To say that Friday the 13th has all the cliché elements of a standard slasher film (that even the most dense of film-goers come to expect) would be a great understatement. But to say that I didn't have a great time watching the iconic hockey-masked killer Jason Vorhees take out some lustful, drug and alcohol abusing Abercrombie and Fitch template teens would be a complete lie. To make this even more clear: I hate horror movies, and I had a hell of a time with this hybrid sequel/reboot. Unfortunately because of the nature of this film, my review is filled with spoilers. So reader beware...

Friday the 13th isn't exactly a complete re-imagination of the original and now staple horror franchise. The story of this 2009 update begins where the first left off, and while it's not necessary, I wholly recommend that you see the original before you check this one out. If you haven't seen the original Friday the 13th by now, then it's completely your fault for not knowing that the killer in the first film is not the hockey-mask clad killer we all know today, but rather his mother. Jason is simply the now grown-up young boy who died at Camp Crystal Lake due to the now expected irresponsible behavior of the camp counselors who allowed Jason to drown. His killing spree begins after he sees his murderous mother killed by the Final Girl at the conclusion of the original film.

Fortunately this information is giving to us in the form of a re-creation of this final scene. The action is cross cut with the opening credits, and either the woman playing Mrs. Vorhees (Nana Visitor) is a great impressionist, or the audio from Betsy Palmer's 1980 performance was used for her voice. Jason sees the Final Girl cut off Mrs. Vorhees head, leaving Jason only with a picture necklace of his mother, and a rage to take out on unsuspecting teenage campers.

Flash forward 20 years, and some fresh teen blood is looking for some prime marijuana for these five campers to sell back home. Unfortunately this heavenly stash of herb is within Jason's territory at Camp Crystal Lake. No time is wasted in the drinking and sex romps with female nudity abound, and it's just as little time it takes for Jason to make his first kill. The next 20 minutes are very intense.

Jason moves right on to take out the couple sexing it up in the tent. Jason moves on with more terror as he targets a couple exploring the abandoned cabin that Jason occupied as a young boy. He succeeds in taking out the guy, as the female half of this couple, Whitney (Amanda Righetti) runs away from the cabin and back to the campsite where she finds her struggling friend with his leg stuck in a bear trap. Sure enough Jason shows up out of nowhere, dispenses with the guy. And at this point, we have our Final Girl and this movie seems like it's only going to be 30 minutes long. As Whitney tries to escape, Jason runs up on her, raising his machete and swinging down and then - cut to black, fade in title: Friday the 13th. I love it.

And here is where the movie begins just as every other slasher movie does. There's a group of good looking kids heading off on a camping trip/vacation full of bad decisions. We're introduced to the mostly unfamiliar cast Danielle Panabaker (Sky High), Travis Van Winkle (Megan Fox's boy-toy from Transformers), Aaron Yoo (Shia LeBeouf's sidekick from Disturbia) Julianna Guill (slutty girl), Arlen Escarpeta (token black guy, but with a self-aware twist), Ryan Hansen, and former almost-one-hit-wonder Willa Ford, singer of the song "I Wanna Be Bad." All of the cast does their job as eye candy and douche bag teens that you just want to see get massacred. This is perfectly fine because I don't want character development, I just want them to die.

The characters that we're really supposed to care about become Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki) as he's looking for his sister Whitney who has been missing for a month and a half, and the only character out of the hormone crazed vacationing teens who takes an interest: Jenna (Danielle Panabaker). It's not surprise with this story, that Whitney is still alive (the excuse being that she looks like the picture of Jason's mother in the aforementioned picture locket). This is an interesting plot device, and makes the other characters all the more disposable (though there are a couple surprises as to who lives and dies). These surprises combined with the expected orchestral rises in deceptively not scary scenes, and inexplicable sudden appearances of Jason behind the victims make for some good times.

This movie isn't going to win any awards obviously (with lines like "Where are you, gun?!") but the film delivers exactly what people wanted to see (surely the film's release actually on Friday the 13th of February helped, but over $40 million is still a hefty take). The establishment of Jason's character is quick, and maybe even a little sloppy, but a couple cool elements like the introduction of the hockey mask and a couple tongue in cheek moments (mostly involving the token black guy) really give this film a fun flare. This is a movie to watch late at night with a group of friends and just leave your brain at the door. My personal fun was all the more highlighted by a decorated theater complete with bloody tent, and costumed Jason Vorhees who walked through the theater during the beginning of the movie. I won't see movies like The Uninvited or The Unborn, but I'll take another Friday the 13th anyday.