Steezy's Movie Reviews #12 - Friday the 13th (2009)

• (c) New Line Cinema, Platinum Dunes Entertainment, Crystal Lake Entertainment
• Directed by Marcus Nispel
• Written by Damian Shannon, Mark Swift
• Rating: Rated R
• Genre: Horror, Slasher

Who is in the movie?

The main focus of Friday the 13th (2009) is our cast of character which includes:

• Wade (Jonathan Sadowski) - A teenager on a camping trip with his friends at Crystal Lake. He fulfills the role of being the overly cautious one in the group.

• Richie (Ben Feldman) - A teenager on a camping trip with his friends at Crystal Lake. He is Amanda's boyfriend.

• Mike (Nick Mennell) - A teenager on a camping trip with his friends at Crystal Lake. He is Whitney's boyfriend.

• Whitney (Amanda Righetti) - A teenager on a camping trip with her friends at Crystal Lake. She is Mike's girlfriend.

• Amanda (America Olivo) - A teenager on a camping trip with her friends at Crystal Lake. She is Richie's girlfriend.

• Trent (Travis Van Winkle) - He takes his friends to his summer cabin out on Crystal Lake. He fulfills the role of being the rich snob of the group.

• Jenna (Daniel Panabaker) - Trent's girlfriend.

• Chelsea (Willa Ford) - One of Trent's friends. She is Nolan's girlfriend.

• Bree (Julianna Guill) - One of Trent's friends. She fulfills the role of being the wild party girl of the group.

• Chewie (Aaron Yoo) - One of Trent's friends. He fulfills the role of being the stoner character in the group.

• Nolan (Ryan Hansen) - One of Trent's friends. He is Chelsea's boyfriend.

• Lawrence (Arlen Escarpeta) - One of Trent's friends. He's an aspiring rapper. He fulfills the role of making dumb jokes about him being the African American one in the group.

• Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki)- He is Whitney's brother. After her disappearance six weeks ago, Clay comes to Crystal Lake to search for his sister.

• Pamela Voorhees (Nana Visitor) - The mother of Jason Voorhees. She wants revenge for the death of her son. She blames the Camp Crystal Lake counselors for not paying enough attention to her son and allowing him to drown in the lake.

• Jason Voorhees (Derek Mears) / Young Jason (Caleb Guss) - Pamela Voorhees' son. He is still alive and kills anyone that comes to his woods in Crystal Lake.

What is the movie about?

The film opens up on the dark and stormy night of June 13th, 1980.

A young Camp Crystal Lake counselor flees for her life through the woods. Someone seems to be after her. She arrives at the lake, but an older woman jumps out from the bushes behind her.

The older woman is Pamela Voorhees. She says she's killed everyone and the camp counselor is the only one left. She wants revenge for her son Jason. Her son drowned in the lake because no one was watching him and now Pamela wants revenge. She goes to attack, but the counselor defends herself with a machete and decapitates Pamela Voorhees.

A deformed boy watches the scene from afar, hiding in the bushes.

After the camp counselor runs away from the scene, the deformed boy comes out from his hiding place and approaches the body of Pamela Voorhees. He leans down and picks up a locket on the ground. When he opens it up, there are pictures of him and Pamela inside. The deformed boy is Jason. He takes the locket and the machete left behind by the counselor before returning back into the woods.

Flash forward to present day Crystal Lake.

A group of teenagers is hiking through the woods with camping gear. Our group consists of
Wade, Richie, Mike, Whitney, and Amanda. It turns out that Wade and Richie are secretly looking for a crop of marijuana that's supposed to be growing somewhere out in the woods, but they haven't told the rest of the group. They want to steal the marijuana with the intent of selling it.

Later that night, the group finds a spot to camp nearby the abandoned Camp Crystal Lake. Wade tells the story of Pamela Voorhees revenge tale of killing all the counselors for her Jason's drowning we saw earlier in the film. Richie doesn't believe him.

Whitney and Mike break away from the group to go be alone with each other. She tells him that she doesn't want to stay because she doesn't feel comfortable being away from her mom, but Mike tells her that her mother is the one that wanted him to take Whitney camping. He says her mother should be fine with her in-home nurse.

We cut back to Richie, Amanda, and Wade. They realize they're actually a half mile away from the marijuana crop where they are at right now. Wade breaks off from them so Richie and Amanda can go have sex.

Wade goes off into the woods by himself to use the bathroom and comes across the marijuana growing in the forest. His celebration is cut short when a tall man with a bag over her head rushes and attacks him. It's Jason Voorhees.

We return to Whitney and Mike. They are exploring the abandoned ruins of Camp Crystal Lake and discover a house nearby. While they're walking around the house, they find a box with a locket inside of it. When they open it, Mike says the picture of the woman looks like Whitney. It turns out this is Jason's home and that is Jason's locket.

Richie and Amanda are busy having sex, but Amanda becomes convinced that Wade is watching them. She sends Richie out there to make sure Wade isn't watching them. Richie goes into the woods to look for Wade and discovers the marijuana too. He finds Wade's dead body too. Meanwhile, Jason has found Amanda and has her dangling over the campfire in her sleeping bag. Richie runs back to the campsite, but gets his leg caught in a bear trap. He watches helplessly as Amanda dies.

Mike and Whitney continue to wander through the abandoned Voorhees home. They discover the shrine to Pamela Voorhees and her severed head in a hole in the wall. The door slams closed behind them. Mike cautiously goes to investigate if someone else is here and Jason starts stabbing through the floor beneath them with his machete. He manages to get Mike with his machete and bursts through the floorboards to drag Mike under. Whitney flees from the house and Jason gives chase.

Whitney returns to the campsite and finds Amanda's dead boy. Richie is still alive, but he can't free himself from the bear trap. Whitney attempts to help him, but Jason appears and kills Richie. Then Jason sets his sights on Whitney.

We jump forward in time again. Six weeks later this time.

We meet a new group of teenagers. This group consists of Trent, Lawrence, Chewie, Nolan, Jenna, Chelsea, and Bree. They stop at a gas station to get gas and load up on snacks.

Clay Miller is also at the gas station at this point. He is Whitney's brother and he's on a mission to find her. She's been missing these last six weeks. He's asking the cashier if he can put up fliers for his missing sister. Clay has a little argument with Trent because Trent is being an entitled asshole.

After leaving the gas station, Clay gets stopped by a police officer to talk with him about what he's doing. The officer claims that no one knows what happened and there's no evidence to prove anything that's happened. He figures that Whitney must've run off with her boyfriend, but Clay informs him that their mother just died of cancer recently. Whitney took care of their mother and it's strange that she didn't show up for the funeral.

We cut to Trent and friends arriving at the summer cabin. They go inside and begins to unpack.

Clay arrives at a local resident's house to ask if they've seen his sister around town. They inform Clay that Whitney is most likely dead. She makes an ominous vague reference that people go missing around here all the time and it's likely because of the urban legend of Jason Voorhees.

We return back to Trent and friends. They're busy drinking, partying, and having a good time.

Back with Clay, he arrives at a farm to ask the resident, Donnie, if he's seen his sister around town. They haven't seen his sister anywhere. Donnie tries to sell Clay some marijuana, but Clay declines. It's implied that Donnie's marijuana is the same stuff Wade and Richie were looking for six weeks ago.

We cut back to Trent and friends again. Nolan and Chelsea take Trent's car and go down to the lake.

Clay unknowingly arrives at Trent's summer cabin to ask about his sister again and Jenna answers the door. She takes one of his fliers and offers him to come inside. Trent decides to play the alpha male game and tells Clay to leave. Jenna follows Clay out and apologizes for her boyfriend's attitude. Clay says he's going to check out the other side of the lake and Jenna offers to come with.

We return back to the farm from earlier with Donnie. He hears a noise in the farm and decides to go investigate. Jason arrives and attacks Donnie. During the fight, Donnie manages to rip Jason's bag off of his head. Jason kills Donnie. Jason goes to get his bag mask back, but finds a hockey mask in the clutter on the floor. (Dun, dun, dun!)

We return back to Clay and Jenna walking through the forest. They discuss his sister. Clay discovered a smashed GPS belonging to Wade on the group.

Nolan and Chelsea have taken Trent's boat out on the water against Trent's wishes. Nolan is driving the boat on the water while Chelsea is wake-boarding on the water. Chelsea wipes out and Nolan turns the boat arrive to get her, but an arrive hits him in the back of the head. Chelsea doesn't realize Nolan is dead. The boat continues forward toward Chelsea and runs her over.

Jason stalks from the shore of Crystal Lake and Chelsea sees him. He pulls his machete out and Chelsea tries to swim away. She tries to hide under the dock, but Jason finds her and kills her.

Later that night, Clay and Jenna have found their way to the abandoned Camp Crystal Lake and have been searching the premises. They leave the last cabin, but they hear someone coming.

It's Jason and he's brought the dead body of Donnie back with him. Jason discovers Clay's back and turns on some spotlights. He begins angrily searching for them before taking the backpack and Donnie's body with him to his home.

When they think they're in the clear, Clay and Jenna escape from Camp Crystal Lake, but accidentally set off a tripwire. Not knowing what it is, they continue to run away.

Jason returns to an underground bunker that seems to be his base of operations and we learn that Whitney is still alive. She has been taken hostage and kept in a cage inside of the bunker. Jason takes his machete and proceeds to sharpen it while having flashbacks to his mother's death. He begins to angrily thrash around his lair and scares Whitney. When
Whitney starts to scream, he rushes to her to make her stop and looks at the locket hanging around her neck.

Jason leaves and heads out to stalk Clay and Jenna.

Whitney discovers the Missing fliers from Clay's backpack and realizes her brother must be looking for her. She finds the broken GPS in his backpack too and tears it apart. Whitney takes a wire out of the inside of the GPS and uses it to pick the lock of her shackles. After managing to free herself, she escapes Jason's lair.

We return to Trent's summer cabin where Trent, Chewie, Lawrence, and Bree are partying and hanging out. After an accident involving Chewie breaking a chair, Trent flips out about it being some kind of family heirloom. Chewie said he'll just get some tools from the garage and fix the chair. Trent goes off with Bree to have sex, cheating on his girlfriend Jenna.

Clay and Jenna return back to the summer cabin and find Lawrence. They tell him about Jason Voorhees and call the cops.

Unfortunately for everyone, Jason followed Clay and Jenna and found the summer cabin. It's time to get back to hunting and killing.

Will Clay ever be reunited with his sister? Will the other teens survive the night? Not if Jason Voorhees has his way...

When does this movie take place?

The film starts on June 13th, 1980. Then we make a 30-year jump and the rest of the film takes place in 2010.

Where does this movie take place?

Camp Crystal Lake and the character Trent's summer cabin located on Crystal Lake.

SPOILERS AHEAD
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Why is this happening?

This is a reboot of the series. We are going all the wake back to the beginning of the story.

Everything is happening in the film because Jason Voorhees supposedly drowned when he was a child at Camp Crystal Lake. His mother went crazy and started going on a killing spree. Jason happened to still be alive (somehow) and witnesses the final moment when his mother is killed by a camp counselor in self-defense.

Jason grows up and decides to start his lifelong mission of murdering any horny teenagers that are dumb enough to come to Crystal Lake. It's back to how things should be in a Friday the 13th movie.

The big difference here is that Jason has kidnapped a girl named Whitney because she resembles his mother and doesn't want to kill her. Her brother Clay has come to Crystal Lake to find her. Everyone else makes the mistake of being in Crystal Lake with the intent of being dumb, partying teenagers and they get in the way of Jason's machete.
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How was the movie?

I know I'm supposed to hate this movie. It's a reboot of a classic horror franchise and that alone should be cause for me to want to banish this movie into oblivion. There's just not enough here for me to really be mad about. The worst thing about this reboot is the fact that it plays it too safe and it sort of reimagines the first three films in one. It doesn't actually follow any of those films plotlines, but it borrows from them. We skip through the original movie at the beginning, we get a little bit of time pre-hockey mask Jason, and then the rest of the film ends up being what you can expect from a Friday the 13th movie.

We only get the opening scene that focuses on Pamela Voorhees before we make a time jump to the present and the focus of the film becomes about Jason. I would've like to see a more straightforward remake if they had to make this movie at all. The original Friday the 13th was a mystery film. We didn't know who the killer was. We didn't find out until the very end of the film when there was only one survivor left and it was kind of shocking to see the killer was a middle-aged mother wanting revenge for the death of her child.

Since it was inevitable that this film was going to be made, I actually kind of wanted to see something of an origin story. Maybe give us more details on Pamela's relationship with Jason when he was alive. Maybe let us see Jason as a child at Camp Crystal Lake. Introduce Jason's father on the big screen finally. I would want to see a proper origin told since the mystery of the first film is pretty much common knowledge for anyone who is a fan of this series. It might've been a gamble because everyone wants to see Jason Voorhees, but I think it might actually be interesting to get an origin for Jason. If there was a slasher that could've benefitted from knowing more about them, it would be Jason. I'd like a more definitive answer as to what happened and how Jason survived drowning without his mother knowing.

What we ended up getting was something that feels more in line with a forgotten sequel or something. Of all the horror remakes that were coming out around this time, I kind of find this one to be the least offensive of the bunch. It's just standard Friday the 13th fare in a modern horror movie. It's not perfect. It's kind of a mediocre film. Most of the characters fit the usual slasher movie tropes and some still have paper-thin character development to add to the body count. That's usually to be expected when it comes to horror films, especially the Friday the 13th series. The only stand out of the bunch is Jared Padalecki as Clay Miller. Some of you might know him better from the Supernatural TV show. I'd also like to give special mention to the character Trent for having some of the worst dialogue ever written for a movie. They really go all out in turning him into a laughably bad asshole character.

The changes to how Jason acts and the way he carries himself didn't bother me much. I would expect Jason to live off the land and set traps in the forest for his unsuspecting victims. The underground lair gives some context as to where Jason would be staying between kills. It's not terrible. I would expect Jason to develop some hunting skills when it comes to stalking the teens around Crystal Lake. It doesn't bother me much. Like I said, the film feels more like a sequel that could fit anywhere in the franchise prior to Part V, if you ignore all the origin story reboot bits.

You can skip it if you want. You can check it out if you want something more in line with earlier films in the Friday the 13th series. I'm just glad they don't try to retcon any of that garbage from Jason Goes to Hell into this. I mean, this film is still technically under the New Line Cinema umbrella. I'm surprised they didn't try to make this reboot more in line with whatever they were trying to turn him into in that movie.