Horror remakes on the rampage

With 'Friday the 13th' reboot, students weigh in on the trend

By Travis Bourassa

Posted on Feb. 12, 2009, at 12:00 a.m.

Two scantily clad teenagers run for their lives through a dark and dense forest. One of them, a buxom girl, snags her tank-top on a tree branch. Knowing that the “Hockey Mask Killer” is merely steps behind her, she rips her shirt from the branch, exposing her firm midriff. She continues running in terror.

This description is not unique to any specific horror film. It’s a situation audiences have seen before. This week, the situation will play out again when New Line Cinema releases “Friday the 13th,” a re-imagining of the popular franchise.

The series has gained a cult following since its beginning in 1980. The original film launched 10 sequels, a spin-off television series, comic books, toys and video games.

Erin Burbank, 21, a University of Maine fourth-year studio art student, loves to be scared. She watches most horror films when they come to theaters; the new “Friday the 13th” is no exception.

“I’ll see it, not because I’m a huge fan, but because it’s a new generation of filmmakers. I’m interested to see what they’ll do with it,” Burbank said.

A rebooted film ignores the series’ canon and retells its lore in a new way. It is a technique Hollywood studios seem to covet; in 2007, Rob Zombie restarted the “Halloween” series. Next year, Freddy Krueger will be reborn in a new “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

Owen Young, a 26-year-old senior student and filmmaker, thinks “Friday the 13th” has remained popular because of the franchise’s main villain, Jason Voorhees.

“He’s an icon. You want to see it because you grew up on it,” Young said. “The new movies don’t have a good bad guy.”

Rooting for the baddie is a unique trait in horror audiences; watching the killer hack and slash his way through the film is half the fun.

Ryan Page has been rooting for the bad guy since he was 12 years old. Page, a 19-year-old new media student and self-proclaimed horror aficionado, estimated spending between $1,000 and $2,000 on horror DVDs and VHS tapes, many of which are remakes and sequels of his favorites. Page is willing to give sequels a chance.

“Even if it’s bad, there’s still something good about it. If a horror movie fails, it can still be funny or really explicit,” Page said.

In other words, the failure of a horror film can be just as entertaining as its success. Some horror films have built a cult following based on cheap special effects, poor timing and weak acting.

“Troll 2,” a video from one of Page’s six movie shelves, is just one example.

“‘Troll 2′ was better than the first, only because it was a terrible movie,” Page said. He plans on watching the new “Friday the 13th” for the same reason.

“I have no hope that it’ll be a good movie,” Page said.

Restarting a series also allows producers to drop the telltale, cumbersome sequel indicator from the film’s title.

“A lot of people expect a ‘Friday the 13th’ part 18, 19 or 20. They’ll think it’s a rehash of the original. When they reboot the series, it’s more sellable,” Page said.

The “Friday the 13th” series runs on the traditional horror movie formula: A masked killer terrorizes a group of teens until all but one of them is dead. Previews for the new release promise much more of the same. What keeps horror audiences excited about sequels and remakes?

“It’s the kill count and the gore,” Young said.

While death tolls, cultural icons and pure cheesiness attract many viewers, some people watch horror movies for an old-fashioned scare.

“I love the feeling of relief you get once the movie is over,” Burbank said.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 12th, 2009, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.