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*** Official FRIDAY THE 13TH (2009) Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

Radioman970

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I enjoyed that TCM remake as well and I was hoping that would mean something with this project. Great to read a positive review from an obvious fan of the series.
 

Lucia Duran

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Great review. I have been a fan since the very first F13th and even though this series has been knocked around and made fun of, I still enjoy it. I am looking forward to seeing this one tonight!
 

Tony J Case

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I'm still 12 hours away from seeing the remake, but I thought offer up some other reviews

* Rotten Tomatoes has it at 25%

* CHUD, on the other hand, likes it

* Bloody Disgusting likes it too

* As does Horror.com and IGN.

Honestly I'd believe chud, Bloody disgusting and the guys over at DVD mainiacs more than I would the mainstream press. The mainstream NEVER likes these movies. Me, all I need is lots of blood and guts, some naked titties, and creative and interesting slaughter. All this nonsense of character development and plot gets in the way of letting the lovely flowing red.
 

Mikel_Cooperman

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From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Hopefully, there's something in President Obama's stimulus package that will help the ailing slasher-movie industry. Not only are horror filmmakers running out of ideas for this genre, but they can't even remake the old ones with any skill.

The reboot of the "Friday the 13th" series is a pretty big mess - not particularly scary or interesting or even gory by 21st century movie standards. The makers of this film have removed the handful of redeeming qualities from the original and added rejected subplots from "7th Heaven" and "The O.C.," where most of the cast members seem to have been recruited. If it wasn't for a topless waterskiing sequence, there would be nothing memorable to recommend to your friends.

It's not as if director Marcus Nispel had an especially difficult task, making a movie that equaled the original. "Friday the 13th," released in 1980, was an inferior knock-off of John Carpenter's "Halloween." The makers of the first "Friday" didn't have a better story or technical skills than Carpenter, so they ramped up the sex, gore and depravity. Their one genius idea was accessorizing Jason with a hockey mask, and they didn't get around to that until the third movie in the series. The best part about the original "Friday" was the chance for teen moviegoers to defy their parents and the critics, who had declared a national crisis because of the horror picture. If Siskel and Ebert spent an entire show trashing the movie, then we have to see it!

Ten sequels later, including the "Freddy vs. Jason" movie, it's hard to generate much outrage for this series re-launch, which despite several decapitations and impaled heads seems tame in the "Saw" and "Hostel" era. "Friday the 13th" has enough credited writers to field a hockey team, and each of them was able to contribute one-third of a good idea. (In addition to the topless waterskiing scene, there's some inventive use of a wood chipper.)

"Friday the 13th" begins with a short and grainy scene involving the history of Jason, his mother and Camp Crystal Lake. After Jason takes out several campers in a second pre-credit sequence, we move ahead to present day, where a strapping young Josh Brolin look-alike (Jared Padalecki) searches for his sister. Of course he runs into Jason, who also terrorizes a group of college students staying in the vacation house of a rich kid.

Notice that you didn't see the words "camp counselors" once? Creating a "Friday the 13th" movie without counselors is like making a "Godfather" movie without any mobsters. But these filmmakers try anyway, filling the story instead with modern product placement - including GPS devices, a Cadillac Escalade and an underground dungeon that looks like it was made by the same subcontractors responsible for Jame Gumb's lair in "Silence of the Lambs."

Both groups of machete fodder are made up of five or six stereotyped young people, who couldn't possibly be friends in real life: the spoiled wealthy kid, the pot-smoking tech nerd, the black guy who wants to start a rap label, the sensible girl who keeps complaining that everyone should turn around and drive home ...

No chance of that happening. Twenty-nine years may have passed, but the self-preservation skills of American teenagers hasn't gotten any better. Neither has the ability to make a great horror film.

-- Advisory: This film contains violence, profanity, sex scenes, drug use and that creepy "ki-ki-ki ma-ma-ma" sound effect (which would make a really badass ring tone).
 

Michael Elliott

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I'm not sure if they're breaking these threads up into "Review" and "Discussion" so with that in mind I'm going to put the discussion parts in spoilers for now.

I'm going to comment about a couple of the people who have had issues with the film.

 

Michael Elliott

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IMDb :: Boards :: Friday the 13th (2009) :: Did anyone get hard during the sex scene?

The above link is a group of "other" reviews so to speak. Be warned if you're easily offended.

A few spoilers about the death scenes:

I'm reading a few comments around the net and the death scenes also seem to be taking a beating by some. I thought for the most part they were very good and the director managed to make some of them come out of no where for a great level as surprise. I'm thinking about the scene on the boat where the arrow comes out of no where. We expect something to happen but not like it did. The same thing with the girl under the dock. You expect something to happen but I never guessed it would happen the way it did.

Granted, the ending is stupid when they throw Jason back in the lake but I thought the "jump scare" was great because, once again, I didn't expect it to happen the way it did.

I'm not sure if anyone else noticed but the late "Friday the 13th" title credit was great. I think everyone had forgotten about it and it just pops up and punches you in the face. I really, really enjoyed how they remade part 1 in the credits and then remade part 2 in the pre-title sequence.
 

WillG

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And, I'm still relatively young, but when did when did girls become such whores? I certainly don't remember any women like that from my college days.

I did like how the wood chipper guy was also the "retarded" guy from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"
 

Joe Karlosi

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Will, I can answer at least one of your questions:

I think Jason let Whitney hang around because she reminded him of his mother ...
 

Michael Elliott

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Joe reguarding the death scene you put in spoilers, it's pretty much what I said. You expect the death but then they take it a step further.
 

WillG

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Maybe, but there really isn't anything presented in the film that suggests that. Unless I missed something.
 

Michael Elliott

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Actually her boyfriend mentions that she looks like the mother. Making the two look alike actually worked a lot better than in part 2 where Steel and mom looked nothing alike. I know she put on the sweater but still.
 

MattFini

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Michael, I'm not mad that they didn't remake the original film, or any of them for that matter, but my biggest gripe is that this is just a poorly made film.

I'm not sure when characters became so vile and narcissistic in these types of films, but pretty much the entire cast of characters here were reprehensible. And when you're rooting for the killer it certainly takes away a lot of the intended impact.

In fact, I think I could've almost dealt with my other issues with the film, but these characters are SO idiotic and groan - inducing that it derailed the whole thing.

And while you said "this isn't my dad's F13", I see your point. But this certainly was 2003's Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So while they missed the mark in giving this a familiar F13 feel, they certainly had no problem making it feel A LOT like the last movie the producer and director worked on.

That illustrates a real lack of versatility in my eyes.

This one's a huge turkey for me. Too bad, too, because I was pretty sure I was going to like it.
 

Robert Crawford

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This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for "Friday the 13th (2009)". Please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.

All HTF member film reviews of "Friday the 13th (2009)" should be posted to the Official Review Thread.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.


Crawdaddy
 

Joe Karlosi

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It's a new morning here and I'm STILL thinking about the film from last night. I still don't know what to make out of it. Since I'm a diehard fan I think I'm trying to force myself to like it more than I actually did, and that's something which should never happen.

But it's interesting to read these box office figures now, since I had actually begun to think I no longer want any more sequels. I realize that money talk$, but after watching F13 09 I left with a feeling that it's really "been here, done that, again and again", and who needs more? Nobody is more surprised than myself that I'm starting to feel this way; I always welcomed more and more sequels from 1980 through 2003 .... but I'm not sure where I stand on this. As much as some fans did not like the direction the original series went in, I find that after awhile you have to change things up a bit. You can't just have kids in the woods and Jason hacking them for another 11 installments... there'll have to be some kind of structure or character changes ... just like in the original they made Jason a zombie, then had him face a telekenetic teen, then had him on a crusie ship and in Manhattan, and then in Space....

And then again, knowing me I'll STILL be there for PART 2 on opening day :D
The only thing is, I'd hate for them to call the sequel "PART 2" ... it's going to get really confusing having to verify WHICH part 2, 3, etc. we're referring to...
 

TravisR

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The only character that I think fits that category was the a-hole boyfriend. The rest of the characters aren't well drawn or believable or particularly likable but they weren't vile or reprehensible either.
 

WillG

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I don't know, If I had a daughter, I certainly wouldn't want her whoring it up like some of the female characters in this film, nor would I want a son of mine to be a drunken burnout who carried a bong in a briefcase.

I know these films are supposed to deliver the goods and it's a bit of a fine line between that and being gratuitous, but for example that sex scene...I've seen soft core porn that was tamer than that. It feels weird to refer to some of the original films as a character study but watching a few of them recently the cast of this film made the cast of some of those films look like the cast of "The Godfather" The original F13 was pretty good in this regard. That one had all the beats, drinking, pot smoking, some sex, but it was never gratuitious and few if any of that cast came across as generally unlikable or obnoxious. I think the cast of part 6 fared the best in that regard.

At the end of the day, I just felt that the film was too flawed and too off the path of a F13 film where I would recommend it. When I leave feeling like I could have done a better job making the film and keeping it more faithful to its roots, it's a problem.
 

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