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Sunday, July 5, 2009

DVD Review - Friday The 13th -

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This weekend I had the opportunity to go a little nuts with Redbox. I had two free codes and I was ready to go to town! Because I am a horror film FREAK (yep...freak), one of my picks was the newest Friday the 13th. Let me tell you now, there will be SOME SPOILERS, but this is a horror film. I don't think anyone really cares about spoilers in horror. If you do, you may want to skip this.

Here is the skinny:

This newest Friday the 13th gives us a look back into the twisted beginning of Jason's predilection for killing. But really, what choice does Jason have other than to be a killer. From the very first Friday the 13th (the real first one from back in 1980) we know that Jason was the son of the cook at Camp Crystal Lake and that he apparently drowned because the camp counselors were too busy partying (specifically having sex) to notice he was in trouble. Because of this, Jason's mom kills everyone off and when the camp is to be reopened, she offs everyone in that camp as well (including Kevin Bacon), but manages to get herself killed by the young sweet Alice (because really the only survivors have to be sweet).

Now in THIS new Friday the 13th, Jason sees Alice lop off his mom's head. We already know that Jason is not exactly your average boy, but I have to say the first thing that bugged me was, if Jason was alive...why did his mom go on this crazy killing spree in the first place and not once but twice? This is the problem with an old 40 something person watching a film based on what she saw in the 80s (when I saw it I wasn't even old enough to see it...had to sneak in, but I digress and I certainly do not recommend sneaking into movies. Just stating the facts (I was like 13).

Because I am a huge fan of Friday the 13th, and the scene literally made me jump, I am not likely to forget the scene in which young Alice falls asleep in a canoe and wakes up to a brighter day only to be grabbed by the decomposing of a young child in the lake. This is what bugged me...He is not decomposing when he is hiding in the bushes watching his mom lose her head via machete. But I guess that is neither here nor there, if one has not seen the first Friday the 13th, you would not necessarily have an issue with this. I'm really not trying to get all Kathy Bates on this. I just like consistency.

Where on Earth was I?

Okay, either way, Jason is a killer and he is behaving in true Jason fashion. The beginning of the film takes us back to the get go as probably a primer to give us a quick understanding of why Jason is the way he is.

We then are brought along on a party of several young adults (20s I assume) who are off on a pot hunt! This is significant in many ways. The main significance for me is that in order to be killed in a horror movie, you have to do something kind of morally wrong. You know the horror film drill and how it goes: Smoking pot - WRONG, Premarital Sex - WRONG, Telling dirty jokes - WRONG, Voyeuristic behavior - WRONG, Arrogant creep - WRONG, you get the drill. For the most part when you watch a Friday the 13th and someone does something sleazy, they are going to die. So in true Jason style, a massacre ensues and so swiftly that we know this cannot possibly be the main plot of this film. Our first giveaway was that there were only five potential victims. There are always more victims in a Friday the 13th film. You need at the very least SEVEN. I don't know why other than you can't just off everyone too quickly.

After the massacre, the movie takes you to a general store where some more people in the 20s are getting provisions for a weekend getaway at a friend's parents cabin. This guy is named Trent and let's just say...he is a jerk. Seriously he behaves in such a fashion that you wonder so many things about him and the group he is with. Mainly: Why in the world would anyone want to hang out with this arrogant jerk? Then you see that several of the other 20 year olds are kind of obnoxious in a lighter sense and you understand that they are not the greatest lot either. But you cannot quite understand (well I couldn't understand) why his girlfriend is with him. Sure lots of girls have this thing where they are with absolute losers and they love them anyway, but Trent's girlfriend is one that you can see isn't like that. She acts sympathetic and smart. She openly stands up to his BS which makes you again think that there is something not quite REAL here.

At the general store the audience also is introduced to Clay. A broodish young guy who is desperately looking for his missing sister (yep she was with the pot party). Clay is looking for answers and apparently has been scouring the area in hopes of finding someone who has a clue as to what has happened to his saintly sister (trust me you can tell when you first see her). He meets Trent's group when Trent treats him fairly rudely. Now the thing about Trent is...he is just plainly obnoxious. He is so obnoxious it is quite literally annoying. Again, I was thinking "Wow. This guy is so unreal." He reminds me of a bad 80s parody of a rude and not terribly intelligent frat boy (and don't get me started on his hair). All the more reason why you don't get why anyone would want to spend a moment with him.

Now I am going to end the specifics and just say that the remainder of the film introduces several other side characters who are firmly standing on their stereotype line. This is not in a bad way because really that is what horror films are all about. The same mistakes take place a lot, and your average horror film goer is fully aware of what is going to happen because we have seen the scenario before.
1. More than one person is going to go off alone and probably get axed (or in this case macheted).
2. Someone will fall while running and have a hard time getting up.
3. The lights will go out, and it will be intensely creepy, but in other places the lights will be out with enough light from the moon or a fireplace to make it not terribly disturbing.
4. Someone will knock the killer down but not finish him off (is anyone else tired of this happening?)
5. Someone will show their boobs (sorry, but sometimes I think horror films came out just for some sort of soft porn aspect).
6. Someone will die that you really wish wouldn't die. It isn't that this character is incredibly likeable, but you kind of feel bad for this person. Usually it is a goofy nerd guy, stoner loner or the lonely plain Jane.
7. Someone will look around in many directions and somehow miss the killer come up behind them.


I am not saying all of these things happen, but they are pretty much the norm. There are other things that happen quite often too. These are just the ones that I am pointing out.

All in all, I do want to say that I did not hate this film. I did not LOVE it, but I got it for free for the night. There were things in it that made me a little annoyed because they did not make a lot of sense in the matter of how people behave. One thing that didn't make a lot of sense to me is why the camp still had some pretty nice looking canoes. Another thing was that Clay had obviously been knocking on lots of doors while looking for his sister and information on her whereabouts, yet he had never been to Camp Crystal Lake which I would think would be a great place to start considering all the rumors of what went down there in the past. This doesn't ruin the film. It just makes me curious.

If you do like horror films, I think you should check it out. Don't expect to be blown away. Do expect to have some good laughs if you watch it with someone who is open to commenting back and forth with you during the film. :)

3 comments:

Sheila DeChantal said...

I used to LOVE the Friday the 13th movies!!! Then it seems as they went on and on... they became somewhat cheesy...

Fun to see you review this! :)

Gwendolyn B. said...

My days of watching slasher films are over, but I'm glad you had so much fun with this one!

Yvonne said...

I love horror movies :) I have this one on my list at the library to get.