Friday the 13th

This ‘Extended Cut’ of the most recent Friday film is rather more satisfying than the alternate theatrical version, which makes me wonder why they didn’t just release this in theatres in the first place.

I’m as big a Jason fan as the next guy, but I was sorely disappointed when Friday the 13th hit cinemas earlier this year. The film, if I’m really honest was full of vapid, annoying caricatures that were either there to get naked or try and make us laugh. Quite frankly, it was insulting. We’re talking one star stuff here.

Whilst this version doesn’t differ too much, it adds a little bit more meat to the bones and gives more screen time to the best characters (Clay, Jenna and Whitney).

Another aspect which was much improved upon here was a couple of the death scenes. Whilst Chelsea had (and still holds the record for) the best death in the theatrical version, Trent gets his comeuppance and then some here.

Whilst I thought the film looked great in terms of its colour palette and lighting on the big screen, Daniel C. Pearl (who is fast in danger of becoming the worst cinematographer ever after AvP) obviously didn’t think about small screen viewing, as some moments were far too dark to make out (e.g. the chase through the tunnels and onto the bus).

OVERALL SUMMARY
The film fares much better on DVD than I had expected, but it’s never going to be better than the Dunes remake of TCM no matter how many changes they make.