Reel Critic:

Does the free world really need another “Friday the 13th” movie? That’s the question I asked myself as I entered my sold-out theater on a perfect night to see a scary movie. Since the slasher flick opened No. 1 at the box office, the terrifying answer is, yes.

“Friday the 13th” is a remake/revision of the 1980 film of the same name. This latest incarnation is a slickly made tribute to the original and the 1981 sequel. The new release tells the complete story of Jason Voorhees and his unfortunate drowning as a youth at Camp Crystal Lake. Jason’s mother always blamed the camp counselors and vowed to never let anyone have fun at the camp for the rest of eternity. Almost 30 years after the original, Jason and his mother are still scaring moviegoers one death at a time.

I typically don’t like remakes of horror films, but I watched this production with an open mind about the film and my blind date. My date was much more captivating than the movie, but “Friday the 13th” still provided a decent shock to our system.

The plot and dialogue are straight out of the horror movie handbook.

The characters are the most stereotypical I’ve seen in a long time, and hopefully this was done as an inside joke, similar to the “Scream” movies of the late 1990s. The cast of victims Jason slaughters are some of the most gorgeous people in Hollywood, but don’t expect any subtle performances from this ensemble.

One actress did stand out from the crowd, and her name is Julianna Guill. Compared with the others, her performance as Bree was very revealing. This young starlet is the one cast member who really comes out on top in my mind, and I expect big things from her in the future. I was sad to see her beautiful face die on screen, but her career is far from dead.

Another standout is Derek Mears. He’s the actor behind the hockey mask. Derek breathes new life into the iconic character, Jason, by giving the serial killer superhero speed and strength. As hard as it is for me to say, this version of Jason would have easily defeated Freddy Krueger in the 2003 film, “Freddy vs. Jason.” In a few years, I’m sure they’ll remake that movie, and I’ll probably write the review.