Jason Lives: FRIDAY THE 13TH (Page 6) / The Sunset Strip / GNR Evolution

Axlin16: Rep: 768

Re: Jason Lives: FRIDAY THE 13TH

Axlin16 wrote:

I should be heading off to see this in a couple hours.

794 weeks ago

NY Giants82: Rep: 26

Re: Jason Lives: FRIDAY THE 13TH

NY Giants82 wrote:

I liked it. Thought it was pretty good.

794 weeks ago

Axlin16: Rep: 768

Re: Jason Lives: FRIDAY THE 13TH

Axlin16 wrote:

The theater honored my free ticket from the 30 Years of Jason DVD, but only for ONE admission, like the ticket states. I had hoped they'd roll it over, but oh well, still was one free ticket, leaving the DVD at only a technical $4 bucks from Wal-Mart.

As for Friday The 13th 2009 - here goes...

Hidden Text:

Texas the 13th. Friday the Chainsaw Massacre. Those titles really sum up this film. Like the other Platinum Dunes-produced 'new era' Chainsaw franchise, those new TCM films were plagued with mediocrity. F132009 is no different, but for a few different reasons. One of the shockers of this film is it is NOT a remake. To my shock. It is - straight up - "Friday The 13th Part XII". This is a full-on sequel, just with the bare title, ala "Rocky Balboa" or "Rambo", both of which were a Part VI & Part IV, respectively. F132009 actually re-creates the events of the first film, and seems to just be a retcon sequel, that acknowledges Part 1, and seems to just retread Part 2 & Part 4 with a bit of a different setup, but overall the same result, and ignores that Parts 5-11 ever happened, alot like Halloween H2O ignored that Parts 3-6 ever happened.

The cast is servicable, but there are no memorable characters here. Amanda Righetti, just... brings me to tears how absolutely beautiful that girl is. I can't state that enough, lol. There's alot of beautiful women, but she is like the perfect makeup of what I call an attractive woman. As for her character Whitney, the character just might be the most worthlessly setup character for NO payoff at all. All I can assume is that MAYBE the F13 producers want her to become a recurring nemesis for Jason, something that's never been done with one of the heroines.

The problem with this film, is really alot of the same problems that lied in Rob Zombie's Halloween remake in 2007. There's two perfectly good films in F132009, one for a new film, and one for an additional sequel, that's condensed down to one film, leaving both segments ineffective, and wasted, because they're not fleshed out for their truest potential. This film could've just been Whitney and her boyfriend and their sex & pot-crazed friends spend one horrible night at the remnents of Camp Blood, and that's the film. Instead this is an extended 'teaser' opening for the film, like it's an episode of the TV show. Then when Whitney's character is setup after ALL of this time, then we get a straight up rehash of Part 4 with a group of friends, all horny, all wanting to smoke dope in this really nice house adjacent to Crystal Lake. To top it all off Whitney has a brother Clay, who spends the whole time of the film 'looking for his missing sister' no different than Rob in Part 4, and is helped by Jenna, the sweet girlfriend of some asshole who owns the house. Jenna is basically Trish from Part 4, who assists Clay in trying to look for Whitney in the film.

But what disappoints is what's NOT told in the story. There's this whole subplot of Whitney being held prisoner by Jason, and kept alive. This is the most intriguing, DIFFERENT thing in the movie, and should've been explored more. Why is this going on? Instead Jason keeps her, almost like some hidden prize, and we're supposed to ASSUME because of some locket she found with a picture of Pamela Voorhees that Whitney bares a resemblence to Jason's mother. Instead of being explained this new thing, we're simply relegated to the standard 'meat locker' cast whom we all hate, and wish would die asap. Then to cap it all off, we're giving a 'tacked on' ending - TWICE. There's this whole sequence with the surviving Whitney & Clay fighting Jason in a barn, and when Clay is about to be fed through a wood chipper courtesy of Mr. Voorhees, Whitney suddenly out of nowhere, becomes Jenny from Part 2, and starts talking to Jason in the same fashion, long enough to distract him so Clay can get the advantage back. Then the final final ending is a dock scene, which I won't go into detail, but is no fuss, no muss, a typical 'extra' F13 shock, similar to the first film.

I know everyone is dying to know, what's up with Jason. Sadly, nothing special. Although potato sack Jason is involved in the first half of the film, the way Jason dons the hockey mask is really an anti-climax, and nothing like Part 3, where Shelly is kind of a nerd with a mask/fx-fetish, and the hockey mask shows up. Jason simply kills some redneck who a stash of junk, and there the hockey mask is found. Whoopidiedoo. Derek Mears also does not in any way add his own stamp to the Jason character, and anyone who tells you otherwise is an outright fucking liar. Even Ken Kirzinger did his own thing in FvJ. Other than a couple running scenes (and I mean a COUPLE), Mears, whom alot of people were talking Ted White-comparisons, does nothing like White. He totally, and I mean totally, copies Hodder. It is Hodder-revisted, which is cool in a sense because Kane is my favorite, but with that said... why not just have Kane Hodder? At least with Kirzinger & FvJ it made sense, because Ken did something different, but if you're gonna bring a guy in, who just emulates Hodder, why not have Kane? So nothing new there.

The kills, absolutely NOTHING original or inspiring here. Listen, when you do a 'Part XII' in a slasher franchise, by that point it's ALL about the unique kills from the star (Jason) to impress the audience. Nothing here stands out, everything is average. Several kills just involve throat slicing or machete-to-head... stuff we've seen before. One of the major missteps is at least with all the previous F13 films, every character has a unique kill, even if it is boring. Not here. Several victims are dispatched identical to the other. Probably the most unique sequence is a boater & his girlfriend. The boater gets an arrow to the head while driving the boat back towards his girlfriend in the water. The girlfriend is ran over by the boat, dazed she hides from Jason under a dock, only to take a machete to the head in a unique, but very F13-fashion. That's it. Another scene involves Jason tying a live-girl in her sleeping bag above the fire to cook, but it's very ineffective and not shocking, which is like several in the film.

This film is not bad, it's just not great. It's not even among the best of F13 or the average. I'd probably even rank ALL of the New Line films above it, including Jason Goes To Hell & Jason X. When people see this film, and look back on it, it'll just be a mid-to-low ranked entry, nothing to write home about. There is no bad F13 film imo. They all are watchable, and this one is no different, it's just the people calling it 'among the better ones' kind of blow me away. I would be quicker to put this film in the same family with Part 5 or JGTH or X.

Like with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre new franchise, and the Halloween remake, this is another old franchise 'reboot' that is 'serviceable', but when you really look at it... you're not interested in another. I thought this was 'okay', but i'm certaintly not waiting with baited breath for Part XIII.

2.5/4 - Fair

794 weeks ago

Von: Rep: 77

Re: Jason Lives: FRIDAY THE 13TH

Von wrote:

The series' best entry since Part VI and easily one of its top five overall. Marcus Nispel manages a much more genuine horror experience, as opposed to the often over hyped and sadly mediocre Texas Chainsaw redux. This is not a remake. It's a reboot in the same sense as Casino Royale. It incorporates elements of the character and feel of the first four or five films in the series. There are mixed reviews coming from horror fans, which I don't really understand. This is a Friday the 13th film through and through, unlike Texas Chainsaw '03 which didn't particularly feel like a Texas Chainsaw flick (TCM: The Beginning did it better). I think if you are disappointed because you were expecting something more than what you got, you have an inflated sense of nostalgia and a revisionist take on the strengths of the series' prior entries. It's an extremely fun, thoroughly pleasing horror movie. It succeeds in spots where Zombie's Halloween admittedly faltered. And yes, I found Jason to be creepy (again) and the atmosphere to be notched up considerably. Highly recommended over most of the modern, self-referential shit that passes as horror in theaters these days. An enormous accomplishment and cut above the craptacular, disrespectful, irresponsible Freddy vs. Jason and the fun but ill-advised Jason X. Places Jason back where he belongs, in the realm of fright, not camp or parody.

5/5

Just wanted to come back and leave a quick review. Think of it as a special occasion (the QT trailer was another).

794 weeks ago

Axlin16: Rep: 768

Re: Jason Lives: FRIDAY THE 13TH

Axlin16 wrote:

The best since Part VI? An enormous accomplishment? Wow, you must've seen a different film than I saw.

Then again, I liked the very underrated Part 8, the 'different' take with JGTH, the popcorn fun of Jason X, and the fun camp of FvJ.

With that said, I know what F13 is, and how to watch it. I go into ALL of them with an open mind, as they are just slasher shlock. F132009 just didn't wow me, like TCM2003 did in the EXACT same way. How ironic that both Bay & Nispel were involved.

Part IV & Part VI are Psycho & Dawn of the fuckin' Dead compared to this.

794 weeks ago

monkeychow: Rep: 661

Re: Jason Lives: FRIDAY THE 13TH

monkeychow wrote:

Hanging out for this...got to wait till march 12th urgh!

794 weeks ago

Von: Rep: 77

Re: Jason Lives: FRIDAY THE 13TH

Von wrote:

Don't know why you seem to have taken my review as a personal insult. I actually wrote it well before I saw you'd posted your own. I'm an outspoken fan of JGTH myself, but Part III is my favorite of the series. Did we see different films? I was wondering the same thing when I read what you had to say. It's an enormous accomplishment to have elevated the franchise into respectability after the turgid Freddy vs Jason. Yes. I said that. Aside from Kane Hodder's performances and the phenomenal make-up FX of Part VII, it is the best and most cohesive Friday flick since Part VI. Yes. I said that, too. Like my take on Zombie's Halloween, especially compared to some of the others at that time, I think as a horror fan you should put into perspective a) what exactly it is you think you're walking into and b) the state of the genre itself and other contemporary horror "hits." I see no comparison to TCM03 other than the involvement of the same director and production company. Obviously, there's going to be visual similarities between his works. Aside from that, I do not think this resembles that film. I wasn't particularly pleased with that film and had major (published) reservations on this film after the hiring of Nispel. They were disspelled. The film, in my opinion, successfully recreates the feel and atmosphere of the first few entries, as well as the horror of that day in general.

And Day of the Dead shits over both Dawn and Psycho (which I don't care for at all). I hate Jaws, too.

But we can agree to disagree.

794 weeks ago

Axlin16: Rep: 768

Re: Jason Lives: FRIDAY THE 13TH

Axlin16 wrote:

I don't take it as a personal insult at all. I just couldn't disagree more.

This film feels NOTHING like the first four. The atmosphere ain't there, the setting ain't there, the music SUCKS and is just Jablonsky rehashing his scores from TCM2003 & TCM:TB.

Maybe it'll be a film that grows on me. But from what i've seen so far, the only people that love this film are the same ones that couldn't stand a different direction, the smart move of taking Jason out of Crystal Lake, and putting him on cruise ship/Manhattan, body hopping, space, and Springwood. Just because the locale is different, doesn't mean the film is bad.

This might be a more 'traditional' F13 film in premise, but in execution is resembles NOTHING of the earlier films. Human Jason only equates 'look', not to Mears' Hodder-esque movement, and Nispel deserves no special disspelling, he's done nothing but dust off TCM2003, spit-shine it, and call it F132009.

794 weeks ago

Von: Rep: 77

Re: Jason Lives: FRIDAY THE 13TH

Von wrote:

Viddy well, o brother. Viddy well. Axlin08, you don't happen to collect masks do you? I'm going to try and set up a trading post here in the Horrorshow. In the meantime, I'll pimp my good off right here and now: