Rating 18
Length 1h37
Release 12.02.2009
Director Marcus Nispel
About A group of collegians decide to spend the weekend at Crystal Lake, which proves fatal for them. They come across the deadly and vengeful Jason Voorhees who is waiting to kill them.
Moon: Waning Gibbous
Where to Watch: Netflix
Trailer:
First Thoughts
I was working at a cinema when this came out. This was released in one of the smallest screens and it sold out before we’d even got to the Friday. I’d have put good money on us selling out if we’d also put it in our largest screen.
You know what we had in our main screen that Friday the 13th?
Pink Panther 2! For the peak time showing, we had maybe 5 people in there watching Steve Martin bastardise a classic. Alas the managers could not switch the screens due to contracts with the distributors. How fucked is that?Anyway, one of the things I loved about working at the cinema was the ability to watch a preview. Even after being dubbed the ‘girl that cried’ by the projection guys after sobbing for most of Marley and Me. So I think it was the Tuesday or Wednesday morning, I got in super early and watched Jason go to town on a load of teens.
Trick
- It is so bloody dark. Yes, the darkness hides a multitude of sins. It also stops you from seeing any of the action. I know this was perhaps the way they had to go for the purpose of CGI, but it does disengage an audience.
- I hate the ending. There’s that trope of wanting to leave the audience on edge so there has to be the hint that the bad guy has survived and, as a result, the final girl/guy will not survive.
It sucks. It leaves the viewer a little dissatisfied and in this case, it’s bullshit. Stabbed in the heart, strangled and brought all the way to lake and submersed in water. Yeah, okay Jason survived that. Sure thing. - Is there too much sex?! Well, I guess if Michael Bay (yup, the dude who put Transformers’ gal Megan Fox in those spray-on clothes) is walking out in disgust… yes?!
I’m on the fence on this one. Perhaps there’s a few too many augmented boobs and there really wasn’t a need to have ya one on the wave rider without her top, but the premise of Friday the 13th is that Jason died because the counsellors were all too busy ‘having sex’. Add to that the fact that sex and virginity are long standing staples of the horror genre and I’m not too sure.
Treat
- The opening in black and white is perfect for setting it apart from the 2009 aspect of the film. I also love that it is able to condense the entire of the original movie into those 4-ish minutes of credits.
- The inclusion of the kikikimamama at key moments was spot on. It gave the hint to the original without relying on it.
- The Title card doesn’t appear until after the first 2009 sequence, 25 minutes into the film. This is weirdly unsettling and puts you on edge by loosing a sense of time. When I first watched this, because my body was tense throughout I thought that was the end of the movie. My body relaxed… but oh shit, there’s more.
- This film gets to do more by it’s clever framing of the story. There’s enough shown for you to watch this film without the original, however there is value added if you’re an existing fan.
The campfire scene gives you enough to be going off regarding Jason and his mother. It also stays fairly cannon up until he becomes supernatural somewhere in those sequels, so this film works both as a sequel or as a stand alone. - The kills are very different. Gone is the intimacy of revenge. It’s replaced more with a mindset of survival and a response to intrusion. He’s also a resourceful guy and proficient in hunting. I guess you’d have to be to survive there all those years.
- Who doesn’t love a Winchester?! I’m not going to complain when Sammy is taking on something a little less supernatural.
Final Thoughts
I prefer this to the original, but I do wish the lights were turned up a little bit in those darker scenes.
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