Review

A new group of camp counsellors is off to Crystal Lake to do the training business. As this is Crystal Lake, they are likely to get more training than they envisaged. Mrs Voorhees might have lost her head over things in the original movie, but good son Jason is ready to take up the family trade. We’ll call Part 2 the one with wimpy Jason in it, just so we can differentiate between the chapters in the franchise.

Anyways, a group of young people, psycho killer in the woods – there be some whittling down to do, and Jason is just the bloke for the job. Much blood ensues. Take a seat by the camp fire….

Guess we covered the intro and such in the first half of the review, so if wanting to go from the top, check out that entry in the old review database. Moving along here, we’re into the movie proper. Note I’ll be using a lot of terms loosely in this review, such as “movie”.

Steve Miner tries his best to emulate Sean Cunningham with Part 2, and nails the opening prologue bit (see first half of the review) and the ending. Unfortunately for those watching, he sort of goes walkabout during the middle parts of the film. Not much in the way of styling with heavy use of Psycho-POV; sometimes from multiple angles and separate directions. Well, it kept me guessing – did they muck up the continuity or were they reaching for something there?

Like the original, all the ingredients are there. Mucho stalking, a lightning storm – hey, it’s going to go to hell in a hand basket when a storm breaks over Crystal lake – and some pretty lame scenes. What Miner does try to do with this movie is add some plot foreshadowing, which is kind of cute in a “you don’t suppose” fashion. Final gal Ginny, oops sorry Mr Editor gave that one away, is doing a degree in child psychology. You don’t suppose! Equally Ginny’s car is having problems. You don’t suppose! The list goes on.

What Miner gets spot on from our first dip in the lake waters is the ability of our antagonist to use the Star Trek transporter whenever he needs to pop up in a place he really couldn’t be at. That’s a neat trick; wish I had one of those things: out of bed at 8.50, at work at 9.00 – cool! Slaps forehead – stop digressing, hombre.

The first and last block work, as for the middle ...

There are three things happening in F13th Part 2 which were pretty unique up to this stage of slasher development. Some dude in a wheelchair becomes a victim – Miner is an equal opportunity employer. And he ensures we know his PC credentials by having a black dude who gets a single line of dialogue. Said black dude, and by chance an Asian chick, avoid becoming victims, however, which kind of makes you wonder if we should add racism to the list of Jason’s sins. As pointed out in the first half of this review, Ginny is surprisingly not averse to doing the wild thing, implied rather than shown in the movie. Not generally a good sign for surviving through to the end credits.

Miner also breaks the slasher mould, invented by shoot-from-the-hip commentators it must be added, by not only having a final girl but also a final boy for the ultimate confrontation with sack-headed wimpy Jason. The really weird development with this is of course Ginny going from kick arse gal in some scenes, to totally damsel in distress when the dude makes the scene. A slight irritation for those of us who, oh I don't know, want some continuity with characters. Whatever happened to that dude, anyway?

And finally we have the gratuitous animal death, or so we assume, when Muffin, Buffin, or whatever the fuck that irritating rat dog was called, finds Jason doesn't want to go walkies. Say what you want about horror movies, but the makers have been at pains to avoid animal cruelty, with the exception of the Italians of course. Surprisingly rat dog gets reprised for one of the most ludicrous jump scenes ever filmed for a horror movie.

Acting, as you would expect, is by a largely unknown cast that no one would ever hear from again. Everyone is over the top, and the Academy didn’t bother checking in case some talent slipped under Miner’s radar and into the movie. Amy Steel (Ginny) did get some roles in other slashers and the odd TV episode. Guess it must have been that child psychology training or something.

Miner must have been checking out the demographics from movie 1 here, as the T&A quota simply goes through the roof. We get boobs, hot babes in undies, and – gasp! – a full frontal. Chicks get short changed with the odd dude without a shirt on. Not so PC there Mr Miner.

Harry Manfredini pretty much presents us with the same score he used in the original, recycling at its best folks, love that ki ki ki ma ma ma thing going down there.

Friday the 13th Part 2 is pretty much as expected, a continuation of the mayhem in the first movie. Notably we get the introduction of Jason into the franchise in the second movie, although it’s not the hockey mask-wearing version. We also get the demise of Crazy Ralph for no explainable reason.

Friday the 13th is the longest running horror franchise in U.S. movie history. To date Paramount have weighed in with a total of eight movies, before New Line added two, or three if you want to count in Freddy vs Jason. Currently there’s some talk of New Line going back to the Camp Crystal Lake well for yet another episode. And we can hardly wait for that one.

Guess if you’re a horror fan then all the F13th movies will at some stage end up in your DVD player, but anyone else should go get something else. The movie is brutal and doesn’t pretend it’s anything else. Most of my time was spent working out which gym would have allowed Jason in to do the bodybuilding he needed for his next incarnation.