No, it's not the set up for a joke, I really do. Well, okay, love is strong. I really, however, do enjoy it. This is honestly a good reboot. I know that's gonna completely shock everyone, but I'm being genuine when I say that this movie is just about perfect as far as Friday the 13th gets. A full on reboot of the Friday the 13th franchise (maybe), again given to us by Platinum Dunes and New Line, and it actually comes out amazingly well.
...no, really, I'm not joking. This is actually better in my mind than the Nightmare remake we covered last week.
Set in the ever infamous Crystal Lake, we have a short scene in the beginning of Mrs. Voorhees (Nana Visitor) tormenting campers before getting her head chopped off - which was covered, so this isn't a spoiler - before a little boy finds a locket and hears her last words "Kill for mother".
And with that, we get right into the killing as a group of twenty somethings comes to Crystal Lake with the intention of partaking in the usual horror film activities of premarital sex, drinking, and partaking in a whole field of wacky weedus! But a man with a grain sack over his head (yes, Jason did not always have a hockey mask) and a machete is all too happy to set them back on the paths of righteousness and goodness by killing them all to death...y'know, like you do in such situations.
Weeks later, Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki) comes to Crystal Lake looking for his sister - one of those that were a victim of Jason. Also in attendance to be chopped up by Crystal Lake's resident human hibachi chef are a group of kids on a summer retreat to a lake house and are pretty much all there to partake in the aforementioned activities leading into hanging a "Please Kill Me!" sign around their necks. If you've seen any horror movies, this should be no surprise.
From there, it's a weird-hybrid of the first four original Friday movies, and I haven't seen a lot of criticism levied against this one as much as the Nightmare one. What few critiques I have seen for this, I agree with even less than I do those for that one. One of them being that Jason's not remotely smart enough to set snares and traps the way he does in a very Rambo-esque style. My answer to that is simple: Jason's a hunter.
He's a predator, and the humans have entered into his domain. It makes sense that he would adapt and learn these tricks to have a better grasp over his lands than those that trespass. Mind you, that doesn't mean I even pretend to know where the network of tunnels under the camp came from. One of the superfluous characters in the beginning mentions a mine but, other than that, there's nothing said about an old mine near Crystal Lake. They are pure plot convenience, so far as I can figure out, though it is nice that they actually bothered to try and work out an explanation for how Jason seems to get everywhere so quickly and without being seen.
The mines themselves also have a few "blink and you miss it" cameo items from previous Friday movies - such as Mark's wheelchair from Friday the 13th Part 2 - among other items from Jason's victims that make it difficult to say if this film is a straight up reboot or if it's merely a sequel that can be placed in at some point. Then again, it also may just be fanservice given the fact that a great deal of this film homages the original four. Still, it was a nice touch worth pointing out.
Beyond that, of course, it's pretty much a cookie cutter, paint by numbers Friday film. It's exactly what you expect and would want, even in terms of body count. So even the "they changed everything" complaint they have for Nightmare doesn't really work, because besides bothering to explain Jason's super teleportation powers and giving him enough instinct to pull a Predator, nothing has really changed from the originals. Jason goes around, and he kills people. Easy peasy.
There's really nothing more that needs to be said. If you haven't seen it, go and watch it. It's pretty good. It's not perfect and certainly has more than enough issues in the dialogue (anyone who uses the word "stupendous" unironically to someone other than schoolchildren deserves to be hacked apart with a machete). It's certainly a hell of a lot better than the two piles of crap that awaits us for the next two weeks of our time in the madhouse of horror remakes.
That's right, it's almost time for the festival of Samhain...
...Halloween approaches...
.,,I just wish it were one of the good ones...
Friday the 13th is now available from New Line Cinemas and Platinum Dunes wherever movies are sold.
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
From there, it's a weird-hybrid of the first four original Friday movies, and I haven't seen a lot of criticism levied against this one as much as the Nightmare one. What few critiques I have seen for this, I agree with even less than I do those for that one. One of them being that Jason's not remotely smart enough to set snares and traps the way he does in a very Rambo-esque style. My answer to that is simple: Jason's a hunter.
He's a predator, and the humans have entered into his domain. It makes sense that he would adapt and learn these tricks to have a better grasp over his lands than those that trespass. Mind you, that doesn't mean I even pretend to know where the network of tunnels under the camp came from. One of the superfluous characters in the beginning mentions a mine but, other than that, there's nothing said about an old mine near Crystal Lake. They are pure plot convenience, so far as I can figure out, though it is nice that they actually bothered to try and work out an explanation for how Jason seems to get everywhere so quickly and without being seen.
The mines themselves also have a few "blink and you miss it" cameo items from previous Friday movies - such as Mark's wheelchair from Friday the 13th Part 2 - among other items from Jason's victims that make it difficult to say if this film is a straight up reboot or if it's merely a sequel that can be placed in at some point. Then again, it also may just be fanservice given the fact that a great deal of this film homages the original four. Still, it was a nice touch worth pointing out.
Beyond that, of course, it's pretty much a cookie cutter, paint by numbers Friday film. It's exactly what you expect and would want, even in terms of body count. So even the "they changed everything" complaint they have for Nightmare doesn't really work, because besides bothering to explain Jason's super teleportation powers and giving him enough instinct to pull a Predator, nothing has really changed from the originals. Jason goes around, and he kills people. Easy peasy.
There's really nothing more that needs to be said. If you haven't seen it, go and watch it. It's pretty good. It's not perfect and certainly has more than enough issues in the dialogue (anyone who uses the word "stupendous" unironically to someone other than schoolchildren deserves to be hacked apart with a machete). It's certainly a hell of a lot better than the two piles of crap that awaits us for the next two weeks of our time in the madhouse of horror remakes.
That's right, it's almost time for the festival of Samhain...
...Halloween approaches...
.,,I just wish it were one of the good ones...
Friday the 13th is now available from New Line Cinemas and Platinum Dunes wherever movies are sold.
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
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