Crystal Lake

I always find it disheartening when I see a ranking of Friday the 13th films that has the 2009 remake on top and the 1980 original near the bottom (in dreaded JASON GOES TO HELL territory). I realize that tastes change and attention spans have been obliterated but it feels like so much disrespectful Pamela Voorhees erasure to me. Don’t get me wrong, the revamp is entertaining, Jared Padalecki is a fine lead and Derek Mears is a top tier Jason but something intrinsic is ruefully missing. I remember getting excited when Nana Visitor (STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE) was announced to play Pamela Voorhees in Nispel’s smashup/reinterpretation thinking she had just the right intensity only to find her in about 30 seconds of pre-title footage screaming wildly in the rain with zero introduction and little explanation. What the hell man, Pamela Voorhees is the literal heart and soul of the Friday the 13th franchise. How many teenagers does a gal gotta creatively kill to get some flowers? How can…