This Friday the 13th Marcus Nispel's ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre") remake of the slasher favorite "Friday the 13th" was released nationwide to both the chagrin and anticipation of fans everywhere. Not a fan of the series, having seen the original literally hours before, I came at this film with a fresh mind and enjoyed it overall. The first thing I should point out for potential fans is that this film is not so much a remake but a re-envisioning of the classic.
The movie begins with a remake of the final scene from the original "Friday the 13th" (1980), where the surviving Crystal Lake counselor decapitates the bloodthirsty Mrs. Voorhees. In this respect, the film is more of an updated sequel to the original. This flashback then cuts to modern day where we find a group of teens out in the woods.
These meandering teens have lost their way in search of a marijuana crop, which they plan to harvest and sell back home. With darkness fast approaching they decide to camp a stone's throw away from supposedly haunted Camp Crystal Lake. The usual elements of a campy slasher movie are put into effect at this point. One couple decides to scope out the creepy old cabin while their counterparts begin banging like rabbits. All of this pot-driven mania ends when the towering Jason begins going hack-crazy with his infamous machete, not to mention a few other tools. You barely have time to even dig into your popcorn before all five campers have been exterminated, and that's all before the title even hits the screen.
Now it's weeks later and yet another group of pretty and promiscuous college kids are out to camp at the lake where countless other pretty white college kids have met their demise. This gaggle of inevitable victims is led by Trent (Travis Van Winkle) reprising his role as a typical jock/frat boy that we all hate and hope dies first. Trent and his friends are on their way to his rich father's lake house for a weekend of beer, weed and crazy shenanigans.
Also in the area is Clay (Jared Padalecki), the wayward brother of one of the girls gone missing weeks earlier, who is searching the lakeside community for information about his sister's disappearance. Clay finds himself joining forces with Trent and his friends when Jason Voorhees begins targeting the lake house as the sight for his next massacre and the residents within as his newest victims.
Cheesy as this movie was it was pretty good for two reasons. One, Jason could actually run. We are all tired of the token lumbering killers and monsters that have to wait until you trip over something to kill you. You will find no such thing in this movie. When Jason wants to kill someone, he chases them down.
Second was the way the violence was done. Let's face it . if you went to see this movie chances are you came for two things: lots of killing and lots of female nudity. On both of these fronts, "Friday the 13th" delivers. He kills an entire group of kids before the movie even really begins. Could you ask for more? Every murder in this movie was well timed and well thought out. I never found myself sitting in the theater looking at my watch aggressively and wishing that someone would just die already. Instead, the movie moved along pretty smoothly, fueled of course by a constant barrage of ridiculous and sometimes downright inventive murders (let's just say you won't look at a sleeping bag the same way again). No weapon is used twice on these unsuspecting teens (that is, of course, besides the machete).
The only thing that got to me about this movie was the opening flashback in which the surviving camp counselor can barely be seen running through the over flooded grounds of Camp Crystal Lake. There is a sense of disorientation achieved through unsteady camerawork and poor lighting. But when it hurts your eyes to try and see what's going on, you've lost the effect. Other than an unnecessarily drawn out final showdown (which is to be expected of a campy slasher film), this film was definitely worth a watch. This new "Friday the 13th" is on par with the original and with others of its genre. For what it lacked in plot or acting it most certainly made up for in a fiendish 97-minute bloodbath. If you're bored this weekend and feel it's worth your money to see some gratuitous onscreen violence and weed jokes, I highly recommend this movie.
