Friday the 13th (2009)

What a waste of potential...

Friday the 13th could have been a great remake, especially with Marcus Nispel (whose remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre I found pretty impressive) at the helm. In the months leading up to its release, I read in interviews and articles about how different the filmmakers were trying to make this Jason. They wanted him to be more expressive in his movements. They wanted him to be quicker and more aggressive. They wanted him to run more. All of this interested me, and gave me hope that the standard, by-the-book horror movie was going to be steadily fazed out by a new movement of better, smart(er) horror movies.

My hopes were misplaced.

Nispel's Friday the 13th is the same old horror movie studios have been cranking out for decades. Jason is anything but new. He's the same, lumbering zombie he's always been. There is aboslutely nothing fresh about this movie. Everything in it has been done a thousand times before, and not particularly well, for that matter. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and House of Wax were nothing new, but they were well done with decent plots and interesting characters.

The violence is another issue I have with this movie. I'm not morally opposed to gore in movies, but I do feel that too much too often is distracting. There's one scene in particular in this film involving a chisel and a guy's throat that was dragged out much longer than it needed to be.

All in all, I don't think Nispel's Friday the 13th is worth watching if you're looking for something new.