Movies / Movie Reviews

Friday the 13th

By Zach Bowen
February 23, 2009 - 01:30

In 1960 the slasher film was born. Norman Bates systematically killed off most of the cast of “Psycho” and began a phenomenon. The death of Janet Leigh in the shower is one of the most recognizable scenes in cinema history and is unquestionably the most famous death ever committed to film. The slasher genre began to build momentum in 1974 with “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and finally solidified itself with “Halloween” in 1978. In 1980, the largest of the slasher franchises began with “Friday the 13th.” The film received nine sequels, one crossover, and now a reimagining. The original 1980 film is a titan in the horror genre. Can the new film, under the same title of “Friday the 13th”, compare to its predecessor? The short answer, is no.

 The original “Friday the 13th” was a very unassuming film. The production value was low, but that just added to the atmosphere. It had a gritty and organic feel that only enhanced the suspense. What many moviegoers may not realize is Jason Voorhees is not the killer in the 1980 film. The story goes that Jason, a deformed child, was a camper at Camp Crystal Lake. Jason

drowned because staff members that were supposed to be watching him snuck away to have sex. His mother, Mrs. Voorhees, tracks down the irresponsible consolers and murders them. After the murders, the camp closes down until about twenty-five years later. Mrs. Voorhees kills all of the new staff except for one girl, who chops off Mrs. Voorhees head with her own machete. In the remake of the film, most of this information is revealed during the opening credit sequence. The word remake or reimaging seems wrong to use, as this film pulls more of its influence from the second and third films.

 One of the main differences in the reimagining is that Jason is alive and well. While he was what drove the plot forward in the first film, he was still dead. In all of the subsequent sequels Jason was some kind of supernatural being. In the 2009 version, Jason never died as a child. He instead watched his mother’s head get chopped off and remained at Camp Crystal Lake. After suffering the trauma of losing his mother, Jason becomes reclusive and wants to be left alone at all costs, which leads to him killing any outsiders that come to the lake.

 The suspense of the original “Friday the 13th” is gone in the remake. In the original, the killer was not revealed until about the last third of the film. With the reboot, audience members know that the killer is going to be Jason and

are forced to wait for him to appear. The use of clichés is so copious that the film comes off as more of a spoof than a serious film. While the original series did reach a ridiculous level of absurdity (dominatrix androids come to mind) the films did not take themselves too seriously and were designed for entertainment. The reimagining/remake/reboot seems to be attempting to make the series a viable source of horror again. Unfortunately, the filmmakers ultimately fail at this goal.

 Many recent horror films seem to fall into the same trap. The characters have no real depth to them and I find myself praying for their demise so they will stop spewing dull and unimaginative lines. The characters in the new “Friday the 13th” are no exception. It has a bunch of roughly twenty-year olds doing idiotic things they should not be doing. The formula is simple: if a character either gets separated from the group or gets nude, they are going to die. Even the deaths in the 2009 version are a disappointment. One of the staples of the original series was creative death sequences. The most famous death is an arrow slowly penetrating Kevin Bacon’s throat from behind as he lies in bed. This effect was created by horror legend Tom Savini, whose work still looks authentic in the age of digital technology. While homage is paid to this classic moment, it simply does not have the same impact as the original.

 While I clearly prefer the original “Friday the 13th”, I do understand why a remake was done. By the last sequel, the title of “Friday the 13th” had been dropped entirely and the film was simply titled “Jason X.” This film has resurrected Jason with no explanation and quickly places him stuck in a frozen state. He is then thawed out in the future and goes on a rampage. Jason dies (again) at the end of the film and this essentially finished the series. Another sequel would have been difficult to fit into the canon and a prequel to “Jason X’ would have felt strange. While putting Jason back in the woods and essentially brining the series back to basics is an understandable idea, it was one that was carried too far with the predictable and overused clichés.

 The final thing to compare is the endings of the films. The original “Friday the 13th” has one of the most phenomenal endings in a horror film. With Mrs. Voorhees dead, a calm feeling comes over the film. Once this feeling has sunk in, the rotting corpse of a young Jason emerges from the water to pull down his first victim. The ending catches you off guard and is a legitimately scary moment. I do not think I will be spoiling anything when I say in the new film, Jason does not die. The remaining characters believe him to have been killed and dump his body into Crystal Lake. There is never a second of doubt that he will reemerge from the lake once again. The film tries to lull the audience into that sense of calm that the first one succeeded so well in doing, but it just drags out the end of the film and makes you wish you had a remote control so you could fast forward to Jason jumping out one more time.

 With another Friday the 13th coming up in March, I would recommend celebrating with one of the films from the original series and hope that the next trip to Crystal Lake will do more than just disappoint.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12