Friday the 13th (2009) (R, 2009)

common sense media says

Horror remake isn't for anyone, let alone teens.


parents & educators say
  • 53% say sexual content is an issue
  • 44% say violence is an issue

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this slasher remake is a never-ending series of bloody, brutal, violent murders perpetrated by a mutilated sociopath. There are several explicit sex scenes, as well as scenes that mingle sexuality and violence -- like when a topless woman is knifed through the head with a machete. And as if all that weren't enough, characters swear nonstop, drink, and discuss and use drugs (particularly marijuana). The fact that all the pot-smoking characters wind up dead shouldn't be considered incisive social commentary, since those who don't partake wind up dead, too.

Positive messages: No positive messages. The movie plays up traditional slasher movie stereotypes in which spoiled, drug-taking, sexed-up teens get brutally killed.
Positive role models: No positive role models here ... although one character does sacrifice everything to find his missing sister.
Violence: Constant, bloody, and brutal violence. A woman is tied in a sleeping bag and hoisted over a fire to be burned alive. Multiple machete stabbings, slashings, and slayings; blood spurts from slit throat. Decapitations, with severed heads and neck-stumps shown in detail. A man is pierced through the head with an arrow. A topless woman hiding in the water under a dock is stabbed from above through the top of her head with a machete and raised up so her breasts are visible at the moment of her death. A man is stabbed through the eye and pinned to a door with a fireplace poker. A man is struck by a hurled axe. A man is dragged into a tree shredder by a chain wrapped around his neck. Extensive depiction of victims' bloody remains.
Sex: Multiple sex scenes with nude breasts and buttocks shown; extensive discussion of sexual acts, positions, and body parts; a woman water skis topless and is then killed with a machete (while still topless). Suggestive dancing.
Language: A ceaseless barrage of foul language, including multiple uses of "f--k," "s--t," "ass," "piss," "p---y," "t-ts," "bulls--t," "whacking off," "blowjob," "a--hole," "dick," "crap," "Jesus Christ," and more.
Consumerism: Heineken, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Aquafina are mentioned by name; Moet champagne and Cadillac vehicles are obvious product placement.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: References to and depictions of marijuana and marijuana smoking (using
bongs, bowls, and joints). Characters drink beer, wine, champagne, and
hard liquor to excess and play drinking games.

More on Friday the 13th (2009)

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
  • Families can talk about the appeal of "slasher" films like the Friday the 13th series. Why are they so popular (and profitable)?
  • What draws us to scary, violent movies? What's the impact of seeing so many violent acts?
  • Why do you think these films feel the need to equate sexuality with violence?
  • Why would a studio remake a film as trivial and empty as the original, anyway?

What's the story?

What's the story?
A remake and re-launch of the notorious '80s horror series, FRIDAY THE 13th takes place years after a camping accident that saw a young boy drown -- and his mother murder the counselors who failed to watch him. But the boy actually lived and now stalks the area around the camp, slaughtering any "outsiders" who stumble across his path. Which doesn't bode well for the group of spoiled vacationing kids who meet up with a man (Jared Paladecki) desperately seeking his missing sister. ... Soon the whole gang is being stalked, picked off, and killed by the murderous, masked Jason.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 

Friday the 13th is simultaneously disgusting and tiresome. Disgusting because it relies so heavily on images of slaughtered, chopped-up human beings and cheap jolts; tiresome because it's literally more of the same, returning to a film series that's already had more than a dozen sequels and spin-offs since 1980. Sure, there's a certain sick thrill in watching Jason in those earlier films -- when the idea of the silent, masked killer as unrelenting as death itself had some novelty -- but now it's just a cynical retread of a familiar idea. Modern films like Scream mock slasher conventions while delivering them, while those like Funny Games use the horror genre to play wicked mind games. Friday the 13th just offers more of the same.

Also damaging Friday the 13th is the fierce lack of any sense of invention in the storytelling or plot -- instead, we get advances in special effects that make death-by-arrow and machete-induced throat-cutting more "lifelike." Friday the 13th spurts blood red, but it's designed to earn green money with violence, sex, and recycled plotlines. A horror film should be tough, but not cynical; Friday the 13th is weary, greedy, and contemptuous of its audience.

Movie themes & details

Movie Details
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director: Marcus Nispel
Cast: Amanda Righetti, Danielle Panabaker, Jared Padalecki
Genre: Horror
Run time: 97 minutes
Theatrical release: February 13, 2009
DVD release: June 16, 2009
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, language and drug material
Watch our review

This review was written by James Rocchi
 
 

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What parents & educators say

14
Based on 32 parent & educator reviews:
  • 53% say sexual content is an issue
  • 44% say violence is an issue
  • 41% say language is an issue
  • 41% say there's too much drinking, drugs, or smoking

Most useful reviews by all members

 
Friday the 13th
Didn't care to much for the theatrical version, but I loved the Killer cut extended edition. 99.9% of the crap on television is more disturbing than this picture. ALL KIDS SHOULD GO AND RENT THE "KILLER CUT" on Blue-ray. It's the parents of todays generation keeping them in a bubble and spoiling them. Not letting them grow up and experience life for themselves, not allowing them to fail. "Everyone has to pass and succeed" It's this very attitude that has weakened this country as a whole! The Friday the 13th franchise has done more for the religious right in this country than "Jesus" ever has. Yet, Moms of america keep protesting these films or tell other people not to see them. It's "morally wrong","drug use","sex","bad language" and there were no "good role models". Well, I was under the impression that the parents were supposed to be the role models. Not Movies, pop stars, actors, sports figures, or "The Bible"! Parents in this country need to wake up to the real world we actually are living in today! More actual real blood has been spilt over the Bible, Qu-ran, and the Torah than there's ever been in a Friday film! These movies teach kids and teens alike to survive no matter what the cost! To believe in yourself, never give up, and fight back until you can't fight anymore! To look death in the face and not be afraid! That's all we are in this country anymore, "is afraid". We as a people are scared to death in the age of terrorism! Personally, I started watching horror films when I was 4 years old. I turned out fine, and I have succeeded in almost every task I've set my mind to. College graduate, 4 years active duty Marine, honorably discharged, and now I am a public servant. It was because of my father allowing me to see films like these that made me realize at a very young age, that unless your rich "life is hard and painful". Most of it is an uphill climb that you can never back down from, especially from a guy in a hockey mask!

Brandon4News
teen, 15 years old
 
It won't bother many teens, but it's highly inappropriate.
Violence- 10/10 Sexual Content- 10/10 Language- 10/10 Drinking, drugs, smoking- 10/10 Bad Role Models- 8/10 Overall Quality- 3.5/10

post it note 123
teen, 15 years old
 
common sense, please understand kids these days.
I am 12 ok. It's not even scary. I am scared of a lot of stuff, but not this movie. Common sense, you overrate alot. My stepdad took me to see this. I absolutely loved it. I've already heard and seen everything in this movie.(BEFORE I WAS EVEN IN THE THEATRE)Kids today are exposed to a lot more. To the people who said parents aren't listening, PARENTS ARE. They just don't care because they KNOW that their kids are going to know most of that stuff anyways. So I really loved it. I liked it better than the first one. Kids, go and see it if you want. No one under 11 though. =]

 
Awsome!
I love watching slasher films and it doesn't scare me at all! (im only 12) (i have pretty much seen every thing by the way)

blastgun1
kid, 12 years old
 
Pause for all ages
I loved it! Though sexual stuff is bad, people swear nonstop, Jason kills almost like ,12 teens. A boy goes searching for his ost sister, and a girl helps him even though her friends hate him. If you do not believe I saw it, in the beggining they are looking for majorina, and 5 teens get killed brutaly and jason leaves whinny to live, in the middle, and groupd of teens come and jason start killing them, then at the end, they kill jason, throw him into a lake, but he comes back alive

littlemonster98
teen, 13 years old
 
Soooooo inappropriate!! Not for kids at all! Only for adults!!!
SO violent and loaded with sex!!! Not for kids!

baseballguy1414
kid, 11 years old
 
adults ONLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
This movie is so gory and has a lot of sex and nude.

ipodfan2000
parent of 14 year old
 
Friday The 13th- Beyond Scary
Wow!!!!! I'm so not surprised yet another bloody, gory slasher movie with tons of profanity such as many uses of the worst words that you could ever imagine, the role models are terrible (let alone the fact they came to the camp to find weed to sell and smoke. Multiple nudity scenes such as a woman stripping at a campfire, a topless woman water boarding at a lake, and much more. the profanity is beyond"off" if their was a button that said "not in a million years" i would press that button.

Nothingtodo2
kid, 11 years old
 
B. A. D.
This is the worst movie I ever saw. Yes I have seen it. To Prove it Here is the seen where Jason got started. "Old man stops looking at playboys to hear a strange noise in the attic" etc. This is NOT a kids movie.

Abigail Belting
kid, 11 years old
 
very bad move (have not watched)

Greg Foltynowicz
teen, 14 years old
 
Very bloody and scary!

 
NO teens should see this movie.
I personally liked it. lol im 14

vanilla cupcake
kid, 10 years old
 
no kids at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
my friend saw it i havent though and he said there is constant sexual conten and violence. beer and wine drinkind and loads of violence.he would recomen this to 30 and older. also there are alot of uses of f...k and s..t just to warn you parents.

JesseLeethecritic
kid, 13 years old
 
gayest, plothole-ful movie
Because it almost comes up to the edge to older kids. And it also has horrific plot holes. I recommend it for ladies and gentlemen 17 and over

Media9
kid, 8 years old
 
Hate it
I did not watched it yet but it does have a lot of kissing.......

 
GASP
No one should see this, unless you're a sick psychopath who enjoy's this horror. Parent's and Children, beware of this horror.

Bart700
teen, 17 years old
 
i rather buy candy
worst friday the 13h ever i spen 25 $ on this c**p

filmlover123
teen, 14 years old
 
The movie has a great title, unlucky for anyone to see it
This new version of the classic 1980's horror film is like multiplying the violence of the original by 3. There are people getting shot in the head, somebody gets a screwdriver jammed into his throat as he coughs up an increasing amount of blood in a prolonged sequence, a man has an axe thrown into his back and is pushed down so the axe comes through his chest, a girl is put inside a sleeping bag, tid up, and hung upside down over a fire, and a man has his leg caught in a bear trap that exposes bone and muscle, with his head chopped open moments later If that weren't enough, there is also a stream of profanity throughout along with multiple sex scenes wth nudity Do us a favor and skip this one

davidguitar15. ...
teen, 17 years old
 
Awesome movie but not for kids....lots of nude scenes and gore and strong language

death743p
parent of 10 year old
 
great for gore but not for sex or drugs
this is the best movie for gore but not for sex or drugs

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ON: Content is appropriate for kids this age.
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