Horror-101

‘Friday the 13th’ Roundtable Discussion by H101 Brotherhood

The following roundtable discussion is about Friday the 13th, Platinum Dunes reboot of the iconic series. The movie hit theaters last weekend, breaking records. This conversation does contain spoilers, so make sure you watch the movie prior to reading it. Otherwise, be sure to read our review of the film here and our interview with Derek Mears, who plays Jason Voorhees, here.

Armando: You gave Friday the 13th a 73 out of 101. Good score, because that’s about what I thought of this reboot of the franchise.
Alex: I think it’s an appropriate score. I enjoyed the movie, but it wasn’t without its faults.
Armando: I’m going to confess something to you. I’ve seen the movie one and a half times. I actually walked out of the midnight screening on Thursday night, then I went back and finished watching it on Sunday.
Alex: I actually saw it twice, but both were free. Let’s hear your excuse.
Armando: I wasn’t thrilled with some of the decisions made by the screenwriters on this one, and I was feeling tired, so I walked out. But I went back and finished it. For starters, I didn’t like the two intro sequences the movie has. You’ve this scene with the first girl and Jason’s mother, then this other sequence with Jason killing a bunch of kids before the real core story gets started. It’s like the movie doesn’t get started until 20 minutes in… and I don’t know why they did that.
Alex: The three different starts to the film was an odd choice.  I thought the opening credit sequence was good because they didn’t just forget about Pamela Voorhees — after all, she is the killer in the original, so it makes the events of the original hold true.
Armando: I agree that they needed to keep the fact that Pamela Vorhees was the first killer. I just wish they would have found a way to get to the meat story sooner. I really thought the sequences with all the kids getting killed quickly was the main core story, and I was like “What? This is moving too fast!”
Alex: The long prologue sequence, I thought, was the best part of the movie. It was action-packed awesomeness. It was shocking to see everyone getting killed off so fast.  It also showed the sister character being kidnapped, the plot device on which the “meat” of the movie is based. This third part is essentially the same deal that we just saw, just drawn out with a bit more development.
Armando: Some development, though sadly still lacking in the character development department.
Alex: True. The series has never been one to develop characters, but this reboot was a chance to improve on matters such as this. Instead they just played up to the same old stereotypes.
Armando: They definitely cast with an eye for the MTV crowd. Lots of vacant, pretty people that look straight out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue. Most of them couldn’t act either. Trent, the asshole frat guy, came across as Tom Cruise Jr.
Alex: I thought he was good for the role. I loved to hate him and couldn’t wait to see how they’d kill him off. And that shriek he let’s out right before his death got a big laugh from the crowd. He was probably the best actor in the film, along with Aaron Yoo as Chewie.
Armando: I agree Trent’s character was annoying, and you really want to see him get his. So, I guess some of the characters work. I also liked the Asian kid — a stereotype, but the young actor was funny.
Alex: I think his character worked, but it was still a very typical, one dimensional character. As I mentioned in my review, Chewie was basically reprising his role from Disturbia. He’s good as the funny friend.
Armando: He’s very funny. I liked seeing him walking into the tool shed and riffing on rich people. And he’s the one character that I actually felt sorry for when he got killed. It was a particular intense killing too.
Alex: Yeah, he had some great one-liners. Lawrence, the token black guy, was funny as well. This brings up the comedy in the script. How did you feel about that? I think it worked fairly well. There was some good comedic relief but not so much that it took away from the tension of the film.
Armando: There was some good comedy, but I gotta ask: What was with all the weed jokes?
Alex: Writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift did it with Freddy vs Jason as well. My guess is that they’re stoners themselves. Most of it worked, but I don’t see why the first group of kids had to be hunting for weed. They could have just been going camping.
Armando: Yeah. One thing I must applaud this movie for doing is keeping the sex. They actually showed some quite attractive females. This definitely isn’t a PG-13 affair; there was a good mix of titillation and shocking moments.
Alex: Yes, this was a hard R. Three topless chicks and plenty of blood. I’m looking forward to the unrated DVD.
Armando: No ball-less PG-13 stupidity here. Bravo on that one! Actually, the more I talk about the movie the more my opinion of it goes up. The lame character development aside — which I think its the movie’s big weakness — the actual killings, I must admit, are pretty inventive, and here’s where this new Friday shines.
Alex: Yes, I think that once all the hype is put to rest, you can appreciate it more for just being good, old-fashioned entertainment. I was a bit bummed that the kills didn’t get too innovative though. That became a staple of the series, and I was interested to see what else they would come up with. We mostly just get people being stuck with various sharp objects, but it never gets disappointing. I personally dug the girl in the sleeping bag being roasted above the fire and the guy getting the axe thrown into his back.
Armando: I agree on the girl getting roasted in the sleeping bag. Never seen that before! During one of the screenings, I heard someone say “That’s fucked up!”
Alex: The guy who gets the arrow through his head was good because of its sheer unexpectedness, but Jason’s aim was a bit too perfect.
Armando: I liked Whitney’s boyfriend getting stabbed straight up through the floor. That’s something I would have done in a horror film.
Alex: That reminded me of the climax of Rob Zombie’s Halloween with more payoff.
Armando: Exactly!
Alex: For the record, I liked Friday the 13th slightly more than Halloween.
Armando: They’re both on par, I believe. They both suffer from similar structural storytelling problems; namely, very long prologues that seem somewhat unnecessary to main story arc of the film.
Alex: I actually preferred the first half of Halloween to the second. The backstory was completely unnecessary, but it was engaging. Zombie lost me when we got to the actual ‘remake’ part of the film. Instead of continuing to do something new, he basically crammed the entire original film into half the running time. Friday the 13th, on the other hand, was more like another sequel in the series. It didn’t offer anything new or original, but it didn’t insult the past either.
Armando: I must point out the best kill in this new Friday is Trent’s death. There’s something about the scene that plays on the possibility of Trent getting away. He emerges on the road and is almost run over by a tow truck. We suspect that Jason may be driving the two truck.. but instead Jason emerges from behind and impales Trent on the two truck as the scared driver drives off. Great kill!!
Alex: I liked how they fooled with us. “Don’t tell me Jason is driving!” Plus we get a cameo from Old Monty from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake.
Armando: Yes, that was a good play on the audiences’ expectations.
Alex: My only gripe with that one is that the old guy, since he was looking back at Trent through the rearview mirror, he would have been able to see Jason as well… and I think it’s safe to say that anyone sees a guy like that, they get the hell out of there.
Armando: That’s right. The confrontation with Jason was good, though not the most intense. I’m a bit disappointed that Jason didn’t lose and arm or a leg at the end.
Alex: I knew nothing too crazy would happen to him because it would ruin the sequel.
Armando: Also, it’s obvious that Jason should have fallen into that wood chipper, but cause of ’sequelitis’ they kill him before he falls into the chipper… and they just bring him to the side of the lake?! Come on!
Alex: They had me going at the end, though. For a second, I thought they were going to put him into that wood chipper. I was let down no one went through it. I was looking forward to some Fargo-style carnage as soon as it was on the screen. And speaking of that ending, I was disappointed by their approach. The jump scare at the end of the original is fantastically done, so I was half-expecting them to relive that one. I was a bit startled by it, but I was mad when I noticed that Jason was wearing the hockey mask that we already saw sink to the bottom of the lake just seconds prior.
Armando: Yeah, frankly, the ending of this reboot was mishandled. It seems nonsensical with everything that has happened before. I suspect they may have tacked that ending on after testing the movie or some stupid studio shit like that. Who drags a killer’s corpse to the side of the lake after finally killing him?! Seriously, all you want to do is get the hell out of there. Let the killer rot!
Alex: It was definitely there just to add in that final scare, and I’m sure it won’t be addressed in a sequel. I hear that we will be seeing an unmasked scene on the DVD, though.
Armando: You do see him unmasked for a second in the film, when the redneck sees his face.
Alex: Yeah, but it’s hidden in shadows for the most part. Apparently there’s a scene that shows it off completely. I was hoping for the mask to have a bit more significance. Oh, and that redneck was hilarious. Completely unnecessary, but hilarious.
Armando: He’s only in the movie to become the first kill and has no other useful purpose… well, except to make yet another weed reference. I think what’s going to be interesting about this and future installments — including the upcoming Halloween sequel — is, at what point do they make Jason or Michael Myers supernatural? They seem so intent in keeping it realistic, but they will need to cross that line eventually.
Alex: Well, I think both of them already have their supernatural elements. Michael Myers was always “pure evil” personified, and Jason, while not a zombie until Part 6, always had that superhuman strength, both of which translated over to the respective remakes. Ideally, though, I’d like to see them keep it a real as possible. That makes it scarier, in my opinion.
Armando: We’ll have to see how these new filmmakers handle future franchises.
Alex: I liked how they killed off one of those final three people toward the end. I figured they wouldn’t all make it, but I didn’t know who would bite the dust. There were a couple other things I didn’t like, though. I know they were making Jason smarter and all-around better in this reboot, but I thought some of it was too much. Jason holding a girl captive was a bit off. I understand she was a maternal figure to him, but it was very un-Jason to keep her chained up like that. The bell-ringing alarm rig got on my nerves, but that entire underground lair was just too much. How does the lighting work down there?
Armando: Now that you mentioned it, yeah, they made him a bit smarter than the average Jason. How does he pay the electricity bill? I mean, how can a killer living in a remote New Jersey camp ground afford a bill like that?! I didn’t see any generator!
Alex: Exactly.
Armando: See, all these are reasons why I walked out the first time. The movie surely has some dumb stuff in it. I would give it a 68. it needed better character development and a more plausible ending, but it’s not a total loss. It entertains, even if you have to shut your brain off there for a bit.
Alex: I think, despite it’s many small missteps, it’s a fun flick overall. It’s not much of a remake, but it comes off as a sequel that’s better than most of the others in the series.

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