Rating: 3/5
Hooptober 4.0 | 1/31 | Sequels 1/6 | Decades 1/6 | 80s
Alice was the sole survivor of the Camp Crystal Lake murders. She still has nightmares about the incident and Pamela Voorhees, who was the murderer.
At the end of the previous movie, Pamela’s son, Jason, emerged from the lake and pulled Alice in. Alice woke up in the hospital. The police found her in the lake, but no one noticed a boy around. This fear — that Jason is still out there — haunts her.
Alice wakes up. She hears noises outside, so she grabs a screwdriver. It’s just the cat. Alice opens the fridge. The head of Pamela Voorhees, bloated and sagging, sits on the bottom shelf.
Hands come behind her. They take the screwdriver and drive it into her temple.
Five years later, Paul opens a school for camp counselors at Crystal Lake. Paul tells the legend of Jason Voorhees, his drowning, his mother, and how he still stalks the woods, avenging his mother’s death.
Paul assures them that Jason is dead. If so, who is the man running around with a burlap sack on his head?
You’re doomed. You’re all doomed.
Thanks, “Crazy Ralph.”
Like Halloween, the series didn’t want to have any explicit continuity. Jason’s presence in the first one was supposed to be a joke. But producers are producers, and they demanded Jason.
I guess it was the right move since Jason is so iconic now. But Halloween III is my favorite Halloween. I can’t help but wonder about what could have been.
When they talk about Giallo influencing slashers, this movie is the prototypical example as it reuses kills from assorted Giallo. Most famous is the spear scene from A Bay of Blood.
There are a few fun cinematography choices — Terry throwing her shirt at the camera when it’s Jason’s POV, the surprise machete to the face.
The third act is where the movie gets fun. Jason in a burlap sack running around like a doof — very Scream-adjacent.
The sweater trick is a great twist!
Muffin!
Dumb, funny, horny — it does what it says on the box.