Mixing youth hormones and homicide is not exactly a winning formula for either, if the new and not improved Friday The 13th is any indication. And with the current mommy blame game all the rage in movies right now, the ‘kill for mother’ mantra driving masked maniac Jason on his deadly rounds once again, has zero credibility, whether as an alibi or potent narrative device.
Directed by German music video maven Marcus Nispel, the predictable pathological proceedings are updated to the present, as assorted party animal cookie cutter college bare breasted babes and boozers head for the woods at Crystal Lake during summer vacation. While Jason lurks in the shadows, the revelers frolic, mate in the wild, get drunk and/or high and explore marijuana groves and possible creaky old haunted houses. Apparently irritated out of his mind by these noisy intruders, Jason conceives of myriad warped ways in which to dispatch them one by one to the afterlife. And he’s not bad when trying his hand at archery either.
With its procession of paper thin personalities and a criminally minded sharp implement wielding chopaholic who lacks any depth however creepy he may be, both the sex and slaughter seem merely mechanical and barely register on the terror meter. Rarely has slaughter seemed so weirdly goofy and serene.
Warner Bros
Rated R
1 1/2 stars