This was the first of the Friday the 13th movies I got to see. I'd like to think it was because this was the first film of the series that I saw featured in Fangoria (something my brother Scott reminded me of). It's more likely that when I went to rent the first film the store didn't have it in. They always only had one copy of any given film (except for new mainstream releases), so this was a constant problem back then. Want to see the original Jaws? Sorry, how about The Revenge? Gah.
Anyway, this was my first experience of Friday the 13th and it colored my perceptions and expectations for the other films. It's the first of the series with Jason as the actual antagonist (though he runs around looking like the killer from The Town That Dreaded Sundown for most of it). It's considerably more polished with the cinematography, editing and acting than the first film. And I found the characters to be actually likeable - something that didn't always prove the case as the series progressed.
I also remember this film as much more bloody and violent than it actually is. Most of the gore is cut away from fairly quickly or (like the infamous spear) isn't actually shown on screen. I don't know if this is a result of Paramount getting more involved or the MPAA starting to crack down on horror movies, but I was surprised at how tame it is - especially for a series famed for its violence. I'm guessing I've somehow transposed behind the scenes shots from Fangoria for the edited sequences in the film.
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| And ya know, stuff can be disturbing without overt gore. |
The Movie (I'll probably skip these title breaks for the later films)
The opening pads time with a recap of the events of the first movie and follows that up with a sequence featuring the sole survivor of those events, Alice. It's a bit of a mean-spirited scene, with a rough end to a strong character. Knowing the actress, Adrienne King, had to deal with a real life stalker after the first movie also makes it more uncomfortable.
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| And putting this right next to open milk cartons is just rude. |
After that it's all young people, camp, hanky-panky, doomed, slaughtered - yadayadayada. The song seems familiar, don't it? They definitely chose not to stray too far from the original, which makes sense. Why mess with what works? It's in the details and the overall improvement in skill that I find what I enjoy about Part 2 - it's certainly not in any deviation from the formula.
I mostly like the characters, which I guess isn't that much of a change - but I also find it easier to differentiate and identify them. Other than Kevin Bacon (and primarily because of his later work) and Alice (because she's the final girl) I don't really care that much about the characters in the first film. The broad strokes of character development are still in place - the joker, the former jock in a wheelchair, the horndog, the fitness girl - but the actors seem to do more with them, somehow. I really wanted Vickie and Mark to get together, for instance - I sure as hell wasn't that invested in the characters in the first movie.
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| Oh Mark, no - she just put on the 'fancy' underwear. |
I also really like the cinematography in Part 2. Things are framed well, let well, and I can generally tell what's going on in any given scene. I also really like the long, Steadycam shots as Ginny is trying to escape from Jason. We still get plenty of Jason POV shots as well, but those tracking sequences feel a little like we're running alongside Ginny, trying to escape as well. (And it also gives a great sense of space and uses the levels of the setting well to show us where the killer is in relationship to her.)
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| He's behind you. He's always right f&%!ing behind you. |
And I love Ginny. She's my favorite final girl. She's smart, sarcastic, capable and strong without being a fearless automaton. She's terrified the entire time she's being chased, but you can see her overcome it and do what she has to. There's a shot of her sitting on a bed, holding out the business end of a broken pitchfork at the camera, dirty, disheveled, hurt - and yet determined. That's my mental image of the character.
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| Now sadly reminds me of part 3, in 3D. |
The ending is an unfortunate cheat, however. We never really know what happened. Jason's brief appearance sans-mask isn't even necessarily real. Did she pass out? Did he really appear like a deformed hillbilly? Where's Paul and what happened to that damn dog, anyway. Ginny is taken off - strapped down, though she appears completely coherent - and we get no answers. Now or in the sequels. I always kind of wanted to see that character again - showing up with a chainsaw and a Psychology textbook to save the next batch of teenagers. Alas, Amy Steel declined to do any further Friday films.
The Bottom Line
My first Friday the 13th movie, and the one for which I have the fondest memories. It's basically a remake of the first film, but as it's better in almost every way I don't really care. (I do miss Tom Savini's makeup, though.)
I only vaguely remembered Part 3. My biggest memory is actually that of frustration - I couldn't go see it in the theater, so I never got to see it in 3d! And that's really the biggest drawback of the film - it knows it's a gimmick film and so it shoves that gimmick into every frame it can. Poles come at you, rats come at you, machetes, pitchforks and eyeballs come at you. And because it's NOT being seen in 3d, it just screws with the tension and pacing and you start getting annoyed. Yeah, I see it - stop holding it right in front of the camera for crying out loud.
The second biggest problem with Part 3 is that I really don't like any of the characters. They're... annoying. Even our supposed lead, the final girl, Chris, is... I dunno, flat. Vapid. I don't even like the nerd stand-in character of Shelly. In fact the character I end up liking the most is Vera - and she gets a spearfishing spear in the eye way too early.
The third problem for me is that they moved the production of the film to California. It's obviously California. The vegetation is all wrong, the light is all wrong, hell, the 'lake' is just a dug out area beside the house. It looks like a billion other films shot in California and loses everything that said "rural New Jersey."
And don't get me started on the 'biker gang.'
The best thing that can be said about Part 3 is that we finally get the archetypal Jason. The huge, deformed killer wearing the hockey mask.
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| BOO! |
The Bottom Line
I really don't like this movie much and it's flabbergasting to me that it's directed by the same guy - Stephen Miner - that did the second film. If it wasn't for the iconic mask I'd say skip this one and move directly to Part 4.
I still kinda want to see it in 3D though.
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