Jason Voorhees,
the living, breathing essence of evil, is back for one fierce final fling.
Tracked down and blown to bits by a special FBI task force, everyone now
assumes that he's finally dead. But everyone assumes wrong. Jason has been
reborn with the bone-chilling ability to assume the identity of anyone
he touches. The terrifying truth is he could be anywhere. Or anybody.
"Oh yeah.... planning on smokin a little dope,
have a little premarital sex, and getting slaughtered."
- Lou |
The Friday the 13th series…What can be said about this precedent-setting
80's teen slasher series? Well, over my few years I've seen all of these
may times, and to be quite frank the series was beginning to wear thin
(for some more than others). I'd always enjoyed them for their inventive
deaths and fair snaking plot, but by number eight things were beginning
to get tired. The same plot; teens get hacked up at Camp Crystal Lake (with
a few field trips elsewhere) just didn't have the flair it once did despite
Jason's use of everything from axes to spearguns to hedgetrimmers. He just
seemed to be getting bored of the whole thing himself, not moving with
the same quickness and energy he once did, just kind of stomping along
hacking and dicing at his own leisure, making things equally uninspired
at seeing him go about his deeds.
Like I said I was getting kind of bored with the series but for the sake
of completeness I decided to check out the supposed `last chapter' of the
series. I was already eliciting groans in the opening reel as yet another
idiotic bimbo going to Camp Crystal Lake to get hacked up. Groan. Well
imagine my excitement and delight when being chased through the woods she
does an acrobatic roll and an FBI SWAT team jumps from the oh so familiar
dark woods and begins to pump rounds into Jason. A lot of people don't
like this scene because it effectively ends Jasons involvement in the movie
until the end. Personally this marks a new, fresh direction for the movie.
It acknowledges the fact that the authorities would find out about this
kind of thing after a while, and it actively plays on the viewers sense
of familiarity with the series to lure them into the trap that the movie
has laid.
From here on the movie takes a very un-Jasonish turn and makes him into
a Fallen-esqe body jumping killer. The movies suspense works well
enough, and does a great job of explaining the backstory, and most importantly
creating interesting characters. The main character is a tough geek, and
the bounty hunter Creighton Duke is appropriately tough and gruff. They
both are well rounded enough for the movie, especially in a series where
most characters are not developed to obscure who might be killed. Here,
however, strong lead roles are created and adhered to giving the viewer
a much greater attachment to the characters since they actually know that
much more about them than the average slasher flick.
At the same time there was gore galore for those who are in need of that,
as well as plenty of deaths and some nice real (as in not CG) special effects
that round things out nicely. Overall this movie was a great change of
pace and setting (Jason takes the fight to a number of fun locales, including
a police station) that really makes this one special. Many seem not to
like because of it's deviation both in location and personification of
the Friday the 13th movies, but it is a change for the better, and
pumps new vitality into this once ailing series. A lot of people really
seem to be violent against the idea of Jason only being in part of the
movie, but it makes for a good breather before the full assault in Jason
X, and the body jumping angle is pulled off skillfully. I personally
think things get stale after a while, but for those looking to this movie
to provide more woods stalking fun near Crystal Lake, should best steer
clear, this one is for those seeking something different, but still executed
stylishly.
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- The
patches on the shoulders of the Crystal Lake police uniforms state that
Crystal Lake is in Cunningham County. This is a homage to Sean S. Cunningham,
who is the producer of this movie, and was the producer & director
of Friday the 13th.
- In
the basement of the Voorhees house, there is a crate marked "Arctic Expedition
- Julia Carpenter - Horlicks University." This is the same crate from the
"Crate" chapter in the movie Creepshow.
- In
addition to his roles as Jason and the Security Guard, Kane Hodder also
played Freddy Krueger's arm in the final scene.
- The Necronomicon found in the Voorhees house is a prop from Army of
Darkness, which KNB Effects worked on shortly before this film.
- This was the first film in the series to be handled by New Line
Cinema after the franchise was moved from Paramount.
- One early concept for this movie was Jason Goes To L.A. in which two rival gangs would be fighting; when Jason would show up and
start murdering them. This would force the rival gangs to band together
to defeat Jason.
- John
D. LeMay, who played Steven Freeman, also starred in the late 80's TV series Friday
the 13th, The Series.
- Agent
Abernathy was named after Lewis Abernathy who helped Sean S. Cunningham
make the underwater thriller DeepStar Six.
- This
film originally had a flashback sequence and Betsy Palmer was offered to
reprise her role but rejected.
- Jason's
heart was used in From Dusk till Dawn as Monkey Man's heart.
- The
jungle gym in front of the Voorhees house was also used in The Birds.
- This
is the only film in the "Friday the 13th" series in which Jason's
face is not seen.
     
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