Director: Joseph Zito
Year: 1984
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
After moving into a new house on Crystal Lake, a family trying to relax for the weekend finds the teens next door have attracted maniacal killer Jason Voorhees to the area and must band together with the surviving group to save each other from falling victim to the masked madman.
Review:
This one turned out to be among the better entries in the series and is probably the series' best. This one has a lot right, starting with a great smattering of suspense in some creepy, chilling stalking and set-up scenes from the big body count that gets wiped out here, as there's the opening ambush in the morgue, the attack on the hitchhiker and the chilling stalking at the lake with the skinny-dippers there with the freezing winds, rolling fog and truly isolated feels makes it a great scene along with the brutal deaths here. Likewise, the massacre through the house are much more fun here as he manages to wind through the group with absolutely ruthless efficiency going through the upstairs bedrooms, down into the kitchen and finally through the shower wiping everyone out here as there's plenty of great action and suspense throughout this here which all sets up the absolutely greatest part here with what is perhaps the greatest final chase in a series known for having good ones.
This here is quite simply one of the best of the entire series as there's a ton to absolutely love here in this chase, with tons of sprawling action here as the lengthy piece runs through several houses and up throughout varying floors on each location along with the constant barricades he has to smash through, chilling suspense in the fact that a child is frequently in the middle of the action that has to be protected along with herself, psychological tactics here with the attempt to mess with his head that comes off quite logically and even some jumps here with the constant bodies thrown through windows and Jason crashing through doors to get at them, culminating in one of the most notorious gore gags in the genre as a brilliant ending to such an excellent series of events.
As well, there's a huge amount of blood and gore on display in pretty fun, graphic manners with some of the most brutal kills here as there's such intensity here that gives this an additional measure of fun here with the fact that Jason here is one of the most imposing figures in the genre as he is throughout here. From stabbings in the crotch with a speargun to a screwdriver forced through a person's hand and being full of stabbings, head-crushes and people being thrown around into all manner of objects around the sites. These here all give this plenty of eerie chills and creepiness here as this one really makes for an exciting series of scenes which gives this such a spectacular pace here that it never becomes too dull or boring as something's always happening in this one. Added together alongside some truly hilarious moments both intentional and not and a huge heaping of nudity, this one gets a lot of stuff right as a slasher.
The other big plus to be had here is the imbeccable acting. Kimberly Beck is a stellar final girl as Trish, the older sister here. Smart, capable and level-headed in the situation, her main reaction to the appearance of Jason is to protect Tommy, the right decision even at the cost of her own life which it seems she's resigned to during their battle at the end. It creates an impressive feel for her being one of better final girls in the scene. Corey Feldman memorably plays Tommy and it's a worthwhile role here being front-and-center for a large part of the action. He stays involved in the main action and has a lot of likability with his being shown in good graces liking and appreciating the genre with his handiwork in the beginning. There's very few else worth mentioning here, not that they're bad or anything but those are the most important roles that work out the best here.
There's still a few flaws here, mainly in the continued stupidity by the characters to want to invite themselves to a place that harbored a mass murder rampage the last few days before, considering each of these films takes place the following day, and there's no reason why that should be. As well, many of the supposedly funny character traits are just plain irritating, making that section of the film a little tough to get through when it's supposed to be funny but clearly isn't. These aren't anywhere near enough to knock this down from among the better slasher entries.
Overview: *****/5
Another stellar effort in the franchise and again a potential best-of in the genre as well, this emerges as one of the finest and most fun entries that keeps the series moving along strongly. Give this a shot if you're into any of the other entries in the franchise or a slasher fan in general, while once again if you haven't been swayed by the previous efforts it'll be yet another bland effort in the format.
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