Friday The 13th (2009) Review

Music Video director Marcus Nispel, who also directed the 2003 reboot of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, got the chance to direct another horror cult favorite franchise in the Michael Bay produced, 2009 version of Friday The 13th, a film based on a series that started out promising in 1980 and ended up becoming a laughable parody of itself over the years yet is still respected as a franchise that helped(along with the original Halloween movie) to make “slasher” films into a bankable genre.



10 sequels and 1 “team up” movie since its 1980 release, the Friday The 13th series itself has become more of a joke over the years than anything that could resemble an actual film, but the fans of the franchise that have been clamoring for this film wont be disappointed, for better or worse.

There isn’t much depth to the Jason Voorheese character in general. As the films protagonist, his almost 30 year old back-story is left untouched in this movie: As a young, mentally challenged boy, he was a camper at Camp Crystal Lake where he drowned due to the neglect of the camp councilors, his mother, thirsty for revenge begins murdering the councilors one by one until she’s killed. Jason turns out to be alive (or returns from the dead, it’s never been clear) and spends the rest of his "life" avenging his mothers murder.

We’re spoon fed that origin via flash back over the opening credits and then later again in an early scene around a campfire were the prerequisite “so did you ever hear about what happened at Camp Crystal Lake” story gets told by a future corpse to a group of drunken, over sexed campers, so the film is technically more of an amalgamation of the first 3 than a remake of part 1.
The movie eventually follows a group of teens visiting a cabin in the woods, thier personalities run the stock-slasher-film-gamut from hero, damsel in distess, obligitory naked girl and quirky funny dude, to douchebag, other obligitory naked girl and black guy.

They all eventually run into a young man who has been looking through these same woods for his sister who has gone “missing” several weeks before, and to reveal more than that would kinda be spoiling an already paper thin plot, but lets just say they all eventually run into Jason who is portrayed not as the undead lummox he has been in the last 6 or so movies but rather as a mentally deranged, deformed mountain man who actually lives in a house and knows how to operate a bow and arrow and even has the wherewithal to set up booby traps in the woods.

There are legitimate fright moments and a “surprise” ending that should keep any fan of the series or genre in general satisfied. It’s less gory than the 2003 remake of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” but better paced and a little more fun and not as much of an in depth character study that the Rob Zombie retelling of “Halloween” was. It’s not great. It’s not bad, but it’s by and large a fun ride with decent characters and some inventive kills, a solid body count, plenty of nudity and an adequate film to reboot a new franchise.

At times it feels a little cliché given that so many movies have copied this brand of horror but if you remind yourself that this is a re-imagining of a classic it’s a little easier to cut it some slack and enjoy it for what it is: A decent, popcorn date movie that’s more of an homage than a sequel or remake.

Opens this Friday, February 13th (get it?).

BONUS: Trailer