The remake gives the mythology a historical feel, with events happening almost thirty years ago effecting the contemporary story. The audience learns of Mrs. Voorhees, Jason’s mother, over a camp fire with the obligatory young, horny campers. Jason is also mentioned in the story, as the boy who drowned and came back to life to avenge the death of his mother. Finding the remains of Camp Crystal Lake, the young people find to their detriment the stories are not imaginary. Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki; TV‘s “Supernatural”) comes to the town of Crystal Lake searching for his missing sister, Whitney. He meets a group of college kids visiting a wealthy friend’s lake side cabin. Jason does not appreciate the promiscuity and drug use brought by these outsiders and seeks a bloody reckoning.
Based on an uncomplicated, low-budget story, one can’t expect steak from hamburger in an update. However, an improved clarity to the original mythos should be possible while not losing any of the terror. Nispel is too influenced by his prior work, making Jason more a deformed backwoods crazy than a supernatural, unstoppable force. Mrs. Voorhees is barely mentioned in this update, instead skipping ahead to her son’s killing spree. But without establishing the relationship between mother and son, the creepiness and vengefulness of Jason’s actions are lost. Even Jason’s choosing of his hockey mask could have been imbued with some meaning but that opportunity is lost.
Much can be forgiven with the storyline if the film accomplishes that basic expectation of being scary. The directors overuse of the shaky, handheld camera makes it difficult to see Jason stalking his prey. Instead, the audience is stuck with too many extreme close-ups of faces, poorly lit scenes, and jarring, stomach churning chases. Without good chases and seeing - or not seeing - the killer after a victim, “Friday the 13th” loses its edge. Even the death scenes are underemphasized, with few memorable killings.
The actors playing the campers are at least given amusing dialogue to keep us engaged between killing sprees. The missing sister storyline is an appropriate motivating factor for Clay and causes the only real suspense in “Friday the 13th”. Jason deserved a more carefully considered remake to bring back the terror to a franchise that sorely misses it.
Rated R for strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, language and drug material.
