Back in 1980, Sean Cunningham and some friends decided to capitalize on the success of John Carpenter’s Halloween. The plan was simple; make a movie about teenagers who are hunted down by a psycho killer, but amp-up the gratuitous sex and violence to attract the same demographic as the fictional victims. Two years later, Cunningham and crew were releasing the third sequel, and the hockey mask would become synonymous with Jason Voorhees. Now, almost thirty years later, Marcus Nispel (Pathfinder) has crunched the first three films in the eponymous Friday the 13th series into one, with few new surprises thrown in the mix.
The movie sums up the story of Cunningham’s first within the opening credits. Jason’s mother hunts down camp counselors in 1980, only to be beheaded by her final victim. The second film plays out rather quickly as well, encompassing maybe twenty minutes, before showing the title card. I’ll be honest, by the time the title came up, it was far enough into the film that I laughed out loud. Not that laughter in the theater is anything new for this franchise, especially as of late, but this had nothing to do with cheesy effects or a bad story for once. It was a little disconcerting, but the kills were good for a slasher-film, and Nispel avoids going the torture-porn horror route. He only uses gore to convey the bloody reality of homicide, not simply as a gross-out tactic, and the story sets up Jason as a man who has spent the last thirty years living off the land. In short, the film is utterly believable up to this point.
Because the film strives to stay grounded in reality, Nispel manages to create tension in his film that has been missing since the 1980 original. The scares are built on this, and while they are mostly cheap startles, they are effective. The cast of nobodies actually compliments Padalecki’s every-man performance, and the fact that the killer is just a homicidal maniac makes this movie almost worthwhile. I say almost because it doesn’t quite breach the chasm between cheap horror tropes and bona fide thriller. The director misses more than one opportunity to elevate this Friday the 13th beyond its predecessors. A little more seriousness from the police, maybe a closer look at Jason as a vengeful man instead of just a mindless killing machine, and maybe this would have been one of those rare times where the remake surpassed the original. Importantly, I didn’t miss Kane Hodder here as I did in previous installments of the series that went forward without the veteran Jason performer. However, while Derek Mears does the part of Jason Voorhees justice, he doesn’t make any improvements to the role. It isn’t an awful picture, and it does outstrip the dismal expectations we’ve come to place on these films, but it never takes the next step to greatness. For the time being, John Carpenter and Sean Cunningham aren’t in danger of losing their crowns as kings of horror, and no one will blame you if you miss this version of Friday the 13th.
Final Verdict (out of 5):
