Friday the 13th [Blu-Ray]

Friday the 13th is the latest horror franchise to be reanimated, with everyone's favourite hockey masked anti-hero last appearing on screen in 2003's oddball Freddie vs. Jason, with the last few films veering away from the "teens in the woods" scenario that defined the genre. The new Friday the 13th doesn't attempt to reinvent the wheel like Rob Zombie's resurrection of the Halloween franchise, nor does it up the brutality like The Hills Have Eyes or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboots. Instead we get a straightforward return to old-fashioned '80s slasher films, resulting in a movie that, although a slicker 21st century instalment, feels like it fits in with the rest of the Jason Voorhees canon. Without ruining what little story Friday the 13th has, a bunch of attractive, promiscuous, drug-abusing fools decide to vacation near the abandoned Camp Crystal Lake. Local resident and unstoppable machete killer Jason Voorhees, unhappy with their arrival, politely asks them to leave by brutally slaughtering them one by one. Fans may take exception to the new agile Jason, whose traditional determined march has evolved into a stiff jog, and those expecting over-the-top torture-porn carnage will be left scratching their severed heads at the seemingly tame old-school kills, but a simple and entertaining slasher flick is a welcome change in modern take-it-to-the-limit horror culture. The Blu-Ray features include a "Making of," a few additional scenes and alternate kills, interviews with the cast and crew about their first experience seeing a Friday the 13th movie and a picture-in-picture trivia track that's a great alternative to a run-of-the-mill commentary. Friday the 13th is popcorn horror at its purest; it won't scare or gross-out hardened horror fans but that's not the point. Just sit back, wait for the occasional boobies shot, yell at the screen when the characters wander off alone in the woods and cheer for the masked murderer when he does his job.