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Directed By
Marcus Nispel
Written By:
Mark Wheaton, Victor Miller, Mark Swift, Damian Shannon
Cast:
Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van Winkle, Derek Mears, Aaron Yoo, Arlen Escarpeta, Ryan Hansen, Jonathan Sadowski, Ben Feldman, Nick Mennell, America Olivo, Nana Visitor, Richard Burgi, Chris Coppola, Kyle Davis, Kathleen Garrett, Jaime De La Rosa, Travis Davis, Julianna Guill, David Sharp, D.J. Castillo, Willa Ford, Caleb Guss, David Lyman, Amy Quick Parrish
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Friday the 13th (2009)
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Movie Review by Chris
August 6th, 2009
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In the world of film, a director must take risks to get rewards, which means they must take on projects that they know could destroy their reputations. Marcus Nispel took this risk when doing a remake (or reimagining) of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Surprisingly, Nispel made a fun and bloody remake, something that fans of the original and more modern horror fanatics could enjoy very much. After doing a few smaller projects and a film called Patchfinder, Nispel returns to the horror scene with a remake (or reimagining) of Friday the 13th, one of the most popular horror franchises in the world. Though it followed Halloween, Friday the 13th started a trend of horror movies now known as the slasher films, a very popular sub-genre of horror. The problem is that Marcus Nispel just couldnt seem to find that passion or strenght to make 'Friday the 13th' a memorable remake.
Changing around the plot of the original film, 'Friday the 13th' keeps the same backstory about how a young boy drowned in the lake and then comes back for revenge after his mother was decapitated by a camp counselor. This time though, after a group of 5 kids suddenly dissapears in search for a weed farm, the brother of a young girl that was in that group, Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki) goes on a hunt to find his sister after the recent death of his mother. During his search he meets Trent (Travis Van Winkle) and Jenna (Danielle Panabaker) at a local store. Trent is a douchebag, but Jenna feels bad for Clay, and the rest of the group that's with Trent and Jenna are all on their way to Trent's big, fancy house near Camp Crystal Lake. They all get themselves in trouble though when Jason seeks revenge, and he's not having any mercy here.
The idea for a Friday the 13th remake was not an unexpected one, all the original horror films are getting the remake hit eventually. Rob Zombie reimagined Halloween and now A Nightmare on Elm Street is getting re-done, with a release in 2010. After I read that Marcus Nispel was directing this one though, my hope's were relieved a bit after seeing what he did with TCM. As usual, we have a young and attractive cast, some which can act and other's which are only used for the sex scenes. Jared Padalecki plays as a brother on the search for his missing sister, he has been trying for a long time to find her and he won't give up on doing so soon. He seems desperate to find her, going door to door asking if anyone recognizes her picture. I like Jared, he seems to make his character feel less like just another horror bad boy. His passion and care for his sister really drives his character to be something more.
The only other person I find that gave a decent peformance here was Danielle Panabaker, whom is together with Trent but seems to fall for Clay through the film. She is very nice towards Clay, going with him to search for his sister in the sorrounding woods. Of course, she looks good running from Jason, but her performance is more then that. She brings more humanity to Jenna than anything. I absoulutely hate Travis Van Winkle, not as an actor, but he always get's the a**hole roles, the one guy nobody likes. Here, Trent is rich, and boy he loves to flash his money. Yes we get to see Van Winkle have sex with some hot blonde, but he never gets my respect at any point during the film.
It's not only risky to remake such a classic film, but to change elements of the film drastically is an even bigger risk. Jason Voorhees wasnt even the killer in the original film, it was his mother. In the second film Jason wore a potato sack over his head, which we see him wear in this film, but in the remake Jason finds the mask in a local barn after mudering a pothead redneck. I believe this scene happened a little quick, but it's sort of an updated version of how Jason came to be the hockey mask killer. Through the 10 sequels following the original Friday the 13th, Jason has been said to be a supernatural, to be alive or even to be a zombie of sorts, just walking around dead, with a mind only focused on killing young teens doing acts of complete wrong. The only reason I enjoy any of the sequels is because of the wacky and gory way's Jason kills his victims.
The machete is the murder weapon of Jason Voorhees, he uses it to slice and dice every one of his victims. To me, it seems as if the original film is actually more violent then this updated version. Most of the kills in 'Friday the 13th' actually arent all that great, and this is coming from a horror fanatic. Jason goes from the machete to the bow, back to the machete and back to the bow, which he uses to kill off about a dozen horny teens. I believe about three of the deaths in the movie are memorable, the rest just kind of dozed off. I never found Marcus Nispel to be much of a gory director. His remake of TCM wasnt even that violent, just enough to score an R rating. My advice, if your going to update a classis horror film, atleast make the kills a little more memorable. I will admit that the deaths are always fun, but variation is needed.
So the film is a little glossed up, Jason lives out of underground cave's and we get a more fast and brutal Voorhees, but that doesnt make this remake much of anything memorable. For a hardcore fan like me it pleases at a low level, making for a cheesy horror flick. It's not bad enough to destroy the original film, but it's not good enough to compare to the original. Watch with caution, until then, enjoy the original and it's sequels. It's crazy because a sequel to this has already been announced, time to fix everything you messed up here!
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