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Friday The 13th Part
II |
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After the psychotic Mrs. Voorhees - who murdered
nearly all the teens at Crystal Lake Summer
Camp - is killed herself by survivor, Alice Mrs.
Voorhees' supposedly drowned son Jason goes
berserk. After taking revenge on Alice, Jason
heads back to Crystal Lake and targets a new
gang of teens preparing the summer camp...
There are good and naturally bad things about
this first sequel to the classic 1980 summer
camp slasher. What's nice about it is that it
tries to keep its bizarre, "Psycho"-influenced
back story revealed in the original's climax.
What's less nice is that it's even more of a
routinely plotted body count-mess than "Friday
the 13th".
After a pretty decent opening sequence (featuring
original heroine Adrienne King in a small but
fairly character-closuring appearance) we return
to Crystal Lake where things are pretty much
the same. Crazy Ralph tries to warn (before
biting the dust himself) the pretty teens who
are all introduced quickly. Then it goes fast.
Jason makes his entrance wearing a potato sack
over his head (the famous hockey-mask didn't
appear until Part 3) and begins eliminating the
cast before even gets to go second base with
their co-stars (exception is the almost-classical
double spear-impalement-in-bed ripped-off from
"Bay of Blood").
The sole character even slightly memorable is
Amy Steel's likable heroine. Though underdeveloped
and underused, Steel is a nice surprise to the
film (and genre). Like the original, the last
20 minutes of the film is undoubtedly the highlight
when Steel jumps into a thrilling cat-and-mouse
kind-of battle with Jason. There's plenty of
chasing, running and hiding. Steel is -compared
to other slasher heroines - no dim-witted softie
but a kick-ass fighter who never quits. It's
amazingly to see someone who avoids all those
stupid mistakes (with few exceptions) and even
dares to outsmart the killer.
Then in the climax we're back to bizarre
"Psycho"-land with a kind twisted reversion of
the original's climax (featuring a
don't-blink-and-miss-it cameo by Betsy Palmer).
Last scene makes little sense, leaving one
character's fate up in the air. Such a shame
on such interesting ideas. And as always, the
oh-so-annoying off-screen murders almost ruins
the experience, with most gore trimmed
by censorship.
Victims are strangled with barb wire, hit in
the head with a hammer, impaled with spears,
stabbed with knives and slashed with the classic
machete (murder highlight is the wheelchair guy
who gets it in the face and rolls down the stairs).
Like in the original, Harry Manfredini's Bernard
Herrmann-inspired score.
Routinely plotted body count sequel with quickly
introduced characters killed off quickly in
annoying off-screen murders. Saved somewhat by
Amy Steel's likable, kick-ass heroine and a
bizarre, "Psycho"-influenced climax.
Review By: Slicer-Dicer
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