Blu-ray Review: Friday the 13th (Killer Cut)
Nope, it doesn't get better the second time
Considering it was made for only $19 million and took home over $65 million at the domestic box-office, New Line's remake of Friday the 13th is definitely a financial success, but in terms of quality we have a different story. I gave the film a "C" when I reviewed it theatrically and I guess I would still call this an "average" horror, but to actually spend money on it with expectation of watching it more than once is hardly a consideration. The second time around this film doesn't satisfy in the slightest and outside of a couple of moments in the special features I didn't enjoy much, if any, of it.
This Blu-ray edition comes with both the theatrical cut (97 minutes) and an extended "killer cut" (106 minutes). I didn't watch both versions looking for the differences, and I don't intend to. It appears the sex scene has been extended and I don't remember a shot of Chelsea dead on the shore in the original, but as far as the kills go I didn't see anything that appeared new or at all "killer". The film does look great in high definition, but looking great and actually achieving greatness are two different things.
In terms of supplemental material, a pair of just-over-11-minute featurettes includes "The Rebirth of Jason Voorhees" and "Hacking Back / Slashing Forward." Both are overproduced using several clips from the film you just watched making them slow and for the most part meaningless. That is unless you want to spend about 23 minutes finding out when was the first time the cast and filmmakers first saw the original Friday the 13th films and about eight minutes on how Jason wears a sack and a mask. Uh, who cares? They do show an alternate version of how he got the mask at the very end, but it's also the first scene in a small batch of three deleted scenes so no need to waste your time with these two.
If features are your thing the in-movie picture-in-picture option is your best bet and even though this film isn't all that great it is fascinating to listen to their motivations and reasoning for doing certain things. For as un-thrilling as this film is they really tried quite hard; too bad it didn't turn out better. The picture-in-picture track also offers behind-the-scenes making of goodies as well as Friday the 13th trivia related to the entire franchise when behind-the-scenes and interview footage isn't playing — not a bad addition.
Finally, there is a group of seven mini-featurettes totaling just over 22 minutes that takes a look at seven of the individual kills in the film and how they were done. Typically I think behind-the-scenes looks at how movie magic is done sort of spoil the fun, but since we all know none of these people were being killed it is a nice extra to watch even if it could have been cut down in running time.
In watching the features and listening to the myriad of interviews with damn near everyone involved from director Marcus Nispel, the cast, the producers, the writers, the make-up crew, etc. you begin to hear people describing this film as grittier and cooler. They talk about how they are "upping the ante" and "amping it up" and even one of the screenwriters says they were going for something akin to Batman Begins. Like I said, they tried hard, but they just didn't succeed.
I am sure there are a few people out there that enjoyed this film, and more power to you. I am sure you will also enjoy this disc. As for me, seeing this film once was enough and if I do find myself wanting to return to the franchise I will watch the original before ever turning to this one again.
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