Given that producer Michael Bay and director Marcus Nispel (the TCM remake) are behind the new Friday the 13th, the fact that the studio has marketed the hell out of the movie, and, of course, the staying power of Jason, I’m not surprised it hit its mark and made craploads of money (over 45 million, apparently).
The Rue Morgue staff hit the advanced screening of the film on Wednesday and I’d say we were soundly meh on the whole thing. Better than your average crappy modern teen horror film, for whatever that’s worth. And everytime I see something like that clean up, it makes me cringe to think about how many great, original horror films (Slither anyone?) can’t even recoup their budgets.
But then I remember that I work at a horror magazine and it sure is great to get a paycheque, so, uh, go horror movies at the multiplex!
Now here’s some Jason-related stuff for ya:
1. The New York Post ran a story with the headline “Friday Curse.” I’ve pasted it below, as I’m not sure how long the link will be valid.
February 17, 2009 –
FRIDAY the 13th turned into an actual gorefest during a party honoring the film of the same name at M2 lounge. Warrington Gillette, the original Jason from “Friday the 13th,” got into full costume for the bash – complete with hockey mask and ax – and stepped onto the stage engulfed in smoke blown from dry ice. But he didn’t count on the crazed female fan who, witnesses said, “jumped on stage and tried to grab his ax.” Gillette managed to wrestle it away but sliced his hand badly in the process. “It was straight out of a horror movie,” one spy added. “Lingerie-clad models were running and screaming, as a blood-soaked Jason ran off the runway to get to a hospital.”
2. The Globe and Mail wins the prize for the greatest Friday the 13th review headline ever:
“Vorhees a Jolly Good Killer”
So awesome. Read the review here.
3. I’ve been blogging about movies for MSN Canada for a few months now, and this weekend I did a piece on Jason and other movie boogeymen. I’d link directly ot the piece but — and stop me if you’ve heard this before — Word Press is hopelessly broken and doesn’t want to do something as simple as hyperlink. Instead, paste this link into your browser: http://blogtasticvoyage.movies.sympatico.msn.ca/. When you’re done, smash your fist down on the keyboard and say “Eat shit, WordPress.”
4 Comments
I actually thought is was decent. As a fan its nice to see Jason back in the spot light. Good marketing, good budget and a decent cast. To top it off, that douche Michael Bay, who for some reason only does remakes now, must have fallen asleep during this one because unlike the others, I saw very little of that guys influence here. I expected to walk out of the movie depressed and upset. The death scenes were beyond lame though. Not very Jason at all.
If I want to see a movie that echoes the fun of the 80s slashers with over the top kills….I can just watch HATCHET. A small independent (and good) movie that lasted ONE weekend because Anchor Bay didn’t do any advertising for it.
This new F13 raking in the big bucks is no surprise. I don’t plan to see it because I refuse to give Platinum Dunes one red cent for their crappy remakes. Nice callback to Slither BTW, that was a real blast to see on the big screen.
Just spent the last half hour reading the MSN blog, great stuff on their Dave!
Really enjoyed the Ghostbusters post! I’m with you on wanting to see the boys back in action and not just “mentors”, or whatever the hell they are calling it.
I’m not ashamed to say I’ve been a huge fan of Apatow over the years, Freaks and Geeks is still one of my all time favorite shows, so I can see that whole crew making this work. Hell, they couldn’t mess it up more than a lot of people could. It’s funny, I can see Seth Rogen as the Ray body type, but with the Peter type dialogue. I just hope they don’t go to over the top with it.
Thanks, Foz! Glad you dug it.