Friday the 13th (2009) Review – Jason Reborn

After watching the Friday the 13th franchise slowly lose its way with Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes to Hell and the utterly ridiculous Jason X, it was a relief to witness somebody finally return Jason Voorhees to basics.

Aimed at the franchise’s core fans, Friday the 13th (2009) is directed by Marcus Nispel and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. It draws on the elements of the franchise and weaves them together to form a coherent whole. Pamela Voorhees, sack-headed Jason, the iconic hockey mask and numerous other recognisable traits from the slasher’s past are all included. But here, in this reboot, is something slightly different to any previous incarnation of Jason Voorhees.

He’s not a lumbering zombie who somehow crops up wherever it suits him.

Instead, he’s a hunter.

Derek Mears dons the mask for one of the scariest interpretations of the character we’ve seen. He’s big, powerful, and certainly brutal. But it’s his sheer speed that makes this Jason particularly intimidating. This man can run! He sets traps and he uses his surroundings to his advantage and is almost like Rambo stalking the woods.

We even learn that Jason has an underground network of tunnels beneath Crystal Lake with warning systems to notify him when somebody enters his territory.

This is actually a good device because, rather than randomly appearing from one place to the next, he is able to use the area to his advantage. He knows these woods better than anybody else and is able to hunt the campers at his leisure.

If Jason catches you, you’re in for a right pasting.

The movie also has one of the best openings in the series. It doesn’t immediately jump into an intro before displaying the title. Instead, we spend a considerable amount of time with the first group of campers who have absolutely no idea what they’re getting into.

This is actually a fantastic introduction to Jason, and it’s not the kind of scene I saw coming.

His first kill is the sleeping-bag one, with Amanda left dangling above the campfire. It’s a particularly sick way to go and is a great insight into what this particular Jason is capable of and we also get a bear-trap used to typical Voorhees effect.

We also get to see Jason initially wearing the familiar burlap sack and eventually find him in the hockey mask. I thought that was a great way of bringing the classic character into the modern day without just replicating previous events.

Once the main story begins, we’re introduced to Clay Miller, played by Jared Padalecki. He arrives at Crystal Lake searching for his missing sister Whitney (Amanda Righetti).

Being a huge Supernatural fan, I was delighted to see Padalecki in the lead role. It was especially cool that both he and Jensen Ackles had found themselves starring in reimaginings of classic horror movies around the same time. Ackles appearing in My Bloody Valentine 3D.

Padalecki also brings a physicality to the role. He was huge, a muscular beast.

Clay isn’t some helpless little man who needs to be rescued. In fact, he’s quite a big guy himself and this makes his eventual battles with Jason that bit more interesting.

I actually found myself caring about the characters in this movie, which is something missing from some of the later sequels.

That’s not to say they’re all likeable. Trent, played by Travis Van Winkle, is an arrogant, obnoxious rich boy who spends a lot of the movie being a complete prat. It’s actually quite satisfying to see Jason finally get him in the end.

There are plenty of other set-pieces that stick in the memory, such as when Jason starts to take advantage of his surroundings. The way he lurks above doorways or pops out from the darkness is pure brilliance. He’s thinking about what he’s doing rather than just randomly wandering around looking for a victim. Mears deserves a huge amount of credit for the role. He really captures the frightening physicality of Jason, and although he hasn’t removed all the supernatural elements, he has brought him back to being more of a man rather than a monster. Jason can still take a huge amount of punishment, but he isn’t indestructible.

If I have one major complaint about the film, it’s the amount of nudity.

Nudity has always been a staple of the Friday the 13th series, but I feel that it’s taken to ridiculous lengths in this movie and, far from adding to the experience, it actually becomes a bit of a distraction.

There’s certainly enough Jason Voorhees to satisfy even the most hardened of fans.

We have excellent build-up, some brutal kills and a brilliant final confrontation between Jason, Clay and Whitney. We even get the traditional Friday the 13th jump scare to end on as well, leaving the door wide open for a potential sequel.

And that’s probably my biggest disappointment.

The reboot was successful financially and there were even plans for a sequel. But unfortunately, it never came to fruition. I would have loved to see where the story went after seeing Clay and Whitney’s adventures. More importantly, I wanted a chance to see Derek Mears in the role again – and he was superb!

Friday the 13th (2009) understands why the original series worked in the first place. It takes all the familiar ingredients and adds a fresh twist to create a movie that appeals to long-standing fans while still managing to capture the spirit of the classic slasher. It’s brutal, entertaining and has some really memorable moments.

After years of increasingly ridiculous sequels, Jason finally came home.

And what a bloody shame we never got to see him return.