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Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning is considered the black sheep of the series (much like Halloween 3 and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2). However not everything about A New Beginning is bad, it just takes some understanding to accept and appreciate the film.
We start off meeting Tommy Jarvis, who we first met in the previous film as a kid played by Corey Feldman. Now Tommy is a teenager and headed to a halfway house out in the country. His mom and sister are dead (even though his sister survived the last film). Upon reaching the halfway house we meet the other troubled kids there. Joey is the fat one, who's not only got an eating disorder but is slightly mentally challenged. Victor is the loose cannon who can't control his temper, Violet just seems to like punk music (there's no reason given why she's here). There's a few others, but it's hard to tell why they're at the house and it's never explained. Whatever.
Not long after Tommy shows up, Victor hacks Joey to pieces with an ax (because why not give weapons to teenagers with issues) and is taken away by the cops. Tommy keeps hallucinating that Jason is there, seeing him in his room and outside. More of the teens wind up dead, dropping like flies every few minutes. The local Sheriff suspects it's Jason Voorhees, but that's refuted by the mayor who claims Jason was cremated (which would cause some confusion for the next film).
More and more bodies pile up until we're down to Tommy, Reggie (a young boy who was at the house to visit his grandfather) and Pam who helps run the facility. The three of them face off with "Jason", taking their hits before dropping him onto a piece of farm equipment that is basically a bed of spikes. It's at this point we find out that "Jason" was Roy, an ambulance driver seen earlier in the film and also Joey's dad. The film ends on a cliffhanger, with Tommy wearing the hockey mask and ready to kill Pam.
So let's tackle the biggest complaint people have with the film: that Jason is not the killer. Okay, I get it, after three films you wanted Jason to be doing the killing. Let me stop you right there though, the first Friday the 13th film didn't have Jason doing the killing. Jason's mom, Mrs. Voorhees was doing all of the killing, because the camp counselors let Jason drown. Here, Roy loses his mind and starts killing because the people at the house let Joey get hacked to pieces. If anything, Friday the 13th A New Beginning is a remake of Friday the 13th. So yeah
put that in your hater pipe and smoke it.
The kills come swiftly here, every ten minutes or so there's a death. This was a mandate handed down by the producers. This in turn meant that they needed more cannon fodder, so more characters were added. Too many if you ask me. This film has the highest body count in the series and it shows. Random extra characters are introduced and promptly killed off, like the greasers who have about seven minutes of screen time and then die, and they appear nowhere else in the film. The orderly and his date, also share about the same amount of time on-screen before eating it. I get they wanted to up the gore and have more bodies, but it really slows down the film and adds very little.
Danny Steinmann does a decent job as director considering he'd done little directing before this. Of course the characters are for the most part under developed, while Tommy, the lead of the film, fails to the same fate. I wish they had put more time into Tommy's character, give us a reason to either suspect him as the killer or root for him to get over his problems and put an end to this killing spree. Neither is done, as you never suspect him nor are you relieved when he finally shows up at the end.
The setting is a bit off, as it's a halfway house in the country with no rules. That seems to be an odd way of helping those that have problems. Again, it's hard to tell why half of these kids are here, some are obvious, like Victor and Joey. I liked seeing Violet doing the robot before she gets killed, only because people forget how cool the robot was.
Overall people have hated on A New Beginning for twenty plus years. Real fans of the series however realize the film is more of the same from the franchise, and enjoy it like any other film. I get the argument that it's not really Jason doing the killing, but he didn't do the killing in the first film either and it was just as good. A New Beginning isn't great, and I wouldn't put it in my top ten horror movies, but it's still a solid offering and better than some of the later Friday the 13th films.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
Friday the 13th The Final Chapter (1984)
If anyone really thought The Final Chapter was going to be the last Friday the 13th film, they were only fooling themselves. The fourth installment in the franchise looks to kill Jason once and for all, and does away with the 3D gimmick of the previous entry.
The film starts off with the aftermath of Friday the 13th Part 3D, showing us how Jason got carted off to the hospital. The big guy doesn't stay down long though, as he's back up and killing people right away. Meanwhile, the Jarvis family, consisting of Pam (mom), Trish (teenage daughter), and Tommy (young boy) has moved into a cabin on Crystal lake, with a group of teens moving in across the street. Jason works his way back to Crystal Lake and one by one, kills each doped-up, sex-crazed teen before finally meeting his match against Trish and Tommy, the wonder twins.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter went back to the seriousness of the first film in the series. Jason is even more violent here, the kills are more gory and just more sadistic this time around. Jason also grunts a few times, as he's killing and being killed, slightly taking him away from being just a killing machine. It's this seriousness that I enjoy about the film, but there are plenty of laughs to be had with a set of actual Double Mint twins, Jimbo being a dead f***, and Ted using his "computer" to try to help his friend get laid.
The teenagers here feel a bit more real here, but are still cannon fodder. The real characters to watch are Tommy and Trish, the brother/sister team. Tommy makes masks and dabbles in special effects, and Trish is a down to earth sweet girl who ends up being Jason's toughest opponent. Another character, Rob, is the brother of one of the girls from Friday the 13th Part 2. I like this little tidbit for the character, that he's out there to find Jason for killing his sister.
As real as the teenagers feel, there is still very little characterization to be found here. I bring this up because slashers like Halloween and Hellraiser were able to get their characters, be it heroes or victims, across in their films. Had the Friday the 13th franchise just slowed down with the kill spots and upped the character development I would have enjoyed it even more.
The film takes place directly after Part 3, which I think is great as it puts parts two, three, and four together as long one story happening over a few days. It also helps the idea of these people coming out to Crystal Lake, as everything is happening so fast no one is able to hear about it before they head out and end up getting killed. You have to think back in the day there was no Twitter or Facebook to spread the news quickly, so no one had an idea as to what was going on.
Joe Zito did a great job of bringing the creepiness back to the franchise after Part 3D gave it up for its effect. I love Friday the 13th Part 3D, but I also love The Final Chapter because they did their best to make Jason a scary figure and the woods a more dangerous place to be. The music here is solid, with the iconic music returning and Tom Savini coming back to help in the make up department.
Overall Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter has a lot going for itself. The kills are nice and gory, there's plenty of nudity, and Jason meets his end thanks to a young Tommy Jarvis, who would return in the next two films. Another great score and slick work by Joe Zito means you'll have a great time watching this one.
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
The first Friday the 13th was meant to be a one-time deal, but after it tore up the box office and made Sean S. Cunningham a big time writer/director, a sequel was inevitable. The issue was, and spoiler alert for those that haven't seen the thirty year-old film, the killer in Friday the 13th was Mrs. Voorhees, and she was killed at the end. The issue now is what do you do with the sequel? One idea that was floated around was to make more films with each film having its own story, but this fell through and it's probably for the best.
So, the writers decided to bring in Jason, the reason behind the carnage in the first film, back to life. Well, I suppose it really depends on what story you believe. It's never made clear exactly how Jason came to be. If the viewer is to believe Mrs. Voorhees, Jason died in the lake so many years ago. Then again, why would you believe her? She's a nutcase! Anyway, either Jason never died and Mrs. Voorhees flipped her lid anyway, or Jason lived, and watched his mother get killed that night, and decided to get revenge for himself.
The only real issue is, if he watched what happened, why didn't he kill Alice, the lead in the first film, at that moment? That's the problem with bringing Jason into the fold, with no concrete reason why, it's hard for viewers to buy his story. At the end of the day, we just have to accept that Jason is here, and he's in for some killing.
The film takes place five years after the first, giving Camp Crystal Lake some time to recover. Of course a group of counselors intend to reopen the resort, but instead of going back to the scene of the crime they take up shop a few hundred yards down river. In fact they're so close that people are able to wander into the old stomping ground. Jason, now out for revenge, is there to hack em up one by one.
Ginny Field (Amy Steel), our hero of the film, actually lays down some good analysis on Jason, what he would be like if he was still alive, and how he would think like a child even though he'd be an adult. It actually adds some juiciness to the story; sure there are plenty of scares and some good kills, but it's nice to have some steak with that sizzle.
The finale is one of my favorites, as we come to find that Jason's kept a keepsake from his mom, almost like a shrine to her. All but two end up dying in the end, but creates some problems heading into the next film. As expected, there's one final jump scare at the end.
What a lot of people don't remember about Friday the 13th Part 2 is, its not really that gory. Turns out the MPAA had it's way with the film after the first film was able to get away with so much. I never really noticed how toned down the kills are in this one, so if you're a gore freak, this one really isn't for you. On the flip side, I think, the less gore, the better the chills.
Steve Miner cuts a really good pace here, and when the film slows down we get enough story to keep us going, and of course the music is spot on again here. The creepy sounds of Ki-Ki-Ki come back to keep viewers constantly afraid of what's around the corner.
To me this is probably the creepiest Friday the 13th in the entire series. We don't have a lot of gore, and Jason is running in this one (not walking) and has a sack with one eye hole for a mask, which is far more realistic then the hockey mask from the third installment.
Basically, Jason could be some crazy backwoods hillbilly out in the woods. The less supernatural about the killer, the scarier he is. Friday the 13th Part 2 is a great follow up to the first film, even if it introduces a problem with Jason returning from his supposed grave in the first film. Worth a watch for sure.
Friday the 13th (1980)
Friday the 13th (1980)
Who hasn't heard of Friday the 13th? It's an iconic franchise launched in the 1980's during the height of the slasher genre, and helped write many of the rules that horror movies would follow after it. Sure, Halloween and even Black Christmas started the whole "unseen killer" era of horror movies, but Friday the 13th really kicked it up a few notches.
The story here is easy to wrap your head around, which it needed to be to get to the blood and guts of the movie. The story centers around Alice, the new head counselor, and Steve, the new owner of Camp Crystal Lake. They bring out a number of other counselors to help rebuild the place and get it ready to open. Over the course of three days, one by one each teenager is killed before Steve gets it. Alice is eventually the last one left alive, and ends up meeting Mrs. Voorhees, who explains how her young son Jason drowned there twenty years ago while the teenage counselors "made love". This drove her insane, and she set about to kill any teenagers and anyone else that came out to Crystal Lake. The showdown between Alice and Mrs. Voorhees sets up the climax, where Mrs. Voorhees meets her demise via beheading.
The look of the movie captures the feeling of being isolated out in the woods, adding to the scariness of the picture. The film moves along at a good pace giving watchers plenty of suspense. With kills every few minutes, you won't get bored watching this one.
Who could forget the fantastic score? The creepy stalking music, the famous ki-ki-ki-ki that still sends a chill down my spine works so damn great here. The music is fantastic, and much like it did for Halloween, the music adds to the creepiness of the film.
Tom Savini, the master of gore who worked on Dawn of the Dead among other films, really brought it here with the kills. For today's fans, they won't be impressed with the gore, for the time however it was pretty damn shocking. I still winch during the arrow scene, and the final kill of the film memorable.
The one complaint I do have is the lack of character development, which won't always be a complaint from me (I swear) in future reviews. Here, however, we really only get to know Mrs. Voorhees and Alice, and we barely get to know them. The other characters are just glossed over here, and are mostly there for fodder. While this would be a normal occurrence for the franchise, there are characters that get plenty of back story and time to develop, just not in this one.
This first movie is a toss up for fans thanks to Jason Voorhees, the killer for the majority of the franchise, not being the killer in this one. Spoiler alert for a thirty year old movie, the killer this time around is Jason's mother, Mrs. Voorhees (Jason does make an appearance at the end).
Personally, I enjoy the movie even today. While it did bother me that Jason's mother was the killer when I first watched the movie as a kid, I attribute that to having seen the other movies first. I grew up watching the Friday the 13th movies, and this is one of the best in the series.
Friday the 13th Part III (1982)
Friday the 13th Part 3D.....A New Dimension In Terror
My absolute favorite Friday the 13th film is Friday the 13th Part 3D.
When Friday the 13th Part 3 starts, we find out that Jason never jumped through the window to attack Ginny in the last film, and that apparently she was the only one that survived, Paul had not. Jason is able to remove the machete from his shoulder and crawl away, moving onto another part of Crystal Lake to find more people to kill.
Jason doesn't waste much time finding new victims, and now viewers get an idea of the size of Crystal Lake. Jason moves to another area where his fodder seemingly don't know what's been going on in the area. Even though the setting is still around Crystal Lake, the area has a farm look and feel to it, taking it out of the woods from the first two films and putting things out in the open.
Chris, our go-to girl, is taking her friends out to her parents' cabin. She's there to show her friends a good time, and get over a traumatic experience she had there a while ago. On top of that, her old flame is there to spend the weekend with her, giving up a shot to hang with Mary Jo Conrad. Sorry to say Rick, you should have spent the weekend with Mary Jo.
We get our usual teenagers here, the pot smokers and practical joker, the sexpots and the serious ones. You could actually point to this movie as having every single teenager cliché in it, before they were clichés. One in particular, the practical joker Shelly, would change the entire face of the franchise, literally. Shelly introduces the world, and Jason, to the fabled hockey mask. A lot of people forget, Jason didn't get the mask until the third film, and boy, did it change the series.
By the time the third installment of the franchise came around, the producers had decided to use a gimmick that was making its comeback in the early 80's, 3D. 3D films have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion picture industry because of the costly hardware and processes required to produce and display a 3D film.
By the 1950's however, technology had come along well enough that many films used 3D to enjoy plenty of success, and for the most part, the technology worked. However, as with all gimmicks, people got tired of 3D and even though the technology was good, it wasn't perfected. So Hollywood did away with it, and the film industry wouldn't bring it back around until the 1980's.
Friday the 13th Part 3 (marketed as Friday the 13th Part 3D) jumped on board the 3D bandwagon but not just for a few scenes in the movie, but rather the entire film. I didn't have the chance to see the film on the big screen, but thanks to HD TVs and the ability to put 3D onto DVDs and Blu Ray, I can get a pretty good idea of what people saw back in the day on the big screen.
The deluxe version of the film comes with a 3D copy of the movie and glasses, and I can assure you it does in fact work. Not all of it is perfect however, and some of the effects are quite gimmicky, but there are some things that stick out. There is a depth to the film the entire time, and it looks pretty damn cool. Scenes where trees are blowing in the wind, bugs can be seen flying around, popcorn popping and some other things look great. I mean, it's nothing compared to the 3D movies of today, but you gotta think, 1982 3D technology actually working is pretty damn cool.
However, the film really didn't need to be in 3D, and thanks to some of the best shots being centered around 3D, the movie lost a lot of its edge because 2D just doesn't work the same. Some of the kills look really bad in 2D, and that's a shame because I've always found the film to be pretty damn creepy.
Steve Miner, who directed part two, did a good job here with the pacing of the film. You get kills every few minutes, plenty of jump scares and of course, Jason finally gets a face. The film uses the creepy vibes from the first two films, and at this point the franchise wasn't completely milked, so the formula works.
One of my very few complaints is Jason's appearance from part two to three, and how it changes drastically. In Friday the 13th Part 2, Jason is a small guy with long hair, here he's a big guy who's bald, and yet it's only been a day since part two! I know the reason for the switch to a bigger guy, and I can say that it was actually for the best, but it's an annoying continuity error.
Another issue I have with the film is the subplot of Chris being attacked in the woods and coming out to face her fears. We find out the person that attacked her is Jason, and we see this in a flashback sequence. The problem isn't with the idea, the problem is Jason is wearing the same clothes he does in this film, and those clothes he actually gets at the beginning of the movie! Big time error on the filmmakers part.
Even with the films issues, the 3D effects that work are cool and Friday 3 brings everything you could want. A little sex, a lot of kills, and Jason finally gets his face. Oh, and a funky opening song to boot.