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The Story
Five months after the events of the first film, Alice is trying to deal with what happened. The movie opens up in her house as she's having a nightmare. Cut back and forth between watching her sleep we are shown the entire ending to the previous movie. As she awakens, Alice wanders around the house before coming down stairs. Her cat gives her a fake scare, but the real scare comes when she opens up the refrigerator to find the head of Mrs. Voorhees. All grown up Jason comes behind her and kills the last surviving counselor.
Five years have now past without any incident. A group of counselors comes together to Crystal Lake at a neighbor camp of Camp Blood. The camp is some sort of training facility for counselors even though everyone there has already been a counselor before. Crazy Ralph makes another appearance proclaiming doom to all who goes back to the lake. This time around, the crew has doubled in size, but there's some striking resemblances to past counselors. The first night there, Paul Holt, the man in charge, tells the story of Jason and how he's still out there. The only one who seems to take it serious is Paul's love interest, Ginny (Played by 80's scream queen, Amy Steel). Two counselors heads over to the old Camp Blood where they find the slaughtered animal that resembles, Muffin, the dog of another counselor. Jason appears to be at work. The next night, half of the crew heads out for one final night of fun in town, thus leaving us with our main characters.
Like before, the kills begins at night fall and doesn't let up until there's only two survivors. Paul and Ginny, head back to camp early from being in town to find blood on the beds. There, Jason attacks Paul leaving it a cat and mouse game between he and Ginny. Ginny eventually makes her way to Jason's decrepit cabin where she finds the head of Mrs. Voorhees in some sort of shrine with her sweater. Just as Jason comes to his cabin, Ginny comes up with one last idea of putting on the sweater and trying to convince Jason that she is his mother. The plan goes sour once Jason sees the head of his mother is still on the table. Paul though, makes his return and saves Ginny. In an act similar to the previous movie, Ginny seemingly kills Jason with an axe hit. Before leaving, Ginny pulls of Jason's potato sack to see what he really looks like.
The pair is finally able to relax as they head back to their cabin. One last fake out scare turns out just to be Muffin, who was not the dead animal found at Camp Blood. Just as everything appears peaceful, Jason, with the sack over his head jumps through the window attacking Ginny. Cut to white and we now see Ginny being loaded up in the ambulance. Much like with the last film, we do not know if what happened at the end really happened or not. Just as we don't know Paul's fate.
The Characters Ginny - The new heroine is spunky, thoughtful and very observant. Much like Alice, she is in the middle of a fling with the owner of the camp.
What she brings to the movie: The willingness to believe in tales.
Paul - A younger, better looking version of Steve. He has the hard ass nature of his predecessor, but the confidence to keep the girl. The owner of the camp.
What he brings to the movie: An owner that we can actually care about.
Ted - The film's version of Ned. Not only is his name just one letter off of Ted, but he's a skinner and geekier version of Ned. At the same time, he's more likable.
What he brings to the movie: How many geeks do you know has a six pack?
Mark - The wheelchair bound counselor is very down to earth and still has a cool element about him. He's perhaps the most realistic character in the movie.
What he brings to the movie: Guys in chairs can still get the girl...and knife.
Vickie - Even more annoying than Brenda in the first movie. Throughout the entire film, she might as well have a shirt that says "I'll fuck anything that wheels"
What she brings to the movie: An annoying character you just want to see dead.
Jeff and Sandra - The younger, better looking versions of Jack and Marcie. Another excuse to have a sex scene.
What they bring to the movie: Double impalement.
Terry - A runner, she seems to be a very normal girl. Oddly, she's the eye candy of the movie wearing clothes that just
barely covers.
What she brings to the movie: Boobs and very little clothes.
Jason Voorhees - Son of Mrs. Voorhees, fully grown and wanting to avenge the death of his mother. Potentially hears his mother speaking in his head telling him to kill all that enters his woods.
What he brings to the movie: Blood...lots of blood.
The Verdict
Long before Saw became a hit and started releasing sequels every year, Friday the 13th was the first to really create that marketplace. Released the same year as Halloween 2, the goal seemed to be simple. Make a movie with so much kills and blood flow that Halloween 2 (Which was to be released several months afterward) would not be able to compare. For that part, they easily did that. The first thing that jumps out at me is how similar this is to Part 1. It's as if they decided to remake the first one changing the things that could of been better. Just looking at the cast, most of the main actors are basically the same characters as in the first one. The only difference is that they're more memorable and better looking.
One of my main issues with the previous film was that there wasn't a story for most of the film. From the start of the movie, there was a simple story of Jason wanting revenge. It's a very small addition, but it made a big difference for me. The campfire scene where Paul tells the story of Jason also properly gives cause for Jason killing everyone in this and in future movies. Basically, if you come in the woods, you're trespassing to Jason. The most interesting line during a later scene was Ginny realizing that Jason most likely doesn't understand death. That would really do a lot in explaining the large masses of kills he would perform later on.
Having Jason become the killer help the series have more longevity compared to having Mrs. Voorhees live in the first film. With her being an older normal woman, her being able to kill everyone becomes less and less believable as the movies go on. Jason on the other hand, is seen as this strong animal like being that doesn't quite understand what he's doing.
While Ginny does have a few traits similar to Alice, she's a very different character. Ginny is her own woman not always needing to be saved. She reminds me a lot of Laurie Strode in the first two Halloweens. If you go back and rewatch those films, Laurie is the only one observant enough to see Michael around. In the second film, even in a drugged up state, she's smart enough to stay hidden while others die. Ginny is always thinking about how to survive. That alone makes her one of the more likable characters in the entire series.
For horror lovers, another noticeable improvement are the scares. Jason isn't just a random killer who pops out of nowhere for a quick scare. Once again, he's unfairly compared to Michael Myers. Both men are smart killers. But while Michael stalks his kill because he loves the thrill of freaking people out, Jason is different. Instead, Jason is almost an impatient child. If something isn't working (For example, a locked door), he quickly gives up on it and tries another route to get his kill. Not only does it make him smart, but makes him far more scary because you never know where he's going to be. In Halloween, Laurie locked herself in the kitchen while trying to escape. Michael tries opening the door, but is unable. So he wastes several moments trying to break his hand through the door to unlock it. While it is a very suspenseful scene, it shows the difference between he and Jason. A similar event happened here with Ginny locking herself in a room. Instead of banging on the door, Jason heads outside to break through the window of the room.
For the most part, I didn't have too many issues with the film. Of course there's the typical poor script and not so hot acting, but as I said, you expect that. The one problem I did have was all of the characters. There were several characters that didn't really need to be in the movie. Scott, who's sole purpose is to try to get into the pants of Terry, ends up dying without any real care. With Ned having such a major character in the first half of the movie, he heads off into town and doesn't even play a part of the events back at camp. Why would they invest so much time with him if he wasn't going to have an ending? With the exception of the nudity, Terry was another useless character. Did we really need four different relationships going at the same time?
Overall, it's a great improvement on the first film and really laid out what Friday sequels would be all about.
The Extras Death Count: 9 (?)
(With the fate of Paul unknown, it's only 9, potentially 10. 11 if you count the dead animal found at Camp Blood. Surprisingly, the same number as the first film.)
Boob Count: 1
(We only get to see one girl naked, but they show
everything.) Sadly, despite being in a sex scene, the closest to being naked we see Sandra is in a bikini top.)
Best Kill: Mark
(Best viewed on a dark skin)
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