Return of the original slasher
Jason lives
Isaac Wright
Issue date: 2/23/09 Section: Entertainment
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The slasher film has all but replaced horror films that hinge on psychological fears to drive the audience's thirst for a good scare. This wouldn't be such a disappointing trend if some of the films were created with more solid plots or better character development. Unfortunately, this tends to not be the case. Once you get past the initial entries in the great slasher films, such as the first Nightmare on Elm Street or Scream, the subsequent stories continue to beat a dead cow after milking it for all it's worth.
The lengthy canon of movies starring the demented Jason Voorhees is no different. The first Friday the 13th was released in 1980 and succeeded in creating a popular and well-crafted horror film. The characters couldn't be more slotted immediately into the clichéd roles horror films have become saturated with. The story revealed the origins of the hockey-mask wearing, machete wielding antagonist; a mentally deficit youngster who drowned in the waters of Crystal Lake while the camp counselors, charged with the safety of the children, made love. Furthermore, the first film in the series had an ending that no one could have seen coming.
The series then grew to an unbelievable volume after the audience's first visit to Camp Crystal Lake and each installment lost some of what had made the first film a classic.
Now in its 12th installment, the new Friday the 13th allows a new generation of moviegoers to enjoy the sequel-happy franchise.
Criticisms aside, fans of the series will be pleased with the newest inclusion to the series. In many ways, this film is one of the few that has been aided by 21st century filming techniques. One of the greatest leaps of this new movie is its pace. Early Friday the 13th films were severely hampered by progressing at a crawl. Instead, Jason's wrath befalls a group of teenagers in quick succession even before the title card appears on the screen. It's not only the action that picks up the pace, either.
This 2009 Jason Voorhees appears to have pocketed some methamphetamine from a few of his drug-addled victims because he no longer lumbers around as if he's still getting used to being an undead zombie. This Jason has come to terms with his immortality much better and chases his victims relentlessly throughout the course of the film. That isn't to say that he's lost his sense of stealth, the very quality that provided much of the scares in the series' early installments. He uses this attribute judiciously to provide ample surprise to the unwitting teenagers and resorts to all-out pursuit when his presence has become known.
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