08/24/10 - Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988, 88 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095179/

Slowly but surely I'm working towards watching all of these movies. The last one was actually pretty good as Jason returned and we had a pretty cool character in Tommy Jarvis. I had been told that this film was really cheesy but also really good. I still proceeded with caution.

The film mainly follows the psychic Tina Shepard (Lar Park-Lincoln) as she tries to cope with the death of her father (seemingly due to her psychic powers). The "second hero" for this film is Nick (Kevin Spirtas) who is having a party next door and becomes attracted to Tina. The resurrected Jason Voorhees is played by Kane Hodder.

This movie abandons the Tommy character which had been developed (in a way) through the three previous movies. As corny as it is, I kind of missed him. I mean, Tommy wasn't a great character but he had been a constant since the fourth film. Anyway, as Tina Shepard stands, she's okay. As far as acting goes she does a decent job. Her bewilderment and helplessness are well done. However, where Tina is terrible is in her possession of superpowers or whatever you would classify her psychic abilities as. Jason is obviously supernatural due to how he was resurrected in the previous film and how he refuses to die or even be slowed down (as an aside, he also has an uncanny ability to jump through wood or windows completely unharmed along with the ability to walk slowly but cover just as much ground as some teenager running). But pairing some superpowered teen against Jason completely ruins so much of what the franchise does. I mean, Tina should be helpless and should counter Jason with non-stupidity and following "the rules" of a slasher. Instead, whenever she comes up against Jason she ends up just throwing something at him or using these powers to incapacitate him briefly. It's really stupid all the way until the very final showdown. Here, she actually manages to resurrect her dead father to take out Jason while she goes unconscious. This is probably the single stupidest and worst thing the entire franchise has done - up until this point. This is easily the worst ending of any of the films so far.

What this movie does do right however is the Jason figure. First off, there's a little thing that I've neglected to mention all along - the consistency in the Jason mask. Jason has had quite a few close calls with permanent death, namely the axe to the face in Friday the 13th Part III and the propeller blade in Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI. All throughout the series the films have kept the mask consistent with previous injuries. Notable in this installment is that when Jason loses his mask the same consistency stays with Jason's disfigured face. Previous injuries remain here. It's a little thing but it does add a lot. Next, the kills in this film are probably the most over-the-top yet. We are treated to the basic knife kills but there's also the new highlight of the series: the death in a sleeping bag. This death is hilarious and brutal which is exactly the calling card of the franchise.

Next, the music that plays such a great role in the previous installments is completely butchered here. The classic theme is really only supposed to play when we are seeing stuff from Jason's point of view. That's not done even remotely here as the chilling notes are frequently played when Jason isn't even anywhere around. It's clearly meant to create tension but it goes against principles established by the previous movies so it doesn't work for me.

There's also one specific scene that I want to single out as being really good. There's a random teenager that is walking around in the cabin with a flashlight. As he walks through the living room there's a flash of lightning and Jason is visible as he hides in the corner. Naturally the kill occurs about a minute later but this brief sighting of Jason waiting in the shadows I thought was a really cool addition. It's something that's not important to see to understand what's coming up (I mean, we know just from how the scene progresses that this kid is a goner pretty soon) but it's a subtle touch that adds to the Jason character.

Overall, I gave this film a 2/10. The Tina character and the psychic powers are completely stupid and ruin the entire vibe the franchise has established in the previous six films. It's cheesy, yes, but for all the wrong reasons. The only thing saving this film from the 1/10 is the pretty good treatment of the Jason character.