Okay, I should start out by saying that I almost didn't see this tonight. My husband Doug was on the phone calling about parts, and as soon as I was going to ask him about me going to the movies by himself he told me he was going to go out for a couple of hours to run some errands.
"But I was planning on going to a movie," I said.
"I'm sorry," he said, looking kind of sheepish.
"Well, I can probably go to the later show," I said.
"What were you planning on seeing?" he asked me.
"Friday the 13th."
"You're going to go without me?"
"Did you WANT to see the movie?"
"Well, yeah, kind of," he said. "Why don't you hold off until tomorrow. I'll ask Linda (Doug's ex-wife) if she can babysit for us tomorrow and we can see it then (for those that aren't aware of the situation, this is not as weird as it sounds)."
"You want to go see 'Friday the 13th' on Valentine's Day?"
Pause. "You have a point there."
So, I went by myself.
I got to the theater, and when I asked for my ticket, the person at the register wanted me to look in the theater before buying the ticket, because they were "almost sold out."
"You're kidding," I said tot he cashier. "For 'Friday the 13th'?"
Sure enough, the theater was almost packed to the gills. SEeing that I was by myself, where I sat didn't really matter a whole heck of a lot. So I bought my ticket and sat down.
For the first time in a long time, it was worth the hassle beforehand.
By now, we all know the story of "Friday the 13th." In this remake -- although "remake" is kind of misleading in this case -- they updated several elements from the original story. If you don't know the story, in the first film the mother of Jason Vorhees goes on a killing spree after her son drowns while swimming because some camp counselors were making out and not watching him. Well, for the remake (actually, technically a "reboot"), they start with Mrs. Vorhees chasing a camp counselor with a machete, about to kill her, until the counselor takes the machete herself and chops off her head. Meanwhile, Jason had been alive this whole time and saw the whole thing, so of course now Jason is officially in the story.
This was the first horror movie in awhile that I sat there in the theater with my hands over my face peeking through my fingers. Of course, it's the same type of story -- first group of college aged students goes in the woods, gets killed, then six weeks later a second group goes in the same woods -- same type of stereotypes for these films. But the technical aspects of this version made what could have been just another bad remake into something that actually did scare you and kept you entertained.
For a remake, the writing wasn't actually half-bad -- a lot of the characters had some great funny lines. The deaths were shot in such a way that really did make you jump. You actually care about what happens to some of the characters.
If you like scary campfire stories, this is one not to miss.
Me: “Thank you for calling **** Realtors, this is ****, how may I help you?”
Customer: “Hi, I’m interested in 734 **** Street. Could you tell me more information about it?”
Me: “You must mean 732 **** Street?”
Customer: “No, 734.”
Me: “Does the house have a sign in the yard that says **** Realtors?”
Customer: “No, but the one next door does. I figured I’d just call you guys since you sell houses.”
Me: “Has it occurred to you that somebody probably lives in 734 **** Street?”
Customer: “Well, yeah, but can’t you just, like…give it to me?”
Me: “You want me to call the family and tell them that they have to leave their house because I’m selling it to you?”
Customer: “Yeah, that would be good. And can I move in by Thursday? I’m all packed.”
(It took a good 15 minutes to explain to him that I couldn’t just sell random peoples’ homes.)
