Tagline: Welcome to Crystal Lake.
Welcome back to Crystal Lake in a chilling re-imagining of the classic horror film “Friday the 13th.” Searching for his missing sister, Clay heads up to the eerie woods of legendary Crystal Lake where he stumbles on the creaky remains of rotting old cabins that lie in wait behind moss-covered trees. And that’s not the only thing hiding under the brush. Against the advice of police and cautions from the locals, Clay pursues what few leads he has with the help of a young woman he meets among a group of college kids up for an all-thrills weekend. But they are about to find much more than they bargained for.
Little do they know, they’ve entered the domain of one of the most terrifying specters in American film history – the infamous killer who haunts Crystal Lake armed with a razor-sharp machete… Jason Voorhees.
About the Production
“What you do when you make a movie like this is ask yourself, `What is it about the mythology that makes people want to watch it over and over again?’” says director Marcus Nispel. “Then you make sure you give them what they want, but not exactly what they expect. That’s what makes it fun.”
“Jason Voorhees, Darth Vader, Freddy Krueger… there are a few villains that just stick with you,” states star Jared Padalecki. “You’re interested in what they’ll do next, what other havoc can they wreak. Even if you haven’t seen the movies, you’ve heard of them, you’ve heard of `Friday the 13th.’ It’s all about Jason.”
After the success of 2003’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” Platinum Dunes producers Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller reunited with Nispel to bring a new “Friday the 13th” to the screen.
“Because `The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ was so successful,” notes Fuller, “Michael and Drew and I sat down and said, `Are there any other titles that we loved when we were growing up?’ That’s when `Friday the 13th’ came into our minds.”
“We all felt it would be great to take the character of Jason Voorhees and bring him back to the screen,” adds Form.
“We are horror fans first and producers second and we all grew up with and loved the `Friday the 13th’ films,” informs Fuller. “They were fantastic and a lot of fun in their own way. They really created a subgenre within the horror genre that struck a cord with audiences. So when you are presented with the opportunity to make a movie like this, it’s impossible to say no if you truly are a fan.”
Fuller expounds, “The greatest thing about the films was the experience of sitting in a theater with other people and being scared out of my mind. I went to a summer camp in Maine and one of the big reasons most people get so scared watching the films is because so many of us have had a summer camp experience or have gone camping.”
Read the Full Production Notes
Friday, the 13th
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Derek Mears, Amanda Righetti, Danielle Panabaker, Travis Van Winkle, Aaron Yoo, Adam Finberg, Nick Mennell, Jonathan Sadowski, Nana Visitor
Directed by: Marcus Nispel
Screenplay by: Damian Shannon, Mark Swift
Release Date: February 13, 2009
MPAA Rating: R for language and sexual content.
Studio: New Line Cinema
Box Office Totals
Domestic: $65,000,874 (72.6%)
Foreign: $24,570,684 (27.4%)
Total: $89,571,558 (Worldwide)