Haven't a clue if this is a sequel or a remake or just a synonym, I don't think I've ever seen the original and in any case this looks like any and every slasher movie I've ever seen anyway. Having sat through Push- which was awful- and then My Bloody Valentine 3D- which was even worse- and experiencing the full multiplex phenomenon with a gang of rowdy teenagers having a popcorn fight, overloud speakers not quite in synch and the person behind me really pushing into the back of my chair as anyone over eight foot eleven would need to, I really felt that this was going to be a walkout unless something worth seeing happened quickly. It didn't, not really, but I stayed anyway.
This was probably the best of the three I saw in a row- though given the 0 and 1 ratings for the previous two this is hardly showering it with plaudits- because it was the most fun- this stems from the energy and pace of the film. It opens with Jason's mother avenging his death by killing a load of kids until the final one strikes first and chops off her head. Then Jason comes back from the dead to save the head- cue titles. Next a group of five teens (two couples and a geek) go camping and one of them tells the story of Jason and they all go off to have sex and get carved up one-by-one. Oddly, the titles appear again at this point but who cares we're about fifteen minutes in and it's goretastic.
The film slows a little at this point. The caption reads 'Six weeks later' and so either the first or second set of killings- is it giving too much away to say there'll be more killings?- don't happen on Friday the 13th. In fact, I don't recall the date ever being mentioned. Anyway, at this point a little bit of storyline is shoehorned in- the brother of one of the five already who Jason encountered earlier (a tall good-looking white-teethed teenager in his mid twenties) bumps into another group of seven teenagers all heading up towards Crystal Lake. There's a bit of friction with the alpha-male leader (a tall good-looking white-teethed teenager in his mid twenties) and some chemistry with his girlfriend. Then he heads off on his motorbike (ooh a rebel) and they go to a deserted house to strip off and get drunk before heading out in turn to meet Jason and never return.
Okay, calling that storyline is stretching it but it is at least a premise for the gore that follows. Jason- who has apparently grown to superhuman strength on a diet of rat droppings and woodworm unless he is dead and I'm not totally sure about this- kills them (and a few neighbours and a cop who is sceptical about the frantic calls from drunken kids- always presented as ludicrously naive that) with economy and blood a-plenty. One of the couples goes waterski-ing topless (is there any other way?), the rest either get drunk or go out into the dark investigating armed only with a torch which, like every torch in every horror movie ever, fails at just the wrong moment.
And it's all good forgettable fun. The demographic must love it- lots of gore, lots of nudity and over in an hour and a half. There are loads of non-endings, maybe ten, as Jason just keeps coming back. There's even one to close the film which completes tonight's hattrick of films blatantly being left open for a sequel. The lead actor Jared Padalecki looks like he could have a future ahead of him and Aaron Yoo has great fun as a drunken teenager.
So, for being short and fun and gore packed and even having a couple of adequate performances, Friday the 13th scores a mighty 2/10.
