To read the first entry click here (for Parts I, II, III and IV)
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It seems that the poster designers were really big fans of glowy effects for these three movies. And it actually looks kinda cool.
So you may remember me expressing my puzzlement on the end of Part IV "The Final Chapter" where, to put it nice and vaguely, Jason appears to be defeated by a haircut. I'm still in need of some explanation on that one.
So, on with the reviews!
Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
The opening of the film was actually pretty neat. The killer of Jason in "The Final Chapter" is clearly haunted by his encounter with Jason. He is haunted by the spirit of Jason and worries that he might even become Jason himself. The first killing clearly isn't him because it happens in plain daylight and we see exactly who does it. However, when later killings are done by a figure wearing a mask, we have more reason to suspect our central character. There's reason to suppose that even the main character is questioning whether he is responsible and this could have been a really interesting theme. At the very beginning of the film where we see our central character as a strong silent type, tormented by his past, we have no trouble imagining him picking up the machete and the mask and going on a rampage, but at the same time we feel worried for him.
I found a rather neat promotional poster for this film which draws on the promising premise:
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The good will we feel at the beginning is carried on with the introduction of a kid called Reggie. He's a smart-talking and likeable figure who serves to give our protagonist an opportunity to slowly reveal his backstory while the two of them build up a relationship. Reggie's grandfather works at the psychiatric institution where our protagonist is being kept, but he's not a patient there himself
Rather odder however, is the idea that this psychiatric institution allows its patients to wander pretty much wherever they want and to do whatever they want. So we have two who have gone out into the town to have sex in the woods, leading to complaints from a stereotypical comic relief redneck lady and her stereotypical comic relief aggressive idiot son. We also have a scenario where a stereotypical overweight nervous chocolate bar chomping patient ends up annoying the aggressive muscle-bound wood-chopping patient (and I'll let you guess for yourself what happens there). If a film is going to start inserting comic relief characters it would be nice if they were actually funny.
Still, the aforementioned boy Reggie is not afraid of our protagonist when he first turns up, so presumably the patients aren't supposed to be dangerous (though it looks pretty clear that they need supervision). However, another reason why it's hard to believe that is because we see our protagonist in plain sight doing what looks like some rather brutal kick-boxing at one stage.
Part V does at least bring back some of the mystery. The "Jason" murderer could be the undead Jason, it could be Jason's killer/our protagonist, or perhaps it could even be a copycat killer. We are left some clues to work it out, but in the end the pieces don't really seem to fit together that well.
What definitely doesn't return on this outing is the sense that the killer is stalking victims. In the first film we had some long continuous shots and these continued in the second and third films. In the fourth they didn't seem to be used so much and now in "A New Beginning" we barely even know the killer is there before the victim is quickly slaughtered (admittedly often somewhat inventively) and we move onto an entirely different scene. Without a decent build-up to each death we have a similar problem to many action films. If you don't build up the character and their scenario then we don't care when they are under threat. If we don't see a build-up of a threat, then we don't feel concerned when the threat becomes a reality. The attacks by the killer in "A New Beginning" generally miss out at least one if not both of these prerequisites for keeping the audience's attention. Perhaps the only case where both of these aspects are built up sufficiently takes place on a toilet.
Anything good about this film is quickly betrayed and it saddens me to have to call this the worst entry in the series so far.
E+
Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part VI (1986)
What a title eh?
Once again Jason rises from the dead, but you've never seen it happen like this before. We have Fulci-esque effects whereby Jason's body is rotting and he has maggots crawling all over him and inside him. The opening of the film oddly has a James Bond-esque intro, not with all the dancing girl silouettes, but with him walking into the sight of an eye and turning around quickly to slash with his machete. It comes as a surprise (though I guess it won't now - whoops), but it really helps to get the audience in the right mood.
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What is there to say about "Jason Lives"? It's got a far better sense of fun than previous entries, coming off a bit like a "Terminator" movie. Jason is by now less of a mass-murdering killer with a machete and more the unstoppable zombified killing machine which, by now surely he ought to be? Coming just a couple of years after the first Terminator movie, I cannot help but imagine that there is some inspiration coming from that direction.
There are some self-referential elements, some deliberately misleading elements and some blooming awesome elements. The acting isn't always perfect, but by the franchise's standards it's pretty great. Tony Goldwyn (who I recognised as the bad guy from "The 6th Day") has a relatively small role and asides from that I didn't recognise any of the other actors. Still, the film does a great job of building up each scene properly and making us really care.
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The final method of dispatching Jason seems to come a bit out of nowhere, but it has a sort of logic to it and I felt I could give it a pass for that. Certainly this is one of the more engaging movies and, in spite of some criticising it for injecting humour, it's regularly genuinely creepy. (And heck, the only reason why Part V wasn't humourous was because all the humour fell flat.) In terms of filming style this felt like a massive leap forward. The director apparently had a background in mime, but after this film he doesn't appear to have returned for more directorial work and, to be quite frank, that's really sad to hear.
Check out this neat artwork:
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Sadly this awesome entry in the franchise came at a time when fans were quickly losing faith and it ended up being the lowest grossing movie in the series so far.
A-
Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
The first change from "Jason Lives" is to make sure that the words "Friday the 13th" are firmly at the start of the title and the second change is introducing the telekinesis (and the third change is bringing in extremely cheap and talentless actors? - or is that just mean?). I have no idea what the title "the new blood" is supposed to mean, but I can't deny that it made me feel suitably interested in putting the DVD in (though to be honest part VI was enough motivation).
So oddly enough on top of at least two camp sites around Crystal Lake there is now apparently a summer house. In the opening scene (after a long series of clips from the previous six films - yes, they are back to doing that again now too) we see a young girl running out of the house because her father is drunk and being abusive to her mother. The father rushes out to persuade her to come back in and apologises for his behaviour (oddly not actually seeming that drunk) only for his daughter to shout out "I hate you" and kill him with telekinetic powers that destroy the small boardwalk he is standing on, forcing him under the lake.
Jump forward in time and the telekinetic/psychic girl is now growing up and has gone from a "Firestarter" (well apparently, so I really must see that. Poltergeist too) sort of figure to a "Carrie" sort of figure. I think it's important not to forget that the first Friday the 13th film borrowed somewhat from Carrie towards the end. I think that this telekinetic plotline could have worked really well, but like with Part V (only less of a disaster this time) the film doesn't really fulfil it's promises. A lack of direction in the script, a lot of poor acting and some extremely cheesy dialogue all serve to impede the film.
Still, one thing that is done quite well (though not really well enough) is tying the girl's story to Jason's story. The resurrection of Jason is tied in with her story. Also by far the best part of the film is where towards the end we finally get to see her use powers to fight Jason. Unfortunately, the plotline of the local campers who want to throw a surprise party for their friend doesn't feel like it fits in very well at all with either the telelkinesis story or the Jason story.
Overall the plot of this film was a mess. It's especially sad to see this as a follow-up to "Jason Lives". One positive element is the decision to show Jason's ribcage as he walks around. I was rather less impressed, however, with the design of Jason's face once he is unmasked.
Another cool fan image!:
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(click on image to see full size version)
Finally, my score for this film is...
D-
Ranking for the first seven films are as follows:
1. Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986)
2. Friday the 13th: Part II (1981)
3. Friday the 13th (1980)
4. Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter (1984)
5=. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
5=. Friday the 13th: Part III (2D version) (1982)
6. Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
(X-posted to Halloween Candy)
Next up... Jason goes to New York, hell and finally outer space!
It seems that the poster designers were really big fans of glowy effects for these three movies. And it actually looks kinda cool.
So you may remember me expressing my puzzlement on the end of Part IV "The Final Chapter" where, to put it nice and vaguely, Jason appears to be defeated by a haircut. I'm still in need of some explanation on that one.
So, on with the reviews!
Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
The opening of the film was actually pretty neat. The killer of Jason in "The Final Chapter" is clearly haunted by his encounter with Jason. He is haunted by the spirit of Jason and worries that he might even become Jason himself. The first killing clearly isn't him because it happens in plain daylight and we see exactly who does it. However, when later killings are done by a figure wearing a mask, we have more reason to suspect our central character. There's reason to suppose that even the main character is questioning whether he is responsible and this could have been a really interesting theme. At the very beginning of the film where we see our central character as a strong silent type, tormented by his past, we have no trouble imagining him picking up the machete and the mask and going on a rampage, but at the same time we feel worried for him.
I found a rather neat promotional poster for this film which draws on the promising premise:
The good will we feel at the beginning is carried on with the introduction of a kid called Reggie. He's a smart-talking and likeable figure who serves to give our protagonist an opportunity to slowly reveal his backstory while the two of them build up a relationship. Reggie's grandfather works at the psychiatric institution where our protagonist is being kept, but he's not a patient there himself
Rather odder however, is the idea that this psychiatric institution allows its patients to wander pretty much wherever they want and to do whatever they want. So we have two who have gone out into the town to have sex in the woods, leading to complaints from a stereotypical comic relief redneck lady and her stereotypical comic relief aggressive idiot son. We also have a scenario where a stereotypical overweight nervous chocolate bar chomping patient ends up annoying the aggressive muscle-bound wood-chopping patient (and I'll let you guess for yourself what happens there). If a film is going to start inserting comic relief characters it would be nice if they were actually funny.
Still, the aforementioned boy Reggie is not afraid of our protagonist when he first turns up, so presumably the patients aren't supposed to be dangerous (though it looks pretty clear that they need supervision). However, another reason why it's hard to believe that is because we see our protagonist in plain sight doing what looks like some rather brutal kick-boxing at one stage.
Part V does at least bring back some of the mystery. The "Jason" murderer could be the undead Jason, it could be Jason's killer/our protagonist, or perhaps it could even be a copycat killer. We are left some clues to work it out, but in the end the pieces don't really seem to fit together that well.
What definitely doesn't return on this outing is the sense that the killer is stalking victims. In the first film we had some long continuous shots and these continued in the second and third films. In the fourth they didn't seem to be used so much and now in "A New Beginning" we barely even know the killer is there before the victim is quickly slaughtered (admittedly often somewhat inventively) and we move onto an entirely different scene. Without a decent build-up to each death we have a similar problem to many action films. If you don't build up the character and their scenario then we don't care when they are under threat. If we don't see a build-up of a threat, then we don't feel concerned when the threat becomes a reality. The attacks by the killer in "A New Beginning" generally miss out at least one if not both of these prerequisites for keeping the audience's attention. Perhaps the only case where both of these aspects are built up sufficiently takes place on a toilet.
Anything good about this film is quickly betrayed and it saddens me to have to call this the worst entry in the series so far.
E+
Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part VI (1986)
What a title eh?
Once again Jason rises from the dead, but you've never seen it happen like this before. We have Fulci-esque effects whereby Jason's body is rotting and he has maggots crawling all over him and inside him. The opening of the film oddly has a James Bond-esque intro, not with all the dancing girl silouettes, but with him walking into the sight of an eye and turning around quickly to slash with his machete. It comes as a surprise (though I guess it won't now - whoops), but it really helps to get the audience in the right mood.
What is there to say about "Jason Lives"? It's got a far better sense of fun than previous entries, coming off a bit like a "Terminator" movie. Jason is by now less of a mass-murdering killer with a machete and more the unstoppable zombified killing machine which, by now surely he ought to be? Coming just a couple of years after the first Terminator movie, I cannot help but imagine that there is some inspiration coming from that direction.
There are some self-referential elements, some deliberately misleading elements and some blooming awesome elements. The acting isn't always perfect, but by the franchise's standards it's pretty great. Tony Goldwyn (who I recognised as the bad guy from "The 6th Day") has a relatively small role and asides from that I didn't recognise any of the other actors. Still, the film does a great job of building up each scene properly and making us really care.
The final method of dispatching Jason seems to come a bit out of nowhere, but it has a sort of logic to it and I felt I could give it a pass for that. Certainly this is one of the more engaging movies and, in spite of some criticising it for injecting humour, it's regularly genuinely creepy. (And heck, the only reason why Part V wasn't humourous was because all the humour fell flat.) In terms of filming style this felt like a massive leap forward. The director apparently had a background in mime, but after this film he doesn't appear to have returned for more directorial work and, to be quite frank, that's really sad to hear.
Check out this neat artwork:
Sadly this awesome entry in the franchise came at a time when fans were quickly losing faith and it ended up being the lowest grossing movie in the series so far.
A-
Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
The first change from "Jason Lives" is to make sure that the words "Friday the 13th" are firmly at the start of the title and the second change is introducing the telekinesis (and the third change is bringing in extremely cheap and talentless actors? - or is that just mean?). I have no idea what the title "the new blood" is supposed to mean, but I can't deny that it made me feel suitably interested in putting the DVD in (though to be honest part VI was enough motivation).
So oddly enough on top of at least two camp sites around Crystal Lake there is now apparently a summer house. In the opening scene (after a long series of clips from the previous six films - yes, they are back to doing that again now too) we see a young girl running out of the house because her father is drunk and being abusive to her mother. The father rushes out to persuade her to come back in and apologises for his behaviour (oddly not actually seeming that drunk) only for his daughter to shout out "I hate you" and kill him with telekinetic powers that destroy the small boardwalk he is standing on, forcing him under the lake.
Jump forward in time and the telekinetic/psychic girl is now growing up and has gone from a "Firestarter" (well apparently, so I really must see that. Poltergeist too) sort of figure to a "Carrie" sort of figure. I think it's important not to forget that the first Friday the 13th film borrowed somewhat from Carrie towards the end. I think that this telekinetic plotline could have worked really well, but like with Part V (only less of a disaster this time) the film doesn't really fulfil it's promises. A lack of direction in the script, a lot of poor acting and some extremely cheesy dialogue all serve to impede the film.
Still, one thing that is done quite well (though not really well enough) is tying the girl's story to Jason's story. The resurrection of Jason is tied in with her story. Also by far the best part of the film is where towards the end we finally get to see her use powers to fight Jason. Unfortunately, the plotline of the local campers who want to throw a surprise party for their friend doesn't feel like it fits in very well at all with either the telelkinesis story or the Jason story.
Overall the plot of this film was a mess. It's especially sad to see this as a follow-up to "Jason Lives". One positive element is the decision to show Jason's ribcage as he walks around. I was rather less impressed, however, with the design of Jason's face once he is unmasked.
Another cool fan image!:
(click on image to see full size version)
Finally, my score for this film is...
D-
Ranking for the first seven films are as follows:
1. Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986)
2. Friday the 13th: Part II (1981)
3. Friday the 13th (1980)
4. Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter (1984)
5=. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
5=. Friday the 13th: Part III (2D version) (1982)
6. Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
(X-posted to Halloween Candy)
Next up... Jason goes to New York, hell and finally outer space!