Friday the 13th Part 2

After I watched Friday the 13th I remember thinking that the horror movie cliché could be overlooked because of the unexpected and exceptional character in Mrs. Voorhees; but lets be blunt – Mrs. Voorhees isn’t in the sequel so it would take a lot to elevate Friday the 13th Part 2 out of the horror movie mire it helped create. Suffice it to say that Part 2 doesn’t reach out of the mire.

I really think that the films slogan “the body count continues” perfectly sums up the plot of Friday the 13th Part 2 because that’s really all it is. Despite the grizzly murders that occurred at Camp Crystal Lake five years before another camp opens on the lake, just a few miles away. Of course the teenage counselors find out about the myth of Jason and eventually Jason slaughters most of them.

What cracks me up about the difference between the first and second movies in the Jason franchise is that remarkably I think that Mrs. Voorhees racks up a bigger body count than Jason does – but he does end up with more movies than she does.

After watching Part 2 I have one major reaction – I have been lied to by pop culture. I knew Jason popped up in the sequel but the image of Jason I am used to is the one I grew up with, the homicidal maniac with the hockey mask and chainsaw but in this movie no hockey mask and no chainsaw. Instead Jason is a deformed adult who has managed to survive by living in a shanty in the woods and his mask is merely a bag over his head. Not the Jason I know. I was totally expecting him to morph into that familiar Jason at some point in the film because a hockey reference is made at one point, and at one point another a main character (the stereotyped dumber-than-she-appears blonde) drops a chainsaw next to Jason as she flees; I assumed from these references Jason would evolve…but he didn’t.

However, until the remake comes out I really have no desire to watch any more of Jason, so I guess I won’t see more of Jason for awhile. But don’t let that fool you, I don’t feel very deprived.

Director: Steve Miner
Writer: Ron Kurz
Ginny Field: Amy Steel
Paul Holt: John Furey
Alice Hardy: Adrienne King
Mrs. Voorhees: Betsy Palmer

Deputy Winslow: Look, Holt, people say that what you do with these kids is great. You got a good reputation. But if I was you, I'd have located in the next county. You're too close. Things have been quiet for five years and that's the way we want to keep it.
Paul: So do I, officer. So do I.