Friday 13th
Directed by: Marcus Nispel Starring: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Travis Van Winkle, Derek Mears
Synopsis: Do you really need one? Ok; Teens go into the woods, get killed by a bloke in a hockey mask...
Over the course of the last few years, I've lost the will to live over the amount of movie remakes announced by Hollywood. Luckily, many of these don't appear to have been made. Conversely, there have been reboots of horror movies that I have enjoyed, such asDawn of the Dead, The Hills Have Eyes and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Each of these gave something new to enhance the story without compromising the spirit of the original. When Friday the 13th was announced, I admit to thinking "So what?". I'd lost interest years ago with the sheer volume of sequels coupled with the fact that the murder sequences were cut by the UK censors. Strange, as that was pretty much what the movies were about: irritating teens getting hacked to death in interesting ways. In my opinion, of late Hardcore horror has really only been tackled with any depth or quality and tension by the French. Friday the 13th hasn't gotten any where near the quality of say L'Interieur. But the movie is not a total loss. I went into this movie with no real prejudices, a mindset I find helpful on many occasions, and came out pleasantly surprised. Ok, the movie goes for teen thrills; gore, and breasts, but doesn't botch it up entirely.
Friday 13th isn't so much a remake as a reboot, akin to the movies I used as examples above. Old mother Vorhees did the killing in the original and this plot point is covered within the opening prologue; a prologue which is not nearly as gory as one would expect.I was immediately worried that this was going to be a Politically Correct horror, with little gore rendering the movie a total waste of time. I needn't have been so concerned. The prologue finishes and we skip to events nearer our time, with a bunch of likeable teenagers camping out looking for weed. One by one they get Jason's full attention. One murder gives new meaning to "Boil in the Bag". I found it strange that Jason would think to grow weed to entice teenagers to his killing area but we are dealing with the human Jason not the supernatural entity in the lst lot of films in the franchise. Then we skip to the present; Supernatural's Jared Padalecki plays Clay Miller who heads off on his motorbike looking for his missing sister, Whitney (Amanda Righetti, seen in the TV show The Mentalist). The local police have all but given up and he takes it upon himself to put up flyers and interview locals. Here he meets the latest crop of "Jason victims" on their way to a place near Crystal Lake . Clay gets on the wrong side of spoilt rich kid Trent at a road side store, whilst trying to convince the storekeeper to put up missing persons posters. Trent's girlfriend Jenna takes an interest, furthering Trent's aggressive attitude towards Clay. Needless to say that this figures into the plot a little way down the line. Trent (Travis Van Winkle) invites friends Jenna (Danielle Panabaker), Bree (Julianna Guill), Chewie (Aaron Yoo), Chelsea (Willa Ford), Lawrence (Arlen Escarpta), and Nolan (Ryan Hansen) to his father's cabin on Crystal Lake for a weekend of sex, booze, pot smoking, and water skiing. There's a certain amount of knowing humour in the script inclusing Trent's fastiduous attitude towards his friends' use of the cabin. unlike most kids his age he is constantly making sure his friends don't misuse the facilities and damage anything. I normally don't read too much into this sort of thing but it's strange that it's the Asian guy and the black character that form a part of the comedy and can't get laid. I doubt it was intentional. Both the local police and citizens have warned Clay Miller not to go into the woods (you think if there was such a reason to tell out of towners, that the FBI would get involved to find out why people are disappearing, wouldn't you?). Clay disregards this and continues his canvassing, coming upon the cabin. An altercation between him and Trent happens and Clay leaves the cabin with Jenna in tow. They find themselves where Clay has been warned not to go; the crystal lake camp site and Jason's lair. Meanwhile, the number of Trent 's "friends" are dwindling. This is down to the usual trappings; teens trying to enjoy themselves in any way from topless water skiing to just plain shagging. Some more obvious movie review/news sites have been preoccupied by one particular actress'breasts and I could see why. So, if you like female nudity along with the hacking and slashing you won't be disappointed. In case one of you isn't familiar with these kinds of horrors i won't elaborate too much on what happens next. Although it would be strange, as the marketing for this film was based on the familiarity. One of the trailers even showed every (don't quote me, I could be wrong) murder. Jared Padalecki is good in the role of Clay, but my interest in the TV show Supernatural got in the way and I half expected a cameo from Jensen Ackles, with him shouting "Sammy!" at some point. Apart from Trent who is supposed to be an irritating character most of the cast are likeable but mainly superficial. There is no emotional investment meaning loss at the killing of a character. Well, apart from the girl with the fantastic boobies but that was hardly an emotional reaction. Verdict: Not the worst reboot of a famous franchise nor the best, but it shows that the F13th series still has legs. 6/10 (Wayfarer)
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