Friday the Thirteenth

[Dominicy]

It was bad.  My thoughts on it follow.

First and foremost, what is the use of the first group to settle for the night next to the camp?  Not only is it, right off the bat, obvious that they're not the only ones who are going to star in the movie - for one, ten minutes in, about a third of the cast is dead.  It's a nice try at a plot twist, and one that brings to mind Nightmare 6: Freddy's Dead, wherein one character convinces himself he is Fred Krueger's son, only to be told he was mistaken.  Shortly after he's duly killed, rather gruesomely, at that.  It has the making of, at the very least, a decent plot twist, but first appearances are dolled-up to look good, only to spit in your face, in both cases.

Something else that was something of a bother, still relating to the first group of campers, why did he spare the lead character's sister?  You could convince me that it was because of the necklace - originally belonging to Mrs. Voorhees, but did she just don it in hand and offer it to him on a whim, in that split second before he would have cleaved her head in half, moments before the scene cuts away.  What did she have to eat for those six weeks?  Why did he not bother looking for her all that time, for God's sake!?

The bells Jason presumably rigged is a nice, albeit subtle touch, adding some degree of explanation as to why Jason seems to hunt the various campers down like animals.  In the tunnels he lairs in for most the movie (The one's he painstakingly hollowed out underneath the camp?) a system of bells hangs from the support posts, which ring when the wire is tripped.  At first I didn't see the point but after a bit more thought, I think I get it.  I'll give the movie that much credit, it was a subtle pseudo-plot point for the more observant watchers to enjoy.

That doesn't serve to explain how he can pretty much be everywhere at once, though.  He'll on one occasion kill one of the characters in the shed down-wind of the house the characters are holed up in, seems to run all the way back to the house, and somehow, despite his 100+ kilogram frame, silently creep onto the roof, long enough to watch two characters have sex, then hurredly run back in time to the shed to kill the other obligatory racial minority character.  It makes no sense!  He's also always carrying the exact tool he needs at the time to kill a character in some supposedly gruesome way.  This includes him machete, which he can, via magical means or otherwise, call to his side from that convenient, ethereal dimension that it keeps wandering off to right after each time he leaves it behind.

The writers vastly over-estimate the strength of the every-day household objects.  A character's spine is broken at the base of her neck, as a direct result of being hung from a dull robe-hanger screwed to the door to the house' bathroom.  I can barely keep the robes I hang on those damn things from falling every time I close the door, let alone hang a full-weighted, healthy, adult woman from one.  Hell, I half-expected Jason to pull away his mask, revealing his identity as Billy Mays for a brief cut-away endorsement for Hercules Hooks.  Right and, it's worth mentioning: Machetes or what-have-you are not cranes.  You can not plunge them handle-deep into a woman's head and lift them some ten centimeters high simply by the friction of brain-matter with the blade.

The lighting is another big problem.  The original Fridays were wholly well-lit, at least well enough that what was unfolding was intelligible without the aid of a microscope.  The action was good because you could see what was happening.  It didn't work as much at your nerves as far as literal fear goes that way, but it was a more subtle and suspenseful and yet intense atmosphere.  I can't help but feel this is why the last confrontation feels so wrong.  It's just a bunch of vaguely understandable flickers of fabric, skin and metal dancing in odd patterns more than it is an action sequence.  It's a burden on the eyes - I don't think I should have to consciously try to figure out what's happening to understand the scene, it should come naturally.

All and all the original movies, even the few bits-and-pieces I saw of them were vastly superior.  I won't say it's not entertaining, it's a blast; it's over-the-top body-count fun that only cares to appeal to your more baser senses of appeal.  It serves its purpose well enough, that way, but I never cared for thoughtless gore-festival movies.  I'd like something to think about, motives and characters I can care for, not necessarily relate to, but you get the point.

And you guys?  Any one see it yet?

[Drace]

Not going to read your post until I've seen this movie. Bad or not, I'm a big Jason fan and I've enjoyed every Friday the 13th I've seen (this excludes V, VI and VII). I'll give me two cents when I saw it.

[Dominicy]

Bear in mind that despite my excessively long rant on it, I actually love the Friday series.  And yet I still had this much to say about THIS movie.  Strange, don't you think?

[Archem]

I've heard it was lousy. A group of friends and I went to the movies recently, and they all went to watch the movie in question (I went to see Gran Torino), and they seemed thoroughly disappointed.

I, however, was not. High-five for superior movie-picking skills!

[Drace]

Well, I saw it. My two cents:

I liked it, but is by far my favourite Jason movie. EDIT: Mistake while writing, I meants "Is far from being my favourite Jason movie."


First topic: "filming"

For one, it's too dark most of the time. Like you said, the original series was well-light, not too bright and not too dark. But there were times in Friday the 13th Part 12 (gonna call it that) that I couldn't see squat of what was going. This gets even messier with my second cent. It's too shaky. I don't know what the deal is with movies nowadays, but everything has to shake like a ****ing earthquake. Shaky + darkness = hard to see ****. But, to make it even worse, I felt the camera was zoomed in way to far. Sure, the big screen is big, but I felt the characters were a bit too big even for the big screen and I'll probably feel the same once the DVD gets released.

I also agree that the intro was too long. I sure thought the intro was the section with Jason's mother, but boy was I wrong.

Second topic: "sound"

Now this is were the movie shines for me. The creepy eerie Jason tune used in all eleven movies he's starred in is used in the opening to start it all up. But to make it even better, every time something happens, these goddelicious music tracks play that just get me in the slaughter mood directly. The music is awesome. The sound was a bit loud in my cinema, but it's only for the better cause the only two things that can scare me in a movie are loud sounds and breaking nails.

The general sounds effect were effective for me. Breaking glass, screams and Jason walking around. The only thing I didn't get was when he was able to sneak up to people, cause you could clearly hear him walk before. He's a big guy, weighs a lot, it should be f-ing hard to sneak up to people for him, but still he does it with ease.

Third topic: "Characters and acting"

The acting was solid enough for me. My favourite actors have to be Clay, Chewie and Jason himself. The other guys were okay, but I didn't really seem to like them. The girls were, well, typical girls. Sexhungry sluts x3 and wussies x2. Now the reason why I liked Clay so much is because he's not an idiot, he didn't run out the second he heard a scream. He was the smartest of the bunch. Most notable the stupidest of them all was the girl that got hit by a boat. I mean, come on. It's a freaking boat and it's coming right for you. Evade it or what?

Chewie reminded me a lot of Chau from Off Centre. Being the big Chau character fan I am, made him a personal favourite. Now Jason was... Jason. I did like how they made him a lot smarter than in the original (refering to Part II), using those bells, turning on the lights the second he finds a bag. Besides this, he's the stonecold killer I love.

Fourth topic: "What a slasher movie is all about -Deaths-"

Now this is were the movie felt weak for me. This section contains the most spoilers so you might want to skip it if not seen.

First group
Right of the bat, the first kill was lame. It wasn't special, it was done a million time and it was cut off too soon. Now the second kill was pretty sweet and most likely my favourite of Part 12. Hanging that bitch while she's locked in her sleeping bag above a fire = super effective. The boyfriend of Withney has a nice deadscene, being stabbed from underground in his feet and hands before Jason finished him off. Only the last one was a bit boring, just being stuck in the bear trap and getting a machette in his head, done before.

Second group
Now the first group had two deads I really liked, this one had two I found okayish. The pervert getting killed, boring. Arrow to head, meh. Bitch getting stabbed in the head, enjoyable but still lacking. Guy getting stabbed in his throat by a screwdriver, fun but still lacking. Guy getting an axe in his back, used as bait and finally slaughtered, win. Girl getting hanged, didn't do it for me. Cop getting stabbed in the eye, did I see this before? (Terminator 2 perhaps?) Bully did not get what he deserved and nice girl deserved better. (I wanted her to survive and not Clay's sister.)

Overall, the amounts of deaths is nice but I still feel like it was lacking in general. Most just, weren't spectacular. It wasn't beating up two beating in sleeping bags with each other, impalling two people who are having sex, beating a boxer's head off.

Final topic: "Endings"

Now the ending was what dissapointed me the most. Now I liked the classic Jason-drags-you-into-the-water before, but it has been done. I didn't wished that. Also Jason falling for that medallion-trick, lame. That's not the Jason I remember. The ending sucked and should have been worked out better. I hope the DVD will bring an alternate ending.

Overall:

This movie is a nice time killer and a fine Jason movie, but it's still lacking what a lot of movies from the original series had. My final score: 7.0 on the scale of Slasher. In the Jason ranking: Excluding three parts I haven't seen (V, VI and VII), better than IX, worse than the others.

[Dominicy]

That's actually something I forgot!  The girl being hit by the boat was the stupidest death I have ever seen died in movie history.  First of all, the fact that Jason suddenly has a bow and arrow and is a trained sharp-shooter now was a HUGE problem for me, especially considering they're some 100-200 meters, hell, maybe more off shore.  Then she's hit by the boat and it glances off of her head.  Her head, presumably weighing a few kilograms at most, manages to glance the blow of a boat ten-fold her size and weight.  She's left with a concussion and a bleeding forehead, all the while I expected her head to be severed or, at the very least, neck broken, and then she suffers a horrible disembowelment at the rudders.  That would at least make sense.

Also worth mentioning, chronology is all over the place.  For example the sleeping bag death.  He hung her from a tree in those five minutes?  It was a great idea, but it would have at least made a semblance of sense if there was any more than a few minutes in between scenes where he had time to hang her the way he did.

A last amendment, unless I'm reminded of something else in that last paragraph, why did he bother to put his mask back on before ambushing them at the end.

[Drace]

Oh yeah, the funniest thing of the movie was after the movie, when I was walking to the exit. I overheard two girls saying: "I guess there going to be a second part and I'm not going to watch it."

Second part? You mean a 13th part?

[Archem]

"I guess there going to be a second part and I'm not going to watch it."

[ThexXtremeXx]

I thought the movie was alright, but it the kills did lack creativity.