In 2009, in regards to the horror genre, one has to ask if Jason is really up to speed with today’s current level of slasher villain. Back in 1980 when he was first introduced, the mainstream slasher film was in the early days of cheap blood and guts special effects. A knife in the head was still a shocking image. But now in 2009 when computer-generated gore has people exploding and getting ripped in half very realistically and effortlessly, is some big guy with an axe the scariest thing in the world? We have movies like Hostel, Saw, High Tension, Grindhouse, and Rob Zombie’s flicks that have redefined the evil psychopath for a jaded culture that is not shocked any more by a guy in a hockey mask with mommy issues.
Now, having said that, this isn’t such a terrible movie. It’s miles above the previous 5 or 6 Jason movies at least and it’s good to see a franchise like this shake off the Z-grade stigma it had built up with “Jason takes Manhattan” and other such crap, in a very similar way that Rob Zombie reinvented the Halloween film for a more twisted and ugly world. If you like these kind of slasher flicks, or just want some nostalgia for your misbegotten youth, this is worth a look.
