'Friday the 13th' a Lame, Irrelevant Re-Hash

BY CHRIS GAINOR

With a new generation watching movies, the big wigs of Hollywood have deemed it time to revive the terror that is “Friday the 13.”  Contrary to even the film’s website, the new “Friday the 13th” film is not a “re-imagining,” but a continuation of the ongoing “Friday the 13th” franchise.

The beginning of the film is a recap of the ending of the original and is further explained around a campfire by the first set of victims in the film.  The film is set 20 years after Camp Crystal Lake was closed in the original film.

The first group of victims are in the Crystal Lake area searching for a secret plot of land growing weed.  Lost and wanting to begin their partying, the group sets up camp on the outskirts of Camp Crystal Lake.  Jason seemingly senses their presence and begins to stalk his prey.

Jason indiscriminately kills each of the drunken campers, each in new varying ways.  From the classic machete to being burned alive in a sleeping bag, Jason has become a master of killing.

Jason kills four members of the group with the fifth presumed dead all in about 20 minutes of the film.  A glorious start for the new beginning of Jason, unfortunately it is at this point the film begins to take a nose dive.

This nosedive is characterized by the introduction of the second group of victims.  The group is epitomized by their leader, Trent.  Trent is shown constantly as a condescending jerk with no respect for anyone, including the friends he is taking to his parents cabin near Crystal Lake.

After seeing two scenes of Trent, I could only wish that Jason showed up quickly to kill Trent slowly.  The movie does show two characters that are redeemable, Clay, the brother of one of the first victims who is not a part of the second group, and Jenna, the one member of the second group with a heart.

The movie progresses with copious amounts of alcohol and weed being consumed.  Jason begins killing off each member as they wander off alone and in rather typical manners that don’t compare to creative slaying of the first group.

At this point the film tries to add in a storyline that Jason kept Clay’s sister alive simply because she resembled his mother slightly.  This is quite a stretch since up until now in the film, since Jason has killed everything on two legs.  Clay rescues his sister with the help of Jenna and begin their escape in the night.

Jenna is sacrificed along the way and the brother/sister duo attempt to kill Jason.  Dawn breaks over the lake as the pair drop Jason’s mask into Crystal Lake only to be jumped by Jason and the movie fades to black.

I found this new addition to the “Friday the 13th” franchise to start off amazingly well but failed to deliver for the duration of the film.  The most terrifying parts of this film were the characters created in the second group of victims, who were not likable.

I could only cheer a little as each received their dish of karma.  I can only hope that Hollywood doesn’t create any sequels based off of this new film based on the attempts on the original “Friday the 13th.”