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Directed by Written by Starring Presented by Rated R 90 Minutes |
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FRIDAY
THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD Review
“There’s a legend round here. A killer buried, but not dead. A curse on Crystal Lake, a death curse, Jason Voorhees curse. They say he died as a boy but he keeps coming back. Few have seen him and lived. Some have even tried to stop him. No one can. People forget he’s down there… waiting.” With those words set to an excellent montage of the first six films begins FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII, which is subtitled THE NEW BLOOD. This refers to the character of Tina (Lar Park Lincoln), a teenager with telekinetic abilities who triggered an eruption that killed her father in the same lake inhabited by Jason, still chained at the bottom of the lake from the previous film. When Tina goes to the cabin with her mother by orders from her psychiatrist (Terry Kiser at his usual slimy self), her wish to bring her father back unwillingly resurrects Jason, who inflicts more terror. This is seminal for the introduction of Kane Hodder as Jason, and he is simply fantastic here. With a challenger like Tina, Jason is put through more painful situations than ever before, which meant Kane had to pull off some very difficult stunts to do so. John Carl Buechler, an extremely talented FX man, took over directing chores and relies on his FX background to deliver a gory film. Although PART 2 had the most trouble with the MPAA, this is probably the goriest FRIDAY film to date. Just in Jason’s appearance alone, all of his scars from previous battles in addition to decaying in a lake are shown in vivid detail, and Jason has never looked more frightening. His kills are extremely vicious though heavily edited. The DVD shows a low quality tape of the original cuts of the film and from these you can see the talents of Buechler on display. The most memorable scene was Jason taking a camper in a sleeping bag and swinging her like a baseball bat against a tree bark. Originally he did it several times, but the take with just the one hit proved to be iconic in its odd humor and in its display of how strong Jason has become since the earlier films. This originally was the script for FREDDY VS. JASON and you can see some of the similarities here. Tina was meant to be an Elm Street survivor and when New Line balked at loaning the Freddy character, she was turned to a telekinetic. This actually presented a good choice, because if the villain is unstoppable in the slasher films, why can’t the hero? Tina not only is responsible for Jason’s revival, but can see visions of Jason killing at will. When Dr. Crews doesn’t believe her, and obviously is using her for her own personal gain, she tries to stop Jason at all costs. The situation is worsened by a group of friends across from them celebrating a friend’s surprise party, who never made it because he ran into Jason. One of them befriends Tina and is the only one who believes her. The rest just become victims to the slaughter. I loved this film when it first came out but it has slightly declined in its status with the other films. It’s one of the better sequels, with superb FX and acting by Hodder, Lincoln, and Kiser highlighting the film. However, many of the characters are one note and are just waiting to be killed, a trait that by the seventh film in any series will become tired. I will say there were some pretty interesting and cleverly done kills. There is one sequence where a very nasty and gory head crushing is immediately followed by a humorous “eye-popping” use of a party favor. It’s an interesting contrast and one that works well. The opening montage with narration by Walt “Crazy Ralph” Gorney is fantastic and is the ultimate tribute to the franchise, remembering its roots very well. The film does suffer a little from being the first film not to include a score from Harry Manfredini. There is a combination of Manfredini’s score with Fred Bottin’s, but it feels a little contrived and weak. You can’t make a movie without the “ki ki ki, ma ma ma,” it’s just not the same. In all, this is a very solid sequel, and sadly the last good FRIDAY THE 13TH film that had everything within the formula but added a real challenging character to fight Jason in a unique setting. The seventh film in a series should have no business being this good, but THE NEW BLOOD is a rare exception that ranks on the echelon of FRIDAY sequels. FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD: 8 Out Of 10 Maggots
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