Friday the 13th (2009) Review

Ok, I just got back from the theater and the Friday the 13th relaunch. And I must say. For all the slasher movies. Everywhere. Platinum Dunes hit gold. Twice. Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th. Now, I never thought I could say I would ever enjoy a Friday more than Jason Lives or The Final Chapter. But, I believe its happened. The holy grail of Friday the 13th movies have arrived. I've read some negative reviews across horror land. And I guess they watched a different movie. I grew up a fan of this film series. And part of me wanted to hate this going in. How can you remake, reboot, relaunch Friday the 13th? Well, Marcus Nispel, and Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, Andrew Form. Writers Damian Shannon, Mark Swift. You did it. I will start by saying this Crystal Lake I guess isn't in NJ. Because being from Texas there is no mistaking South Texas and the textures and the woods. Ever. Its dry. Harsh. Raw. Much like this take on Friday the 13th. I will be honest. I'm not a Platinum Dunes basher. I think they've made damn good remakes and horror movies. Cept, maybe the Unborn which kinda dragged when I watched it the other day. I even dug the Hitcher. Which most people consider trash but, Sean Bean made up for that. *********SPOILERS*********

Now, this movie begins with showing us Pamela Voorhees and Camp Crystal Lake. The girl slicing her head off. And its starts in 1980 when they made the first Friday. Not 1957. Anyway, Jason was watching this from the woods. He witnesses the whole beheading and game on. We start with a first batch of teens out looking for the holy grail of weed. And well, two of them find it. Course, they find our old beloved sack wearing friend. In all of his new found glory. Now, I will tell you. I never in life thought anybody would replace Kane Hodder or CJ Graham. They gave us a terminator Jason we will never forget and greatly enjoyed. However, Derek Mears is the human version of HELL with a machete. He is a swole, fast movie fucking Jaws. But, this Jason may be a little slow. But, he is not the non thinker we were always used to. He is pretty smart. Sets traps. And people saying there are not any creative kills. There are a couple of damn good ones. Now, none of the backbreaker's or sleeping bag slams that rank as most people's favorites of all time. But, we get a ode to the sleeping bag in a new way. And there is some good gore in this movie. And I'm looking forward the uncut dvd version. Its going to be great. Somebody said it was a couple cuts away from a PG 13 horror movie. Really?? Couple might be more like 7 or 8 kills to bring a PG 13 and you have to take a bunch of tits out of it. So the premise is the same. Dope and Sex equal death. But, for this Jason he's getting revenge for moms but, it also seems to be a trespassing issue. You get the sense that cops, and Crystal Lake regulars know not to even go out that way. And everybody stays happy. Jared Padalecki is very good as our lead dude for the first time since John D. LeMay. And frankly, our best guy since one Tom Jarvis. He gives Jason a fight as he's no small fry. And of course, this is human Jason remember. Zombie Jason would've made him a snack. I do agree with one thing. I kinda liked the original group of teens better than the second group. However, Jared makes up for that with a strong lead performance. So the ending. Hmmmm. I won't give it a way. But, there's a couple spots where it will wink at the original 1st 4 Fridays. Anyway, I give it 5 out of 5 axes. If you don't see this opening weekend then by all means make it to the theater soon. This is not for dvd the first time. And needs to be witnessed on a big screen. Don't be scared away from this because of people who just want to hate these reimaging movies because they think its "cool". This is a bad ass flick.