I’m kind of on the fence about remaking horror movies. Or any movie at all, really. But I decided to go into Friday the 13th with an open mind. As a result, I was bombarded with boobs, blood, and plenty of hockey masks. Let me just start off by saying (spoilers if you have not seen the original) that Pamela Vorhees is not a scary villian. Oh yes, she’s a little freaky in a my-child-has-just-been-murdered-and-now-I-seek-revenge type of way, but certainly can’t be placed with slashers like her son Jason, Michael Myers, or Freddy Krueger. This new edition made Jason scary. A lot of movies tend to try and make him a tragic character, and while what happened to him was tragic, it doesn’t work in a teenager slasher movie. This new movie did a good job of making him frightening. This Jason takes the scary quality of silence and and the equally frightening ability to run (unlike Michael Myers). He’s vicious and quick, and he certainly knows how to kill. However, eventually this gets old. In fact, six characters are killed off before the title appears on screen.

Bree (Julianna Guill) gets some unwanted company.

You have to admit it: the original was very campy. It was poorly acted, and the visuals were bad. The only thing that kept the plot going (and what little plot there was) was hoping to figure out who the killer was. And even that was a letdown. The remake doesn’t really have a plot, either- it is more of a slasher with a typical formula. Teens get hunted down and killed. And this movie doesn’t try to elaborate on this idea. It does, however, have decent acting and an actually scary villian, a step up from the original. What bothered me most about the movie was the sex. I understand that sex sells, but there was a bit too much of it, and it was mostly unnecessary. It brought the movie down to a vulgar level at some parts, and drew away from the horror. Despite its weaknesses, ths movie was still glossy, gory fun. This movie wasn’t about new ideas. It took a classic horror movie that most people in the younger generation know only by name, and updated and glorified it.