Tagline: Welcome to Crystal Lake.
Welcome back to Crystal Lake in a chilling re-imagining of the classic horror film “Friday the 13th.” Searching for his missing sister, Clay heads up to the eerie woods of legendary Crystal Lake where he stumbles on the creaky remains of rotting old cabins that lie in wait behind moss-covered trees. And that’s not the only thing hiding under the brush.
Against the advice of police and cautions from the locals, Clay pursues what few leads he has with the help of a young woman he meets among a group of college kids up for an all-thrills weekend. But they are about to find much more than they bargained for. Little do they know, they’ve entered the domain of one of the most terrifying specters in American film history – the infamous killer who haunts Crystal Lake armed with a razor-sharp machete… Jason Voorhees.
Friday the 13th is a 2009 American slasher film written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, and directed by Marcus Nispel. The film is a reboot of the Friday the 13th film series, which began in 1980, and is the twelfth installment in the film series. Nispel also directed the 2003 remake of Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), while Shannon and Swift had written the screenplay for the 2003 crossover Freddy vs. Jason. Friday the 13th follows Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki) as he searches for his missing sister, Whitney (Amanda Righetti), who is captured by Jason Voorhees (Derek Mears) while camping in woodland at Crystal Lake.
The 2009 film was originally conceived as an origin story, but the project evolved into a re-imagining of the first four Friday the 13th films. The character Jason Voorhees was redesigned as a lean, quick killer with a backstory that allows the viewer to feel a little sympathy for him, but not enough that he would lose his menace. In keeping with the tone of the film, Jason’s mask was recreated from a mold of the original mask used for Part III; though there were subtle changes. Friday the 13th includes some of Harry Manfredini’s musical score from the previous Friday the 13th films because the producers recognized its iconic status.
Friday the 13th was released in theaters on Friday, February 13, 2009. It received mainly negative reviews and earned approximately US$19 million on its opening night and $40 million during its opening weekend, when it broke two records; the highest-earning opening day for the film series and the highest-earning opening weekend for any horror film. As of July 2014, it is the second-highest grossing film in the Friday the 13th film series ($65 million), and has earned over $92 million worldwide.
Form and Fuller recognized the iconic status of the music used in the first four Friday the 13th films. For their 2009 film, they immediately had the studio attain the licensing rights to the music, which was composed and originally performed by Harry Manfredini. They did not plan to use the score in its entirety, but they used Steve Jablonsky to compose a score that was reminiscent of Manfredini’s and created the atmosphere for the 2009 film.
About the Production
“What you do when you make a movie like this is ask yourself, `What is it about the mythology that makes people want to watch it over and over again?’” says director Marcus Nispel. “Then you make sure you give them what they want, but not exactly what they expect. That’s what makes it fun.”
“Jason Voorhees, Darth Vader, Freddy Krueger… there are a few villains that just stick with you,” states star Jared Padalecki. “You’re interested in what they’ll do next, what other havoc can they wreak. Even if you haven’t seen the movies, you’ve heard of them, you’ve heard of `Friday the 13th.’ It’s all about Jason.”
After the success of 2003’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” Platinum Dunes producers Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller reunited with Nispel to bring a new “Friday the 13th” to the screen.
“Because `The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ was so successful,” notes Fuller, “Michael and Drew and I sat down and said, `Are there any other titles that we loved when we were growing up?’ That’s when `Friday the 13th’ came into our minds.”
“We all felt it would be great to take the character of Jason Voorhees and bring him back to the screen,” adds Form.
“We are horror fans first and producers second and we all grew up with and loved the `Friday the 13th’ films,” informs Fuller. “They were fantastic and a lot of fun in their own way. They really created a subgenre within the horror genre that struck a cord with audiences. So when you are presented with the opportunity to make a movie like this, it’s impossible to say no if you truly are a fan.”
Fuller expounds, “The greatest thing about the films was the experience of sitting in a theater with other people and being scared out of my mind. I went to a summer camp in Maine and one of the big reasons most people get so scared watching the films is because so many of us have had a summer camp experience or have gone camping.”
The Legacy…
On Friday, June 13, 1958, two Camp Crystal Lake counselors slip away from the campfire gathering of friends for an illicit rendezvous, where they are discovered and murdered by an unseen assailant. More than two decades later, the refurbished camp is preparing to reopen. The town loon warns that “Camp Blood,” as he calls it, has a death curse, but the caretaker and his young counselors ignore the mysterious lore, only to be gruesomely murdered by Pamela Voorhees, a woman whose young son, Jason, drowned in 1957. Only one counselor would survive to tell the tale of their 24-hour nightmare of terror that shocked and horrified audiences in the 1980 film “Friday the 13th.”
The stark, in-your-face violence of the movie broke the mold as one of the forerunners of a new and different age of horror film and quickly became an instant classic as well as a box office sensation. The subsequent franchise, one of the highest-grossing horror franchises of all time, expanded beyond the big screen to include a television show, novels, comic books, video games and more. The film’s iconic villain and the visage of his trademark hockey mask became part of modern pop culture. Platinum Dunes producing partners Bay, Form and Fuller felt the franchise was ripe for revamping.
A Re-imagining…
A dynamic force on the set of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” director Marcus Nispel has a unique creative process that “really worked the first time,” recalls Fuller. “Marcus has a great sense of style and by re-teaming with cinematographer Daniel Pearl, we all felt that the movie was going to have a unique, beautiful, rich look.”
Fuller continues, “Marcus completely understands the timing of the scare, probably better than anyone else today. It may not seem like a complex thing, but it’s like a comedy director who knows exactly where to put the joke. He also infuses the film with frenetic energy.”
“I said to them, `Whatever you do, bring the fun back and find a way to incorporate an underground system for Jason to operate from,’” explains Nispel. “I liked that idea because I don’t think summer camps in general are particularly scary in this day and age-you needed something more.”
“Friday the 13th” is the producing team’s seventh title to date and, with all the horror genre success under their banner, Fuller and Form felt it was critical to find writers who were really connected to the franchise.
“We were very lucky that writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, who had written `Freddy vs. Jason,’ were excited to take the ride,” says Fuller. “We knew they cared as much about Jason and his legacy as we did and were confident that they would deliver a script that took all of the best elements of the first few films and combined them with some fresh, inventive stuff. They really nailed it.”
“When the script came in, I loved it,” comments Nispel. “It’s still the same terrifying Jason, only they reveal aspects that hadn’t been shown so far.”
For screenwriters Shannon and Swift, revamping one of the most recognizable horror villains ever meant going back to the franchise’s roots. “We felt it was important to go back to the basics and put Jason back in the woods again,” reveals Swift.
“Our idea was to make the story much grittier than in recent years, with a fast and loose Jason like never seen before,” adds Shannon. “We wanted to make him someone who was actually in the woods surviving off the land like a real human being would.”
“We wanted the character to be territorial, like a hunter,” injects Shannon. “It’s not like he’s just going around killing people randomly. If you invade his territory, he’s going to protect his turf and you’re going to pay an awful price.”
Nispel appreciated the writers’ respectful take. “They would never refer to Jason as the monster or the villain. He is the anti-hero. And that is what draws me to these kinds of characters. I’m not generally that interested in supernatural characters. What’s scary for me is that somebody like Leatherface or Jason could be my neighbor.”
For Shannon and Swift, as well as the filmmakers, one of the biggest challenges in writing and developing the screenplay was deciding where to start the film and what to include from the 11 previous films.
“It’s a lot of pressure to re-launch a franchise like this because you really have two different audiences to please.” says Fuller. “There are the fans who already know the stories and are going to come to see it because of the curiosity factor. Then you have to try to also capture those who weren’t necessarily fans of the title, but who love a good horror film. We felt that a way to serve both those audiences was to give them something they haven’t seen before, but also tie it in with iconic moments from the original films.”
Continue Reading and View the Theatrical Trailer
Friday, the 13th (2009)
Directed by: Marcus Nispel
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Derek Mears, Amanda Righetti, Danielle Panabaker, Travis Van Winkle, Aaron Yoo, Adam Finberg, Nick Mennell, Jonathan Sadowski, Nana Visitor
Screenplay by: Damian Shannon, Mark Swift
Production Design by: Jeremy Conway
Cinematography by: Daniel Pearl
Film Editing by: Ken Blackwell
Costume Design by: Marian Ceo
Art Direction by: John Frick
Music by: Steve Jablonsky
MPAA Rating: R for language and sexual content.
Studio: New Line Cinema
Release Date: February 13, 2009
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