Friday The 13th (Extended Killer Cut)
(Warner Home Video)
I’m old enough to remember when the original first Friday the 13th sliced its way across movie screens in 1980. It literally scared audiences witless and began a spate of ‘kill-teenagers-in-more-and-more-interesting-ways-because-they-are-hooking-up’ movies with its iconic hockey-mask killer (which, I learned from this DVD’s ‘extra’ documentary, was first introduced in Friday 13th, part 3). This remake of the original is a lush looking film, deep in color (blood not withstanding), interesting sets and great claustrophobic spaces.
The now dead Camp Crystal Lake (the film takes place many years after those initial murders in 1980 when Jason’s mom was killing teens) is used as only one locale. It might just be the different locations (albeit just a hop, skip and certainly a run from each other) that I responded to so well; God knows the kills and characters are certainly nothing to write home about. True, there’s not much of the Saw torture-porn slice and dice and there are enough augmented female breasts here to make any hetero teen boy salivate, but really there are no surprises. The fact that Jason now runs instead of walks is kinda neat, but the story isn’t much, the characters stereotypes and the ending way too predictable.
As I mentioned previously, there is a ‘making of’ documentary included here, which seems like rationalization from the players and producers more than anything else. This Friday the 13th, Killer Cut is a faithful adaptation, remake, what-have-you, for whatever new viewers need to see instead of the terrifying original.
Ralph Greco, Jr.
