Friday the 13th (2009)★★★★☆

It’s hard for me to tell if I liked this movie more than the original because it was a better movie or because it had a more familiar cast (but no Kevin Bacon), but whatever the reason, I did like it more. It’s got a decent cast, well done background music, and a couple of good one-liners.

This is another one of those remakes that’s more like a sequel than a remake, and one of those remakes that tries to be scarier or darker than its original, and in this case, both of these work. It feels more polished and sure of itself than the original.

Also, I thought the pacing of this one was much better than the original’s. I didn’t find myself yawning halfway through or wondering where all the murder was. There were a few over the top scenes but mostly this was a reasonably well done slasher film.

Or maybe I was just really excited to see Jared Padalecki in a scary movie again. It’s been weeks since I’ve gotten to write anything about him! He was as Jared Padalecki as ever.

You probably won’t learn anything new from this one and Jason probably still won’t haunt your dreams, but this is worth watching if slasher films are your thing.