10 Terrifying Moments In Terrible Horror Movies

3. The Opening - Friday The 13th (2009)

House of Wax Paris Hilton
Paramount

What was that about Platinum Dunes, you ask?

Are we done discussing overpaid music video producer Michael Bay’s ill-fated foray into remaking classic horrors of earlier eras? Of course not!

It may be a decade since their last cinematic outing, but we’re still a bit bitter about what Bay’s production company did to the legacy of our boy Jason Voorhees, so hear us out here. From casting the worst Gilmore Girls boyfriend as its lead through to wasting Disturbia’s Aaron Yoo in a thankless supporting role, the 2009 redo of Friday the 13th has little going for it beyond being a great way to annoy fans of the franchise by reminding them this scare-free dud exists.

Except—the film’s two opening sequences (what a good sign, when a film starts twice) are actually stellar distillations of what makes the series so solid, eschewing any attempts at building tension or anything resembling character development in favour of quickly recapping Mrs Voorhees’ gory end before introducing some unlikeable teens—and immediately brutally offing them all. It’s a bracing shock which gives us better Jason action than anything in the film that follows, and is worth watching as a short film version of the original—just turn it off after the first twenty minutes.

In this post: 
house-of-wax
 
Posted On: 
Contributor

Cathal Gunning hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.