Moreland At The Movies: The 13th

Movie Review

Friday the 13 by T.A. Moreland

Friday the 13^th, one of the more successful horror film series is back with the 12th edition. In this version, Clay Miller (Jared Padelecki) goes back to the notorious Crystal Lake to look for his sister who never returns home from a camping trip with some friends.

He encounters Trent (Travis Van Winkle) who is at his parents’ vacation home along with some friends. Trent and Clay clash until they realize that they have a common enemy in the form of Jason.Friday The 13^th follows the same proven formula; young adults invade the territory of the partly human, mostly monster Jason. And they pay dearly. I am not a fan of this film genre but I really enjoyed this movie. The writers clearly took the time to think through and develop this story. They tell a little about how this all started when Jason’s mother sought murderous revenge for his drowning at camp while his counselors engaged in the pleasures of the flesh. One of the counselors ultimately kills his mother and Jason returns in a super natural form to avenge his mother’s death . . . over and over again.

Jason is back and shows some versatility in how he kills – even using a bow and arrow.

The film’s images are dark and somewhat grainy and portions have looks of a documentary. Some camera shots are so close, it’s difficult to discern what exactly is going on.

The cast of the film, like the previous films, is a made up of relative unknowns. You don’t need stars in these films because the story and Jason are what these movies are about. This cast is a bit more diverse than previous ones. However, the minority characters, a black guy and an Asian guy are decidedly different that their white male counterparts who are tall, handsome with healthy sex lives with beautiful women. The black and Asian characters are immature, nerdy young men who resort to self gratification.

One final important point, there’s sex in this movie, a topic that many films shy away from these days.

Whether you go on Friday, Saturday or any other day of the week, see Friday the 13^th. It’s rated R for strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, language and drug material, and is 95 minutes in length.