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SOUND OFF

Sound Off: Friday the 13th Reboot - What Did You Think?

by Alex Billington
February 13, 2009

Now that you've seen it, what did you think? Its been 6 years since the hockey mask-wearing villain Jason Voorhees was last seen on the big screen in Freddy vs Jason. Now he's back and this time they're starting it over again. Does this reboot live up to the original? Does it successfully give new life to the Friday the 13th franchise that had otherwise died off in 2002 (not counting Freddy vs Jason)? Was it even any good? It's time to give us your opinion on this new horror reboot. How does it rank against the 11 over movies? Sound off below, leave your thoughts, and let us know what you thought of Friday the 13th.

To fuel the fire, I really liked this new Friday the 13th a lot. Probably even more than most (but not all) of the original movies. It was the kind of reboot that this franchise needed and I think director Marcus Nispel and everyone else did a great job with it. To put it simply, it was just fun and entertaining, like a good slasher horror movie should be! It may have not been perfect, a lot of the actors were idiots, but it made for some easy pickings and huge sighs of relief when certain ones died. Honestly, I really had a good time watching this and I'm already looking forward to the sequel, if they make one. Bring on more Jason!

What did you think of Friday the 13th? A successful reboot or another horror flop?

Filed under Discuss, Hype, Sound Off

From around the web:

josh

IT was awsome
Rai

Wait what? When did this happen?
http://www.necrothug.com Necrothug

I agree, it was a lot of fun.
LeeMan

I thought it was good for horror film/slasher remake standards. there were some things i had a problem with though. -how the hell does jason brutally kill people with an axe, and arrow, a machete, a poker, but when he shows up for jared padalecki, he decides puts his machete away and throws him against the wall?! WTF -the ending was a minor letdown, because everyone saw it coming. how do u let a guy pulverize all your frieends and not cut his fucking head off? and i dont know if the water gives him superpowers or not, but last time i checked, its physically impossible to jump out of the water with so much force that you could break through wood and proceed to catch someone in mid-stride. -i will give kudos for one thing. When the title came on the screen after twenty minutes, the crowd in my theater was literally giving a standing ovation for cramming so much into that little time. overall, the film was not scary, but effective, and nowadays that's all that really matters
Al

it was good, far from great. too lazy for details, but the last few frames of the film ruined it. Woulda been a 7, wound up as a 6. Which for me is enjoyable but not unique.
CRNBRD

To be honest I couldn't stand it. The other remakes (Halloween, Texas Chainsaw) have been great. This one, it just seemed to lack something which made it entertaining. They did one or two original things I found interesting but overall it seemed like it was a mash-up of things I had seen before, not creating anything new for the story.
mortuus

I thought the movie itself was fairly good i was entertained the entire time and it felt like this is the movie ive been waiting to see with todays technology that pics off right where the original left off when jasons mom got decapitated. I can understand where people would think certain points are lame but its been a long time since i went to a movie and actually had alot of fun watching it. the whole movie theater got into it making fun of the stupid actors etc. really good slasher film and a good experience.
mxr5150

I don't feel that it stacks up to the first 4, but it was better than the later sequels easily.
cody

i was actually really impressed it was a fun movie and it was probably one of the better horror movies ive scene in a while
http://www.skonmovies.com/ Sean Kelly

I liked the fact that they created an original story for the film instead of copying the original films. I really thought the Halloween remake fell apart when they started duplicating the plot of the original.
Jay Selis

seeing this in a packed theatre made this a pretty cool experience. Every Laugh every cheer and every gasp was a great time at the movies.
Jesse Gouldsbury

It was a really good remake. I would say it's up with Dawn of the Dead as being one of the best horror remakes. It's a good slasher film and a good film too. I keep thinking back to when they announced the idea and I thought it was the dumbest thing ever, I was proven wrong. It was really awesome.
The Delightful Deviant

i loved it, Jason was insanely brutal, the first 20 minutes was more violent than all the other 11 movies he's been in. i really enjoyed it and i may return to watch it again, i am a huge FT13th fan and i feel this one did a great job. i can't wait for the NOES remake!
http://Firstshowing.net The_Phantom

I thought it was pretty good. Not great, but a decent movie that people should see. I was entertained. But I got to admit the beginning was kind of long. like 25 minutes too long. I thought they were the main characters at first with only 5 of them, I was like this is going to end if 45 minutes, WTF. But after that I figured out what was going on. For, Rental or Theater wise. Depends on what your in the mood for. I'd say theater. Otherwise it will be a good rental.
http://blogger.xs4all.nl/vads Vitor

I found it a big deception, as you can read on my blog: http://blogger.xs4all.nl/vads/archive/2009/02/13/445453.aspx
Marcus

It was allright but failed in so many areas. I found it impossible to like any of the characters, the ones I did like were the token black guy and the token asian guy. The rest I just wanted to be killed. A little more time should have been invested in Jason's mother / Jasons' drowning. She was there for sixty seconds and really failed to give any good reasons why a murdourous rampage should have happened. Very little time was put into Jason's drowning, but unlike his mother who weve now seen killed, this can be done in a prequel. Insanely predictable. Oh no, Jasons ontop of the harbour while a naked girls swimming below. Were not gonna see Jason shoot his machete down and pull her up just so we can see her boobs are we? Oh, there we go! What the fuck was that spat about between Clay and the rich nobjockey? Oh no, hes infront of me in the queue, im gonna hate hin from now on and then get real angry whenever I see him again in the movie? Please.... The film got me quite angry. Infact, when I went home Final Destination 2 was on and I enjoyed it to bits. Hell, just shows how bad FT13th was if I get excited about Final Destination 2!
MagnoliaFan

THIS REBOOT WAS TERRIBLE!!! Whats ironic is I was so agains't remaking this movie when i first heard about it, and now i should've stuck with that feelling. What the original made up for in its lack of an original story, Tom Savini made up for with his special effects/gore. No suspence, or scares, and such faceless characters that your so glad they end up getting killed, but there wasn't enough gore-no(intense gore) for the fans. For those who haven't seen the original or any of the FT13's, there wasn't enough back story for the audience to connect to Jason, and none of the kills were good enough to consider him an ANTI-HERO. The story should have been more Jason and his mother, and her revenge for him, and his revenge for her. I still can't believe this is from the same guy who remade TCM, i am a huge fan of that one. Maybe I had high hopes, for something like the HALLOWEEN remake, where Zombie gives all the external factors in Michael Myers life to make him the monster he becomes. All the haters can say what they will, but Zombie knocked it out of the park with the Halloween remake. Number 10, you HAVE to have the original homages in the remakes. This movie plot is duplicated on the first four movies, which you've obviously NEVER seen. And Number 13, you've never seen Jason KILL SOMEONE WITH A SLEEPING BAG, SPLIT A WOMAN IN HALF WITH A BARBED WIRE SPIKE, or DUMP A HEAD IN LIQUID NITROGEN AND SMASH IT INTO LITTLE PIECES. BROO-TULL!
Chem

I have not seen it yet, but it would of been great to have Kevin Bacon do a cameo in it, even if it was just for a minute or two.
Johnny

@17: zombies halloween was pure fucking garbage...i'm sure his thought process was "hey...let's make mikey come up in a white trash family just like in my other two movies..because after all that's how all serial killers are made...then i can just make a shitty shot for shot remake of the original! brilliant!!" yeah ok... but anywho, i didn't think f13 was anything too great or too atrocious. pretty much was a horror movies should be. alot of dumbass kids, boobs, and brutal deaths...cheers!
Ray

Number 17 is retarded! Holloween sucked ass from the beginning. Rob Zombie didnt knock anything out of the park! he foul tipped what could have been a good movie. He got the whole "seed of evil" thing totally wrong. Michael Myers was suppose to be a kid that just kills people for the love of being (say it with me).....EVIL! There isnt suppose to be a ryhme or reason. Its just suppose to happen. Like your ignorence!
LINKFX

I liked the new film I guess. I went in expecting great amounts of gore which there wasn't really any good stuff to be found. It was fairly well directed and still very nice and pervy which is always good. Some "stupendous" tits to be had, that's for sure. That part was fairly funny, too. All the token characters are really really token and cheezy. The asian kid was funny, the black kid was totally wasted. Overall it didn't scare me one inch, but I can respect it because it was well done and head and shoulders above recent horror remakes, probably landing somewhere below "The Hills Have Eyes"
Jimbo Slims

Put him back in space.
Matt

Average movie. As a reboot, it could have been way better. One problem I have with it is this: Jason loves his mother CLEARLY. So why is it that when he "drowned", he hid from his mother until she died? Jason's mother went all crazy and killed everyone because she thought her son was dead when in fact he was still alive. Then Jason suddenly appears RIGHT WHEN HIS MOTHER DIES? WTF? How stupid is that? If he loved his mother as much as he obviously does, why did he not come out earlier and wait for her to kill everyone and get killed herself? They tried to make it more realistic by not making him come back from the bottom Crystal Lake like in the original movies, but instead of replacing superstition with reality, they botched up the characters.
MagnoliaFan

Number 19, shot for shot?? Halloween wasn't a piece of shit gus van sant remake of psycho, it's called a reboot because it's zombies take on mikey. Carpenters story/character and making it his own.
Voice of Reason

These movies build a fan base around unconditional love. Which i exercised during last nights FT13th premiere. I thought it was AWESOME. An easy movie, predictably predictable but all around good, solid slasher-horror-movie fun. i enjoyed seeing his modern bag-mask and not the 1-eye-hole-pillow case seen previously. Jason was much more terrifying and intense than he's ever been and I enjoyed how he stepped up his pace and became a slightly more intelligent killing machine with active jumps and bell-wire traps; he seemed a lot less like the lumbering psycho path we've known him to be. It was a reboot, so they can take story-telling liberties that veer from the original series, which Im fine with. In all, i haven't had so much fun watching a movie in quite some time. Awesomeawesome. Lastly, perfect pacing/balance between horror, comedy, drugs, and sex for this kind of movies. A damn solid show.
Connor Towle

Rob Zombie always puts out solid work that is very faithful to the original ideas and intent, without corrupting it beyond recognition. These are genre films that recognize their place and fulfill their obligations without being stale, overdone, or technically unsound. The director is 100% passionate about his work, and it shows in the finished product as well as in the crowds (these kids have not seen the originals, but I bet they've seen Zombie's other stuff) who show up on opening night. The Kevin Bacon cameo was clutch, but I would've missed it if I hadn't known where to watch for it. There's a great FearNet interview of Rob Zombie floating around, on demand for those of you with TWC.
http://movieguyreviews4u.blogspot.com Ryan

I found it pretty bad, yet it was entertaining so it made up for it somewhat. I liked how Jason was more terrifying, yet the dialogue was awful (even not expecting much) and was it me or did the kills seem tame? Also the ending pissed me off.... *spoiler* why didn't they put his WHOLE body through the woodchipper? Of course, he was still alive!
MonkeyMan

It was an okay flick. What I didn't like was when the black character pointed out how everything was considered racist. That wasn't very necessary. The frat rich boy was very annoying as well.
wassssssuuuuuupppppppp

Sucked and it seems to be agreed upon by many excite for n00bs that were only old enough to watch Freddy vs Jason and possibly Jason X. So what, the filming was updated and the acting was...as good then as it was now. Blah blah blah...crap.
http://johnkuehlonline.blogspot.com John

You hyped this thing for months Alex and I gave you a hard time about it. Not the best horror movie ever made, but the first 20 minutes were easily the best horror in a couple of years. That final shot before it cut to the title was absolutely perfect. The rest of the movie wasn't bad either. On a scale of 1-10 for or a horror film I would give it an 8. Next time don't get too fanboyish.
wildrews_slave

I thought it was perfect just for the fact Rob Zombie didn't do it. He destroyed everything there was enjoyable about Halloween.
Eric

@#17 I hate to say this to you man, as i don't actually know you, but you're an idiot. NONE, let me say it again, NONE of Rob Zombies flicks were any good. They were nothing more than a bastardized attempt by him to crack into another medium and try to become famous again. Now as i am a fan of his earlier music, I always gave him a level feild with each of his movies, and each time it left a bad tate in my mouth. So as you're dumb and think that shit is good I will ignore your opinion of this flick. I am a Huge fan of reboots. I love then, and i have only been mildly disappointed in a few of them. As I haven't seen this movie i still left the need to address some of the things mentioned here. 1. The farther you go rom the original the more its not a reboot and just what you think it should have been. You need to stick to the Original script as close as humanly possible. What you give up in originality you gain in dedication to the material. 2. Jason was a monster. NOT an Anti-Hero. He killed "innocents"(and i use that term very loosly). Yeah you can cheer , hell I did, but he's not someone/thing you can really side with. 3. The characters are supposted to seem flat and 2-D ish. They are supposed to repersent the Teen-age arch type. And they are made to be hated. In the Original they let a MENTAL handicapped and Disfigured boy DROWNED TO DEATH so that they could go smoke pot and fuck. If you actually support that type of behavior......may God have mercy on your soul, and give my regards to satan. 4. jason Vorhesse was never a man. He was a boy died and then came back as a throat slashing, head spliting, Machette weilding Monster. SO the fact that he can erupt from the water really can be wxplained......HE"S A FREAKING MONSTER!!!!!! THERE IS VERY LITTLE HE CAN"T DO!!!!! Now go my Children take the Science i just dropped on you to the masses.
wildrews_slave

I agree with #31 100%!!!!!!!
http://www.barnabybarrilla.com Barnaby Barrilla

Way better than the original
Kevin

Uh, #31... I don't think that was "science" that you dropped on me. I think it was a large steaming pile of horse shit. What the FUCK are you talking about?!
Tjsting32

It was ok. I thought they could have dug deeper in the life of Jason. right off, his moms gets killed and then bam. years later. it was a good horror movie, it just did not seem like a friday the 13th movie. It did not have that friday feel to it. I dont want to compare to other horor remakes, but Halloween and texas chainsaw got it right. it had the "feel". The ending was cheesy. I give it 2 hockey masks out of 4. I will buy the dvd for sure. just hope they improve the sequel. you know they will.
Jorgetron

Ehh... this movie was so boring, and the kills sucked. I know it was an homage to Part 3, but I didn't know Jason was so skilled with a bow and arrow.
Tjsting32

# 32 : have a question for you and all jason fans: what if tommy never came back to dig up jason's grave in part 6? mmmm... always thought about that one. as for zombie's Halloween. Im a huge fan of both movies, not a big fan of zombie. but it was ok. It's a classic that never should of been touched but it was. nobody.... no actor could ever replace dr.loomis and lori strode. those 2 charcters will go down in horror movie hall of fame. no girl will ever have that look of purity like jamie lee did. loomis? he scared me more than michael did!!! Im a huge friday 13th fan and i also know the trivia and all the facts. yes yes part 3 really ended with Jason cutting off that girl's head, and yes. Jason's name was almost Joshua. I think we have seen everything that Jason and this franchise can do. The remake was alright. the whole teens screwing in a tent.. come on. boring. but... putting her over the fire? that was different. he made her suffer. thats new for our boy.
Annoyed

First off, the original was never a cinema masterpiece. The original was designed to give you some cheap scares and a good time at the theater; this reboot does exactly that and streamlines the story to make it a little easier to believe. I'll admit the ending could have been improved but it wasn't terrible; you gotta be an idiot to think that Jason wouldn't come back, get real. The easiest way to review this movie is to say that I didn't feel that I wasted my money, I had a good time. Its unrealistic to have expected a class A plot. Seriously, who the fuck expects a great reboot plot from a retarded/deformed/teased kid who grows up to kill topless/slutty/stupid teenagers at a fucking camp?????????????? Anyone who breaks down and analyzes this movie without a sense of humor should be teased and drowned in a lake themselves!!
Tjsting32

holy shit annoyed.... chill bro. no, we dont expect a great plot, and yes, friday the 13th was no classic like Halloween was. But, this is the 12th movie of the franchise, remake or not. Fans expect to see maybe something different. I expected Jason to kill sluts, dorks who cant get laid, asshole snobs, whatever...... but I also expected maybe something to grab my attention like jason never has. They really should have explored more with jason and his mother's relationship. why is he deformed? is the only reason she killed was because she thought her boy was dead or was her screws loose before all this? and if jason was not dead, then why didnt his mother know?why did he remain quite? am i getting to deep for a horror movie? perhaps. but we fridays deserve it and haved earned a right to question some things and expect the unexpected. we pay enough to see these movies, why cant we expect more?
wtfudge pops?!

As I recall from the original Friday the 13th, Jason's mother was the killer, which they showed in the intro of the movie. But, I got lost when Jason see's his mother get'n her head cut off, and decided to take vengeance in his own hands after many years of workn out and possibly a few injections in the arse? Where did he come from? Voodoo?! or, Poof! its movie magic! ..Writers need to give scripts more substance. I like the idea they took from "see no evil" using bells to alarm Jason of tresspassers. Bell rings, and Jason automatically knows naughty teens are makn whoopie, or a lone Asian is wreaking havoc somewhere in a tool shed. Im assuming they're busy plan'n on prequels, and an infinite amount of sequels before they even finish writing the first. I give the movie a "eh" aside from that inbred talkn to the mannequin he lost his virginity to, the movie was a disaster.
Roger

i have never even seen Rob Zombie's "Halloween", and i am sure it sucks just like those other 2 pieces shit he made. "Friday the 13th" was awesome!!!!! Fuck Rob Zombie his music sucks as much as his movies
JFDT

I thought it was great. This is a slasher/horror movie so if you went in expecting anything else, that's your fault. I loved it, and it was fun to watch and the people in theater loved it too.
Josh

This movie was terrible! Hey Roger fag... Rob Zombie is one of the best producer/directors in hollywood right now so sucka dick. It's obvious you haven't seen his Halloween because I did and comparing it to this pile of shit...well it's no comparison. Only fags liked this new Friday the 13th reboot. "Oh but it had weed and titty's galore". Fuck you bitch!