THE 13TH FRIDAY (2017)

In a small Texas town, Allison and her friends explore an area that’s said to be haunted by something evil. The townsfolk have decided the only way to combat the evil is to build a church on the property. Allison and her friends have unleashed the evil they now have 13 tasks to complete, or they lose their souls forever.

The Good:

The person that edited this film to create the trailer may have done the single best job of anyone involved in the production of this movie. They managed to take the footage given to them and generate something that looked low budget, but appealing. The person(s) responsible for the hair and makeup are the only group that rivaled the editor in quality. The masks and creature body painting are all well done. The ghost girl is also very well done. She looked like she could have come straight out of a Japanese horror movie. Unfortunately, that person or group was uncredited, so I cannot give them the recognition they deserve.

The Bad:

I have probably seen worse movies, or at least movies that have elicited more of a response from me, but I am unable to name any at the moment. This movie commits my number one crime of film making by being boring. Almost nothing of note takes place during this movie. On film, the dialogue indicates certain things have happened, but we see nothing. The acting is subpar in all instances. The story doesn’t always follow its own rules, for example, all of the danger is supposed to befall the people that enter the house and complete the puzzle, but our first victim does neither of those things. Being poorly acted, shot, and written leads to the film’s critical failures that the editing and makeup effects couldn’t save.

Recommendable or Not:

It could have been a great movie if it was able to capture more of the classics that obviously inspired it. The sphere is so similar to Hellraiser’s puzzle box, but has none of the horror attached. The ghost killing the group was obviously inspired by J-Horror like The Ring, but while the makeup team nails the look, the character provokes none of the fear or mystery of that movie. The way each person dies in a different way made me think of Final Destination, except they were less creative and didn’t have the budget to show any of it. I hope everyone works again and gets a chance to hone their craft, but I cannot recommend that anyone watch The 13th Friday.

by James Lindorf