Friday the 13th (2009 film)

Friday the 13th
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Marcus Nispel
Written by	Screenplay: Damian Shannon Mark Swift Story: Damian Shannon Mark Swift Mark Wheaton Characters: Victor Miller
Produced by	Michael Bay Andrew Form Brad Fuller
Starring	Jared Padalecki Danielle Panabaker Aaron Yoo Amanda Righetti Travis Van Winkle Derek Mears
Cinematography	Daniel Pearl
Edited by	Ken Blackwell
Music by	Steve Jablonsky
Production company	Platinum Dunes
Distributed by	North America: New Line Cinema International: Paramount Pictures
Release date	February 13, 2009 (2009-02-13)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$19,000,000
Box office	This movie blows....... Yeah it just sucks....

Friday the 13th is a 2009 American horror film directed by Marcus Nispel, and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. It is a reboot of the Friday the 13th film series, which began in 1980 and previously released the 2003 crossover Freddy vs. Jason. Nispel also helmed the 2003 remake of Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), while Shannon and Swift wrote the screenplay for Freddy vs. Jason. The film stars Derek Mears as Jason Voorhees, with Jared Padalecki, Amanda Righetti, and Danielle Panabaker portraying the male and female leads. Friday the 13th follows Clay Miller (Padalecki) as he searches for his missing sister, Whitney (Righetti), who is taken by Jason while camping in the woods at Crystal Lake.

The concept for the 2009 film originally started as an origin story, but the film evolved into a reimagining of the first four Friday the 13th films. Along with bringing the film back to its tonal roots, Jason was designed as a leaner and faster killer, with a backstory that could provide a little sympathy for the character, but not enough that he would lose his menace. Although this film reboots the continuity, Jason's iconic hockey mask, which was not introduced until the third film in the series, is acquired through the progression of the film. In keeping with the tone of the film, Jason's mask was also brought back to its roots, created from a mold of the original mask used for Part III; though, subtle changes were made to keep it unique to the new film. Friday the 13th also incorporated some of Harry Manfredini's music score from the original Friday the 13th film series, as the producers recognized the iconic status it held.

The film was released on Friday, February 13, 2009 to the most theaters of any of the Friday the 13th films. Although the film was met with primarily negative reviews, it earned approximately $19 million in its opening night and $40 million for its opening weekend. With its opening weekend, Friday the 13th broke two records, having the largest opening day for the film series, and the largest opening weekend for any horror film. It currently sits as the second highest grossing film in the Friday the 13th franchise with $65 million, and has earned over $91.3 million worldwide.

Plot

On June 13, 1980, a young Jason Voorhees (Caleb Guss) witnesses his mother (Nana Visitor) beheaded by a camp counselor (Stephanie Rhodes) who was trying to escape Mrs. Voorhees's murderous rampage around Camp Crystal Lake. Approximately 30 years later, a group of vacationing friends—Wade (Jonathan Sadowski), Richie (Ben Feldman), Mike (Nick Mennell), Whitney (Amanda Righetti) and Amanda (America Olivo)—arrive at Crystal Lake on a camping trip to find some marijuana that was planted in the woods. As Mike and Whitney explore the abandoned Crystal Lake camp, an adult Jason (Derek Mears) begins to kill the rest of the group one-by-one. Jason also kills Mike, but he spares Whitney and decides to kidnap her because she resembles his mother at a young age.

Six weeks later, Trent (Travis Van Winkle), along with his girlfriend Jenna (Danielle Panabaker), and their friends Bree (Julianna Guill), Chewie (Aaron Yoo), Chelsea (Willa Ford), Nolan (Ryan Hansen) and Lawrence (Arlen Escarpeta) arrive at Trent's summer cabin, which sits on Crystal Lake. The group is unaware of the events that occurred a few weeks prior. Additionally, Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki) arrives in town to search Crystal Lake for his sister Whitney, whom he believes to be alive. Clay eventually makes his way to Trent's cabin, where Jenna agrees to help him look for his sister on the other side of the lake. As Clay and Jenna search for clues to Whitney's disappearance, Jason kills Nolan and Chelsea, who are wakeboarding on the lake. Clay and Jenna reach the old Crystal Lake campgrounds, where they witness Jason hauling a dead body into one of the abandoned camp houses.

The pair run back to warn the others about Jason, who arrives shortly after them and cuts the power to the cabin. After killing Chewie and Lawrence, who ventured outside the house, Jason sneaks inside the cabin and kills Bree. Trent, Clay and Jenna escape the house, but Trent is killed when he reaches the main road. Jason then chases Clay and Jenna back to the campgrounds, where Clay discovers Jason's lair and finds his sister chained to the wall. Clay frees Whitney, and all three attempt to escape as Jason arrives. The trio find an exit, but Jenna is killed before she can get out. Jason comes after Clay and Whitney, but Whitney uses Jason's love and memory of his mother—by pretending to be Mrs. Voorhees—to distract him long enough to stab him in the chest with his own machete. Afterward, Clay dumps Jason's lifeless body into the lake. Before he and Whitney can leave, Jason bursts through the wooden dock and grabs Whitney.

Production

Development

New Line Cinema's Toby Emmerich approached Platinum Dunes producers Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form about restarting Friday the 13th in the same fashion that they had done with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. They agreed, but spent over a year securing the film rights from all respective parties, namely, Paramount Pictures, New Line, and Crystal Lake Entertainment; Crystal Lake Entertainment is run by Friday the 13th creator Sean S. Cunningham. Since Paramount still owned certain copyrights, the new film could not use anything from the first eight films. Paramount executives approached the Platinum Dunes producers and gave them license to use anything from the original films, including the title; Paramount was given the rights to distribute the film internationally. With Paramount on board, Fuller and Form decided they wanted to use pieces from each of the first four films. Fuller said, "I think there are moments we want to address, like how does the hockey mask happen. It’ll happen differently in our movie than in the third one. Where is Jason from, why do these killings happen, and what is Crystal Lake?" The producers expressed an interest in using Tommy Jarvis, a recurring character who first appeared in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, and said that they also wanted to work out an origin story for Jason that would make sense.

Ultimately, it was decided that Friday the 13th would not be an origin story, but that it would provide a sense of history as the film progressed. Jason would also transition from wearing a bag over his head—similar to the one seen in Friday the 13th Part 2—to finding and wearing his famous hockey mask, whereas in Friday the 13th Part III he obtains the mask off-screen and comes out of a barn already wearing it. Form and Fuller went on to explain that the audience will get to see how Jason attains his hockey mask, and be given a reason for why he puts it on. The idea of using Tommy Jarvis as a main character was scrapped when they abandoned their efforts of an origin story. Fuller and Form said they did not want to create Friday the 13th Part 11 or 12, but put their own spin on the mythology. The pair acknowledge that there were elements from the first four films that they liked and were going to use in the 2009 film; like how a particular character is killed or story points that they appreciated and wanted to reuse.

Unlike The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake of 2003, and the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror, both of which were produced by Bay, Form and Fuller, it was decided that Friday the 13th would not be a period piece like the other remakes. As Form and Fuller explained it, the film was not a remake in the strictest sense, so they felt that there was no reason why they could not tell the story in modern times. In October 2007, Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, the writers of Freddy vs. Jason, were hired to write the script for Friday the 13th. In February 2006, Jonathan Liebesman was in negotiations to direct the film, but because of scheduling conflicts Fuller and Form went with their second choice, Marcus Nispel. Nispel was apprehensive to take the job, primarily on the idea of taking over another film franchise, but Fuller eventually convinced him. Principal photography began on April 21, 2008 in Austin, Texas and wrapped on June 13, 2008.

Casting

Stuntman Derek Mears was hired to portray Jason Voorhees at the recommendation of special makeup effects supervisor Scott Stoddard. Before the producers contacted him, Mears had already heard about the production of a new Friday the 13th and decided to start physical training so that he could pursue the role on his own, unaware that Stoddard and other industry professionals were dropping his name to the producers. Mears's pleasant demeanor had the studio worried about his ability to portray such a menacing character on screen, but Mears assured them that he was up to the role. Mears has stated he always related to "Jason the victim" when he was growing up as a child, and that was how he wanted to portray Jason in the film. To the actor/stuntman, Jason represents all those individuals that were picked on in high school for being outcasts of society—specifically those with physical deformities—only Jason exacts his revenge on those trying to take over his territory at Crystal Lake.

"They were like, 'You're really nice...are you going to be able to switch over, right?' I was like, 'I cage fight and I've got a lot of dad issues. So yeah.'"

— Derek Mears's response when questioned about being able to portray Jason.

When Mears went in to audition for the role he was asked, "Why do we need an actor as opposed to just a guy in a mask?" As Mears explained to them, portraying Jason is similar to Greek Mask Work, where the mask and the actor are two separate entities, and, based on the scene, there will be variate combinations of mask and actor in the performance. According to Mears, it is all based on whether someone realizes that everything is made of energy. If an actor is thinking something then it will transfer to what the camera picks up. Mears goes on to compare his experience behind the camera to that of a NASCAR race. As Mears sees it, he is the driver and the effects team is his pit crew. As he performs, the effects team provides subtle suggestions as to ways that he can bring the character more to life on camera.

Amanda Righetti had not read the script when she was offered the role of Whitney Miller. Wanting to be a part of the Friday the 13th franchise from the start, Righetti admitted that she was completely sold on acting in the film after she did read the script. Jared Padalecki describes Clay Miller as a real hero, because he sets out "to do the right thing" the moment his sister goes missing, and goes about it as the "lone wolf" who wants to take on this responsibility by himself. Adjustments had to be made to the filming schedule to accommodate Aaron Yoo, who portrays Chewie. Yoo had his appendix removed shortly before filming began, and could not film his scenes right away. As soon as he was ready for filming, Nispel immediately hung him upside down in some rafters, exposing the staples over his surgical wound, for the character's post-death shot.

Fuller and Form admit that the casting process was more difficult for Friday the 13th than it had been on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as Friday the 13th had more young actors to contend with. The producers had thirteen young actors in Friday the 13th, whereas in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre they only had five. The pair had to continually recast parts to find the group that worked best together. This recasting process extended all the way to the start of film. Hostel Part II's Richard Burgi, who was cast as Sheriff Bracke, did not sign on until twelve hours before he had to start filming his scenes.

Writing

When Shannon and Swift sat down to write the script for Friday the 13th, they decided to institute a few rules for themselves based on the mistakes they made with Freddy vs. Jason. First, the writing pair wanted their teens to "sound normal". Shannon and Swift said they did not want the characters to even know Jason's name, or become what they saw as "the Scooby-Doo cliché where it's a bunch of kids trying to figure something out". The writers also wanted to step away from the self-referential slasher films—such as Scream—and take the film back to a grittier, more 1980s feel that had been lost in recent films; they wanted to create a faster, looser Jason. The writing team decided to create a version of Jason "who was actually in the woods surviving off the land", and whose killings were seen more as a way of defending "his turf" than simply randomly murdering whoever came along.

"We felt it was important to go back to the basics and put Jason back in the woods again."

— Mark Swift on conceptualizing a new Friday the 13th film.

The writers did not want to spend a lot of time covering Jason's childhood experiences, as they felt it would take away from the mystery of the character; but, they did want to create as realistic experience as possible. The pair attempted to craft scenes that would lend to the realism, like the audience witnessing a deer carcass lying on the ground as they followed Jason through his underground tunnels. At a cost of $100,000 a carcass, Fuller informed the pair that they would have to do without that particular element. Because of budget constraints, certain character deaths and the ending of the film also had to be scaled down from what Shannon and Swift had originally envisioned.

The writers had originally written a scene where Willa Ford's character, Chelsea, is stranded out on the lake, waiting for hours after she spots Jason standing on shore. Eventually, the girl would tire and drown, which Shannon and Swift felt was something they had not seen in this genre of movies. Ultimately, the call was to make the death quicker and more "visceral". A similar incident occurred with Danielle Panabaker's character Jenna. As Panabaker reveals, Jenna was scripted to survive longer than she did in the final version of the film; Jenna was supposed to make it out of Jason's lair, recite a "cute line" about a second "date" with Clay, before an elaborate fight sequence that ends in her death. Finding interesting ways to kill the characters was also a problem the writers faced. The pair had to find common ground, one where they could craft new killing methods and at the same time put their spin on popular deaths that have appeared in previous installments of the film series. To accomplish this, Shannon and Swift included homages to the original series throughout their new film, like the presence of a wheelchair in Jason's tunnels—the character of Mark (Tom McBride) was a paraplegic who was killed by Jason in Friday the 13th Part 2—or the sweater that Mrs. Voorhees wore in the original Friday the 13th.

The pair also put their own spin on Jason's characteristics. Mears describes him as a combination of John Rambo, Tarzan and the Abominable Snowman from Looney Tunes. To the actor/stuntman, Jason is similar to Rambo because the audience will see him setting the other characters up to fall into his traps. Like Rambo, he is more calculated because he feels that he has been wronged and he is fighting back; he is meant to be more sympathetic in this film. However, Fuller and Form said they learned from their experience with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning not to make Jason too sympathetic to the audience. One of the reasons they decided against an origin story was because they did not want to put focus on Jason being tormented as a child, as the producers felt that would "demystify" the character in an unhelpful manner. As Fuller explained, "We do not want him to be sympathetic. Jason is not a comedic character, he is not sympathetic. He's a killing machine. Plain and simple."

Visual effects

Asylum Visual Effects was given the task of creating the digital effects for Friday the 13th. Although director Marcus Nispel is a proponent of practical effects, there were instances where Asylum had to digitally create various shots, whether it was to keep the safety of the actors intact or allowing the director to achieve a specific look that he wanted. Visual effects supervisor Mitchell Drain assigned ten crew members to work on the visual effects for the film, and the first thing they did was analyze the script in pre-production so they could get a sense for where digital effects would need to be inserted. Ultimately, Asylum only worked on 25 shots for the film.

One of the first scenes Asylum was given was the death scene for America Olivo's character, Amanda. In the scene, Jason ties Amanda up in her sleeping bag and hangs her over the camp fire. As the risk to the actress was too great, as well as the risk to the woodland area Nispel was filming in, Asylum had to create a composite of two different shots in order to achieve the effect of Amanda burning in her sleeping bag. Instead of creating a computer generated (CGI) model of the campfire, a real campfire was shot at another location, and Asylum compositor John Stewart blended the footage of the hanging sleeping bag and the campfire into a single image. Stewart altered the flames digitally in order to keep continuity between frames. Another composite shot was used when Ford's character is hit by a speedboat. As it would be too dangerous for even a stuntperson to attempt, Asylum digitally combined footage of Willa Ford reacting to an invisible boat running over her, along with shots of the actual boat, in order to create the effect.

Mears being filmed as he kills Ben Feldman's character; later, Asylum digitally created the rest of the machete as it was pulled away from Ben's face.

Asylum also had the chance to enhance some of Jason's signature kills with his machete. In multiple instances, Asylum used a computer generated machete to kill a character, as Nispel wanted to be able to keep the characters' deaths all in one shot, as opposed to cutting from the act of killing them to the aftermath of their death. In one case, Jason kills Ben Feldman's character, Richie, by slamming a machete into his head. Instead of using a real machete with a fake head, Nispel had Feldman pretend to be dead with Mears pulling a handle—with only a portion of the blade attached—away from Feldman's head. Then, Asylum went in and digitally created the rest of the machete blade to complete the effect. For this scene, Asylum also adjusted the facial mannerisms of the actor, in order to help create a more "post mortem" look. The special effects team used the computer to digitally droop one half of the actor's face to give the effect that the nerves had been severed by Jason's machete.

Finally, Asylum digitally created whole weapons for usage in various scenes. In the scene where Ryan Hansen's character Nolan is killed suddenly—he is shot in the head with an arrow by Jason—Asylum had to create the entire arrow in post-production. Another scene involved Jason hurling a hatchet at actor Arlen Escarpeta, as he is running away, striking him in the back. As the image of a hatchet flying through the air, and in one instance in the same frame as the actor, would be too difficult to achieve practically, Asylum rendered a complete 3D model of the hatchet. Asylum then inserted the model into the frames leading up to where the digital image hits the character in the back. One of the final images added by Asylum was for the death of Travis Van Winkle's character, Trent. Here, Asylum was required to create a digital metal spike, which bursts through Trent's chest as Jason slams him onto the back of a tow-truck.

Creating Jason

Further information: [[:Jason's development over time]]

A bust of Jason's appearance in the 2009 film; effects artist Scott Stoddard attempted to combine characteristics from Jason's facial appearance in Friday the 13th Part 2 and The Final Chapter when crafting his own design for the reboot.

Effects artist Scott Stoddard described his particular look for Jason's face as a combination of Carl Fullerton's design in Friday the 13th Part 2 and Tom Savini's work in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. Stoddard's vision of Jason included hair loss, skin rashes, and the traditional deformities in his face, but Stoddard attempted to craft Jason's look in a way that would allow for a more human side of him to be seen. Mears was required to wear full body make-up from the chest up while performing his duties as Jason. The actor/stuntman wore a chest plate with fake skin that would adjust to his muscle movement; he also wore a fake hump on his back, to give the impression that Jason had scoliosis. A prosthetic eye was glued to Mears's face to allow for more realistic movement. Stoddard initially spent three and a half hours applying all of the makeup to Mears's head and torso. He was eventually able to condense the time down to just over an hour when it involved scenes where Mears was wearing just the hockey mask. When it came time for the scenes that involved Jason's face to be revealed, it took approximately four hours to apply all of the make up.

For his wardrobe, Mears was given a pair of combat boots and a "high priced t-shirt" that allowed the special effects make-up to be seen through the holes in the shirt. The jacket Jason wears in the film was created by combining a hunting jacket and a military jacket—Mears wanted the hunting jacket, but the creative team liked the way the military jacket billowed as he was making his "kill movements". The top of the hunting jacket was removed and placed over the top of the military jacket. Mears characterizes it as a "giant Frankenstein jacket". He describes Jason as being leaner in this film, providing the reason that the character does not eat as much. A "leaner" Jason was deemed more functional, and allowed more emphasis for the hump on his back. Stoddard took inspiration from the third and fourth films when designing Jason's hockey mask as well. Using an original mold that he was able to acquire, Stoddard crafted six new versions of the mask. As Stoddard explained, "Because I didn't want to take something that already existed, there were things I thought were great, but there were things I wanted to change a bit. Make it custom, but keep all the fundamental designs. Especially the markings on the forehead and cheeks. Age them down a bit, break them up."

Music

In addition to taking story elements from the first four Friday the 13th films, Form and Fuller recognized the iconic status of the music, which had been part of every film since the first one was released in 1980. Originally composed and performed by Harry Manfredini, the pair immediately had the studio attain the licensing rights to his music for their 2009 film. Even though they secured the license for Manfredini's score, they did not plan on using it completely. Instead, they brought on Steve Jablonsky, who had worked with Form and Fuller on previous films, to compose a score that was reminiscent of Manfredini's, but also followed the feel that Fuller and Form wanted for the 2009 film. According to Nispel, who contacted Jablonsky to do the score for Friday the 13th after having worked with him on the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Nispel explained to Jablonsky that he wanted him to create something that Nispel could "whistle when [he] left the theater", something that was subtle and not immediately register with him while watching the film. As Nispel explained further, "I don't believe that, when you watch a Friday the 13th film, you want to feel like John Williams is sitting next to you with the London Symphony Orchestra."

Release

On Friday, February 13, 2009, Friday the 13th was released in 3,105 theaters in North America. The 2009 film was given the widest release of any other Friday the 13th film, including the crossover film with A Nightmare on Elm Street. Its release was nearly three times as many theaters as the original 1980 film, and just edged out Freddy vs. Jason by 91 theaters. Apart from North America, Friday the 13th also saw release in 2,100 theaters throughout 28 foreign markets. The film was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Apple TV on June 16, 2009; the DVD and Blu-ray releases contain both a theatrical release and an extended cut of the film.

Box office

On its opening day, Friday the 13th grossed $19,293,446, and immediately surpassed the total individual box office grosses for Jason Takes Manhattan (1989), Jason Goes to Hell (1993), and Jason X (2002), which earned $14,343,976, $15,935,068, and $13,121,555, respectively. From February 14-16, the film took in an additional $24,292,003, to round out its 4-day President's Day weekend with $43,585,449. By the end of its 3-day opening weekend it was already the second highest grossing Friday film in the series with $40,570,365, and just barely beat out The Grudge (2004) for the best 3-day weekend opening for any horror film. When comparing the 2009 film's opening weekend to that of its 1980 counterpart, in adjusted 2009 US dollars, the original Friday the 13th only brought in $17,251,975. Although the 2009 film made more money, when factoring in the number of theaters each film was released in, the 1980 film earned more per theater with $15,683, compared to the 2009 film's $13,066.

Friday the 13th saw a significant drop in attendance in its second weekend. On the first Friday after its opening weekend, the film took in only $2,802,977, which is an 85.5% decrease from opening Friday. By the end of its second weekend, the film brought in $7,942,472, an 80.4% overall decrease from the previous weekend. As a result, the film went from first place to sixth place in the weekend box office. By its third weekend, Friday the 13th had dropped out of the top ten, earning $3,689,156, which is a 53.6% decrease from its second weekend. By the end of its box office run, Friday the 13th earned an estimated $65 million at the United States box office, but failed to regain a top ten spot after its third weekend.

The 2009 film currently sits in fifth place for all-time President's Day weekends with $45,033,454. It is currently eighth in highest grossing weekends in the month of February, as well as eighth in highest grossing weekend for the winter season, which is defined by the first day after the New Year weekend through the first Thursday of the month of March. By the end of February, Friday the 13th finished as the fourth highest grossing film of the month with $59.8 million, just behind Taken with $84.3 million, He's Just Not That into You with $77.2 million, and Madea Goes to Jail with $60.9 million.

It is currently the eighteenth highest opening for an R-rated film in North American history, and the fifteenth highest grossing R-rated film of 2009. Because of the significant decrease in box office gross in its second weekend, the film sits in sixth place for the largest second weekend drop; it is also the seventh largest drop for a film that opened as the number one film in the United States. With its $65 million in domestic box office, Friday the 13th is the highest grossing film among the recent slasher remakes, which consist of When a Stranger Calls (2006), Halloween (2007), Prom Night (2008) and My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009). The film is also ranked seventh overall when comparing it to all horror remakes, as well as seventh place for all slasher films in general, in unadjusted dollars.

In addition to its North American box office gross, Friday the 13th earned over $9.5 million in foreign markets in its opening weekend. The film's biggest markets were the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy, Spain and Germany. Here, Friday the 13th took in approximately $1.7 million in both the United Kingdom and Russia, an estimated $1.1 million in Spain, and $1 million in Italy and Germany. According to Paramount, this was the largest foreign opening of any of the Friday the 13th films. The film finished its North American box office run with $65,002,019, and coupled with its foreign take of $26,377,032, the film has accumulated $91,379,051 in worldwide box office.

Critical reception

Based on 157 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Friday the 13th has a 25% overall approval rating from critics, with an average score of 4.2 out of 10. Among Rotten Tomatoes' Top Critics, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an approval rating of 19%. By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 34, based on 29 reviews. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade cinemagoers gave the film was a "B-minus" on an A+ to F scale, with exit polls showing that 51% of the audience was male, and 59% was at least 25 years old or older.

Alonso Duralde wrote that the film should please slasher fans, but concluded that it added nothing new to the genre or the franchise, and thus will not appeal to people who already did not like slasher films. Duralde went on to chide the film for adding a black and an Asian character in an attempt to "update the movie for the new millennium", but noted in the end that the prospect of another Friday the 13th—crafted by the film's "sequel-friendly" ending—did not leave him with a feeling of dread. Along the same lines, Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic stated that the film accepts the "ridiculousness" of what it is trying to accomplish, which is primarily the "death and dismemberment" of "party-hungry kids", and that audiences would enjoy it if they recognized that as well. Although Goodykoontz acknowledges the unique touches the film brings to certain characters' deaths, he was unimpressed with the acting and noted that Padalecki's presence gave the film a "less-good episode of Supernatural" vibe.

Aaron Yoo's performance as the marijuana smoking Chewie was praised by critics who gave the film both positive and negative reviews.

The Washington Post's Dan Zak wrote that the film fails to provide the laughs, scares, suspense or gore. Zak also suggested that the film failed to provide the quintessential nudity that is expected of horror films that cannot deliver on the previously listed criteria. Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times felt that Nispel managed to capture the despair that he created with his Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, but agreed that the film failed to provide the "giddiness", "teenage lust" and "rambunctiousness" that made the previous Friday the 13th films work. Wesley Morris believed Friday the 13th did have humor. He noted that the characters continually act the clichéd role of would-be-victim, which made it hard to fear for their safety. In his opinion, the 2009 film lacked the "psycho-social" aspect—a mother killing out of revenge for her son's death—crafted by its 1980 predecessor, and ultimately the film is left "more hilarious than terrifying".

The New York Post's Kyle Smith felt that Nispel made no attempt to create a movie beyond blood and guts, and even those attempts were "forgettable". Smith noted that, apart from Clay and Trent, the rest of the cast were merely "faces in the crowd" with no attempt provided to give them any sort of backstory. USA Today's Claudia Puig wrote that the 2009 entry keeps to the same formula as its predecessors, with a story that adds little to nothing to the franchise itself. However, Puig noted that Padalecki and Panabaker filled their lead roles well enough, and that Aaron Yoo's comic relief made him one of the most likable characters on screen.

In contrast to the film's detractors, The New York Times's Nathan Lee believed that the film managed to "reboot the concept" of the original films, and do so with style. Lee stated that the film takes pleasure in killing off each of its characters. Lee pointed out that there is a desire among cinemagoers for this type of material, and Friday the 13th satisfies that desire. Adam Graham, from The Detroit News, remarked that the 2009 film is the most effective and scary film in the Friday the 13th series, praising the film's choice of allowing Jason to run after his victims—as opposed to slowly walking behind them, as had become prominent in later sequels—as it made him more "menacing". Graham further pointed out that the film does not "soften" Jason's scariness by providing a sympathetic backstory. Entertainment Weekly's Clark Collis believed that director Nispel made a competent film that performs better as a whole than the previously released remakes of Prom Night (2008) and My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009), although it does provide a few too many unbelievable character moments.

Jason Anderson of the Toronto Star also felt that the film succeeded in adding freshness to the standard formula of the previous films by focusing on the chasing and killing aspects, instead of lingering on the prolonged suffering of victims like the Saw films. Concurring with Puig's evaluation, IGN's Chris Carle felt that Aaron Yoo stole the film with both his comic timing, and eventually with what Carle saw as his "memorable death". Commenting on Derek Mears' portrayal of Jason, Carle noted that he brings more to the character than being simply a stuntman; Mears's subtle movements, athleticism, and physicality created an "imposing" image of Jason.

External links

• Official website
• Friday the 13th at AllMovie
• Friday the 13th at Box Office Mojo
• Friday the 13th at IMDb
• Friday the 13th at Metacritic
• Friday the 13th at Rotten Tomatoes