Friday the 13th

Remaking old slasher films (and reviving franchises, where applicable) is all the rage lately. Earlier this year we saw My Bloody Valentine revamped in 3-D, and stopped by the Last House on the Left for another visit. Here, 29 years after the first teen horndogs were killed at Camp Crystal Lake, Jason Voorhees returns in director Marcus Nispel's reworked Friday the 13th that adds little to the original mix beyond vastly improved special effects and a dollop of political correctness. As before, Jason is still slicing and dicing nubile young campers, but now he's an equal-opportunity slayer, including African-American, Asian, and Hispanic teens among his latest victims. The 2009 Jason-bait crop features the usual assortment of pneumatic hotties and their feckless boyfriends, none make much of an impression or linger in the memory past the moment of his or her gruesome demise—with the exception of cute good girl Danielle Panabaker (Shark). The one novel aspect of the plot also makes the least sense: Jenna (Panabaker) and friends are joined by slightly older, more mature Clay (Jared Padalecki), who's come to Crystal Lake in search of his sister, who was part of a group ambushed by Jason some months before. Amazingly, Jason has kept this girl—played by Amanda Righetti—alive and unmolested, a prisoner in his underground lair. Why? Who knows? But, more importantly, who cares? Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include the 12-minute production featurette “The Rebirth of Jason Voorhees,” eight minutes of additional scenes, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is the 23-minute featurette on “The 7 Best Kills,” a “Hacking Back/Slashing Forward” retrospective featurette (12 min.), a “Terror Trivia Track” with picture-in-picture behind-the-scenes footage, and the BD-Live function. Also included is a bonus digital copy of the film. Bottom line: a better Blu-ray extras package for a lesser horror remake.] (E. Hulse)