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, 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 hedge trimmers. 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 Jason’s 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-Jason turn and makes him into a Fallen-Esque 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 its 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.
My Score! - 70%
Plot and Storyline - 72%
Structure - 71%
Engagement - 68%
Plausibility - 71%
Acting and Performances - 70%
70%
This is not as bad as people say. It is strange and different than the others, but I like it.
