Yeeeeesh. What a mess. It's a notch above the remakes of HALLOWEEN and THE FOG, but that's like saying explosive diarrhea is better than passing a kidney stone. It's really a remake of Part 2. That said, I"ve never seen a remake that requires you to be familiar with the original. The backstory is only told here fleetingly, and only in part, and wouldn't make sense to anyone who never saw the original. Not that it matters in a film this stupid.
But the craziest part, aside from the fact that it sets a new bar for people acting stupidly, is that they decided to make Jason SMART, as someone who can build complicated traps and an underground lair that would make MacGyver proud.
Wow! Glad I didn't go see this then! I think those parts of my childhood like Freddy, Jason and Michael should be left to my childhood.
I thought the movie was great. But then again I'm a bit bias because I absolutely love Friday the 13th and Jason Vorhees. To knock the writing at twelfth film is really kinda pointless seeing as the story has been so fleeting and vague since the 2nd movie.
Minor spoilers for the first couple minutes of the film:
The film did have its problems for me though one being how they portrayed the final struggle of Pamela Vorhees. Why did that dumb girl sit there holding the machete for so long. In the original she had to fight to get that thing. Not to mention there's a bit of a plot hole. If we are led to believe that Jason witnessed his mother being decapitated during his mothers revenge killing spree. Why did Mrs. Vorhees not know that her son was alive.
End Spoiler.
Other than that I thought the movie was one of the best Friday the 13ths since 6th movie or so. It just felt right to see Jason back in his old stalking grounds doing what he does best. Mindless brutality. It's more a retelling then a remake but it was still quite enjoyable in my opinion but like I said I'm biased.
It definitely has split slasher fans - some love it, some hate it. And yeah, you're right -- at this point, knocking the writing may be a bit silly.
But yeah, I also thought the film got off on the wrong foot with an incomplete (and a little odd) quick telling of the backstory with Mrs. Voorhees.