Friday the 13th: Jason’s Back; Major Kira Gets Beheaded; Reconsider that Dock Side Swim.
Just when you thought the Friday the 13th films may have started to require having some sort of attention span, Michael Bay has seen fit to involve himself in resurrecting the dormant franchise. Apart from a more polished project, though, director Marcus Nispel’s work is pretty faithful to the standard slasher film style. If you’re a fan of this twisted genre, you may recall that Nispel directed the vastly disappointing Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake about 5 years ago. I may only have have disliked that particular remake personally, though, because I hold the original Chainsaw as the definitive film in the genre. Granted, he didn’t have as high a standard to an original to hold to when remaking Friday.
I saw the first Friday the 13th film in it’s first run as an innocent, curious, semi-normal 9-year-old kid out at the drive in with one of my older siblings that inexplicably didn’t seem to have a problem with a 9-year old seeing this kind of movie. While I can’t pinpoint it to this incident, it was probably one of the factors in the lifelong pre-occupation I’ve had with death on every level, but I believe a lot of the credit for that particular mental preoccupation for which I occasionally seek therapy also probably goes to the Catholic Church.
I have seen most, but not all the films in this series to date, and I was somewhat confused when this film first started to get press as a “reboot” of the franchise. While it is indeed a fresh start, it also serves as a sequel to the first. It pays homage to many of the films of the series through various visual cues and parallels to at least the first half dozen or so of them before the films launched into major suburban areas, outer space, paranormal territory and crossovers with another major franchise.
For fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, you will get to see Major Kira beheaded in an opening scene reenactment of the climax of the original Friday the 13th. Shame on you if you don’t recall that Jason wasn’t even the killer in the first film, but it was his mom, this time played by Nana Visitor in the flashback. She was unceremoniously decapitated by the last surviving chic at Camp Crystal Lake that bloody weekend. If you don’t remember that, you probably also don’t even realize that the iconic hockey mask didn’t make it’s first appearance until the third film. But you can pretend you knew that since you probably read Zabadubah’s Review that was posted over the weekend.
So does the movie suck? It’s probably about as good as any straight up slasher film gets these days if it intends to keep itself somewhat grounded. We have virtually no character development, there’s no plot to speak of, and apart from the cheesy slow reveals and the sudden false and real “startles” there’s no surprises. The only real thrill in a Jason Vorhees film is the thrill of the kill. The kills here are surprisingly pretty run of the mill with a couple of notable exceptions. Zab seemed to enjoy the sleeping bag kill near the beginning of the film, I kind of dug the kill on the boat dock a little further in.
I think I can safely say that if you are true fan of the series and connoisseur of all things Jason Vorhees then by all means purchase your ticket today. I’m sure you’ll be pleased with the faithful and reverent treatment of the continuity and style of the series. Beyond that, if you’re curious as to whether there’s some grand reinvention of the genre or the franchise, please move along there’s nothing to see here. In my estimation, as the credits rolled I walked out of the theater still believing that there’s not a single film in this franchise including the original or this most recent one that holds a candle to either the original Nightmare on Elm Street or Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
While I’ve always had a healthy respect for the Friday the 13th series and how it’s managed to endure, other than it’s longevity, it’s always been one of the least creative and satisfying of any film series in the in the entire horror realm. It’s only attempt at any real creativity has been to launch itself further into outrageousness even up to and including it’s long-awaited (or long dreaded depending on your point of view) crossover with the Elm Street series in Freddy vs. Jason, really kind of a low point for both franchises.
So this is a whole-hearted recommendation for Friday the 13th fans and purists, an indifferent “take it or leave it” for general horror film fans, and an unconditional “pass” for everyone else.
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2 Responses to “Friday the 13th: Jason’s Back; Major Kira Gets Beheaded; Reconsider that Dock Side Swim.”
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February 18th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I’ve never been into Horror films as I just dont have the appreciation for them I guess. I think Jason is a badass character that far surpasses the films as an Icon.
February 18th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
When the TV season slows down I’m going to try to go back and do some retrospective looks at classic movies and I want to do Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It really is one of the best of all time and I would recommend checking it out. The original that is. It is one of the most effective movies of all time when it comes to creating just a mood of fear, uneasiness and terror. The closest I’ve ever seen anything come to it in modern film is The Devil’s Rejects which is a cross between a mass murder and a torture porn film. It’s incredible. Massacre is well worth the time though. I love a good horror film, but there a very very few “good” horror films.