Friday the 13th (2009)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Marcus Nispel

Writers (WGA):

Damian Shannon (screenplay) &
Mark Swift (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

13 February 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Welcome to Crystal Lake

Plot:

A group of young adults discover a boarded up Camp Crystal Lake, where they soon encounter Jason Voorhees and his deadly intentions. |

Plot Keywords:

Jason Voorhees | Lake | Camp | Stairs | Fire

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jared Padalecki	...	Clay Miller
Danielle Panabaker	...	Jenna
Amanda Righetti	...	Whitney Miller
Travis Van Winkle	...	Trent
Aaron Yoo	...	Chewie
Derek Mears	...	Jason Voorhees
Jonathan Sadowski	...	Wade
Julianna Guill	...	Bree
Ben Feldman	...	Richie
Arlen Escarpeta	...	Lawrence
Ryan Hansen	...	Nolan
Willa Ford	...	Chelsea
Nick Mennell	...	Mike
America Olivo	...	Amanda
Kyle Davis	...	Donnie

Also Known As:

Friday the 13th Part 12 (USA) (working title)
Friday the 13th Part XII (USA) (working title)
Untitled Friday the 13th Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, language and drug material.; Rated R for strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, nudity, language and drug material. (killer cut)

Runtime:

97 min | 106 min (extended edition)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44908) | UK:18 | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Germany:18 | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Netherlands:16 | South Africa:16LV | Australia:R | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | France:-12 | Sweden:15 | Belgium:KNT | Brazil:18 | Finland:K-18 | South Korea:18 | Singapore:M18 | Argentina:13 | Peru:18 | Italy:VM14 | Philippines:R-18 (MTRCB) | Hong Kong:III | Mexico:C | USA:R (certificate #45352) (killer cut) | Denmark:15 | Austria:16 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Austin Studios - 1901 E. 51st Street, Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

Producer Michael Bay walked out in the movie premiere, stating that the movie featured too much sex.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the NJ license plate on the back of the SUV is shown, it has a registration validation sticker in the upper right corner showing '08'. NJ hasn't required those stickers in at least five years.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Pamela Voorhees: Come here. Come here now.
Camp Counselor: No.
Pamela Voorhees: You're the last one. I've killed all the others. It'll be easier for you than it was for Jason.
Camp Counselor: Why are you doing this?
Pamela Voorhees: You need to be punished for what you did to him.
Camp Counselor: I didn't do anything.
Pamela Voorhees: You let him drown. Jason was my son.
Camp Counselor: I didn't do anything. No. No. No. Please.
Pamela Voorhees: You should have been watching him. Every minute.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars (1977)

Soundtrack:

I Like It, I Love It

Michael Bay creates a new acronym: CHIRGO

It stands for "Classic Horror In, Re-imagined Garbage Out". You can substitute "Camp" or "Crap" for the C, depending upon how you feel about the original "Friday the 13th" - the rest of the acronym remains the same.

The re-imagined "Friday the 13th" isn't scary. It isn't creepy. It isn't suspenseful. It isn't funny at any point, and it's only the slightest bit sexy. It doesn't add anything to the Jason mystique or, for that matter, to the "unstoppable boogeyman" archetype in cinematic horror.

The characters in this flick are so one-dimensional they make all the throwaway performances from previous installments of the series look positively Oscar-worthy. And that includes episodes 5-9, which are hard to beat on the Unwatchable Meter.

As many have noted, the lighting in a lot of scenes is bad. This is probably done for realism, but frankly it doesn't detract too much because you never feel like there's much to see anyway. Likewise for the relatively sparing use of shakycam.

Considering all the things they might have updated 29 years later, there really seems to have been little thought put into this movie. Yeah, there's more sex and nudity than in the original installments, but it doesn't seem that over the top and it definitely isn't titillating. Most of it is accompanied by insanely annoying dialogue.

There are plenty of scenes that will make you cringe and groan for their stupidity, but I don't want to include any spoilers, so I'll skip them.

Instead, I'll just mention the two most memorable non-spoilers:

1) There is gratuitous use of sudden loud noises to create shock or suspense when none would otherwise exist. Lots of movies do this when they can't be scary - I can't think of another one that does it so often or so loudly.

2) There is also a major preoccupation with weed. Was "Pineapple Express" that big a hit?

If there is any horror in this movie at all, it is that Amanda Righetti and Willa Ford felt it necessary to star in it to advance their careers.

This movie does to the "Friday the 13th" franchise what "Quantum of Solace" did to James Bond. I hope Bond can be revived somehow. I no longer have the slightest interest in the goings-on at Camp Crystal Lake.