Movie Review: Friday 13th (2009)

Most people I know who have watched a Friday the 13th movie tell me they are bad, but personally, I think they are missing the point. Look at it this way: how many other movies have had 11 sequels?

This movie takes us back to 1980 where a group of teenagers are murdered while camping at Crystal Lake. The first quarter of this movie has no relevance on the storyline other than to introduce Jason Voorhees.

Clay (Jared Padalecki) goes to Crystal Lake in search of his missing sister, and stumbles across another group of party people who Jared must later befriend to have a chance of surviving. One by one, the group perishes, and Jared finds his sister as Jason finds them.

The storyline is very simple, and the movie, like all Friday the 13th movies, has a lot of flaws which completely ruins the illusion, but if you are a fan like me, you take it in your stride. Yes, Jason Voorhees is my favourite psychopath (click here for details). In earlier movies, I visualised a group of people sitting at a table dreaming up weird ways a man could kill a person. In part 3, Jason squeezes a head until their eye pops out. Part 7 saw him beating somebody up against a tree in a sleeping bag (what a favourite!), Jason X saw a very good face smash after he froze somebody's head, and then there is the folding bed scene in Freddy v Jason. I'd love to sit at that table and dream stuff up.

If I were to change the new Friday 13th movie, it would be the invention of death. Jason keeps to trusted weapons such as the beloved machete, and an axe. His impulse to seek and destroy is also compromised when he uses one of the house guests as 'bait', although I am not clear why. Jason has undergone various character remodels from being a docile thinker to a mindless zombie, but I think of him as foregoing planning and putting his mental efforts into mindless killing. One of the worst flaws about this movie was kidnapping Clay's sister because she looked like his mother, and unfortunately, the whole movie is built around that premise.

Although this is not a bad movie, it needed better direction, better actors, and an eye for detail. At least it is consistent. Set in the 80's, some of the technology didn't fit. Some scenes were not thought through, like the creaking floorboards under the weight of an athletic woman were not disturbed when Jason walked on them. Anybody can pick this movie apart because of its mistakes, but most of the Friday 13th movies are similar. The movie's plot flaws are as woeful as the plot itself.

I am hoping there are more Jason movies, but the next one must be directed better with irrelevant scenes cut. If these scenes appeared in fiction, a writer would delete them - or should. I am not clear what impact Michael Bay had on this movie, if any, but I think he could really add to the Voorhees series.

Overall, this is a Jason Voorhees movie, and that's good enough for me!