October Horror 2011: Day 11 - Friday the 13th (2009)

The first Friday the 13th was released in 1980 to cash in on the popularity of Halloween.  That film was a success on its own and spawned 9 sequels and a crossover with Freddy of Nightmare on Elm Street before being rebooted by Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes production company.

The original's plot centered around a group of teens who have been hired as camp counselors to get an abandoned campground at Crystal Lake running again.  Years ago the camp was shut down following the drowning death of a mentally disabled camper.  The camper was unsupervised because the counselors who were meant to watch him were screwing.  Standard slasher moralizing.  There's a fairly excellent twist ending, before twist endings were cliche.

The remake destroys the twist from the original within a minute or two of its running time and is nowhere near as focused in plot.  It meanders a bit, I think for the sake of upping its body count.

The new version begins with a flashback to Jason's childhood, then fastforwards to a group of delinquent teens hiking in the woods.  They're trekking to find a large crop of wild marijuana hidden in the wood with plans to harvest the plants and then sell them and get massively rich.  They make camp for the night and proceed to drink, smoke, and screw until Jason appears to punish them all for their promiscuity.  Jason dispatches them all within a few minutes and cue credits.

6 weeks later we meet a slightly larger and even douchier group of teens heading to Ritchie Rich's father's cabin in the woods.  There's a tangential relation to the first group of teens in Sam from Supernatural, who is the brother of one of the girls in the first group.  They make it up to the cabin where they drink, smoke, and screw.  The characters play their stereotypes pretty well, even if it is a bit obnoxious.  It does serve to distinguish everyone and provide some semblance of a personality to identify with, which is nice.

The murder is very fun, pretty well paced, varied, and creative.  There's also a lot of real practical effects instead of CG which really helps them look meaty.

It's a little dark and high contrast, but such is the way with most modern horror movies.

However, the characters in the first are much better, the kills are more fun since they're much better lit.  The original story is better than the remake, and the twist at the end I think is part of what made it such a classic.  It is very 70's-tastic since it was only 1980, but if you can stomach that it's a much worthier movie to watch.

Next up:  Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)