Jason franchise gets a face lift

February 19, 2009 by Richard Pierce 

The new “Friday the 13th” delivers exactly what you’ve come to expect from the series, but this time it’s done with a more modern edge, crisp direction, genuine scares and a sense of humor that easily makes it one of the better slasher films in recent years.

The story is nothing new. Five teenagers go missing while camping near the infamous Camp Crystal Lake leaving Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki), brother of one of the missing girls, to venture into the woods to find her. His search leads him to another group of partying teens vacationing at their parent’s cabin which just so happens to be adjacent to Crystal Lake. (Talk about a crappy timeshare.)

The film follows the classic “Friday” formula: Introduce a handful of good looking one-dimensional teenagers, get them in the woods, let them start drinking, doing drugs and having sex, then unleash Jason, our favorite hockey mask-wearing, machete-wielding maniac to chase them around and hack them to pieces for about 90 minutes.  

If you’re seeking anything more than that – like plot or character development – look elsewhere. “Friday the 13th” wastes no time on that nonsense. Plus it’s hard to take dramatic scenes seriously when they’re bookended by intercourse and a decapitation. 

The highlight of the film is the 20-minute prologue which quickly sums up Jason’s back story and lets us see him dispatch the first group of naughty teens before the title of the film even shows up. 

Director Marcus Nispel (“Texas Chainsaw Massacre”) manages to include some genuine scares in the film rather than just overloading the audience with blood and severed body parts – a pleasant departure from most of today’s obligatory gore-happy horror films. 

Of course, the real star of the show is Jason, who has finally learned how to run rather than just clumsily mosey after his victims and has also gotten a lot more creative with his kills. He sets a bold new standard for sleeping bag related homicide in this film.

Seeing an old-school premise like “Friday the 13th” successfully modernized without losing all its fun or ignoring what made the original so enjoyable was a welcomed breath of fresh air in today’s sea of crappy horror remakes. (Rob Zombie, take note for “Halloween 2.”)

The final verdict, “Friday the 13th” is basically the same old stuff but wrapped in a much shinier package. My biggest gripe is they didn’t use enough of the “ki ki ki, ma ma ma” sound.