By 1983, the slasher genre that had been popularized by films like Halloween and the original Friday the 13th was waning in popularity, and with diminished returns on the last film, producer Frank Manusco, Jr. decided to end the series. The director this time was Joseph Zito, then known for the slasher film, The Prowler, (and later known for Chuck Norris vehicles Missing in Action and Invasion USA), who was to write the film, but decided he was better at directing, so secretly used his writing salary to hire Barry Cohen to write the film. This one has people you've heard of in it, namely Corey Feldman and Crispin Glover. The production was troubled, namely due to Zito's callousness and him forcing the actors to perform dangerous stunts by themselves. It eventually got to the point that the Jason for the film, veteran stuntman Ted White (who had doubled for Clark Gable and John Wayne during the course of his career) threatened to walk off the film because of it. Feldman maintained a bratty persona to deal with Zito's direction. White would go uncredited, due to his combative relationship with Zito. Like before, it wasn't a hit with critics (especially Siskel and Ebert), but a financial success, and they decided not to end it (which is why I've got 7 more of these to go.)
I might as well place a madlibs for this one. Jason (Ted White), after his alleged death in the last one, gets up and wanders the morgue and kills the nurses. Meanwhile, a group of teenagers come to Crystal Lake, and settle in a vacation home. Jason begins a-killing. To be fair, there is a new element in this film in the form of the Jarvis family, including the mother(Joan Freeman), Trish (Kimberly Beck), and Travis (Corey Feldman), who the teens briefly meet. Trish and Travis later meet a hitchhiker Rob (E. Erich Anderson), who has a particular mission in Crystal Lake.
I'll say this about the film, I like that they add more elements to this to spruce up the formula. There is the element of the brother and sister, and Rob, who is revealed to be avenging the death of his sister (Sandra Dier from the last film). The way Travis finally dispatches Jason is clever and adds a little more menace to a character other than Jason.
I'm running out of things to say about these films. This was tedious, it follows the same structure as the last two, it got a little absurd. Even the good stuff is starting to get tiring. There really isn't anything in this one I didn't already say about the other two.
Was it bad? No, I daresay it was better than the last one, but it is basically a functional product. It does its job at fundamental level, and has little more to offer beyond that. It is basically unexceptional, is what I'm saying. So, if you want to marathon these films or want a horror movie to have fun with, I'd say give it a watch, just don't expect a great film.
I might as well place a madlibs for this one. Jason (Ted White), after his alleged death in the last one, gets up and wanders the morgue and kills the nurses. Meanwhile, a group of teenagers come to Crystal Lake, and settle in a vacation home. Jason begins a-killing. To be fair, there is a new element in this film in the form of the Jarvis family, including the mother(Joan Freeman), Trish (Kimberly Beck), and Travis (Corey Feldman), who the teens briefly meet. Trish and Travis later meet a hitchhiker Rob (E. Erich Anderson), who has a particular mission in Crystal Lake.
I'll say this about the film, I like that they add more elements to this to spruce up the formula. There is the element of the brother and sister, and Rob, who is revealed to be avenging the death of his sister (Sandra Dier from the last film). The way Travis finally dispatches Jason is clever and adds a little more menace to a character other than Jason.
I'm running out of things to say about these films. This was tedious, it follows the same structure as the last two, it got a little absurd. Even the good stuff is starting to get tiring. There really isn't anything in this one I didn't already say about the other two.
Was it bad? No, I daresay it was better than the last one, but it is basically a functional product. It does its job at fundamental level, and has little more to offer beyond that. It is basically unexceptional, is what I'm saying. So, if you want to marathon these films or want a horror movie to have fun with, I'd say give it a watch, just don't expect a great film.
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