Over the last dozen or so years, there’s been the ironic winking horror of the Scream series, the Japanese horror of The Ring and The Grudge, and the torture-porn horror of Saw and Hostel. All of these trends have more or less played themselves out (even though they keep cranking out Saw movies like so much hamburger meat through the grinder, to ever diminishing returns, but I digress). The one trend that hasn’t lost steam, however, is the horror remake, at least judging from the newest trailer for the newest horror franchise to (yes, I’m going to do it) rise from the grave: Friday the 13th.
Check it out and then let’s talk after the jump, cool?
There’s something almost quaint about this trailer, in that it rather unironically hits all the classic horror movie sweet spots. There’s the eerie introductory voice-over (a clip, of course, from the original 1980 Friday the 13th, when the big bad wasn’t Jason, but his bat-turd crazy mother); the pretty young people innocently partying at one of their (absent) parents’ lakeside cabin; the nubile blonde, treading water in the lake, realizing the spooky hulk in the hockey mask is carrying a machete; the creepy old woman intoning that said blonde "ain’t missing…[ominous pause, cut to black]…she’s dead"; the other blonde terrified to pull the shower curtain back, only to reveal Jason is standing right behind her!!!! You get the idea. By the time the trailer begins literally counting the number of deaths, cutting away right before the money shot, it seems like it’s telling audiences "we know what you want in a horror film, and we’re going to pack it all into one giant über-horror film, and we’re not even going to pretend that practically any of this cast lives to see the final reel because we know you couldn’t care less about that." What’s interesting is this feels less cynical than just plain honest about what we expect out of our slasher flicks.
What do you think, PopWatchers. Are there any horror movie cliches missing from this trailer that you’d like to see, or are happy are missing? Will you be in line come Friday, Feb. 13 (happy almost-Valentine’s Day!), or will you just rent the original and watch it at home? And when was the last time you "partied" at your friend’s parents’ lakeside cabin by twirling in short shorts clutching an open bottle of wine?
More on horror:
Michael Bay talks about the Friday the 13th remake
Gallery: William Friedkin on 13 Must-See Horror Movies
Stephen King: Why Hollywood can’t do horror
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I’m cautiously optomistic. Not to be a nit picker, but I’m quite sure that’s not Betsy Palmer’s voice in the the trailer.
Wow, I love how there’s a long-to-load ad between every two posts now!!!
Well, IMO honest opinion, what made the first one so great was the fact that the mom was the killer. They’ve totally abandoned that twist and, as result, making the killer less scary by showing you over and over and over who it is. I guess I’m old school in thinking an unknown killer is the scariest part.
where is the trailer?
Come on now, they’re expecting me to believe that Sam Winchester can’t take out Jason pretty fast? *g*
Are you kidding? I totally partied at my friend’s parents’ lakeside cabin by twirling in short shorts clutching an open bottle of wine last weekend!
The words “From Producer Michael Bay” sure scared me!
this is a remake for crying out loud. everyone knows that the mom was the killer in the 1st & jason was in subsequent movies. can’t possibly be a surprise to ANYONE that jason is the killer here. mjryan, there’s no way the killer in this movie could be unknown especially since, as i’ve mentioned before, THIS IS A REMAKE!
I’ll check it out. J-Pad trips my trigger. What can I say?
I partied at friends cottage last summer, no short shorts, but lots of wine – doe’s that still count?
Boooooooerns.
http://backorforth.blogspot.com
The trailer looks OK, probably lots of gore and cliche scares. I wish someone would explain the bizarre mythology of why Jason can’t die. Seriously, some of the sequels tried to do it, but Jason becomes less scary when you see he’s like some video game character that keeps coming back to life.
Oh plot, how I miss you. Please come back to me.
Hmmm…trailer looks good.. I am a fan of almost any horror film (good or bad) and I have seen ALL of the Friday the 13ths..however..I really don’t know if they can call this a remake from what I saw….Seems more like another sequal as it has nothing to do with ‘counselers’ or Jason’s mom….I mean..the essence of a remake is to take from the original. Maybe I’m wrong and they just didn’t show it in the trailer. I’ll watch it..probaly rent though.
I loved the teaser trailer for this movie and after seeing this one all I have to say is…
I loved the teaser trailer for this movie!
Okay, seriously, I might watch this after it makes it’s way to second run places (if only for JPad) because it does look like creepy, old-school horror.
Plus, I love that Jason isn’t sashaying (menacingly, of course) after his victims-he’s full on running for the last chick! It’s nice to see a killer that doesn’t wait for the girl to fall and sprain an ankle
I am not high on remakes but this looks interesting.
Lets hope they dont start remaking all the sequels though.
Please tell the writer, Adam, that there is no footage used from the 1980 original film.
My fave scene in this trailer is “pull back the curtain” This actually looks fairly decent as far as horror remakes go, I”ll go see it!
the trailer kinda gives away all the kills, doesn’t it?
that was actually kinda scary…of course, i am only 12 so i guess i scare easier than most!
that trailer scare me to death, i was actually jumping. i can’t wait to see it. horror movies are the best and maybe this will start a new trend of awesomeness.
Any movie starring Jared Padalecki is worth seeing. Being a remake of a classic that needs updating is even better. The trailer looks fantastic.
I just hope they don’t destroy this franchise like Rob Zombie did to his God-awful remake of Halloween.
i don’t like horror/scary movies. i enjoy saw’s/hostels/1408/thehaunting… but that’s about it honestly… and i don’t think this movie will be fantastic, however, the trailer is actually really good… and i’ll see just about anything michael bay does, not to mention the wife loves these types of movies so we’ll see… i’ll hold judgement till it’s seen
I remember when the original Friday the 13th trailer did the count from 1-12 as well, and then the narrator said something like “and on Friday, the 13th will die” or something to that affect.
Why can’t hollywood come up with original ideas instead of remaking old ones? This is becoming a sickening trend. Oh, a movie from 20 or 30 years ago! Screw thinking up an idea on our own, lets just take this one and do it again! Its really sad.
Looking forward to it. Let’s not pretend the Friday the 13th franchise is something precious like Gone With the Wind. Doing a reboot might actually revive interest in this long dead franchise. I say this one is fair game.
Wow! Michael Bay obviously does not know how to count! I thought that this one looked a little familiar. It’s not a remake of the original, it’s number two! Camp Crystal Lake has been shut down no thanks to Mrs. Vorhiees. A bunch of silly teens go on a road trip to the abandoned camp where they eventually meet their doom, and an investigation sparks. So my guess is that either Bay combined both one and two, and put maniac mom in a hockey mask or this is just number two, period.
Aaron,
it’s because sometimes Hollywood can’t think of anything original. It happens. Then there are also those directors who feel that they need to re-juice their own movies for a new audience. For example, Itallian horror master Dario Argento is already re-tooling 1977’s Susperia for next Summer.
Oh, Sam Winchester. Why?
I’ll admit, cliched horror movies are one of my guilty pleasures, and this one seems like might actually be…sort of good. At least it seems like it will be entertaining, which is all I’m hoping for.
I think it is a remake of several movies together. It is not a strict remake of Part 1. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are elements from Parts 1-4. The hockey mask didn’t show up until Part 3. In the trailer, the guy says he is looking for his sister. That was in Part 4, right? But I’m no Friday the 13th expert…