 |
CH CH CH HA
HA HA… CH CH CH HA HA HA… Ok…
well I got that out of my system. It’s
a sound most horror fans are familiar with.
The sound that tells you that Jason is just
about to turn someone into mince meat.
You’ll find camps divided on just
whom should be considered a horror icon.
Some, like me, prefer the old Universal
canon that included the likes of Frankenstein,
Dracula and the Wolfman. Others (generally
of the younger set) say “NAY”…
their horror icons run more along the line
of Leatherface, Freddy Krueger, and Jason
Voorhees. But no matter, which camp you
live in… you have to admit, the all
have their place in the horror genre.
It seems lately that it just hasn’t
been good enough to remake the older horror
classics from the glorious days of black
& white cinema. No, for some reason,
Hollywood is turning its attention to remaking
films that still haven’t quite begun
to collect dust.
|
Just a few years ago, director Marcus Nispel
(under the guidance of hack producer Michael Bay)
created a new “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”
that claimed to re-invent the classic. Unfortunately,
while it was a decent flick… it was too
slick and paled next to the raw and visceral nature
of Tobe Hooper’s original.
We’ve since then had remakes of “The
Hills Have Eyes”, “Last House on the
Left”, “Dawn of the Dead” and
“Halloween” that were again all decent
films, but hardly worthy of their predecessors.
More recently, it seemed that making “Friday
the 13th, Part 37” went out the window with
a re-invention of Jason Voorhees.
Now, this particular re-invention I’d have
to say might have been needed if the character
was going to live (die?) on as the protracted
sequels had turned the once horrifying character
into a parody of itself (Jason X anyone???). So
once again Nispel was hired to bring the legend
of Jason into a new light.
The new “Friday the 13th” brought
actor Derek Mears into the fold to portray Jason,
and that is the one of the two things they got
right. Mears, who in real life is a pretty nice
guy, uses strong body language to turn Jason into
part hulking monster / part sullen child. His
presence is frightening, not just menacing. The
other thing they got right was in not making a
straight remake. In a way, it is a compilation
of the first four films, utilizing flashback sequences
to show us how his mother was the first real killer
and then moved forward to create the recognizable
character we all know and run from.
I would say that the choice of cast was a bad
move as they all once again turned out to be nothing
more than pretty Jason fodder. Very few had any
redeeming qualities (of course this is more character
and not actor) and for the most part you really
didn’t care if they lived or died. Even
the casting of Jared Padalecki didn’t really
cause a stir. He was a good guy and you want him
to live, but he was too reminiscent of Sam, the
character he plays in TV’s “Supernatural.”
Try as I might, I couldn’t separate the
two characters.
Then there was the matter of the actresses. With
the exception of the usually inspired Danielle
Panabaker, the rest were… well… slutty
at best. These were girls that I wouldn’t
ever want to have camping with me, no matter how
hormonally charged a male I may be. Though I guess
this is what we usually get in a “Friday
the 13th” movie, this group just seemed
worse than ever. Speaking of, there is an exceptionally
long sex scene (which I imagine wasn’t as
long in the theatrical version) which really didn’t
add much of anything to the movie. They didn’t
even get killed in the middle of it… how
disappointing.
Anyhow, my overall complaint with this ‘remake’
is the same one I had with his previous “TCM”
remake. It was too slick, too clean, too everything.
It wasn’t gritty and dirty, and to be honest
it wasn’t even very scary. The killings
were uninspired (with only one or two exceptions),
though they mostly looked good effects wise. I
just didn’t turn off the movie and feel
nervous in my own home nor did my wife have nightmares.
All in all it was just kind of ‘nyeh.’
Worth watching once, but not very memorable.
That said, New Line has delivered a pretty nice
Blu-ray release that has some pretty good special
features. The not so good are two featurettes
that focus on the cast and crew’s thoughts
on doing a remake and having seen the original
as well as look at Jason’s ‘re-birth.’
Both use way too many clips from the film (which
is always a bit of a bore right after you’ve
already seen them) and not enough real information.
Much better is the picture in picture track that
allows for some trivia and interviews while watching
the movie.
Aside from those, the best feature shows us how
seven of the ‘kills’ were pulled off.
As a special effects artist, I found these to
be especially interesting and fun to watch. You’ll
also find a handful of deleted scenes, but nothing
here is too awesome. I do like the addition of
the Digitial Download copy, though.
“Friday the 13th” has been around
for a long time. Despite this version’s
weaknesses, something tells me it will be around
for some time to come.
Directed by: Marcus Nispel
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker,
Aaron Yu, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van Winkle,
Derek Mears
Extras: Hacking Back/Slashing Forward; Terror
Trivia Track; Explore the Rebirth of Jason Voorhees;
Slashed Scenes
Specifications: Widescreen 1080p High Definition
(2.4:1); English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Studio: New Line
Release Date: 6/16/2009
MPAA Rating: R
http://www.fridaythe13thmovie.com
http://www.newline.com
http://www.warnerblu.com
We'll give Friday the 13th: Killer Cut (Blu-ray)
a B-.
|
