When Halloween H20 went into development in the late 1990s, fans were surprised to learn that the movie was a direct sequel to 1981’s Halloween II, ignoring all the sequels that had entertained audiences for a decade and a half since. Similarly, Friday the 13th opens with a retelling of the final moments of the original film, still set in 1980, and then flashes forward to present day. A second hand account of a large stash of marijuana plants growing in the Crystal Lake area brings a group of college aged kids to the area and the opening carnage begins. Months later, Clay Miller arrives, played by Supernatural’s Jared Padalecki, searching for his sister who was among the campers now missing from the Crystal Lake area. He runs across the current crop of victims heading to a lake house for a weekend of debauchery.

Clay’s canvassing of the area leads him to the home of an old woman who says that outsiders bother “him” and Clay's sister must be dead. She refuses to give more details and Clay now sets out to find out who lives in the woods, murdering outsiders. At the same time, the new batch of college kids fall into their predicable roles of slut, virgin, jerk, nerd, jock, friendly guy, and generic female character on hand for nudity, as they settle into the house and explore the area. While most are simple cookie-cutter characters, Lawrence and Chewie, played by Arlen Escarpeta and Aaron Yoo, have entertaining dialog and genuinely funny moments that make you wish that they might be able to live just a little longer than the rest. As the movie progresses, Clay is befriended by Jenna, played by Danielle Panabaker, and the two discover that Jason Voorhees has been living in deserted mine shafts under the camp and has imprisoned Clay’s sister Whitney, played by Amanda Righetti, because she bears a strong resemblance to Jason’s mother.

As a fan of the Friday the 13th franchise, I’ve seen every film numerous times and I know the formula. There are patterns of suspense and gore that every Friday the 13th film follows. All the characters, including Jason, act in predictable ways that fans of the series have come to know and expect, and similar situations play out again and again. While this film attempts to break out of some of those patterns in an effort to make it feel fresh, it also succeeds in making it feel like something other than a Friday the 13th movie in several spots. Clay and Jenna’s recon of the deserted camp emulates Jeepers Creepers and almost all of the scenes in Jason’s old house and mine shafts felt like missing reels from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. While I like both of those movies for what they are, they felt out of place here and made me less enthusiastic during those moments.

The most unfortunate reimagining of Jason’s murderous rampage comes from the moment when he obtains the iconic hockey mask that movie-goers have feared and championed since its first appearance in 1982’s Friday the 13th Part 3. Originally, a prankster teen wears the mask to freak out his friends and Jason dons it after killing him in order to confuse the rest. Here, Jason merely finds it in a pile of junk after the sack he’s been using to hide his face gets torn apart. It’s the horror equivalent of King Arthur finding Excalibur by the side of the road while out for an afternoon stroll. It’s a shame because it happens as Jason is gearing up for his rampage and could’ve been a turning point in the pace and tone of the film.

Other small annoyances and stupid logic pop-up during the film. How does Jason pay for all the electricity he uses? Why can’t the cops seem to be able to follow the same trails and roads all the teens are finding? Why would Jason build an elaborate system of hidden doors and ladders in the mine shafts? These things are more frustrating because they tend to appear during the parts that don't work very well. The part that works the best is when Jason gets down to his bloody undertakings at the jerk’s parents’ lake house. Jason is allowed to stalk and kill like in every other film, hitting his familiar pattern of scares and kills that make slasher movie fans squeal with glee. If only this section of the film had been longer, I would’ve been more willing to let the out of place mine shaft and old camp sequences slide.

On the whole, I enjoyed the film more than I was expecting especially since it plays as a continuation of the first film and not a total revamp. The classic moments made me happy and the characters of Lawrence and Chewie will stand-up next to Crispin Glover’s Jimmy and Larry Zerner’s Shelly as franchise favorites. While it was a shame that the producers felt the need to ignore Kane Hodder and use Derek Mears in the role of Jason, Jason’s look was mostly unchanged and in line with Ken Kirzinger’s portrayal in Freddy Vs Jason. Even Steve Jablonsky’s score kept elements of Henry Manfredini’s themes alive and updated nicely. I just wish that the producers had tried a little harder to keep their vision in line with what worked best in the original films instead of needing to change thematic elements only for the sake of making changes.