An all-star cast lends credibility to the year's most intelligent and original thrasher movie, the resurrection of the Friday the 13th series. The only truth to that last sentence is the rebirth of the 29-year-old Jason Voorhees character, a tired and worn-out story that has been told 11 times prior to this latest reincarnation (including 2003's Freddy vs. Jason).There isn't much to this remake of the 1980 original, so former music video director Marcus Nispel--who also brought back The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2003--supplemented plenty of titty shots, a host of young stars who looked like they just stepped out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue, and an appropriate Friday February the 13th release date, in order to help sell tickets to an outdated film that has almost nothing else to offer.
The reboot begins with a short recap of what happened to Voorhees' mother in the first series, and then has five typical-horror-movie-teens return to the Camp Crystal Lake area for sex, weed, and more sex. All but one of the "teens" are killed off one-by-one, as a young lady named Whitney (played by The OC's Amanda Righetti) is taken hostage by Voorhees, who has apparently confused her for his decapitated mother. Whitney's brother--portrayed by Supernatural's Jared Padalecki--leads a second group of typical-horror-movie-teens to their doom, again knocked off one-by-one in witty fashion...Voorhees has the aim of a master archer and the timing of a seasoned Samurai. Not surprisingly, brother-and-sister are left to fend off Jason on their own, killing him, but not really.
The characters can't help but remind us that this is a modern take on the hockey mask-wearing psychopath, with a steady flow of references to Ipods, cell phones, and GPS units. Thanks to technological advances, Friday the 13th looks much better on the big screen than its original counterpart, and there are periods of sustained suspence, but it lacks eccentricity and originality. Despite this, the movie is expected to produce major box office numbers over the coming weeks, and probably will, mostly for the novelty of a horror franchise oddity that many of us have grown up with. And with an open-ended ending to cap-off the Voorhees return, be sure to expect a 13th installment of the 13th to hit local theatres by next year's Friday the 13th.
1.5/5 stars
Emil Tiedemann
