Friday the 13th Remake – 15 Years On
On February the 13th 2009, the remake of Friday the 13th was released. It was the latest from the Michael Bay remake the iconic movies phase. We get to see Jason Voorhees return to go on his latest rampage. 15 years later, we still haven’t seen a sequel to the successful reboot and this has gone on to become a popular entry in the franchise.
Friday the 13th: 15 Years Later
Michael Bay Remakes
After the Box Office success of Pearl Harbor and Armageddon, Michael Bay turned his head to producing horror movies. He wanted to bring the classic movies of the 1970s and 1980s back to life. First was, ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, followed closely by ‘The Amityville Horror’ and ‘The Hitcher’. However, Friday the 13th would become the penultimate of his remakes. ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ would finish the remake era of Michael Bay. Although, he did continue to produce more original horror movies including, ‘Ouija’, ‘A Quiet Place’ and ‘The Purge’.
Box Office
Friday the 13th was produced on a budget of $17 Million and went on to make $92 million at the worldwide box office. It easily became the best-performing movie in the franchise at the box office. When it comes to the domestic box office, it ranks number 3 for the year, and close to number 2 ‘The Final Destination’. ‘Paranormal Activity’ topped the horror year worldwide. However, on the worldwide side of things, ‘My Bloody Valentine’ beat it to the number 3 spot, with Friday the 13th holding on to number 4.
Critical Reception
Friday the 13th doesn’t have the strongest critical rating with a score of 25% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was generally seen as more of the same from the franchise, without bringing much new to the table. Comparing it to the other Friday the 13th movies, it gets a lower rating than ‘Freddy vs Jason’, ‘The New Blood’, ‘Jason Lives’ and the only fresh-rated movie in the franchise, the original 1980 release.
Positive
Alonso Duralde for MSNBC quotes ‘It’s not a spoiler to reveal that the film ends in a sequel-friendly manner. So I guess it’s a testament to this new Friday the 13th that I didn’t leave the theater dreading such a prospect.’
Clark Collis for Entertainment Weekly quotes ‘This film is (be)head and shoulders above the recently reanimated likes of Prom Night and My Bloody Valentine.’
Negative
Tasha Robinson for AV Club quotes ‘It’s almost charming in its sheer lack of ambition, but the lack of creativity in its by-the-numbers shocks is harder to excuse.’
Amy Nicholson for Boxoffice Magazine quotes ‘Even by slasher standards, the bar for a satisfying Friday the 13th entry is unabashedly low: Take teens, kill.’
Friday the 13th Rebranded
We previously talked about how ‘My Bloody Valentine’ changed the ending for added shock value. Friday the 13th did something even more drastic by having Jason’s mother rampage being the opening credits sequence. This took away the infamous reveal from the original and the question which got Sidney killed in the opening of ‘Scream’.
Even once the movie starts properly, it does a fake-out introduction killing off 4 of the group we meet. The lone survivor Whitney becomes the catalyst for one of the new cast to arrive at Crystal Lake. It brings a much more vicious and violent Jason to life, which is seen in the twisted sleeping bag scene.
It was reported that after a screening of the movie, Michael Bay walked out claiming there was too much sex and nudity. This was reflected in the test audience ratings too, which trimmed it back even more, even though, there is still a lot more in the movie. There are 5 female stars in the movie and 3 of them are involved in extended topless or sex scenes through the movie.
The Transformers Guy
One of the funniest things about this version of Friday the 13th, is the inclusion of a Transformers character. Trent, the asshole boyfriend, returns from being the same figure in the 2007 Transformers movie. It is fun seeing Travis Van Winkle expanding on his character, making us hate him even more along the way.
The Cast
Jared Padalecki went head-to-head with his fellow Supernatural lead Jenson Ackles this year. Both movies did extremely well at the box office, as we previously mentioned. However, neither returned to the potential franchise machines. A lot like Jenson, the safety blanket of Supernatural stopped him from appearing in many more movies.
Danielle Panabaker followed up with a couple of horror movies including ‘The Crazies’, ‘The Ward’ and ‘Piranha 3DD’. She has most recently been seen in the DC television universe as Caitlin Snow, with most of her appearance in ‘The Flash’.
Amanda Righetti joined the pair in a long-running television series. She appeared in ‘The Mentalist’. Recently, she appeared in ‘Christmas at the Ranch’ and ‘Showdown at the Grand’.
None of the rest of the cast have gone on to appear in many shows since. To be fair, not many get much to work with throughout the movie in what is largely a forgettable supporting cast.
Jason Voorhees
Derek Mears became the latest man behind the mask. He stands at 6’5’’ giving him an imposing presence in the movie. Derek is taller than the franchise favourite Kane Hodder, who was suddenly replaced in Freddy vs Jason. Kane had appeared in the most movies in the franchise with a total of 4. The last performance to play Jason was Ken Kirzinger who is the same height as Derek, proving that imposing size became the most important thing in the role.
The Director
Marcus Nispel is the director of Friday the 13th. He has a background in music videos before jumping into feature films. His first movie was the Bay, produced ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and followed it up with ‘Pathfinder’ and eventually ‘Conan the Barbarian’ remake. It never managed to launch his film director career, like other movies.
The Sequel?
This is one of the biggest franchises in horror movie history, with this being the 12th outing for the film. It looked to rebrand the concept and like a lot of the Bay-produced horror remakes, it didn’t bring new life to the franchise. The question remains, why was this?
Friday the 13th has fallen into a legal battle since this movie. It has become extremely messy and stopped the movie from getting any new additions. You can check out the full details HERE. While it does look like the legal matters may have been sorted. It still feels like we are a long way away from getting any more movies in the franchise.
What do you think of the 2009 Friday the 13th Movie?