Here we have a new, though not necessarily improved Jason from the savvy if creatively unoriginal folk at Platinum Dunes who have already brought us reboots of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hitcher and have another A Nightmare On Elm Street in the pipeline. Directed by Marcus Nipsel, responsible for the surprisingly okay Texas Chainsaw remake, this dismal, unimaginative slasher is, ironically, less a reboot than reworking of parts 1-4 incorporating Mrs Voorhees and a sack-wearing Jason into a storyline as formulaic and banal as before, as a group of teenagers looking for a marijuana crop in the woods near the abandoned Crystal Lake are butchered in a 20-minute pre-credits sequence. Flash forward another six weeks, as the brother (Jared Padalecki) of a missing girl (Amanda Righetti) and another group of high and/or horny kids wash up, ready to be dispatched by Jason's machete, bow and arrow...
While this has got everything one could possibly expect in a Friday The 13th flick — nubile teens engaging in pre-marital sex, zero character development, reasonably gruesome deaths — there's nothing new or novel here — unless one counts topless wake boarding — to warrant another go round, other than the obvious financial considerations. Production values are much improved, and the new Jason (stuntman Derek Mears) is more agile and faster of foot, but he ain't the intelligent, tragic victim the filmmakers hilariously claim on the run of the mill extras which feature the usual mix of hype and hyperbole, the pick being the "7 Best Kills" which detail the film's, ahem, 7 best kills. The three alternative scenes, meanwhile, include a different take on how this Jason got his hockey mask, while the contributors to the "Hacking Back/Slashing Forward" retrospective discuss Cunningham's original like it's Citizen Kane.
* A version of this review originally appeared in DVD & Blu-Ray Review
5 comments:
I thought The Last Voyage of Demeter sounded like one of the most up-my-alley horror projects currently in the works for all of the three seconds it took for me to realise Nispel was at the helm. As Tina Fey would say, "Blurgh."
He's also linked to the new Conan movie.
He is indeed. Which is why I'm paying zero attention to it.
Demeter has SUCH potential though!
Agreed. I remember when it was first announced, thinking what a great idea.
Originally Robert Schwentke was attached to direct.
In December 2006, IGN ranked the top 25 film franchises, and Friday the 13th came in at # 7.Great news for Friday the 13th fans! this will be a great dvd collection
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