Movie Evolution - Friday the 13th 2009 Premiere

Yesterday I attended the premiere of the Friday the 13th remake at the Chinese Grauman Theatre.  From the title of this post, you may have expected me to talk about how horror movies have evolved and now are incorporating profound, thought provoking dialogue, amazing cinematography, and stellar directing.  The truth is, the remake of Friday the 13th is still the slasher film that borders on cheesiness that we all expected it to be.

The remake actually combine the first 3 original Friday the 13ths.  In the first opening sequence you see Jason’s mom being murdered, then it moves into present day.  The intro to the movie is actually a little too long.  I thought we were into the movie 10-15 minutes in, then all of a sudden the movie title pops up.  The rest of the movie is a complete rewrite.  Jason didn’t get his infamous hockey mask until the 3rd movie.  We didn’t even see him in the first movie.  The 2nd movie had Jason running around with his face covered in bandages.  In this movie he started out in bandages but quickly found that hockey mask halfway through the movie.  There actually was an odd character change they had with Jason…he actually let someone live and help them prisoner.  That whole aspect of the movie made me feel like I was watching scenes from The Hills Have Eyes remakes!

The evolution I speak of is how the movie parallels our cultural evolution.  Though many movies use “Present Day” as a time stamp, it’s obvious with older movies what year they were made.  Wardrobe and props paint this picture for us. 

Just as technology and culture has evolved in the past 30 years, so does the technology and culture in the movies.  In this film, the characters all had cell phones.  There were several scenarios that played on jokes of this time such as a scene where everyone in the scene was using their cell phone at the same time - A common joke in today’s world.  The kids also had GPS systems and used language and behavior of these times.  Even Marijuana, though prevalent back in the 70s, had a large “role” in this movie due to the growing tolerance this nation has for the weed.  Still, it wouldn’t be Friday the 13th without some good ole fashion T&A, which it had plenty of.  So some things never change!

In the end the movie was entertaining.  What can you expect from a slasher flic?  I will say, being there for the premiere added to the experience as this crowd was exceptionally candid in screaming and laughing throughout the film.  It made it a lot of fun to watch.  Just in time for Valentine’s Day.  Guys take your girl to see this!! ;-)

Update on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 03:26PM by Luis Guajardo

On a side note…I know many of these actors invite their family to the premiere being that they aren’t “Big Time” and this movie was probably a big deal for them.  Do the girls get uncomfortable when they are exposing themselves and depicting themselves as on-screen sluts as they are sitting right next to their Mom??  I wonder…

Can You Survive the Outbreak?

About 25 years ago, on Halloween Night, I was at my Grandma’s house.  My uncle was only 16 years older than me, so he and his friends were going out to some party.  My Grandma was upstairs in her bedroom sewing and I was playing with my toys.  My uncle and his friends left the house in a rush and left the TV on in the living room.  I wandered into the living room and watched as zombies ravaged a little farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere.  There began my strange obsession with zombie movies, and horror movies in general.  Night of the Living Dead was one of the first horror movies I had ever seen.  I’m sure there are many of you that share this strange obsession.  Welcome to the future of horror:  The Outbreak.  Check out the trailer, then I’ll tell you a little more:

www.survivetheoutbreak.com

When you enter the website your are immediately placed in the middle of a movie with a group of people running from flesh-eating zombies.  At certain points in the story you are prompted to click between different scenarios (i.e. Leave the House or Stay in the House).  As you make your way towards the end of the short film, your previous choices will affect what storyline you experience.  At some points your choice will result in your death and you have to go back and start over (there also is a chapter select button on the bottom in the player control panel that will actually draw out a scene tree for you to see the progress and the result you came up with).  I think this is a fascinating idea for a movie/website.  I wonder how this could apply to the Hollywood Film Industry.

Once again I have to give a shout out to Freddy Nager for inspiring another blog.  You can check out his blog:  Cool Rules Pronto