Grade (D+)
This remake had its moments, the hockey masked killer looked great, but in the end it resulted in a generic horror romp with no ambition, despite the premise being laid out for them already.
There are not many people who haven’t heard of the machete-wielding killer wearing a hockey mask that has been killing teen campers at Crystal Lake (and beyond) for decades. Although Jason Voorhees is one of the most famous killers in horror-movie history, his name has taken a large hit over the year’s with some extremely cheesy film outings.
After killing stints in Manhattan, a voyage to space (that’s right… space) and battling another big-name horror icon Freddy Krueger, the lore of the “Friday the 13th” franchise has turned to more of a joke in recent memory, with most only watching the films out of simple nostalgia. In 2009 “Friday the 13th” was rebooted and many hoped the remake would take things back to the basics and remind us why Jason has been such a lasting name in the genre.
This one stars the traditional bunch of virtually unknown actors as the story starts out (as you would suspect) with a group of teens heading out on a camping trip at Camp Crystal Lake. Needless to say they do not last long in the dark woods. Six-weeks later, a man is roaming the area spreading signs for his missing sister and looking into her whereabouts.
Of course he runs into a another group of teens at a gas station on their way out to a summer cabin on the lake. You can guess where the story goes from there, killing, running in the woods at night, sex, and gory kill scenes, or what many would call the perfect recipe for a standard horror flick.
This “Friday the 13th” reboot took the story back to where it should have been, in the woods and around Crystal Lake. While it was a far cry from perfect, it wasn’t completely horrible, just overly uninspired. With films like this you want a couple chuckles, some cliche killing, and a plot that can be generic, just not absurd, and this film delivers some of this, but with no real ambition.
While most of the actors and actresses were unknown to me, they did a serviceable job and did not hinder the enjoyment of the film with their performances. The cast all served their parts and proved that decent acting can hold even a simple horror plot, barely. They just had far from adequate material to work with. The story just goes through all the motions and was clearly just a retread of the past films, completely missing its own vision.
Jason Voorhees looked great and was all you could expect from an iconic horror character. But his actions in this film in a way, counteracted all the intimidation that was created from his appearance. This remake may not have resulted in the same quality as that of the recent “Halloween” entries by Rob Zombie, yet it was still mildly entertaining, but nothing worth your full attention. This is a film to watch if you want to sit on your couch with your tablet cleaning out you email inbox. It gave me less than I expected and if you love the franchise there may be some moments of enjoyment, in an overall forgettable remake.
Time: 97 min
MPAA Rating: R (For strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, language and drug material)