Friday the 13th (2009)Movie Reviews

Poster Art for "Friday the 13th."

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Avg. Critic Score: 34 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
17 not for kids
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    Entertainment Weekly |

    However, this film is (be)head and shoulders above the recently reanimated likes of "Prom Night" and "My Bloody Valentine." Read full review

  • 60
    The New York Times | Nathan Lee

    There's an itch for this kind of material, and here it is scratched -- to the bone. Read full review

  • 50
    The Hollywood Reporter | Michael Rechtshaffen

    It's business as usual at Camp Crystal Lake, with very little in the way of fresh jolts or an innovative visual style that would have really revitalized the hokey franchise. Read full review

  • 50
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    About the best Friday the 13th movie you could hope for. Its technical credits are excellent. It has a lot of scary and gruesome killings. Not a whole lot of acting is required. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety |

    As in his "Chainsaw" remake, Nispel's scare tactics amount to little more than carefully timed cattle-prod shocks, aided by high-volume speaker blasts that were beyond the budgetary reach of the early '80s films. Read full review

  • 38
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    While it's billed as a "re-imagining" of the horror franchise, this Friday is more like a rehash, delivering just what you expect and nothing more. Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post |

    Michael Bay is destroying horror films by exhuming the genre's standard-bearers, stripping them of genuine terror, refusing to either re-create faithfully or reimagine boldly, and upping the irony until the original concept stands rigid like a taxidermied grizzly, its teeth bared but its presence, most of all, sad. Read full review

  • 25
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    The movie might have worked if it winked more - or if it played things completely straight. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle | Peter Hartlaub

    The reboot of the "Friday the 13th" series is a pretty big mess - not particularly scary or interesting or even gory by 21st century movie standards. Read full review

  • 20
    Los Angeles Times |

    Not fun, louder than it is scary, not even all that gory, this new Friday the 13th has Jason, all right, but otherwise it's missing nearly everything that made the original films work. Read full review

View more reviews for Friday the 13th (2009) on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says not for kids Horror remake isn't for anyone, let alone teens.
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.
  • 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?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: No positive messages. The movie plays up traditional slasher movie stereotypes in which spoiled, drug-taking, sexed-up teens get brutally killed.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: No positive role models here ... although one character does sacrifice everything to find his missing sister.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 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 false5 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 false5 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 false2 Consumerism: Heineken, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Aquafina are mentioned by name; Moet champagne and Cadillac vehicles are obvious product placement.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false4 Drinking, drugs and 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.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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