Synopsis:
A
group of young adults discover a boarded up Camp
Crystal Lake, where they soon encounter Jason
Voorhees and his deadly intentions.
The Freak's
Rating: B- : In early 1981, I was
sitting on my Grandpa Spencer's couch watching
television. My grandpa always had ice
cream ready for me, and often we'd stop by his
place after church to have a bowl. On this
particular day, my parents had left me with my
Grandpa while they went to do something else.
I recall eating my ice cream in the kitchen and
rushing to the television after to try to find
something to watch. My parents walked in
through Grandpa's front door and began to talk
to him while I continued to watch. The
news report I was watching was on movie violence
and the latest horror movie slasher was being
shown on television, Jason Voorhees of Friday
The 13th. From the other room, my parents
asked me, "what do you think we should name your
brother?". I answered Jason and the rest
is history. They may deny it, but I'm
certain this is how it all happened.
Marcus Nispel directed the remake of Texas
Chainsaw Massacre (a pretty good horror flick
actually) and was a natural to throw into a
similar role with another horror icon remake.
Nispel does a stylish enough take on the
nightmarish Crystal Lake. Darkness, of
course, reigns in horror films, but I was
impressed with a couple scenes being able to
cause a few scares even when filmed in daylight.
Horror movies are extremely difficult to film.
Camera angles, lighting and pacing is difficult
to manage into jumpiness on screen, but Nispel
does a decent job.
The
bright spot of the casting for the film has to
be the lack of notable talent among the
teenagers who do fall victim to Jason.
Breast size seemed to be a bigger qualification
than actual acting chops. Delivery is so
awful in fact that I found myself very excited
to see these guys get a machete to the skull.
Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise, as it
would be awkward to see Meryl Streep die at the
hands of a guy in a hockey mask.
Fans
of the franchise will likely applaud this
rebirth of the hockey-masked killer. Jason
is faster, meaner and more skilled than I
remember him, not simply resorting to walking
after people into the woods, waiting for them to
stumble. He is seen throwing machetes,
firing arrows and, of course, standing RIGHT
behind you! Back stories for Camp Crystal
Lake and Mr Voorhees are nicely developed and
the blood shed is massive and brutal.
Teenage sex still equals death, machetes still
cut through anything and police naivety still
exists even in areas where disappearances seem
to always occur. All the ingredients for
horror films are present and managed nicely into
the remake...and oh yeah, there is of course
enough of a leader in the finale to ensure a
sequel is on its way.
click here to review
it yourself!
