YMMV / Friday the 13th (2009)

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • While Trent and Bree's sex scene normally gets viewed as cheating, it also has shades of Questionable Consent given that she drank a whole bottle of wine and at least a couple cans of beer earlier that afternoon, while Trent was sober and aware of how much she'd had to drink.
  • There's some debate about whether Trent and Jenna are merely members of the same social group and he wants to date her, they're casually dating, or they are in a sexual relationship. Their interactions leave some room for all three possibilities. This also makes it questionable whether Trent's fling with Bree is a case of cheating on Jenna or merely giving up on a sought-after relationship with her that he finally sees isn't happening; Jenna notably doesn't say anything about him cheating, though that may be because she has much bigger concerns.
• Base-Breaking Character: Trent. A lot of fans consider him to be an unbearably loathsome Asshole Victim and a Hate Sink with no redemptive qualities, but there's quite a few who find him hilariously douchey and to be one of the few interesting characters in the film. Travis Van Winkle's over the top performance certainly helps.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: A large part of the movie's reputation among the fanbase comes from having perhaps the two most drawn-out and explicit sex scenes in the franchise.
• Broken Base:
  • Being a reboot of a beloved franchise, this was inevitable. On one side, some fans deem it as one of the weakest entries in the series, criticizing the rather dumbed down and simplified plot/structure, weak characters, and an overall dislike of the modern late 2000’s setting. On the other side, there are fans who see it as a worthy entry in the series, with praise going towards the intense kills, legitimate scary moments with Jason, and a true return to form after previous entries strayed too far from the Friday formula. One thing that both detractors and defenders have agreed on, however, is that it did a better job capturing the feel of the franchise it’s rebooting unlike other contested and controversial horror film remakes & reboots.
  • Jenna's death. Many fans think it is an unexpected twist that was well engineered, toying with expectations that she would be the Final Girl in the film. Other fans think it's purely gratuitous shock and a waste of Danielle Panabaker's charisma.
• Cliché Storm: The most archetypical Friday film to date, though some felt that was the point after years worth of sequels that did the opposite of what the fans know the series for.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Trent cheating on his girlfriend with Bree isn't funny by itself, but the build up to it can elicit a laugh. Chewie steals some wine from Trent's shed and then spits it out, saying that the poor taste is Trent's karma for being a douchebag, only for a Gilligan Cut to show Bree (Chewie's Lust Object) and Trent about to start having sex.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Much of the cast is forgettable as usual, but there are plenty of entertaining characters.
  • The Plucky Comic Relief Chewie has been well-received by critics who gave this film both positive and negative reviews, some considering him to be one of the most likable characters on screen and having a memorable death.
  • Chewie’s best friend Lawrence is also fairly liked by fans, sometimes compared to Julius from Jason Takes Manhattan for his fast wits and willingness to look for his missing friend, even with a crazed hockey masked killer running around. His creepy death helps, too.
  • Jenna has been be so well-liked that most audiences wished her character survived instead of ultimately getting impaled. It was also thought that this role turns out to be actress Danielle Panabaker's Star-Making Role (coupled with Sky High (2005) four years earlier). This film helped to establish her as a modern scream queen.
  • Bree is also popular for being the Ms. Fanservice character with her memorable sex scene and her Rasputinian Death, and for a couple of Pet the Dog moments with Clay, Chewie, and Lawrence.
  • Richie from the prologue tends to be pretty popular as well, mainly for being a Nice Guy and having some genuinely funny moments.
  • Derek Mears' portrayal of Jason was well-received by fans for its cunning and fast-paced nature, to the point that more than a few would be willing to see him play Jason again.
• Evil Is Cool: Jason, moreso than usual due to the emphasis on him being faster and more cunning. Derek Mears' performance as Jason is often considered one of the best parts of the movie as a result.
• Fanon Discontinuity: The last bit of the movie isn't really acknowledge by most fans especially after Jenna dies, with a few even engaging in He's Just Hiding.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: The original script has a few scenes fans wish had been filmed.
  • Jenna and Clay's Ship Tease reaches the point where she asks him on a date as a bit of Casual Danger Dialogue.
  • Rather than being killed by Jason's machete, Chelsea drowns after she's unable to find a place to get to shore where he isn't waiting for her. Many people feel this could have been a particularly unique and intense death scene for the series.
• He's Just Hiding:
  • Jenna can inspire this despite being impaled, as she's still alive, with her eyes open and making sounds before dropping to the ground as Jason steps over the body and Clay and Whitney have to flee.
  • A scant few fans wonder if Bree's Rasputinian Death is really fatal, given the noticeable lack of gore for the series and how no one actually checks her pulse or anything.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Actress America Olivo, who plays Amanda, would later appear in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, which makes America the second cast member to act in a Friday the 13th installment and participate in the Mission: Impossible franchise after Peter Mark Richman, who played Charles McCulloch in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan and had guest starred in several episodes of the original Mission: Impossible television series (one of which has him tried to look like a killing of a kid king is done by his Evil Uncle, while his Friday the 13th character Charles is an actual one himself). Both the Friday the 13th and Mission: Impossible franchises were owned by Paramount.
  • Travis Van Winkle had played a Jerk Jock named Trent DeMarco a couple of years earlier in Transformers (2007), who was then Put on a Bus in the later films in that series. Some people involved with both franchises claim they're the same character; if true, then it makes sense he didn't appear in later Transformers movies, because he's dead.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: One of the biggest criticisms of the film is that it basically uses every trope associated with the franchise but does nothing new with them. Though this a tad ironic, considering one of the biggest complaints fans had with later films was how much the series deviated from its core concept.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Arguably the first (and possibly only) thing everyone will say why they watched this movie was to watch Jason kill the entire cast. That or the final sex scene. Danielle Panabaker's performance as the fake Final Girl is another bright spot that people may watch the film for.
• Moe: The Cutie Jenna is outright adorable, as Danielle Panabaker puts her smile, naturally soft gaze, and gentle voice to excellent use.
• Narm Charm: The very idea that Jason has underground tunnels with traps that make bells ring to alert him to anybody trespassing on his turf. Silly and nonsensical? Yes. Bone chillingly creepy that he's able to travel to wherever he needs to go kill intruders? Yes!
• Older Than They Think: Jason being a cunning and agile killer unlike the supernatural zombie Jason, which is what the audiences are most familiar with. The original Jason was also fairly cunning and had at least one instance of using a trap to kill his victim (a snare trap to allow him to calmly walk in and slit a throat, in his very first film). It was after becoming undead that he became more of a blunt instrument.
• Ron the Death Eater:
  • Whitney has a backstory of looking after her dying mother while her brother ducked that responsibility and gets some Action Girl moments in the climax, plus a decent escape attempt in the extended edition. She's far from the film's best character, but the amount of time she spends as a Damsel in Distress and how she lives while Jenna gets impaled cause her to get a degree of scrappydom and character bashing that probably isn't quite deserved.
  • Bree sleeping with Trent while he is still technically dating her friend (although there are serious signs they are about to break up) and taping herself having sex with Trent isn’t exactly Final Girl behavior, but isn’t particularly bad for this franchise. However, a lot of fanfiction takes it for granted that she is a Gold Digger out to blackmail Trent with her sex tape and/or (due to a shot of an unopened box of condoms in the extended cut) deliberately get pregnant to make Trent marry or financially support her, and that she is planning to do so throughout all of her screen time.
• The Scrappy:
  • Absolutely no one likes Donnie, thanks to his asshole behavior and creepy sexual interests. He's also something of a Replacement Scrappy for Shelly from Part III (and Junior from Part V, to an extent) who provided Jason with his signature mask and is a well-liked character among fans for being enjoyable comic relief. His death by Jason's hands is seen as very cathartic.
  • Whitney tends to be pretty unpopular for some as well, being mainly disliked for surviving over the more popular Danielle Panabaker. Although if we count the ending, she didn't survive that much longer...
• Special Effect Failure: The rather noticeable CGI blood when Jason stabs Chelsea under the dock.
• Spiritual Adaptation: Given its male lead, it's the closest we'd ever get to a Supernatural/Friday the 13th movie crossover. And in retrospect to its female lead, it's also the closest we'd ever get to The Flash crossing over with those two continuities.
• Squick: Chewie drinking from his shoe is this in-universe and out.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: In spite of the rather basic and archetypical plot (or probably because of it), there are many fans who see this film as a major improvement over past sequels, with many appreciating Derek Mears’ portrayal as Jason, the inventive kills, and the return of the simple "Jason in Crystal Lake killing teens" plot that more controversial sequels were missing since Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood.
• Take That, Scrappy!: Donnie's and Trent's deaths.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Jenna is undoubtedly one of the nicest characters in the entire franchise, which is not too difficult considering that the Friday the 13th franchise is infamous for having absurdly unsympathetic or generic characters in at least half of the films. Being played by Danielle Panabaker also helps. Therefore, many fans disliked how she was somewhat anti-climatically killed and then the role of final survivor apparently went to Whitney, who some fans viewed as less interesting.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: More of a divisive film than an outright bad one, but fans and critics agree that most of the actors did a great job with their characters. Danielle Panabaker and Derek Mears especially; Panabaker's believable portrayal as Jenna helped boost her career as an actress while Mears is tied with Kane Hodder as being one of the best Jasons.
• The Woobie:
  • Jenna; she has an outright Jerkass for a boyfriend who then accuses her of cheating with a guy he hates that she is just trying to help. And then said boyfriend cheats on her. And then she gets murdered by Jason.
  • Also Whitney. Her boyfriend and friends were killed, and she is later kidnapped and held prisoner by Jason. Her life through those months before Clay showed up were pure hell.
  • Clay. His sister goes missing, and when he goes to find her with his friends, they all are killed by Jason. This includes Jenna, the only one who listened to him and was willing to help him as soon as they were about to escape. What's worse is he finds his sister was kidnapped by Jason and resolves to rescue her. In the end, just when everything seems fine, he has to witness the girl he tried so hard to save possibly die from a not dead Jason, possibly leaving him the only survivor. Poor guy... Not helped that he can be considered one of the few decent human beings we have in the film.

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