As October keeps passing through, I always feel like the month goes by too fast. Sure I get to watch my 31 Days of Scary Shit all month long, but it still feels like it isn’t enough. So it does help that I get to share some of that experience with you, the readers. Boils and ghouls, we have now reached the end of our coverage on the first rollercoaster ride of ‘The Big Three’ slasher franchises, Friday the 13th. 11 movies. Culminating with a remake. A reboot. A relaunch… Which unfortunately to this day, the franchise still hasn’t received anything new. So, let’s take a brief look at the (thus far) last installment of the Friday franchise.
Against the advice of locals and police, Clay (Jared Padalecki, Supernatural and House of Wax) scours the eerie woods surrounding Crystal Lake for his missing sister. She has been missing for over six weeks and presumed dead, with Clay never losing hope of reuniting with her. But the rundown and rotting cabins of an abandoned summer camp are not the only things he finds. Our favorite hockey-masked killer Jason lies in wait ready to use his razor-sharp machete on Clay and the group of unwitting college students (with stupendous tits) who have come to the forest to party.
Director Marcus Nispel does a tremendous job of rehashing the entire first Friday from 1980 in the opening credits, getting it out of the way. Which I thought was a great way to give the fans a fresh remake and not just redo the original, like other reboots in the past have done. I’m looking at you Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), which interestingly enough Nispel also directed. He must’ve learned from his mistake! After the enticing opening credits in the next 15 minutes, we get some truly terrifyingly gruesome kills just to wet everyone’s appetite. Jason is fucking back, he means business and he’s making up for lost time!
What we get from here on out is for the most part pretty standard fare for a F13 movie. Drinking, drugs, nudity, sex and of course awesome and bloody death scenes. As always, most of the characters are not very likeable so there’s not much afterthought from their eventual demises. Padalecki’s character Clay is pretty much Rob Dier from The Final Chapter. But Clay is a way more likeable character that actually survives. Fans of Friday the 13th: The Video Game may also see a connection with ‘the douche’ Chad and ‘the douche’ Trent.
Onto the parts that surprised me with this installment. Jason is fucking smart. He’s not the bumbling man child we normally see in this. I mean, he’s still a man child but at least he’s an intelligent one. This Jason is a hunter and a clever one. He has traps set throughout and an elaborate series of tunnels that run underneath Camp Crystal Lake. Not your average Jason for sure. Derek Mears wore the mask this time around, very effectively. If we ever get another film in this franchise,
This is the Jason I want.
IMDb: 5.6/10
ZombiSurvivor: 6.4/10
STAY SCARED!
-ZS
