As
a child, Tommy Jarvis did what many others died trying to do. He killed
Jason Vorhees, the mass murderer who terrorized the residents of Cristal
Lake. But now, years later, Tommy is tormented by the fear that maybe Jason
isn't really dead.
So Tommy and a friend go to the cemetery to dig up Jason's grave. Unfortunate choice
for Tommy, and very unfortunate for his friend.
"The only way to kill Jason is to send him back
to his original resting place where he drowned in 1957."
- Tommy Jarvis |
When Jason Vorhees walked the Earth a man, he managed many a maiming to
further his desires for revenge and all-around carnage-driven bliss. Still,
those days are over now, and the ending of those chronicles can be attributed
to one disturbed little fish that got away by the name of Tommy. Well,
this ending seems to have led Tommy to a need for closure to visions he's
been plagued with since those moments, one that involves digging up the
worm-encrusted Vorhees with a mask in tow, introducing his body to the
wonderful kiss of flames, and making certain that everything has ended
once and for all. So, its off to Forest Greens, the artist formerly known
as Crystal Lake (and Camp Blood for anyone tuning in this long) to find
those remains. Unfortunately for everyone save the viewers, Tommy alters
the plan a little and decides that stabbing Jason with a metal fencepost
sounds like a good idea, and after that little anger therapy session is
done that little unforeseen scenario enters the equation. Yes, the heavens
spill out a little electric laughter and that storm finds the metal in
the post a delicious beast to speak to and, in doing so, awakens something
of a monster from the depths where once only a man slept. Thus, a true
killer is born.
Although many found this movie not to their liking because it strayed outside
of the Vorhees cycle's atypical flow and gave him a true way to return
time and again, I found myself enjoying it for a variety of reasons. First
and foremost, it was an extremely high bodycount tale, clocking in at 18
deaths in the human realm and one in the cockroach department (O those
evil sheriffs and their trigger-happy shoe usage!). These included a variety
of people that happened to be trying their hands at all sorts of things,
including hunting one another for sport with paintballs, driving around
in their slightly boring vehicles on mud that people obviously consider
roads somewhere, enjoying the bliss of bodily altercation without the benefit
of clothing, foolishness in the realms of choosing to picnic in some really
creepy woods, and so on. Some of these deaths were highly painful looking,
too, making it all the more interesting to note as they contorted here
and their, begging, pleading, and snapping their way to a chorus of "ouches"
from my watching lips. Second, the storyline involved was a fun-filled
romp through the killing woodlands, throwing little prods at the former
movies of the genre without doing too much to harm them and giving viewers
something they want - a Crystal Lake, oops, I mean Forest Greens community
under siege. This worked out well, not letting the boredom of sloppy extremities
get in the way of the old-fashioned depths of a massacre that always seemed
to be looming just inside the shadows. Third, the actors used in the movie
worked out fairly well, none being superstar material but all being good
enough to enjoy the press of some metallic object as it sweetly kissed
them goodnight, keeping me entertained while Jason systematically worked
his way through people like a knife would through so much butter. Lastly,
the quality of the DVD release is good, capturing all the picture quality
and removing the grainy nature that I've seen many and many a time - letting
I and a Jason defying the realms of death play in fields that we both seem
to enjoy rather well.
For those purists out there in the slasher genre, I would first tell you
not to watch the movie because you might not like the turns it takes and
would then ask you why you've watched the series this far at all to begin
with. It has gone from the original concept of a vengeful boy powered by
a mother that had some neck-to-head related woes, becoming something that
is comical in some rights and quite murderous in others. So, for lovers
of these things that want to avoid a few acres of death and hope beyond
hope that a camper might just end up on the wrong side of a hockeymask,
this might be something you'd enjoy as much as I have. For demented kids
of all machete-toting ages!
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- In
the film, Megan Garris mentions a street called "Cunningham Road". This
is no doubt a reference to the creator and director of Friday the 13th,
Sean S. Cunningham.
- The
camera is visible in the bottom left of the window when Sissy pours her
soda out.
- Jason's eye color changes; it is brown at the beginning of the
film, blue when he is hit by the propeller, then brown for the last shot
of him.
- Though not credited as a stuntman, C.J. Graham did all his own
Jason stunts in the film, including being yanked by wires during gunshot
scenes and being set on fire in the climactic scene.
- The movie was filmed in Covington, Georgia, a suburb about 30
minutes outside of Atlanta. The camp is Camp Daniel Morgan, and the majority
of the camp still looks identical to the scenes in the movie.
- In the movie, Crystal Lake is renamed to Forest Green. This is
obviously a reference to a lot of the signs posted around Camp Daniel Morgan
in Covington, Georgia, which urges people coming into the state park area
to "Keep Our Forests Green".
- The shots of Jason getting the propeller in his neck were shot
in the director's parents' swimming pool.
- The hands of Tommy Jarvis opening Jason's casket were actually
director Tom McLoughlin's hands.
- Crew member Dan Bradley played Jason on the first day of shooting.
That is why Jason's build in the paintball scenes is different from C.J.
Graham's. This is also why Jason's eye color changes during the film. Paramount
had seen the first day's rushes, and they asked that Jason be recast, so
C.J. Graham was given the role.
- Additional death scenes were filmed after the movie was screened
for test audiences. Martin the Caretaker's, the two in the woods who witness
Martin's death, and Sissy's death was actually filmed, rather than just
showing her being pulled out of the window and her head found later, as
was originally in the film.
     
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