CRITIC WATCH: FRIDAY THE 13TH

---A new phase that has hit Hollywood in the last few years has been the remaking of the classic “slasher films” from the 1970’s and 1980’s. In 2006 the remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released, followed by the remake of Halloween in 2007. This new tradition has continued right on into 2009, with the remake of classic Friday the 13th. Opening on February 13th, 2009, the film received mixed reviews from various media sources both praising and condemning the attempted remake.
---Clark Collins of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a pretty positive review. He suggested that the film was suspenseful and exciting, delivering an entertaining treat for the audience. While he does go on to mention that some of the acting is a bit cheesy and predictable, he still gave the film a B rating. Despite some flaws, he claimed that the film was “head and shoulders better” than some of the other horror remakes that have been released recently.
---Nathan Lee of the New York Times had a more average opinion on the film. He suggests that this genre of film, including the 1980 original, are typically lousy films to begin with, but he wasn’t too harsh on the film over all. He suggests the film has a lot of material that would appeal to a younger audience with all the sex and gore. Even though the film itself isn’t that great, he says it’s entertaining none the less if you are a fan of these kinds of movies.
---Michael Rechtshaffen of the Hollywood reporter had less kind things to say about the movie. He suggested that despite a good casting choice and reinvention of Jason, that the rest of the film simply lacked structure. He says that most of the film seemed like it was just there to “kill time”.
---Claudia Puig of USA today has a more negative review of the film. She suggests the movie is predictable and is exactly what you’d expect to get out of a Friday the 13th movie. She state the movie has brought the franchise into the 21st century, but has failed to reinvent it, making it very redundant.
---Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles times had one of the most negative reviews on the film. He suggested that the movie was an awful attempt to reinvent an already over done concept. In addition, the movie was not exciting enough action wise to over come all of that.
---The reviews as a whole were mixed, but on average Friday the 13th was viewed as well, just that, average. A typical modern slasher film with more focus on the gore than story. The over all feeling for this movie is that Friday the 13th is just an idea done too many times.