Friday the 13th

FRIDAY THE 13TH part 2 (18)

D: Steve Miner

Georgetown (Steve Miner)

USA 🇺🇸 1981

87 mins

Horror

W: Ron Kurz & Phil Scuderi [based on characters created by Victor Miller]

DP: Peter Stein

Ed: Susan E. Cunningham 

Mus: Harry Manfredini

Amy Steel (Ginny), John Furey (Paul), Stu Charno (Ted), Lauren-Marie Taylor (Vickie), Adrienne King (Alice), Steve Daskawisz / Warrington Gillette (Jason Voorhees)

Although this was rushed into production and distribution to capitalise on the success of the first movie, the events take place five years after the events in the original movie, with the sole survivor being murderer and the rest being a virtual remake, although this time the killer is actually Jason Voorhees.

It's obvious that this was rushed into production, and the filmmakers got themselves into hot water by casting an underage teenage girl, meaning that an entire scene had to be subject to heavy cuts (even though the "double impalement death" does appear on the cover of some home video versions).

It should be worth noting that Jason's iconic horror mask doesn't make an appearance until the third movie.

4/10

FRIDAY THE 13TH part 3 (18)

D: Steve Miner

Paramount/Jason Inc. (Frank Mancuso, Jr.)

USA 🇺🇸 1982

95 mins

Horror

W: Martin Kitrosser & Carol Watson [based on characters created by Victor Miller]

DP: Gerald Feil

Ed: George Hively

Mus: Harry Manfredini

Dana Kimmell (Chris Higgins), Paul Kratka (Rick), Tracie Savage (Debbie), Jeffrey Rogers (Andy), Richard Brooker (Jason Voorhees)

Jason Voorhees survived his apparent death at the conclusion of the second movie and continues terrorising kids at Camp Crystal Lake, this time in 3-D. 

It isn't any more or less scary (or interesting) as the first two movies, but it is worth noting that this is the sequel which introduced Jason's iconic hockey mask (following it's effective use in Alone In The Dark (also 1982)). Two films too late in my opinion, and it's difficult to care about such stupid victims. More cash-ins followed, all getting progressively worse.

4/10

FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER (FRIDAY THE 13TH part IV) (18)

D: Joseph Zito

Paramount (Frank Mancuso, Jr.)

USA 🇺🇸 1984

91 mins

Horror

W: Barney Cohen

DP: João Fernandes

Ed: Joel Goodman & Daniel Loewenthal

Mus: Harry Manfredini

Corey Feldman (Tommy Jarvis), Kimberly Beck (Trish Jarvis), E. Erich Anderson (Rob Dier), Barbara Howard (Sara), Joan Freeman (Mrs. Jarvis), Ted White (uncredited - Jason Voorhees)

The fourth film in the Friday The 13th series picks up immediately after the previous film, where hockey masked serial killer escapes from the morgue and goes on another killing spree around Camp Crystal Lake.

Unfortunately, that's all the story there is as the film goes through a pathetic cycle of violent murder and gratuitous sex scenes until it churns out a ridiculously laughable ending.

The worst part is, this wasn't the final chapter. More sequels followed, starting with a fifth film just a year later, before Rigor Mortis had even set into Jason Voorhees' corpse.

3/10

FRIDAY THE 13TH: A NEW BEGINNING (FRIDAY THE 13TH part V) (18)

D: Danny Steinmann

Paramount/Georgetown/Terror, Inc. (Timothy Silver)

USA 🇺🇸 1985

92 mins 

Horror

W: Martin Kitrosser, David Cohen & Danny Steinmann

DP: Stephen L. Posey

Ed: Bruce Green

Mus: Harry Manfredini

John Shepherd (Tommy Jarvis), Melanie Kinnaman (Pam), Shavar Ross (Reggie), Richard Young (Dr. Matthew Letter), Tiffany Helm (Violet), Dick Wieand (Roy Burns)

The fifth film in the Friday The 13th series of slasher films, opening with a scene in which hockey-masked serial killer Jason Voorhees literally rises from the grave and promptly murders two teenagers.  However, it's all just the dream of Tommy Jarvis, who killed Jason in the previous film and is now in his mid-teenage years, still plagued by nightmares and living at a foster home on the edge of a trailer park with a group of other teens.

The rest of the film goes through the usual motions, as the cast are killed off one by one amidst gratuitous scenes of nudity and incidental characters being introduced merely to increase the body count.

The screenplay is as poor as you'd imagine for these types of films, but this shouldn't forgive the lacklustre direction, which is more interested in showing T&A than building suspense or tension... and if you can't figure out who the killer is in this one, then you really haven't been paying attention.

Jason would return just a year later to generate some more big bucks for Paramount.

3/10

FRIDAY THE 13TH part VI: JASON LIVES (aka JASON LIVES: FRIDAY THE 13TH part VI) (18)

D: Tom McLoughlin

Paramount/Terror, Inc. (Don Behrns)

US 🇺🇸 1986

87 mins

Horror

W: Tom McLoughlin [based on characters created by Victor Miller]

DP: Jon Kranhouse

Ed: Bruce Green

Mus: Harry Manfredini

Thom Matthews (Tommy Jarvis), Jennifer Cooke (Megan Garris), David Kagen (Sheriff Mike Garris), Kerry Noonan (Paula Mott), C.J. Graham / Dan Bradley (Jason Voorhees)

More of the same, but at least this one tries to be fun. 

Once again, Jason Voorhees terrorises the teenagers at Camp Crystal Lake when he is awoken from his grave by the survivor of the previous movie.

Of course, the movie is totally ridiculous as it goes through the usual routine of an unstoppable maniac on his killing spree, but this sequel does so in a way that is so self-aware that it almost breaks the fourth wall (the meta style actually provided Kevin Williamson with some inspiration for writing the screenplay for Scream).

Personally, I think this is actually the best of the Friday the 13th movies, but that really isn't saying much.

5/10

FRIDAY THE 13TH part VII: THE NEW BLOOD (18)

D: John Carl Buechler

Paramount/Terror, Inc. (Iain Paterson)

US 🇺🇸 1988

88 mins

Horror

W: Manuel Fidello & Daryl Haney [based on characters created by Victor Miller]

DP: Paul Elliott

Ed: Maureen O'Connell, Martin Jay Sadoff & Barry Zetlin

Mus: Harry Manfredini & Fred Mollin

Lar Park Lincoln (Tina Shephard), Kevin Blair (Nicholas Rogers), Susan Blu (Amanda Shephard), Terry Kiser (Dr. Crews), Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees)

Following a sequel (Jason Lives - part VI) that I thought was the best of the entire franchise (not saying much), the Friday the 13th movies fell off a cliff with the 7th movie and continued to get sillier and sillier.

This was the first film to star Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees and he'd go on to portray the serial-killing maniac a further four times. And while he brings an ominous, foreboding presence to the mysterious character, that's the only positive I can say about this movie.

It's more of the same, with the madman once again resurrected to go on a killing spree around Crystal Lake, the only difference here is that one of the campers has telekinetic abilities to defend herself, turning this into a Jason vs Carrie scenario.

You'll never watch films like this for solid acting or an intelligent screenplay, but you wouldn't expect either to be so bad either.

Grotty rubbish.

3/10

FRIDAY THE 13TH part VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN (18)

D: Rob Hedden

Paramount (Randy Cheveldave)

US 🇺🇸 1989

100 mins

Horror

W: Rob Hedden

DP: Bryan England

Ed: Steve Mirkovich

Mus: Fred Mollin

Jensen Daggett (Rennie), Scott Reeves (Sean), Barbara Bingham (Colleen), Peter Mark Richman (Charles), Martin Cummins (Wayne), Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees)

You can take Jason out of Camp Crystal Lake, but you can't take Camp Crystal Lake out of Jason.

The title is actually a bit of a bait-and-switch, since the vast majority of the film takes place on a boat taking a group of gormless victims-to-be from the campsite to the shores of New York City, where it's more of the same and the masked serial killer takes out his prey one-by-one.

The finale on the streets and subways of New York brings a refreshing chance to the film series, but it still doesn't save the film from being more-of-the-same, derivative slasher stuff.

Personally, I find it astounding that the 1980's saw eight Friday the 13th movies released over the course of the decade, especially since the vast majority are below average movies... and if you think Jason will retire throughout the 90's, think again! And that's the scariest part... that every last penny of profitability hasn't been squeezed out of this franchise.

4/10

D: Adam Marcus

New Line (Sean S. Cunningham & Debbie Hayn-Cass)

US 🇺🇸 1993

88 mins 

Horror

W: Jay Huguely & Dean Lorey

DP: Bill Dill

Ed: David Handman

Mus: Harry Manfredini

John LeMay (Steven), Kari Keegan (Jessica), Steven Williams (Creighton), Allison Smith (Vicki), Erin Gray (Diana), Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees)

The 9th film in the Friday the 13th series is said by many fans of the franchise to be the worst of the lot, but as someone who didn’t particularly care for any of them, I certainly don’t think it’s any worse than previous sequels, as part 6 (Jason Lives) was the only one I had any enjoyment from.

I can certainly understand the disappointment, however, as this sequel sets up Jason Voorhees as a supernatural entity that can possess the bodies of others so he can continue his killing spree (which is practically the same plot as the 1987 sci-fi horror The Hidden).

Aside from this new nonsense as a plot device, it’s more of the same slasher in the woods shit that’s been done in all the previous films.

The title is a complete lie too, as Jason doesn’t go to hell and it isn’t the final Friday the 13th movie either.

4/10

JASON X (18)

D: Jim Isaac

New Line / Crystal Lake (Noel Cunningham)

US 🇺🇸 2001 (released 2002)

92 mins

Horror/Science Fiction

W: Todd Farmer

DP: Derick V. Underschultz

Ed: David Handman

Mus: Harry Manfredini

Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees), Lexa Doig (Rowan LaFontaine), Lisa Ryder (Kay-Em 14), Chuck Campbell (Tsunaron Peyton), Melyssa Ado (Janessa Zachary)

Jason goes to space in this 10th film of the Friday the 13th series, which probably goes a little too far by having the slasher set in a science fiction environment.

Cryogenically frozen so scientists can study his regenerative abilities, the mask-wearing, machete-wielding maniac is inadvertently reincarnated as a cyborg, wreaking havoc upon the spaceship and killing its crew.

The film knows it’s ridiculous, attempting to send itself up with how stupid it is, but that’s not enough to forgive how terrible this is, with even die-hard fans of the series not saving it from being a financial disappointment upon its release.

Jason would indeed return in Freddy vs Jason, in which the villain would crossover with his Nightmare On Elm Street counterpart, before the original film would receive a remake in 2009.

Personally, I thought it was long dead a long time ago.

3/10