Rating: 3/5
Hooptober 2.0 | 5/31 | Franchises 5/5
Night falls as Elizabeth Marcus arrives at a cabin overlooking Crystal Lake. She turns on the light, and the lightbulb melts and explodes. After replacing it, she goes to the bathroom to take a shower. Just before she steps in, the power goes out… again. She dons a towel. The front door swings open. There he is — Jason.
She runs outside, effortlessly leaping over cars and limbs. She stops at a clearing, looking around. Jason raises his machete. A row of spotlights cut on. A swat team emerges from the shadows and fills Jason full of lead. To make damn sure, they drop a mortar on him, blowing him to smithereens. The team congratulates FBI Agent Marcus for her work of luring out Jason.
Federal Morgue, Youngstown, Ohio The coroner performs an autopsy on Jason’s body, commenting on the hundreds of bullets and whatnot. The heart, in particular, interests him, as an unusual black liquid fills it. Oh, and it’s still beating. The rhythmic beats take over the coroner. He takes a bite out of the heart. Whatever possessed Jason has moved into him. He murders his fellow coroner and anyone who insults Jason.
This film is the first Jason movie from New Line Cinemas — hence, the lack of a “Friday the 13th” in the title. The failure of Jason Takes Manhattan allowed them to purchase the rights. They wanted to do a Freddy vs. Jason movie, that went into development hell when Wes Craven returned to do New Nightmare. So, they put together a couple of movies: this and Jason X.
Jason fans weren’t ready for a tongue-in-cheek take on their beloved slasher. This movie is hilarious, and intentionally so. Several scenes play into the slasher cliches, not quite subverting them but highlighting the absurdity. The coroner, as Jason, tying the guy down, shaving him, and then possessing him is such a silly choice.
It also expands on the lore the previous movies never agreed on. It doesn’t make total sense, but neither has the series up to this point. The Evil Dead tie-in and the suggestion that Jason is a deadite might be the most controversial.
The cynical cultural remarks remind me of Texas Chainsaw II — everything is exploitable for a buck, especially when you have a secret recipe.
For bounty hunter Creighton Duke (played by the always delightful Steven Williams), his secret sauce is the way to stop Jason once and for all.
Some of the plotting is pretty tedious, especially when mistaken identity comes into play. Thankfully, it merges into place for the third act.
Though the gore is hit-or-miss, its hits are wild and make up the difference.
I wouldn’t call this a hidden masterpiece, but it’s underappreciated. If you love slashers, you might hate this. But if you can stomach some genre fuckery, this one is a lot of fun.