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Friday The 13th (2009)

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    Ian Jane
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  • Friday The 13th (2009)

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    R
    eleased by: New Line
    Released on: June 16, 2009.
    Director: Marcus Nispel
    Cast: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van Winkle, Derek Mears
    Year: 2009
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    For many film fans, the very idea of remaking Friday The 13th was akin to slaughtering a sacred cow. Before I go on a rant about this picture, let me state that, personally, I didn't care. I generally don't care about remakes. True, most of them seem to suck but once in a while you get two good movies where you once had only one and when they do fail, you've still at least got one. I'll also admit that I actually liked the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre so when director Marcus Nispel's name was attached to the 2009 rehashing of Sean Cunningham's original, it didn't bother me like it instantly bothered some. The point I'm trying to make here is that I went to see this movie in the theater with what I like to think was an open mind, rather than a pre-disposed hatred… and you know what? I still thought it sucked.

    The movie starts off strongly after an opening scene that introduces us to Pamela Vorhees and her son Jason. From there we skip ahead where a group of four hikers are scouring the woods around the area that once was Camp Crystal Lake in search of some pot plants. They find the weed, but not before a hulking man in a hockey mask finds them and slaughters three of the four, taking one surviving girl named Whitney (Amanda Righetti) hostage. Skip ahead and we meet a hunky loner named Clay (Jared Padalecki), searching for his sister, Whitney. He eventually runs into a group of party-hardy teens on their way to a vacation home owned by the rich parents of an obnoxious jock named Trent (Travis Van Winkle). Trent's girlfriend, Jenna (Danielle Panabaker), takes a liking to Clay and wants to help him find his sister but Trent's having none of that, he's more worried about showing off his fancy pad to all his shallow and equally obnoxious friends. Of course, what nobody realizes is that Jason Vorhees (Derek Mears) is all grown up now and that the apple hasn't fallen too far from the tree. Like his mother, he's got a taste for violence and he's running around the area with murder on his mind… and he's also got a secret underground hideout.

    First, the good - there are some fantastic kill sequences here, some of the best that the franchise has seen in years. The kills are bloody, they're creative, and they make an otherwise tedious film more enjoyable than it probably should have been. The film also has no problem whatsoever throwing in plenty of gratuitous nudity for no apparent reason other than that it knows that the audience wants sex and violence. On paper, even if Jason's now taking hostages and running around a series of underground tunnels, this film sounds like a winner. It puts Jason back in the woods where he belongs and gives him a bunch of teenagers to kill. Sounds like a return to form for a series that had become increasingly gimmicky over the years, no? On top of that, Derek Mears makes for a pretty decent Jason. He's got the bulk and the size and the intimidating screen presence to make the character work and he does a pretty decent job portraying him as the seemingly unstoppable killing machine we all know and love.

    The problems with the film don't stem so much from the cardboard characters and logics gaps, as most horror fans have come to accept those from slasher films. No, the real problem, at least that this reviewer had with the film, is that it looks ugly. There's a bit of green during some of the scenes that take place in the woods but aside from that the film looks like it's been color tinted to make it look bleak, desolate and gritty. This worked with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake (both of which were directed by Nispel and shot by cinematographer Daniel Pearl) but here it hurts the set up. The kills are supposed to take place in a happy place, not a place that looks like it's been bombed out. On top of that, the cinematographer's tendency to open up the camera and capture as much lens flare as possible gets incredibly annoying very early on. Flashlights, indoor lights, car lights, pretty much anytime a light appears in the darkness, which is frequent, we get bombarded with a lens flare, most of which add absolutely nothing to the visuals. Now, it's not to say that Friday The 13th should look like Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory but it doesn't need to look like dirt either.

    Ultimately, the film is just completely disposable. Yeah, it's got some really good gore and plenty of nudity, those always earn plus points in this easily amused reviewer's book. There are a few genuinely funny scenes and the opening sequence really stands out to show us how fun the movie could and should have been. But from there, it mixes up a bad soundtrack, a whole lot of scary fake boobs and too few lovely real ones, and an (understandably) predictable plot with horrible cinematography. The bitch of it is, this film had some pretty serious potential and the opening sequence shows that. Had the picture not gone for such a black look and maybe put a bit more effort into casting less obnoxious performers and given us someone we didn't dislike to root for, had it not turned Jason into a silent Jigsaw and had it not aimed for the lowest common denominator throughout the film it could have been great instead of periodically fun spaced between long stretches of tedium.

    Note: The Blu-ray release contains the theatrical cut of the film in addition to the 'Killer Cut.' The differences? There's a few, actually, starting with the gore. Most of the kill scenes are noticeably longer and gorier, though detailing them heads into spoiler territory so we'll avoid doing that here. There are also some flashbacks to Jason's younger days which do serve to give his character a bit more background in addition to some extended bits of him in his odd underground lair. There's a decent extension to a bit a character makes it out of his hideout as well as a tacked on 'montage of death' towards the end of the film. On top of that, some of the nude scenes are a bit raunchier. None of these really help the movie much at all, but more sex and gore never hurt a slasher film.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    New Line's 1080p VC-1 encoded 2.39.1 anamorphic widescreen looks pretty damn good, to be honest, replicating all the annoying lens flares and the film's ugly color scheme quite accurately and creating a pretty honest representation of what this movie looked like when projected theatrically. Detail is strong even in the darker scenes (which make up the vast majority of the film) and black levels are nice and deep without ever getting murky. As mentioned, the color scheme employed in the film isn't particularly bright so don't expect colors to pop, rather, expect things to look pretty drab. Some scenes do look soft, but this was the case when the film played theaters as well and it looks to be inherent in the way that the movie was shot. All in all, while this isn't as strong as some recent BD transfers, it doesn't leave room for much complaining.

    Likewise, the English language 16-bit Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track sounds quite good, and the murder set pieces in particular show some nice surround usage placing directional effects in their proper context and balancing the levels out properly. Bass response isn't overwhelming but the low end is definitely there and it makes itself known when called for. Dialogue stays clean and clear throughout and you won't ever have any problems understanding any of the performers. The mix is considerably more front heavy than you'd probably expect but it works and it works well with the surrounds supplying some nice ambient and background effects and spreading the score around to help build tension when there's a need for it. The theatrical cut features an alternate language French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound track, the 'Killer Cut' features no alternate language tracks. Subtitles are provided for both versions of the film in English SDH, French and Spanish.

    Those disappointed with the extras offered on the standard definition release will want to take note that there's considerably more supplemental context on this Blu-ray release and they are all presented in high definition starting with the picture-in-picture track. When you enable this, you'll get a look at some interesting footage that shows off effects work, stunts, location shooting (in Texas, no less), set design and other production details. A few of the cast and crew members pop up here and offer their input and it's a reasonably interesting way to get some replay out of the film even if some of the footage in here also appears in the other featurettes, making parts of it redundant. There's also a Trivia Track option included here that, when enabled, will periodically through out facts about films from the entire series. It's not a particularly active track, but it's there if you want it.

    From there we move on to the featurettes starting with the twenty-three minute Seven Best Kills segment that shows us how each of the seven key murder sequences were staged and shot. This is pretty interesting stuff as it gives us a good look at what effects work was required to pull this off as well as what the actors and actresses in the cast had to go through. It's also refreshing to see the crew try to avoid using CGI effects when possible. There are optional introductions to each of the seven bits that make up this segment. The Rebirth of Jason Vorhees is an eleven minute documentary that shows us how Jason's character was developed from concept to execution. There's some interesting material in here and we get to hear from the guys responsible for bringing him to life this time around in regards to what they changed from previous entries and how they did it. The third and final featurette is Hacking Back/Slashing Forward, a twelve minute piece that is little more than a fluff piece where the cast and crew members talk about how they all love eighties era slasher films.

    Rounding out the extras are eight minutes worth of deleted scenes, only one of which includes any additional gore. There is an alternate ending in here though, that, while not a particularly good ending per se, is at least worth watching to see how it could have wound up. Animated menus and chapter selection are also included, but the trailer for the feature itself has not been included. This Blu-ray release is Blu-ray live enabled (meaning you can go online to access additional content if you like) contains a second disc with a digital copy on it, and comes housed inside a slipcase cover.

    The Final Word:

    If you enjoyed the movie, then this Blu-ray is a pretty decent way to enjoy it in your home theater. It looks good, it sounds good, and it's got some okay extras. That said, if you haven't seen the movie yet, you might want to rent it first to try it out before blind buying it to avoid inevitable disappointment.


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