Friday, October 23, 2009

QUICK MOVIE REVIEW: FRIDAY THE 13TH REMAKE

I watched this for the first time last night. Now granted, I fast forwarded through most of the horrible acting, skipping to each Jason kill scene. Upon viewing it that way, it's not bad. It's both a SEQUEL to the original 1st one and a remake of the original 3 combined, with several small homages & nods to the fans.

The dialogue is bad and the writer should be banned & forced to repeat high school. And the acting from the cast of cliches isn't great either (hence the fast forwarding). While I could not wait for each annoying character to die, I did find myself actually caring about the few last ones and wishing they would survive. But I also wish for World Peace...

The new JASON is fantastic; he's a HUGE, FAST, POWERFUL BRUTE who attacks with the ferociousness of a wild animal, rather than a slow moving zombie. The death scenes happen immediately and are quite brutal. It has a running time of about an hour and 1/2, so the movie is quick and to the point - dumb, horny teenagers being killed. The "water skiier death scene" sums up the entire movie brilliantly in 2 quick beats - I laughed.Besides the dialogue/acting, my two main complaints are 1) its just a steady flow of killing with no arc of tension or pacing, and 2) there's a tad too much Texas Chainsaw in the film... keep that in Leatherface's corner. Leatherface is the psycho mountain man, who plots his kills, and takes pride in his gory work, while Jason is no more than a primievel force who opposes anyone who treads in his path.

While not the "perfect Jason film" I was hoping for, overall its a fun ride and worth a viewing..... just keep that thumb resting on the fast forward button.

Grade: B

7 comments:

Tigas said...

God, did that movie suck.
What bugged me the most was that they didn´t do any connection with the movie title. In the original, if I recall correctly, Jason only killed at a friday, the 13th, ence the name!

Trivia: Michael Bay (yes, that Michael Bay), the producer, walked away of the cinema at the premium half away in the movie because he thought it was just a cliche sexual shitty movie. And I agree.

johnny said...

It was ok. I agree with Jim's review. Great kills, menacing Jason, and stupid people.

Regarding the date, in the first movie yes it was Friday the 13th but that is not why Mrs Vorhees killed. It was Jason's birthday (the 13th) which happened to fall on a friday that year.

In part 2, Jason makes his debut. He kills anyone who comes into the campgrounds, regardless of the date. And I believe part 4 begins the day after part 3 ended.

The first one was on Friday the 13th. The sequels are just that with no relation to the title or date.

Timewaster said...

I must correct Johnny and say that some of the other Fridays did take place on a Friday the 13th. The one line from Part 6 that played in every ad was the cop telling the sheriff - "Happy Friday the 13th."

And I believe in "Jason Goes to Hell", someone walks past a calendar that reads the date is Friday the 13th.

Overall, I didn't think the remake was worth much. I did like that Jason would kill people in the manner of someone who's spent a lot of time at summer camp. But why was he keeping that chick locked up in his basement? Never understood that.

johnny said...

Thanks for the correction. My main point was the movie series was not based on Jason killing only on Friday the 13th.

The girl in the basement confused me at first, too. She reminded Jason of his dead mother, which is why he kept her alive. Also, he made her wear the locket with her pictures inside.

Cheers!

JACK said...

i THINK he was keeping her there because of some tie to his mother ( she looked like her, or had her locket,..something..) but yes, that was never really explained well.

and yes, part 3 took place the next day after part 2 occurred...( and the franchise should have definitely stopped there)e

Donald said...

Good review. I agree. Not great, but not terrible. A decent (mediocre) combo of the first 3 films. And yes, too much Leatherface element involved. If only the acting was better.

Josh & Scott said...

We rented it last night after reading your post. The water ski kill did indeed sum up the entire film "in 2 beats" LOL

Good review.
We agree.

It could have been an A, but they missed the mark. The lame pretty-face hollywood cast did not help except we really really wanted them to all die horribly.