3.5/4  Jason's Mother
Excellent horror film with an excellent twist. A masterpeice for the horror genre. It is sad that the remake was so crappy and that Pltnum Dunes didn't have enough respect to film it correctly. Kevin Bacon got his big break in this film! T... (read full)

3/4  Slash
This movie was a masterpiece of horror, and even has inspired a crappy sequel 19 years later. Yes, the sequels were awful, but this movie deserves a spot on every horror movie fan's shelf, as well as in our hearts. This was not the origi... (read full)

4/4  Masterpiece for Horror Fans
This was not the first Friday the 13th movie i saw. I saw the second one first. Why? I heard Jason wasn't in this one. So I avoided it. Recently, me and some friends were looking for a good movie and decided to rent this. First Thing: The ... (read full)

3/4  Friday the 13th Quick Review
It may not be the original slasher film, but it certainly made it popular (for better or worse). Out of the big three (Nightmare, Halloween and this) it's the runt of the litter, but it still manages to be tense, creepy and enjoyable.

4/4  Friday the 13th Quick Review
Very, Very Scary. This one scared me just as bad as Nightmare and Halloween. In fact, these are the 3 scariest movies I've ever seen and I have seen plenty. There is so much to love about this one. Please, watch it for me.

5/5 FRIDAY THE 13 KILLER CUT
  by S. Louise Conrad (SCRANTON PA)
THE MOVIE WAS GOOD THE GUY FROM SUPER NATURAL PLAYED IN IT I LIKED THE MOVIE

2/5 Another Remake That Falls Flat
  by Zachary Koenig (Fergus Falls, MN)
The first few original "Friday The 13th" films (before they started milking the cash cow with endless crappy sequels) were some of the scariest fare to ever come out of the horror genre. Building off the success of the original slasher film, "Halloween", this franchise created a character (in Jason Voorhees) that actually has an interesting backstory, making him even more terrifying. Those first five or so installments had everything a great horror movie needs: a decent plotline, a little skin, and some "jump out of your seat" moments. Plus, and this is not to be underestimated, they had that "early 80s movie" feel to them, as the camera work was very simple and the film quality wasn't pristine, only adding to the scare factor.

Sadly, though, this remake (directed by Marcus Nispel) fails to hit any of the hallmarks that the originals made famous. Perhaps the failure of Rob Zombie's "Halloween" remakes should have been a clue, but I guess viewers (once again) had to learn the hard way that some films just don't need to be remade. Basically, there are two ways to undertake these sorts of projects: Either a "re-make", which this tries to be, or a "re-boot" (like the latest Star Trek), which this film probably should have been but couldn't because of the iconic Jason character.

Besides matching the originals in the nudity department (and whether that is a positive feature is debatable!), this new version fails in every other regard. The story is completely ripped off from the original few flicks, there really are no great "jump moments" that can hold a candle to those done in the past, and the cinematography is actually too "clean and tidy"...there's no grittiness to it at all. Not helping matters is the fact that besides Jared Padalecki and Danielle Panabaker, who turn in fine acting performances, the rest of the cast is uninspiring in all their respective roles...nothing more than fodder to be eventually slashed by Jason.

Perhaps the biggest downfall of the entire film experience, though, is the fact that the Jason character is such an icon in the horror genre that there really is no way to either make him better or even match the original. Once again, it's kind of like the Halloween remake...people don't dress up to trick or treat like Zombie's Michael Myers. Instead, they are wearing the old William Shatner mold from the originals. The same concept can be applied to Jason...he terrified us with the tied bag over the head (and then the hockey mask) at first, so why would the exact same thing two decades later be any better?

Thus, about the only good thing I see coming from this film is the possibility that it may "inspire" a new audience to discover the great originals. However, it will more than likely drive potential fans away due to all its shortcomings.

2/5 Shameless cash-in, but did you really expect anything else?
  by Robert Thompson (Under Your Bed!!!)
I wanted to like this movie, I really did. Unfortunately it seems the makers were hellbent on making sure I came out of the theater disappointed. I'm a fan of the original trilogy and slashers in general but come on, this film is just crap. The only reason I'm not giving it one star is because it wasn't genuinely painful to watch. The acting is unanimously terrible. The directing and cinematography are both pretty bad, about on the level of your average crappy teen movie. The already mediocre storyline of the series gets crapped on leaving nothing of interest. Worst of all, they don't even manage to infuse the campy feeling that made even the lesser films in the series fun. DOn't give these people your money or your approval, they deserve neither.

5/5 Friday the 13 (2009)... Mother did it need to be so high?
  by Julian Kennedy (St Pete Florida)
Friday the 13 (2009): 8 out of 10: Jason is a bit off in this one. He moves to fast, he kidnaps people like he watched Rest Stop one too many times and he seems to lack a certain hulking presence of the original. Outside of the main character however, this is a pretty good Friday the 13th film.

Friday the 13th is billed as a relaunch (remake reboot ect) and as such it seems to confuse. It contains plot elements of the first four films (Mrs. Voorhees decapitation takes place in flashback) and Jason rightfully starts with his original sack and finds his hockey mask (as he did in part 3). In addition, while I am critical of Jason having his own lair I am reminded he had one in Part 2 (Where he kept his mothers severed head lovingly surrounded by candles). The main plot of a man trying to find his missing sister is straight from part 4.
Where the film succeeds is canon fodder and nudity. There are plenty of both and most of it is of high quality. The kills range from mundane (of these there are plenty) surprisingly intense (A burning sleeping bag may cause nightmares and the topless wakeboarding will cause nothing but smiles.) The sheer number and variety of kills however is quite impressive.

Camp Crystal Lake has apparently turned into a breast implant recovery retreat. While there is only one camp counselor to be found (in grainy flashback no less) there are plenty of woman with breast implants and an aversion to wearing shirts. Julianna Guill (who in fairness may be au-natural) in particular gets points for simply being one of the most attractive women I have seen on-screen in many a movie. (Willa Ford of the topless wakeboarding scene is not half bad either.)

Considering the number of times the Friday the 13th films have gone of the rails in the past, one should not raise the bar all that high. In addition, while I am an unabashed fanboy of the series, I do recognize it does have serious limitations. (What we now refer to as its charms.) This is a flashier, more competently lensed Friday the 13th, and all in all is that such a bad thing?

There are plenty of bad jokes, drugs, nudity and violence. If that is not what you were looking for you may want to check the title screen again. As Friday the 13th movies go this is one of the best.

3/5 Guilty pleasure alert
  by One-Line Film Reviews (Easton, MD)
The Bottom Line:

This remake/reboot of Friday the 13th isn't very good at all but I've seen every Friday film and if I can safely report that not one of them (except maybe the original IF I'm in a good mood) is legitimately praise-worthy film so that's hardly the issue--the only thing worth reporting is that this Friday delivers the gratuitous nudity (topless water skiing?) inventive deaths, and one-note characters central to the franchise about as well as could possibly be done with a (mostly) straight face.

2/4