In 2009 fans of the slasher genre got a little gem that almost seemed to give new breath to the genre.
An actual fun watchable yet modern gore slasher horror movie?
And it happened the movie was released on February.
On Friday the 13th...
Don't miss out my previous Friday the 13th-related reviews!
Movie: Friday the 13th
Directed by Marcus Nispel
Release date 2009
Genre Slasher horror
Country USA
Produced by Platinum Dunes, aka Michael Bay's lower budget/horror movies company - specialized in modernized remakes.
They're the ones responsible for a newly brought back interest in the classic 80s genre of slashers, where serial killer bogeymen are after a bunch of idiot school kids usually, or at least very gory deadshots FX-oriented movies.
After a good Texas Chainsaw Massacre back in 2003 and a pretty bad Amityville, Platinum got the rights to take on Jason Voorhees before taking on Freddy Krueger after that (in the later 2010 remake).
What could go wrong? I mean they look like a bunch of smart resourceful kids...
Friday the 13th is a reboot of the series.
A retelling of the original pitch from the first movie, the proper return of Jason Voorhees from the 2nd one and how he got more badass in the third one including a reimagining of the scene where Jason got the hockey mask.
Then there's a little time skip, we're introduced to a second group of kids where the proper story picks up and continues without a breath until the very end.
So in a way, the movie's equally part-remake, part-reboot/prequel and even part-sequel.
This could just have easily been a continuation of the original series - by ignoring the last installments.
Which is already telling how true to its roots the movie is.
On a Friday the 13th, back in June 1980, a young Jason Voorhees believed to have drown witnesses his mother being Pamela Voorhees being beheaded by a camp counselor, after she was on a killing spree of her own...
... Guess not!
30 Years later, Jason is now all grown up.
He survived in the woods, by himself.
Jason starts to stalk a group that came camping in the old Camp Crystal Lake, because of some drugs they have planted in the woods nearby.
Obviously our slasher ends up killing everyone, on by one. But he ends up abducting a girl Whitney (Amanda Righetti) who reminded him of his mother....
6 weeks have passed.
A new group comes around to spend some time on a summer cabin near the lake.
At the same moment a Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki mostly known for his role on Supernatural) arrives there to search for his missing sister.
With the help of a girl, Jenna (Danielle Panabaker), they find some clues and dead bodies (!) and start to uncover what really happened in this camp...
Marcus Nispel did an outstanding work on this movie.
Taken more seriously than he ever was in the past, the movie's a great love letter to the character and the series as a whole.
The entire movie has a sort of horror tale/Creepshow/Tales from the Crypt-ysh atmosphere, with a grea eerie music.
Harry Manfredini's score is a big part of it, and he even manages to bring back enough iconic bits to make longtime fans feel at home.
Speaking of fans, some were disappointed to not have Kane Hodder back in the role of Jason but I gotta say Derek Mears did a fantastic stunt job and portrayed and moved perfectly for the role.
(he also played a mostly similar stunt "role" for Predators)
The movie dows what few slasher attempt, to cover a lot of stuff and "plot", 2-3 stories worth rolled into one single movie to keep us as entertained as the effects.
The characters weren't as annoying as they can get in this type of productions.
The movie is full of winks at the audience and allusions.
And we even get to see "mister potato-sack head", how fun is that?!
Overall, a fantastic slasher film!
Both a true tribute to the series as well as the most brutal entry yet.
The movie gives like a sort of origin story for Jason and also remakes the first 3-4 movies. (and the main story looks like it could just as easily been a proper follow-up).
The most remak-ysh element is probably how we get to see again Jason get his hockey mask.
I love how they tend to rely on practical effects as much as possible.
The movie was easily one of the most profitable slashers in theater, and one of the most successful horror films as well.
A sequel was actually supposed to come out not long after, introducing some new ideas and elements to the franchise to keep it fresh such as Crystal Lake under snow in winter.
It would also probably move on a more supernatural Jason Voorhees like in the original sequels (zombie!Jason).
But it seems it was all canned/put on old for the moment due to the new Nightmare on Elm Street's failure...
Anyway,
I give it:
3 / 3 Necronomicons!
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