Oh, horror remakes. We all know how these work out most of the time. Some new hotshot director comes in with what he claims to be a “new take.” However, what that “new take” often entails is giving the new blood cell phones, and adding more gore. They’re films that understand that their predecessors were scary, but not why they were scary. In fact, Platinum Dunes took a very similar approach to a Friday the 13th remake some years back. That worked out about as awfully as expected, and they’ve been in development hell on another reboot ever since. Hey, if at first, you don’t succeed…
Oh, who are we kidding? They’re going to mess up again. It’s Michael Bay, the king of ruining things people love.
But Wait…what’s this?
Seemingly intent on getting it right, this time, Platinum Dunes has brought in Brek Eisner to direct. Don’t get me wrong, Eisner does have a couple stinkers on his resume. Sahara…forget about it, The Last Witch Hunter…didn’t even bother. However, Eisner also helmed the 2009 remake of George Romero’s The Crazies. Working in the exhaustingly overdone zombie genre, Eisner still managed to crank out a genuinely fun film. It had some wonderful set pieces (a car wash battle being the best) and a few moments of genuine terror. This is exactly what Friday The 13th needs.
Even with this exciting hire, the creative direction the film has taken is a little troubling. Screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski (Prisoners, Contraband) claims that his take involves an “origin-ish” story for Jason. Typically, these don’t really work out. Movie monsters are scary when we know nothing about them. They become a force of nature, instead of something we can identify with. We’ll have to wait and see.
Friday the 13th is scheduled to open on January 13th, 2017
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