killer, that was one of the best Friday the 13th breakdowns I've ever read. That thing should be published. Nice work, because I was always confused about Jason's history (except I did know what when down in the first movie).

[KillerCannibal]

Thanks. My love for Jason found me getting a bit verbose, but I have an easy time wirting about things I love. Go figure. I honestly could have made it much longer, but I felt like sparing anyone that didn't want a history lesson.

I'll probably go check this out again at the semi-local drive-in theater this week.

Edit to add: I just updated my review with a few minor changes that bugged me.

[Torchur317]

Seen it today, It wasn't the best F13 movie so far or anything but it was a solid remake. Jason is totally different & the score doesn't come close to Harry Manfredini's work at all. Half of the kills were blah & the other half were creative or homages to some of the older films. The cast was decent for the most part, could have been better but it's a slasher film so I'm not bothered by it & they are alot better than most of recent PG-13 bullshit remake casts out there. I'm surprised it wasn't as gory as I thought it would be but it had some nice classic female nudity. I hate to say this but I enjoyed the My Bloody Valentine remake more than this but I did enjoy it more than the Halloween remake but then again that's not saying much. It's better than Jason X, Jason goes to Hell, Jason Takes Manhattan, & Friday the 13th: A New Beginning. Then again that's not saying much compared to the others either. If you are a modern day horror fan you will love this but if you are more of an oldschool fan you might be let down a little bit but it's still a fun film & I'm curious to see the alternate cut that was announced for the DVD release. 8/10

[Torchur317]

Originally Posted by OutRun2

Was it better than MBV?

No....

[Mr. Cinema]

As someone who loved Nispel's version of Texas Chain Saw Massacre, I was psyched about the remake. It isn't bad. Typical slasher movie. I was surprised there wasn't more gore featured.

This was one of the loudest movies I've sat through. Every sound was blasting through the speakers. A good thing in my book. I liked this version of Jason. He's actually quick and fast, not slogging around as usual. I liked the new score as well.

There wasn't much thought put into the killing scenes, aside from one. It's a whole lot better than most of the horrid sequels, but that's not the greatest accomplishment. Pretty decent overall though.

Some solid T & A too.