Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood

 Just some thoughts.

Introducing Kane Hodder!

Cool guy. And strong as hell. I met him once. But that's a story for another time.

There's a little prologue giving us some backstory for our final girl. And letting us know that she's got something to even the playing field with Jason when the time comes. Also bye bet Dad. Hello nuthouse!

As Tina and her mom drive up to the house I can't help but thin Dr. Crews just oozes scuzbag. Mom, showing the good judgement that led her to marry an abusive drunk, trusts him completely. She will change her mind about that eventually, but far too late to do any good.

There's what, if this were a romcom, would be a meet cute. Where Tina gets more than a bit angry at Nick who's just trying to help her pick up the stuff that accidentally spilled out of her luggage. Yes he does end up grabbing her panties, but that wasn't his intent. I should mention she wasn't wearing the panties. If she had been then her anger would be justifiable.

We also get a brief into to Melissa, the rich cunt of the movie. 

I have to say, I really look forward to Jason kabobbing Crews when the time comes. I don't know if it's money he's after, or fame for exposing Tina's powers to the world, but he's pure scuz. 

Tina faints after trying to bring up dad, but actually bringing up Jason. Jason doesn't attack her in anyway. There's more than one way you can explain this, but in my own headcanon Jason instinctively knew she brought him up and had no intention of harming her. Circumstances changed however.

We find out that Nick and crew are going to be waiting in vain for his cousin and cousins girlfriend as they are Jason's 1st victims.

We find out nudity is back on the menu for Friday the 13th movies via a surprisingly honest gold-digger. I would say she lives to regret this, but she doesn't. Live that is. 

So of and on throughout the movie we've had the black couple having some sort of problem. This is treated as if it's going to matter. It never does. They make up in the van without ever revealing what the problem was. Fortunately Jason got rid of them fairly shortly after that.

Mom and Dr. Crews have a confrontation when she finally figures out he's a scuzbag. The only thing this accomplishes is to get Tina (who overheard his threats to commit her) to take a car and run off. She ends up running off the road after having a vision of her mom being killed by Jason. 

She's fine (physically speaking) and runs off before her Mom and Dr. Crews find the car. They try to find her, with no luck.

Dr. Crews is a scuzbag and a coward, but I have to say, his ideas make a lot more sense then Mom's. He says they should go back to the house to see if Tina went back there, or to call the cops for help if she hasn't. This makes a lot more sense then just running around the forest blind not having a clue where Tina's at. And this would be true even if Jason wasn't running around hacking people apart. Speaking of which.

Jason shows up and hacks mom apart. While Dr. Crews hold her in front of himself like a human shield. I mean, ok you're a coward. But why not just run? That would have actually made more sense. But the not so good Dr. manages to get away. Long enough to catch up to Tina so she can see her mother's blood all over him and realize that her mother's dead. She runs off and Jason catches up to Crews and kills him with some sort of powered tool. My only complaint is Crews didn't suffer enough.

Melissa tries to Make Nick jealous by going off with the worst sci-fi wannabe writer in the world. Pro-tip hon, they have to have some interest in you at all to get jealous over what you do. When this fails she settles for just giving the guy a case of blue balls, and sneaking out on him.

Tina meets up with Nick and gets him caught up with what's going on. He gets her to agree to stay there while he gets the others so they can all get out of there together. Of course he finds out the rest have already been taken care of by Jason.

And Tina shows mom's "good judgement" runs in the family by running off by herself and finding her mom's body. And Jason. She then "kills" Jason with some power lines. This doesn't stick and eventually she drops a porch roof on him and heads back to the house. 

There she meets up with Melissa and Nick. Why did Melissa even go there? Is she so desperate for Nick that she's decided to try breaking and entering? Tina explains what happened. Melissa decides they're both nuts and opens the door to leave, just in time to be offed by Jason. And now we have the final showdown. And it's a good one. I'm not gonna try to describe it, to do it justice would take a couple of pages. 

I will say this, the house explosion was a bit over the top. They had a wood burning stove to heat the house, so what caused the explosion. Maybe they had a gas stove for cooking, but that's still a pretty big explosion.

In some technical sense of the term Tina might not be a final girl since Nick survived as well, but I still think she did a pretty good job of it. At the end anyways. She makes some bad choices before that but handles the fight well.

Enough from me, here's someone else's take: 1000 MISSPENT HOURS AND COUNTING: Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood (1988) **½

Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

 Just some thoughts, not a review.

Is that a James Bond opening? Yes, yes it is. Voorhees. Jason Voorhees. Slashed, not chopped.

This is the first Friday the 13 where Jason is explicitly supernatural. He's certainly done things a normal man couldn't or shouldn't be able to do, but that was never explained, it was just left to the audience to decide what it meant.

I do appreciate the nod to the classics by having him be resurrected by lightning bolt.

This movie does hit a pet peeve of mine. That is the sane person (for certain values of sane considering Tommy's history) sounds crazy because he chooses the worst way to explain the insanity he's going through.

I mean, yeah Tommy, you know Jason was brought back to life. You saw it happen. But you must know how it's gonna sound to anybody else. Just tell'em you and your friend were at the cemetery and a giant psycho killed your friend.

If they ask why you were there just say, "Hey if you wanna arrest me for trespassing, fine, but I think the giant killer psycho is a higher priority." A couple of dumb teenagers vandalizing a cemetery is  a much easier sell than a lightening powered revenant.

This is the first (and last, so far) Friday the 13th where a summer camp is actually being used as a camp. And it's the first since part 2 to be explicitly happening on Friday the 13th. Part 5 might have been happening on Friday the 13th, but no one references the date specifically.

This is the tamest of the series as well, with no nudity and very little gore. They have people come upon the remains of Jason's victims a couple of times and make it look like somebody just threw a bucket of blood all over in an attempt to hide this, but it's not terribly effective.

Also having Jason in the cabin with the kids is obviously meant to amp up the tension, but in a movie that's not even willing to flash a pair of tits at you no ones buying the idea Jason's gonna start chopping up little kids. And I don't particularly want that anyway. Chopping up fornicating teenagers is one thing, chopping up little kids is not what I come to a Friday the 13th movie for.

There's a little girl named Nancy. She's having nightmares. I have nothing to add, just wanted to acknowledge the Elm St reference.

Oh yeah, a little tip for all the Dads out there. If you wanna keep your daughter away from someone don't tell her how dangerous he is. Just don't. 

Speaking of Megan I have to say she has some obnoxious moments early on but after it becomes clear that there is a killer on the loose she does rise to the occasion.

I did enjoy this movie, but it is one of the weaker entries. If it wasn't for the return of Jason I'd probably put it behind part 5.

Enough from me, here's someone else's take on it: 1000 MISSPENT HOURS AND COUNTING: Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) *½

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

 Been a hell of a week at work. But enough of that, now some thoughts on Part 5.

When it first came out this one ticked a lot of people off. More recently opinion of it has improved, somewhat. Which makes a certain amount of sense. Since the thing that most angered fans, the idea of replacing Jason with Tommy Jarvis, ended up never happening. And even the temporary replacement of Roy Burns is more fondly looked at now, since his motivation is very similar to Mrs. Voorhees from part 1.

Still, it is a very weak entry. The number of things that happen because they're trying to make you think it's Tommy, (like stacking the bodies in Tommy's room, why would Roy do that?) to the kills that don't make sense no matter who's supposed to be doing it.

Like those rejects from a hotrodder movie, the closest you come to a reason is they say some mean things about the kids at Pinehurst. Was Roy walking around the middle of nowhere mourning his son and heard those guys talkin' and decide, that's it, they gotta die? Apparently.

The last name of one of the actress's is Voorhees. Absolutely nothing is made of this. This fact has messed with my head since the first time I read the credits. William Castle must be spinning in his grave.

I was thinking that for one of the big franchises of horror it's kind of funny that they only do the traditional final girl once, in part 1. Then I realized I forgot about part 3. Which I think says a lot about 3. If it wasn't for 5, 3 would be at the bottom of the list so far.

I find it kind of funny how it was such a big deal that they killed of Jason in part 4 that they couldn't bring him back here, but in part 2 they brought him back as a grown man, when he'd died as a child before part 1. And not a single word of explanation was given. Nor was a single fuck given. But I think you'd have a hard time finding someone who thought 5 was better or more logical than part 2.

Haven't said a whole about 5, but, well. What is there to say? It's got some pretty girls and some gruesome killings, but the narrative around it is nonsensical. And not in a fun or interesting way. I don't hate it (anymore), but I don't feel particularly strongly positive about it either.

Enough from me, here's someone else's take: 1000 MISSPENT HOURS AND COUNTING: Friday the 13th, Part V: A New Beginning/Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) -*½

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

The gist of it is, thoughts, not a review.

This is probably my favorite of the Friday the 13th movies. The reason is fairly simple. When I finally saw it (on vhs, a few years after release) I was about the same age as Tommy Jarvis is in the movie. And I got a kick out of the hero being a kid like me.

This takes place less than a week after Part 2. Jason's had a busy week.

In future movies they'll make a big deal out of bringing Jason back to life, but in this one he just wakes up and starts offing people. Maybe the paramedics didn't bother to check his vitals before bringing him in?

This is probably the best looking of the movies as far as production values go. Not necessary really. Of the previous movies Part 3 had the highest production values and was the worst, but parts 1& 2 looked like they'd been made with change found in someone's couch cushions but were great. But still nice.

I wonder why Tommy is so certain Rob can't be hunting bears. He's not, he looking for revenge for his sister that was killed in Part 2. But what makes Tommy so certain. According to Paul (also in part 2) Crystal Lake is bear country. So why not? Is it not bear hunting season? Is that a thing? I'm aware of deer hunting season, but I don't know about bear season. 

I like Rob. On a mission of vengeance but still has time to be nice to a weird kid. The fact that the weird kid's big sister is a babe probably helps, but still he seems like a good guy. Too bad Jason doesn't care about that.

When I see a scene like Jim's dancing I wonder what the direction was. Did they just say, "Dance like a spaz." and let him work it out from there, or did they get more specific. "I want people to wonder whether he's dancing or having an epileptic fit."

Speaking of Jim I'm glad he got a chance to put the "dead fuck" thing to rest with one of the twins before Jason showed up. And tbf to Ted he at least was happy for his friend despite his own failure with the other twin. That's friendship dammit.

This movie has something that movies are constantly try to say is great, but that I'm certain would be horrible. Shower sex. Granted I've never tried shower sex, so maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so. 

After more than 30 years of shaving I can't hep but watch Tommy shave his head and think he would be bleeding all over the place.

I have a certain amount of sympathy with Trish's frustration that Tommy hadn't run when she decoyed Jason away, but at the same time I think, run where? They're deep in the woods, there doesn't seem to be anyone else living anywhere nearby and the trip to town is usually made by car, making me thinks it could be 10 miles or more away. The woods are Jason's home, he'd catch Tommy long before he could get anywhere.

That's enough from me. Here's someone else's take on it:

1000 MISSPENT HOURS AND COUNTING: Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

Friday the 13th, Part 3 (1982)

 At the risk of repeating myself, not a review, just some thoughts. 

Parts 2,3, and 4 all take place on the same weekend. So this is less Friday the 13th, and more Saturday the 14th. But that doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

This is the weakest entry so far. I still enjoy it, just not as much as the first two. 

There's the question of why Jason is killing these people at all, since they're not camp counselors nor are they on the land of Camp Blood. Maybe he just wanted an upgrade from the shack he was living in. 

Chris Higgins was a better final girl than I remembered. I think that my issue was there were so many things around her that were bad that I downgraded her because of them. Don't get me wrong, she's not at Ginny's (Part 2) level, but she gives a good accounting of herself.

To start with her friend group is the least likable of the series so far. This is mostly due to Shelly. He's this movies version of Ned/Ted the practical joker. Only he's worse than those two combined and multiplied. Those two were doing pranks because they thought they were funny. Shell's doing it to get people to like him.

Being an obnoxious prankster is bad enough, being a stupid obnoxious prankster is maddening. How many times do people have to get pissed off at you for pranking them before you realize it's not helping you make friends.

Then there's the 3D gags. I've never seen the movie in 3D, but honestly the gags are so weak that I don't think it would help if I did see it in 3D. They'd still be annoying.

There's also the attempt to give Chris a traumatic backstory with Jason. Before they fully reveal it they pretty strongly imply that she was raped in the woods around Crystal Lake. But then when they have her tell the story to her boyfriend Rick, she says she was attacked by Jason (though she doesn't use the name), but then blacked out so she doesn't remember what happened. 

Now, I've never been raped. And I've never been a woman. And I've certainly never been a raped woman, but you think there be some kind of physical evidence to indicate whether she was raped. Jason doesn't really strike me as a sophisticated enough to use forensic countermeasures. Plus there's never any explanation of why he attacked her, but didn't kill her. That's not really his modus operandi.

And the payoff is just goofy. In the middle of chasing her Jason pulls his mask off so she can recognize him as her attacker. I almost expected him to wave and say, "Hi there, long time no see!"

I will say this, she is the prettiest of the final girls so far.

I do wonder, why didn't they ever use the name? Was that an intentional choice, or did they just not think about it?

This is also the movie that introduces the hockey mask finally giving Jason his iconic look. 

Here are some other takes on it:

1000 MISSPENT HOURS AND COUNTING Friday the 13th, Part 3

FINALLY hockey mask Jason! * Friday the 13th Part 3! * FIRST TIME WATCHING * reaction & commentary

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

Not a review, just some thoughts.

In many ways Ginny's an excellent final girl (in a technical sense she might not really be final in that Paul survives to the end, or almost the end depending on how you interpret it) but one place she falls down is when Jason and Paul fight in the main cabin. She doesn't even try to help. Just keeps yelling at Paul to say something to her.

I'm thinking hon', if you can't even be arsed to help out, maybe you could not nag him when he's in fight to the (not quite) death. Feel free to insert your own nagging girlfriend joke here. But looking at the movie as a whole I think this is a case where the scene had to go that way.

What I mean by that is that part 2 Jason is easily the most realistic Jason of the franchise (with a couple of exceptions I'll go into in a minute) he's obviously tough and a survivor, but physically speaking he falls within relatively "normal" limits. He's not indestructible or a mountain of muscle like later iterations. So if Ginny were to grab a blunt object and pitch in, it wouldn't really make sense for him to be able to overcome her and Paul.

But outside of that she's great. She's obviously scared but smart and resourceful. She manages to keep her head and use her surrounding and her knowledge of child psychology to great advantage. One thing I find funny watching old horror movies like this is how so many modern movies struggle to make a heroine that isn't incredibly unlikeable or just completely annoying, but movies like this, Halloween, and Alien did it easily.

Now the not so realistic bits. This Jason, who is so deformed that even in the woods alone wears a bag over his head, managed to leave his woods and track down Alice from the first movie (wherever she's living) all while carrying his mother's severed head. Really?

Then, after killing Alice, he makes his way back to the woods around Crystal Lake with that head. AND Alice's body. In the novelization (which I haven't read but saw this tidbit somewhere) he did this by memorizing what Alice's car looked like. Ok, but how does that help him find her? I mean once he gets to wherever she lives he can go that's her car she must live there, but how does he get there. I'm sure he knows how to track animals (and people) through the woods, but those skills don't really carry over to tracking a car on the interstate when you're on foot.  

Don't misunderstand me, this isn't really a complaint. It doesn't take away my enjoyment of the movie in the slightest. It's just something that gives me a chuckle whenever I think of it. I like to think of Jason hitchhiking down the road with a duffel containing his mom's head over his shoulder and a bag over his head. Perhaps getting picked up by some chatty (and lonely) older lady who talks so much she never even notices that he never says a word. Lets face it, we've all met someone like that. 

Maybe she even waited and gave him a ride back.

Even though some of'em are a bit over the top this movie has some shots I just love. My favorite is the one where Ginny (unknowingly) stumbles upon Jason's cabin and goes inside. She's looking around for help or a weapon, or something. And over her shoulder through a window (or hole might be a better word) you can see Jason running up. It's just so great.

This is of course the movie that introduced Jason as the primary antagonist. It also introduced the biggest plot hole in the whole series, indeed one of the biggest plot holes in movies period, and doesn't make even the smallest attempt to try to explain it. That is of course that Jason was not only alive during Mrs. Voorhees killing spree, but indeed watched her be beheaded for trying to avenge his death. Which didn't actually happen since he was alive to watch her doing it.

I've always wondered if this was simple audacity on the creators part, or did they just not see the problem?

This is also where my personal headcanon comes into play. No not the Dirty Harry kind, notice there's only one n. In my head Mrs. Voorhees isn't just killing for revenge, she's trying to perform some dark magic to bring her beloved son back to life. (Perhaps with the help of a cursed object from Vendredi's Antiques.) I like to think she needed to kill 13 people to do it, but her own death ended up being number 13 and so she couldn't complete the spell so Jason came back, but he came back wrong.

In the first movie there are 10 deaths, including Mrs. Voorhees so she would only need to have killed three people offscreen to bring it up to the right number. Also the victims have to be affiliated with Camp Crystal Lake (remember, she was a cook there at one time) have to happen near or at the camp and on or near Friday the 13th. This explains why it took her so long.

It also explains why other she just sabotaged the openings rather than kill people. Because the openings were going to happen when there was no Friday the 13 on the calendar and she couldn't stand to have the camp open when her Jason was still dead.

This is also why he's stronger in later movies. Every victim makes him stronger.

Well I think  that's about enough of my 2 cents. Here are a couple of other takes on it:

1000 MISSPENT HOURS AND COUNTING: Friday the 13th, Part 2

Friday the 13th Part 2 - Jason * FIRST TIME WATCHING * reaction & commentary

Friday the 13th (1980)

This isn't really a review, just some thoughts after my most recent viewing of the movie. BTW, anyone who needs spoiler warnings for a 40+ year old movie, please go away.

There's an honesty about this movie I like. What I mean by that is that it isn't "high" art, nor is it trying to be. It's just here to make a few bucks for it's creators by providing some entertainment by way of chills and thrills. This movie has it's flaws certainly, but I think they've been exaggerated by more than a few people over the years.

According to people who know far more about it than I do Friday the 13th was influenced by Italian Gialli. For those who don't know (or who don't wanna click the link) Giallo's are Italian thrillers that tend to have a murder mystery format, but are more focused on excessively violent and creative killings, than traditional whodunit's. 

I've only seen a couple giallo's myself, but that description does certainly fit this movie.

I'm not looking to hand out any Oscar's, but the acting is good enough to get the job done.

Considering how much fuss people make about it in this type of movie, there's very little nudity.

The biggest plot hole in the movie is where the body of one of the victims is thrown into the cabin where the final girl (Alice) is holed up through one of the windows and not more than a couple of minutes later the killer drives up in a jeep. Who threw the body?

It couldn't have been the killer. Tom Cruise on meth couldn't have run far enough in the time available to get far enough away for Alice not to hear the jeep start. The other is that, before the showdown with Alice, two of the victims are shown to have a chance to fight, but don't even try.

Mrs. Voorhees is a woman a bit past middle age, so hardly the most intimadating figure. Granted the two girls are smaller than her, but they're also at least 20 years younger. When you first see it and they don't show you who the killer is, this isn't an issue. But after the reveal, if you think about it it's a little puzzling.

TBF most people watching it the first time probably don't think about it.

Here are some other people's opinions on the movie: 1000misspenthours: Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th * FIRST TIME WATCHING * reaction & commentary * Millennial Movie Monday

Happy Friday the 13th!

 I know that may be an odd sentiment, but I've always liked Friday the 13th for some reason. Call it reverse superstition if you like, but the day jus brightens me up for some reason.

For this Friday the 13th I've decided to take a day off work and have my own little movie marathon of the eponymous series of movies. I've already started with the 1st. Don't know If I'll watch all of'em, my stamina might fail, but we'll see.