(Long Island, N.Y.) As you are all no doubt aware, as of late Hollywood is crazy about pointlessly remaking movies that were perfectly good the first time around. While this is partly done with the intention of cashing in on the general public’s sense of nostalgia, it’s mostly due to creative bankruptcy amongst the major film studios. And the genre seemingly at the forefront of this remake blitz is horror, with many of its classic films getting the treatment.
Recently we’ve seen past hits such as Halloween, My Bloody Valentine, and The Fog remade (in addition to many others), with new renditions of Hellraiser and Nightmare On Elm Street due to enter production soon. But aside from the remake of Halloween, most of these retreads don’t match up to their legacies at all, leaving me dreading each new take on a sundry horror film of my cherished youth.
The latest horror flick to be re-imagined is Friday the 13th, the famous series chronicling the hockey mask-wearing, machete-wielding serial killer Jason Voorhees. Stalking the grounds of Camp Crystal Lake (despite the fact that he drowned there as a boy), he keeps mysteriously returning to punish those foolhardy enough to violate what he considers to be his territory. Driven on by the memory of his beloved, long-dead mother, the boy who was once an outcast due to an unfortunate physical deformity has grown into a enormous man with an axe to grind (literally!).
I’m about to compromise my journalistic integrity here by admitting that I’ve been a huge Friday the 13th fan for many years, and this fact will most likely play into the overall tone and demeanor of my review, which will be quite positive. Yes, we’re actually going to
discuss a remake that I’m happy about! But why am I not dreading my favorite slasher series undergoing the remake chopping block, you may ask? Well, firstly, it’s directed by Marcus Nispel, who has already proved he knows a thing or two about re-creating tales of cinematic murderers when he helmed the well-done 2003 remake of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Secondly, the script is written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, previously responsible for penning 2003’s crossover film Freddy Vs. Jason, pitting the two stars of Friday the 13th and Nightmare On Elm Street horror franchises against one another.
While the movie itself was terrible, Shannon and Swift at least did justice to the character of Jason, which lead me to believe they could portray him correctly in a stand-alone film. And third, the last legitimate entry in the F13 series was 2002’s Jason X, which really found producers reaching by sending the title character into outer space(?!) in an unsuccessful attempt to revive the sagging franchise. Since then, the series has laid dormant, and I’d been waiting feverishly for someone to create a new entry and get Jason back to the basics. A remake gives the public a chance to see a more clear and understandable tale of Jason’s origin (the original series didn’t do the greatest job of this) and to re-introduce the modern audiences to his zany antics. Plus, it’s sure to give birth to a new on-going series, so I personally couldn’t be happier.
I can’t say
what my attraction is to Friday the 13th as a series, exactly. I suppose I find Jason compelling because he is, in some ways, a sympatric character. Picked on as a youth, his only friend was his loving mother. When he was thought drowned as a result of neglect on the part of Camp Crystal Lake’s counselors, Jason’s mother went on a murderous rampage of the camp’s staff that only ended when she was beheaded by the last survivor. Bad move on THAT counselor’s part, as Mrs. Voorhees’ beheading was witnessed by a somewhat annoyed and grown-up Jason (inexplicitly showing up alive after missing for years), who proceeded to follow in Mommy’s homicidal footsteps, starting with the unfortunate teenager that killed her. From there, the series tended to follow the same predictable-yet-fun formula of introducing a new set of teens who arrive at Crystal Lake, have pre-marital
sex, and are butchered by the prudish Jason. One might think, based on this description, that Mr. Voorhees is the very embodiment of evil, but even his ruthlessness was shown to have limits- traces of that innocent little boy remain within him, as evidenced by the fact that he
(usually) goes out of his way not to harm children (unless it’s Corey Feldman, but you really can’t blame Jason there) or animals. Okay, chopping up grown-ups is still a real bad thing to do, but I’m trying to dig up SOME redeeming qualities for the guy, okay?
By now, you have to be wondering, is this a review of the new Friday the 13th film, or a retrospective of the series? Yeah, it’s a review, but my problem here is that we’re talking about a film that, with a few exceptions, doesn’t really break from the pre-established “rules” set by the original F13 series. This is both good and bad. It’s good in the sense that the filmmakers obviously have a great respect for the source material and the character of Jason himself, which they displayed throughout the film. The opening credits did a pretty decent job at setting up the mythology without using much screen-time. Instead, the director opted to jump right into the action, and the body count within first 10 minutes is truly impressive. Jason is first shown wearing a sack on his head to conceal his hideous visage (a homage to the second F13 movie), but early into the film he discovers and dons the iconic hockey mask for the very first time, something they never showed in the first series (Jason originally just sauntered out wearing the mask in the 3rd F13 movie after killing its owner off-screen). This event should have had a more epic feel to it then what we ended up finally getting, but it’s nice that they actually showed the mask go on this time around.
Otherwise, the F13 remake was fairly
formulaic. If you’ve seen any of the previous films, you know what happens: a group of hormonally-charged teens arrive to party in a cabin overlooking Crystal Lake, Jason gets a mite perturbed, and the blood starts a’flowin’ like the mighty Mississippi. As usual, the deaths telegraph themselves from a mile away…here’s an example: kid ventures out to the tool shed alone- DEAD. Friend goes to look for him alone- DEAD. And so on. The teens are played by an assortment of attractive yet completely vapid and interchangeable actors, although some of them do manage to display some degree of charisma at times. That’s not to even be confused for a second as actual character development, mind you, which is a taboo when it comes to most shasher films. It’s shame, actually- if you get the audience interested in a character, they tend to start caring, and that makes the tension of their impending deaths all the more poignant. As it is, each actor is just another log for the fire, so to speak.
Still, the film manages to be a lot of fun. It’s fast-paced and incredibly violent, while presenting moments of genuine humor to give the audience an occasional break to catch their breath. But most importantly, it has an overall grim, dark and gritty atmosphere that the original series typically eschewed in favor of being more over-the-top. The moody lighting and cinematography are highly reminiscent of director Marcus Nispel’s 2003 Texas Chain Saw Massacre remake, which is a excellent thing indeed. A bad thing, however, are the shaky camera and lightning-fast edits that make it hard to follow the action. For once, I’d like to watch a modern movie that requires its actors to perform for longer than 2-second takes.
This new Jason (played by stuntman Derek Mears) does a fine job, although I personally feel he comes up short when compared to fan-favorite and previous long-time Jason performer Kane Hodder (who played him in a record 4 films). Derek sticks to the established basics of the character, but deviates in a few important ways: whereas Jason was previously known for giving chase and catching his frantically running victims by merely walking calmly (which, while fun, is a bit silly), Mears’ Jason now runs, which in many ways makes him more fearsome and intense. Seeing a hulking maniac waving a three-foot long knife barreling down on you with murderous rage in his eye can really cause you to lose control of your bodily functions, ya know? The main difference between Derek Mears’ and Kane Hodder’s Jason portrayals, in my opinion, is that Derek can not seem to match Kane’s overall strength and rage, but does manage to make Jason seem a bit more intelligent. We see that he now sets traps for his victims and even uses them as bait for others,
which is a nice twist. There’s some other deviations from the established character that were interesting as well, but I’ll leave them for you to discover.
I also would have liked a tad more screen time devoted to Jason’s origin, as that’s one of the reasons I like the character. What they gave us seemed rushed, and while it made sense to F13 fans, I’m not sure anyone new to the series would have totally understood what was going on. I guess they would have, but I would have liked to have seen more of Mrs. Voorhees and little Jason interacting, at least. I think would have been kind of endearing- in a sick and twisted way, of course.
By the way, the movie does indeed contains snippets of Harry Manfredini’s classic “ch, ch, ch, ah, ah, ah” score from the original films, but it popped up less often then I would have liked. This is Jason’s creepy theme music, and not having it more prominent negatively affected the feel of the film to a small degree.
As you can see below, I gave the film 3 stars, but please bear in mind that if you’re not a fan of the horror/slasher genre, feel free to subtract at least half of a star…perhaps even a full star, if you’re the high-flautin’ opera-going type. But
for fans of Jason Voorhees, everyone’s favorite psychotic momma’s boy, you’ll be happy with how this new re-boot/remake treats him well. It’s not perfect, but it certainly stands amongst the stronger entries of the original series, and stands out amongst the current crop of horror remakes. By all means, check it out!
