‘Welcome to Crystal Lake’
Friday the 13th is a 2009 American slasher film directed by Marcus Nispel from a screenplay co-written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (Freddy vs. Jason) for Platinum Dunes (Michael Bay, Brad Fuller). Nispel had previously directed the 2003 remake of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and a 2004 version of Frankenstein.
Distributed by Warner Bros. in the USA and Paramount worldwide, the film is a reboot of the Friday the 13th film series which began in 1980 and is the twelfth instalment in the franchise. With a reported budget of $19 million, the film took $91.4 million worldwide at the box office.
The movie stars Jared Padalecki (House of Wax; Cry Wolf; Supernatural), Danielle Panabaker (The Crazies; The Ward; Fight of the Living Dead), Amanda Righetti (Return to House on Haunted Hill), Travis Van Winkle (Left in Darkness; Asylum (2012); Bloodwork), Aaron Yoo (Disturbia; A Nightmare on Elm Street; Demonic), Derek Mears (as Jason Vorhees), Jonathan Sadowski, Julianna Guill (Killing Poe), Ben Feldman (As Above, So Below), Arlem Escarpeta (Final Destination 5; Midnight Son; Grimm).
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Plot synopsis:
In the woods near Crystal Lake, a group of campers are massacred by a killer wearing a sack over his head…
Searching for his missing sister, Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki) heads up to the eerie woods of legendary Crystal Lake, where he stumbles on the creaky remains of rotting old cabins behind moss-covered trees. And that’s not the only thing lying in wait under the brush.
Against the advice of police and cautions from the locals, Clay continues his search for his missing sister, Whitney (Amanda Righetti), with the help of Jenna (Danielle Panabaker), a young woman he meets among a group of college kids up for an all-thrills weekend. But they are all about to find much more than they bargained for. Little do they know, they’ve entered the domain of one of the most terrifying figures in American film history — the infamous killer who haunts Crystal Lake, armed with a razor-sharp machete…
Reviews:
” … this “reboot” solidifies once and for all just who Jason is: a motivated killer with speed, strength, vision and a revenge streak that runs blackheart-deep. By firming up the details of his origin, establishing some supernatural elements (Hint: Jason is always really, really hard to kill.), and lending purpose to his body-mangling rampages, the film establishes firm ground for the character’s mythos and makes him much scarier as a result.” IGN
“The original “Friday” films were, in their own way, a celebration of teenage lust and rambunctiousness. In Nispel’s update, the kids are mostly distasteful cretins with a disturbingly clinical attitude to sex that micromanages the pleasure right out of it. Even a topless wakeboarding sequence is more an emulation of fun than an actual sun-kissed reverie.” Los Angeles Times
“It delivers everything you demand of a slasher; blood, mayhem, and beautiful women disrobing. Producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller have done the franchise justice, along with fanboy writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, who manage to piece together all the elements that make an effective slasher. Let me just say – Jason Voorhees is back and scarier than ever.” Film School Rejects
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“True, the characters often act in unbelievable and downright suicidal ways. ”Where’s he going?” ponders Jared Padelecki upon first espying a corpse-carrying Mr. Voorhees. (Really, that’s the question? Not: ”How the blue blazes do we get out of here?”). However, this film is (be)head and shoulders above the recently reanimated likes of Prom Night and My Bloody Valentine.” Entertainment Weekly
“Scenes of binge drinking and topless wakeboarding provide respites from the requisite series of gory murders. Besides deploying the genre’s usual devices (e.g., cellphones with no reception, faulty flashlights, swift punishment for the horny), the movie also makes good on the old stage adage that if a wood chipper is introduced in the first act, it will be used in the third.” Toronto Star
“Put the remake hatred and nostalgia factor aside and the movie is really no different than the Friday instalments we all love, certainly no worse.” iHorror.com
“The white people get abundant nooky. The black guy is reduced to seeking, shall we say, solo erotic inspiration in what looks like a Sears catalog. The Asian dude, we can safely assume, will take his virginity to the grave … Director Marcus Nispel makes no attempt to have the movie be about anything other than earsplitting noises and skull-splitting machetes.” New York Post
“There’s no real getting to know the characters here – they’re all pretty much cardboard cutouts set up like bowling pins just so they can get killed. There was one scene that just really didn’t fit and was obviously inserted into the film just to show you how Jason ends up with a hockey mask (he starts out with a burlap bag on his head). Also, after the adrenaline-pumping opening 20 minutes, the rest of the film just wasn’t able to quite measure up and it suffered for it.” Screen Rant
“This is not the lumbering psychopath we’ve all come to know and love these past three decades. As played by veteran stuntman Derek Mears and conceived by the filmmakers, this Jason may still be a bloodthirsty backwoods mutant but he’s got speed, agility, and most importantly brains. … Plus under this creative team Jason no longer just shows up and kills his prey without much warning. He enjoys the hunt as much as the kill. Jason toys with his victims, even using one of them as bait for their friends in one scene.” Geeks of Doom
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