The Friday the 13th series is an iconic horror franchise with Jason Voorhees being one of the most well known of the slasher villains. The movies were made all through the 80s and into the 90s, and yet the films themselves are not all that memorable. That is to say, Friday the 13th is better known for individual moments in the films than the actual films overall. I like many of the movies, but none are all that great to be honest. Well, that is except for two.
There are two movies in the series that are memorable as movies and not just for small moments and those are Jason X and the Friday the 13th 2009 remake. Next month on Friday the 13th I will talk about Jason X, but for now, I want to discuss why Friday the 13th 2009 was the best of the franchise. This may sound odd, especially since that era of remaking classic horror films is a mixed bag, but Friday the 13th 2009 manages to rise above all the rest.
Friday the 13th 2009 is not just a retelling of the original film, but instead takes the first three movies ( and elements of the fourth) and merges them into a new story. The story is paced perfectly with the opening covering the events of the original film and explaining things in a way that made much more sense. The characters are more fleshed out and we have a clear protagonist to root for, and one it seemed we would continue to follow had the remake received a sequel.
The original Friday the 13th films always had a campy feeling to them ( pun fully intended) mixed with grindhouse trashiness and while there were plenty of gory moments, you never really got pulled into them. It did not help that Tom Savini’s best special effects works in the franchise got censored heavily by the MPAA. Friday the 13th 2009 on the other hand has a much more serious feel to it, and the kills are handled much better, with nightmare fuel being provided regularly.
But what sets Friday the 13th 2009 apart from the other films is how it does not go the route of making Jason a supernatural figure. He is a realistic hermit and everything he does has a realistic explanation to it that rules out the supernatural ( for the most part). You would think that lessens the impact of the character, but no. Instead Friday the 13th 2009 features the most terrifying depiction of Jason in any of the films so far, and it is because of the steps taken to make him a more realistic character.
As mentioned before, Friday the 13th 2009 was made during an era when remaking the classics was happening a lot. Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dawn of the Dead and even House of Wax got remakes, and it is possible that the trend would have continued if the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street that was released the next year had not failed and killed that era. Friday the 13th 2009 stands as the best of these remakes, and while some would feel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was better, Friday the 13th 2009 stands out not just for being a great movie, but because it was a remake that was better than any of its predecessors.
We are getting new Friday the 13th content in the future as part of the Jason Un1v3rse, but I would have loved to see a continuation of the story in Friday the 13th 2009. This was a more sinister, and much more intelligent Jason and the protagonists had much more to them than in the other entries. It would have been neat to see what would have happened next and if the story would have gone in an original direction or taken elements from the other films. Whatever the case, I do hope that the content we will be getting in the future takes ideas and inspiration from Friday the 13th 2009, because this was the film that managed to prove the series could be more than just grindhouse camp.