Friday the 13th

Submitted by Jon on Saturday, Feb 14th 2009

5/10

Pros:

High Quality Kills

Sex and Drugs

Slasher Conventions

Cons:

Too Much Jason Too Early

A Little Slick for it Own Good

director:

Marcus Nispel

Year:

2009

MPAA Rating:

Company:

Platinum Dunes

Did You Know?:

"Friday" is the 2nd franchise to get the Platinum Dunes treatment, after "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Next up is Freddy Kruger and "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

Headliner Jared Padalecki will be familiar to fans of "The Gilmore Girls" and "Supernatural," and also to horror enthusiasts from roles in "Cry Wolf" and "House of Wax."

Links:

Official Site

IMDB

"Halloween" and "Friday the 13th." Two iconic killers. Two memorable dates. Two remakes no one was sure were necessary. That's the new story of Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees. With the former having burst back onto the scene a little less than a year and a half before the latter, it's nearly impossible to ignore their connection. And after having seen the re-imagined "Friday the 13th" it's tough to believe that the new Jason will be embraced any more than the new Michael was before him.

There is a difference, of course, between the "Halloween" franchise, which had been sputtering into obscurity, and the "Friday" films, which seemed to be reinvigorated every few years — most recently moving into space (the final horror frontier) and into a well-received crossover. Their beginnings were equally split: "Halloween" a venerated film by a genre master, and "Friday" an acknowledged attempt to cash in, albeit with a panache that has made it a classic.

But like the return to Haddonfield before it, this return to Crystal Lake is bittersweet. Sure, there are moments that will make fans cheer — a machete from above being the easy choice — but there's also a distance, metaphorically speaking, that seems to separate us from the monster. Jason is revealed early and often, allowing us to form a complete picture of the threat and preventing him from ever truly growing or festering in our minds. In trying to play up the icon, director Marcus Nispel may have just played him right out of our nightmares.

*****

It would appear as though those behind "Friday the 13th" have learned from watching the failures of other horror reboots. Handled capably by now two-time horror helmer Nispel, "Friday" can not accurately be called a remake. Instead it's a rebirth of sorts; opening with a scene that many will recognize from the true first "Friday." From there though, we jump to the present day, where Jason has continued to haunt the area around Crystal Lake, though not enough to prevent life from going on or prevent the filthy rich parents of douche bag Trent from building a lakeside mansion. It is to this mansion that Trent and friends retire, on a break from the burdensome challenges of college life, to smoke pot, play drinking games, and have promiscuous, promiscuous sex. They also cross paths with Clay, a boy pretty enough to rival Trent and therefore ruffle his feathers. Clay is searching for his little sis, whom we know to be a Jason victim (as we saw in the long preamble to the film's main plot), but no one in the area around Crystal Lake wants to admit they have a killing problem. It seems there's never been any bodies found, so they just stay out of trouble's way and don't ask questions.

From this set up, Nispel and company have the good sense to let things unfold roughly how fans of "Friday the 13th" expect them to unfold. There's some lame jokes, and some funny kills, and a whole lot of shots of a hulk in a hockey mask lit from behind. If that were all she wrote, "Friday" fans may have placed this one alongside the rest of the "13th" pantheon — certainly no revolution, but a cheeky good time for sure.

The unfortunate truth is that Nispel and the rest of the creative team assembled by Platinum Dunes couldn't help themselves from painting even just a little more onto the Jason story. Even these slight additions, meant to flesh out the killer, felt like too much. The allure, or more accurately, the terror of Jason is his senseless unstoppableness. It's why debates flare up about his nature and origins, and it's why he's a killer that has persisted through a dozen films. Here though, Nispel takes us deep inside Jason's home, and also deep inside his psyche. He shows us the "why," and seeing it so clearly laid out so early in the film took away much of the potential for buildup. This Jason also seems far trickier than those of the past. He creates traps and plans ahead in a way that just doesn't feel right.

Aside from its narrative over indulgences, "Friday" largely succeeds as a post-"Scream" slasher: it respects the rules, but has fun with them as well. The body count is gleefully high, and the kills are inventive enough to pass the sniff test. If anything, the whole procedure borders on overly slick. Again, this flies in the face of a "Friday" heritage that exists a step above the direct-to-video bin. Nispel takes a stylistic approach similar to his work on "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," but whereas that film's hyper-realism felt like a comment on its gritty past, "Friday" sometimes takes on the look and feel of an MTV affair, which certainly detracts from its horror cred.

"Friday the 13th" provides more than enough for horror fans to latch onto in this restart. This "Friday" consistently shows a respect for the past, if not a reverence, and that should keep purists content while perhaps bringing a new generation of fans into the fold. One wonders though how long this rebooted series can go on (and it very likely will go on), and what kind of shelf-life these new films will have. "Friday" has continued as a favorite because of its silliness and avowed predictability. Here we're beginning to tread into territory that may as well be a new killer altogether. But Jason is Jason, and he'll put butts in the seats better than some new creation, so we're likely to see him deconstructed, and even dismembered, ad nauseum. Horror fans might not always be happy about it, but perhaps we can learn to live with it. For this go around anyway, there may be some added baggage, but the mask remains the same.

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Comments

You, Mr Schnaars, are always

Submitted by mark on Sat, 02/14/2009 - 21:26.

You, Mr Schnaars, are always close to my heart when viewing movies. I agree on pretty much all fronts here.

I was guilty of trying to explain to everyone around me that the "true" Friday the 13th (part 1) was the first minute of the film, to no avail. I was in a packed theater with plenty of comedians, and the ooh's and ahh's and what have you's hit the mark with everyone else, but overall I thought "hmmmm, not bad." I wasn't blown away and I wasn't disappointed, but I can say that I was never really "in awe" of Jason in this one, which is something that is absolutely key to the whole experience as it has been in the past.

I don't want to...

Submitted by Big Winters on Sat, 02/14/2009 - 21:37.

But I have to totally agree with Jon here. If I were to review it, I would probably give it more, but that would be too kind.

Everything to do about Jason was great, and I loved it, but there wasn't enough. It felt like the unrated cut of a PG-13 film.

Jason was great, everything else....meh

What happened to the guy in the boat??

Submitted by TheHet on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 04:45.

Did anyone notice that you never find out what happend to the guy that was killed in the boat? I was hoping that the boat would have smashed into land and exploded. Maybe it will be in the deleted scenes.

I'd actually prefer a whole

Submitted by Jon on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 07:00.

I'd actually prefer a whole spinoff movie called "The Guy in the Boat," and it would be about a dude with an arrow through his head that traveled to exotic locals in a speed boat. He has to over come the prejudice of having an arrow through his head, while also racing in speed boat races (or something), but it all works out in the end.

The more important question is when the hell did Jason get his hands on a sweet ass bow, and also learn to hit moving targets that were 50+ yards away?

Jason's marksmanship

Submitted by SikeChick on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 07:03.

Perhaps he practices with one of the guys he met at the gym he CLEARLY works out at.

Air jason

Submitted by Nathan on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 07:09.

Umm, Jason IS the Michael Jordan of the kill shot. He just has a gift for hitting the mark be it moving or whatever. He truly is one of those guys who 'could have been great at anything' he wanted to do. His Mom was right to be proud.

Handicapable.

Submitted by Louis Fowler on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 07:16.

Didn't you see that archery trophy in his room? It was right next to his karate and bowling trophy.

I went today and checked out

Submitted by Skewered_Head79 on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 04:47.

I went today and checked out the film and was very pleased as a Friday fan. You can see all the nods to the original series that the film makers mentioned. Yes you can argue Jason was revealed too early in the film.....but what do you expect with todays ADD audience. Creative kills, typical young characters, and a menacing Jason.....equals success to me. All in all this was a good film and actually I wouldn't mind seeing at least some more installments in the series.....as long as we don't get another Jason Takes Manhattan.

Jeff aka Skewered_Head79

Right on, my man

Submitted by Eric on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 05:28.

The frequency with which we have been agreeing lately is becoming slightly alarming.

Still... this movie was about as pleasurable as roasting your nutsack over an open fire. It wasn't fun, it wasn't scary, it wasn't suspenseful. Without Jason, it's bottom bin at Walmart quality. Garbage. You were easy on it, Schnaars.

Load of crap

Submitted by SikeChick on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 06:00.

This movie was awful. I wanted to like it, but I just could not. You are so right, Eric. There was nothing scary, suspenseful, but worst of all, nothing even remotely fun about it. It was the worse thing a horror movie can be: boring. Horror characters are rarely ever fleshed-out, but this was beyond the pale. I couldn't possibly have cared less about any one of the "kids". I was not a fan of new Jason at all. For me, it takes much more than him striking poses (what was that shit with him on the roof of the house) for him to be menacing. I don't like this trend of hiring wrestlers/bodybuilders to play the killers. Are they gonna cast fucking Hulk Hogan to play Freddy Krueger? Even the kills were bad. I didn't find them particularly interesting or creative. Half of them were shot so darkly you couldn't see anyway. Heck the most annoying character (a tough title to earn in this flick, but campfire story boy gets the win) was killed off-screen. Also: clown-tits. This movie BLEW!

Major FAIL on this one.

And while I'm complaining about F13 stuff, I will say that the new 'deluxe' edition DVD of Part 3 looks like shit. If I could get my $10 back, I would.

"Clown tits" is my new

Submitted by mark on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 06:21.

"Clown tits" is my new favorite phrase hahaha

WTF?

Submitted by Chris on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 06:37.

OK...I am beginning to wonder if maybe I am out of the loop on this whole "horror enthusiast" thing. I consider myself to be a pretty big horror fan in that I absolutely love the genre. Although my knowledge about the history of it remains to be improved, I have to say that reading the comments on this site bother me somewhat. People ripped into 30 Days of Night (which in my opinion is a masterpiece), and then people here say that Friday the 13th was painful to watch or that it was a piece of crap. I'm sorry, but I just don't understand this. I suppose we can nitpick and try to analyze this film as though it is full of nuances and layers, but to be honest, what would be the fun in that? It's a slasher flick...and it was fun. Bottom line. As someone who was never a Jason fan before, this film converted me. It's like expecting Le Cirque level creativity and taste when eating a twinkie - the two just don't go. Let's get off our horror high horses and actually enjoy a movie for what it is and not be disappointed in it for not being what it makes no pretense to be...thank you...

Two things

Submitted by Eric on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 06:44.

1: I loved 30 Days of Night. Thought it was the best horror film of 2007.

2: I love every single Jason movie from top to bottom, they're all fun. This one was not, at least to me. I could have enjoyed it on a "fun" level, but this was boring as hell. It's a cop-out to say that someone doesn't like a film because they're "taking it too seriously". That's a knee-jerk reaction to someone having a different opinion than you do.

3...

Submitted by Eric on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 06:47.

and 3: If what you want is blind fanboy love, this won't be the site for you. Most of us are here to give the horror genre the love it deserves while at the same time holding these films up to a certain standard, and deconstructing the genre and its conventions. If we don't demand more of our genre films we're going to get nothing but crap like this.

Hold it...Now hit it.

Submitted by Nathan on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 08:16.

While I don't really disagree with you here I do think it's a bit silly to be expecting so much from the horror releases anymore. Lewis Fowler's latest post goes to show PG-13 has been in the bloodstream long enough now that it has genetically altered the whole game.

This film was fine. Nothing great, I'd say 5/10 is fair, I would have given it more, but it did up the ante in a few areas:

Best boobs since part V (stupendous, in fact)
Most energetic kills
Some creative new ideas (which didn't quite go far enough)

I guess for me the median between what is was and what it could have been, is content. I'm content.

I don't think it's pretentious...

Submitted by SikeChick on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 06:57.

The only nuances and layers I wanted from this film were it to scare me or for it to be fun. I didn't think this movie did neither of those things. Having recently really enjoyed MBV, I really had high hopes for this movie. Not high like I expected it to be Silence of the Lambs, but high like it would be as much fun as a Friday the 13th Pt. 5 or as scary as Pt. 2. That didn't happen.

Horror fans shouldn't have to just suck it up and praise any horror film that comes down the pike. Doing that only encourages Platinum Dunes and their ilk to grab up any old franchise and slap together any piece of shit and horror fans will gobble it up. That's not what fans should want. There's nothing wrong with expecting filmmakers to act like there's more going on in a horror fans head than "blood & boobies".

Boobs and Blood are key

Submitted by Nathan on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 11:03.

I think that whether the film warrants praise or not is a separate issue from the B&B argument. If this were another franchise then I could see your point, but boobs and blood are what F13 is about. Everything else is secondary in Jason's world so when I see an F13 movie two things I expect to see are gratuitous nudity and brutal kills.

We can get into the techniques and plot devices; the mood and how much screen time Jason actually gets; dialogue & character development; whatever, but if there is not enough sex and the kills are not creative and violent then it's not a "Friday the 13th" film.

I would agree this film was not really scary, despite the audio level being CRANKED for effect. For that matter, if it wasn't for the B&B it wouldn't have been any fun either :-P.

May be key, but can't be all there is

Submitted by SikeChick on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 18:39.

My first F13 experience was seeing Pt. 2 when I was 11 years old, surrounded by adults and having the bejesus scared out of me. I slept with a light on in my room for 2 weeks I was so freaked out. The fact that a pair of titties waltz across the screen meant absolutely nothing to me. You'll forgive me if I don't really care all that much about them. Perhaps it's because I happen to have my very own set that makes me not all that excited to see them.

I do realized that for many, boobs & blood are important elements of any horror film, particularly F13s. That has never been the case for me, but again, I'm a chick. Have fun scaring me; that's my expectation from a Friday. But my point was much simpler: boobs and blood can't be all you have to offer. This movie had the boobs in spades and the blood was fairly generous, but as many have already said on here (including me) there has always been a little bit of fun in each F13 film. Not just wonkey comedy relief, but a sense that the people behind the production were having a good time and wanted as much for those viewing the movie on all levels. I didn't feel that at all here. What came off the screen to me was, "We are gonna make sooooo much money and then there will be sequels! Chi-ching!"

I can only compare it to My Blood Valentine 3D which I happened to love. You got your boobs (and then some); you got plenty of blood (although some of it was CGI) and cool kills; it didn't take itself too seriously; and the 3D made it a lot of fun. I just found the F13 redux hugely disappointing after my MBV experience.

MBV Had Tom Atkins

Submitted by Jon on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 19:13.

I'm not the biggest supporter of "My Bloody Valentine," but this line of discussion is really winning me over. I almost want to go watch "MBV" again.

MBV Has Boobs?!!

Submitted by Nathan on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 22:17.

OK. I need to go see this now. Oh, and I love that "I have my own set..." thing. My wife and her sister tell me that all the time. I am so envious of you ladies...

I had a good time at F13. I really wish there it had more blood, less Jason, and an ending worthy of the franchise but it didn't. Now I will have to check out MBV, although CGI blood is akin to a bad boob-job to me...I'll stop.

Not just boobs...

Submitted by SikeChick on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 03:11.

Real boobs! And besides that, she is actually totally nude (except for shoes) during most of her screen time. But again, that's neither here nor there for me. The scene would have worked just as well if she'd have been clothed (and I noticed in some of the trailers on TV the scene was also shot with her in underwear).

Yeah I have to agree with my

Submitted by Pete on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 06:49.

Yeah I have to agree with my girl here on this one. like I said in my review, that was the polar opposite of this one, I was never scared by Jason in any of the preceding films, the character of Jason is still more fun than frightening, but at least his kills are exciting to watch. What else is to be expected of a 'Friday the 13h' film? There are other horror films, made by intellectuals, that actually use foreshadowing, metaphors and all the kinds of cinematic techniques you can think of to tell a thought provoking and terrifying story. Jason films are nowhere near the same category as those types of films.
So why remake Friday the 13th?
to give people an experience with cheap Jump Scares, and brutal kills. That is what you got, plus a more believable killer.
And as far as revealing Jason too early or showing too much of him, the guy is parodied in cartoons for four year olds! There is nothing unknown about Jason, and adding some unknown trait would have changed the character. At this point, why even use the Jason character at all?

Everyone tries to play off that they know more than they do"

I'll save it

Submitted by Casey on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 07:11.

I'll save it for the show, and I'll get over shadowed I'm sure, but I loved the hell out of this flick. Just like Pete says, it's Friday the 13th. What kind of 'nuance' are you looking for? This is a group of annoying 20 somethings getting hacked to pieces by a psycho, exactly like the the originals.

I've got my reasons for why I liked this flick so much, but I gotta save it for the show. For the quick rundown, I liked the new Jason, I liked how the whittled down the first two originals into this one film, I liked the jump scares in it, I liked the side story of Clay searching for his sister. I thought it had a tiny bit more plot that the original flicks that fleshed it out more, so I think we're good to go. If they would have cut out the first five minutes of this movie and gave him a comeback, it would have fit in just fine and dandy with the rest of the franchise and been a better than average sequel.

As for the fanboyism or not, this isn't the site for it. We could steer away from blanket statements of the 'if you liked this movie you're retarded' variety though. To each their own. When it all boils down, it doesn't matter if the other readers & writers agree with you or not. If you liked it, I'm happy for ya!

This is why I love Casey

Submitted by DAWGAMUS on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 19:48.

Being that this is my first post on the site, I just want to say that I have listened and the show from day one. Now that I have that out of the way, here is what has been getting to me about the last few major releases that have been reviewed. I truly think that everybody except Casey has forgotten what we loved about horror movies from the beginning. I have been watching horror movies since I was 6 and in 1983. The thing that made me love these movies is that they scared the living shit out of me. So after some time, they quit being scary to just being entertaining. I mean don't get me wrong, I still get scared at some that bring out the right kind of atmosphere and tension. However, most just end up being just good entertainment. I have never talked to anyone, anywhere, at anytime has ever said to me that they have watched a F13 movie for it's stellar acting, great plot, and underlying themes that blew their fucking minds. It was all entertainment. I believe if you were the ages that you are now, and was able to put yourself in the movie theater in any one of the F13's that you hold as to be the ultimate "Jason" movie, you would come back to say in a post that it was mediocre at best with shitty acting and plot holes you could drive a Mack truck through. The fact is, we were kids. And Jason scared the living shit out of us. I feel people like Casey and I have that outlook on many of the movies that have been reviewed on the site. That is why I love Casey and his thoughts and usually take his opinions a little bit more that the rest. I still feel like he is connected.

Money.

Submitted by Louis Fowler on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 07:11.

This movie was made purely to make money. If the producers cared about the character or the fans, they would have made FREDDY VS. JASON 2 or JASON X 2.

If New Line and Dimension had kept their shit together, and kept in a late 90s/early 2000s frame of mind, we'd be watching FREDDY VS. JASON VS. MICHAEL VS. PINHEAD right now. But, instead we get a shaky camera.

So, having now read all the

Submitted by Jon on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 07:21.

So, having now read all the comments, I'm actually pretty evenly divided. Nothing about my review has changed, and I don't think this was anything special, but I can definitely appreciate the faction of "hey, it's F13, just have a good time." I was probably more amused than I should have been with the whole stoned-masturbation scene, but to me that pretty much set the tone for this movie. I will also add, that while the Willa Ford under the dock kill was clearly the best, I liked the over the back ax toss kill a fair amount.

I will agree with SikeChick that I'm not that excited about Platinum Dunes being encouraged to take on more remakes. I actually liked "TCM," but after this, I worry that they don't have their hearts in the right place .

Money pt 2

Submitted by Casey on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 07:31.

Yah, Louis has it right. If this was for the fans in the first place, we'd be watching Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash.

Still though, it's a return of the slasher and while it's a remake, it's still better than most of the other horror shit they've been remaking lately. MBV3D had a lot of problems, but I still had fun. This one I had fun but I enjoyed it more. Things like Prom Night, The Eye, April Fool's Day 2....this could have been those but it wasn't. They still kept the main basic plot points for a F13 movie. Boobs, blood and hockey masks.

As for kills, Willa Ford under the dock was my fave too. The axe in the back was pretty solid, and the sleeping bag over the fire.

I thought they did a good job of throwing a red herring out there for the Final Girl angle too. I was fairly convinced there for a bit we'd see Danielle Panabaker make it through to the end with Clay or Whitney getting thrown under the bus for a TWEEST!

That's another plus for this flick. They didn't try to throwing in a fucking TWEEST ending!

It's not just because I'm old and set in my horror fan ways

Submitted by SikeChick on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 07:42.

If this movie wasn't meant to appeal to fans of the original series (like moi), then it was made to appeal to a new generation of fans. There was a gaggle of teenagers sitting behind me at my screening. This group (about 4 girls and 6 boys) would give them an F. These kids laughed out loud at the fake teets, audibly groaned at some of the kills, and when the lights came up after that stupid ending one of them exclaimed, "That's it? That blew." Not that they are indicative of all the kids who will see this movie, just as clearly not all "old skool" fans feel the same about the movie as evidenced here. Nor does their reaction to this movie mean much. This movie is going to open HUGE and that is all the encouragement Platinum Dunes needs to proceed with the sequel.

No love, No soul

Submitted by Eric on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 15:45.

At no point during this film did I ever feel like these people loved Jason. It was a soul-sucking affair, and no fun. It's "paint by numbers" for a Friday film, only without the love. Jason X may be a "shitty" film so to speak, but god damn does a love for Jason shine through in every frame. This was so cynical it's almost sickening.

At least Rob Zombie loved Michael Myers. I almost want to apologize for all my Halloween remake hate now. He may have ruined the character in my eyes, but at least he was just misguided by his love for the character and desire to do something different. I wasn't asking for high art, just a bit of soul. This film is a loveless piece of shit.

Lord knows I never thought I'd be saying this, but Louis is right... an axe, 2 machetes, 3 drownings, toxic waste, a fucking space explosion and Freddy Krueger couldn't kill Jason, but Platinum Dunes managed to do it in 90 minutes. I have no idea who this new hockey masked guy is.

Wow.

Submitted by Jon on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 16:58.

"I almost want to apologize for all my Halloween remake hate now..."

I think Eric's brain is in meltdown mode.

But that's actually a funny and not inaccurate point. It's why I enjoyed Halloween (2.0) a fair amount on the first go around.

Hey, hey! Let's not get crazy here

Submitted by SikeChick on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 19:56.

"I almost want to apologize for all my Halloween remake hate now."

That movie was still a piece of shit, however, I actually agree with you that Zombie's screw-up was based in his love of John Carpenter's film and not on his hopes of making a lot of money. As much as I hated that movie, I actually believe he is a fan of the series and horror films in general.

Love

Submitted by Prisoner Abel on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 20:27.

The Halloween remake wasn't a screw-up because of Zombie's love of the original. It was a screw-up because Zombie tried to shoehorn his own pet concepts and interests into the film while ignoring what made the original so effective and powerful.

"I like it when they lie still like that."

The Future?

Submitted by Big Winters on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 17:54.

I can't comment on Platinum Dunes destroying all your good memories of watching Jason growing up, because I don't have any. But at least spare a thought for the horror film enthusiasts of tomorrow.

With big business money grabbers making the horror films now, what did you think the future will be like? Even worse, possibly.

I have to admit, I quite liked this film, but only because im not regarding it as a Friday The 13th film. I can't relate to the originals as much as you guys, so to me it just was a decent slasher, nothing more, nothing less.
And this is from quite possible the most mature teenager you'll find, so I can't imagine what the majority of todays youth think of it.

The Future is Not Bleak

Submitted by Jon on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 18:10.

This is actually something I've been thinking about in regards to Louis's "Sexless" post. And Big Winters, please don't take this the wrong way, because I realize that all of today's teens don't fit into the same baskets...

Anyway, I'm not sure that any "mature" horror fans should really be surprised about what "the younger generation" is consuming. If you look at the movies that did well when we were younger ("we" is a large age range, so for the purposes of my comment I'll be talking about me and others who were teens during the 1995-2001 range), they were all just as crappy as the "Prom Nights," the "Shutters," etc. Yet somehow, we all turned out okay with regards to genre cinema. My guess is that our loves of genre movies (and here I am talking about ALL of us) was for the most part not cultivated in the multi-plex, but at home or at friends' homes, or sometimes in classrooms and specialty theaters. We sought out this stuff, and we continue to do so here on the web, and in our neighborhoods and among our friends.

My point is that if 100 million 17-year-olds see this "Friday," and only ten percent of them decide to go out and see what the original Jason was all about, and only half of that group becomes lifetime horror fans, well then we're still talking about 5 million new converts who just joined the fold. Horror, and I've said this before so I won't belabor the point, is not about the mainstream, it never has been. It's about embracing things that a large portion of society probably doesn't want to embrace (or maybe even thinks is strange to embrace). So when a movie like this "Friday" comes along and sweeps unsuspecting teens or even kids into the fold, inevitably that's going to be a good thing for true horror fans because it means that there will have to be more us when it's over.

Horror Converts

Submitted by Big Winters on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 18:49.

I agree that there will be some people, somewhere, who go and seek out the original after watching this film, but im not sure I agree with how many. Going back to the point that was made in the My Bloody Valentine podcast (i think it was you, Jon), but people of today are becoming less receptive to 'unrealistic' things.

My viewing experiences was quite interesting in that; I had a person who 'likes zombies' (and therefore quite an accurate representation of 'Generation Lame) and a confirmed Horror fan. The horror fan remarked on things being easy to guess, and generally reflected my opinion of it being an okay slasher. The 'noob' on the other hand couldn't grasp why Jason had 'super-powers (his words), and asked things like, 'How did he know she was under there?'. There will be others, who like this movie, and go back to the originals, but how many? And will they think that its 'stupid' and 'doesn't make any sense', or watch it like we all did, and let ourselves be lost in the viewing experience? Another example of todays youth not understanding these films, is that I was asked if it was going to be 'scary'. I said 'probably not, as its a slasher film'. He had no idea what a slasher film was.

While there will be people who will learn to love horror through this film (and I agree with your point in the Prom Night podcast, in that this could be the 'slide' to the horror genre), what will we be watching in the future? If the horror industry is running on remakes of 80's films, does that mean in twenty years time, it will be running off SAW remakes? I don't know what will happen when they run out of 80's films to remake, and hopefully then we will get such films to rival the foreign movie industry, but until then the youth win, and the reformed youth lose along with the experiences horror movie watchers.

And, don't worry, I have enough insight to realize that im not apart of the mainstream youth of today, I don't want to be a part of it, and they don't want me.

What we feel is the shiot,

Submitted by wally on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 00:09.

is what we watched and listened to during those growing years, maybe ages 8-9 through 21-25 (these vary a bit of course). Think about not only the movies you dig, but your music taste too.

The bulk of the stuff we're into is nostalgic. It's what we can rely on, what we can visit multiple times and get a vibe from. Most of this youth generation will be doing just that in years to come, they don't and won't see these remakes as remakes, to them they don't have an "80s" feel, they have a "Now" feel, and that's what will keep them going back to the same well in the future. Same as my generation does now for the originals... Halloween, Friday the 13th, NOTLD, The Thing (yes the remake), The Shining, etc.

From my old man status view, as for the new shit coming out, the flicks outside my formidable years? The Mist, Cloverfield, Dark Knight, Inside, Planet Terror, Shaun of the Dead and a few others are films that I've viewed twice, but rarely more than that. I won't give MBV3D, this Friday the 13th, Halloween (2.0 Schnarrs?), The Saws, The Hostels, even the Screams (was past "my time" already) a second look, but you can bet this...the generation now, even some of those that say this stuff blows, will go back and back and eat this stuff up.

I suggest a poll/review/vote box for new movies to this site. Something based on whether we will go back and view the movie again, or again and again, or if we'll spend bucks to see it in the theater again, or wait until it arrives on DVD, or no way in hell we'll give it another shot. Maybe even a breakdown of age groups. After all if we're gonna give a movie a second or multiple looks, there is something there worth our time and worth noting to all here.

Good points

Submitted by Skewered_Head79 on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 23:35.

made by everyone here. I agree with Schnaars that if this movie brings some new blood into the horror fanbase than that is what we need to make sure this genre never dies.

I still stand by that fact that I enjoyed this Friday film and will probably see it again.....when it hits the DVD shelves.

Hopefully soon someone will come along with something totally original in horror that it can maybe slow down or temporarily derail the remake train that Hollywood has become.

Either way....long live BGH.

Jeff aka Skewered_Head79

Good for the Industry

Submitted by djrad on Sat, 02/21/2009 - 07:34.

$45 million in it's opening weekend. Love it or hate it, it's good for the horror film industry. I would rather see half-ass remakes then no horror films at all. And, eventually, someone is destined to create a film that is equal or superior to the original (ala The Thing, The Fly, Dawn of the Dead, etc.).
I was also lucky enough to see Martyrs and The Children over the weekend. Whether or not they get a wide release, these films are going to blow every one away jut like Inside did.