Tuesday, October 14, 2014

October 13th: Friday the 13th, Part III, dir. Steve Miner, 1982 (United States) 1.5/5 pumpkins

Was I saying nice things about the Friday franchise a few days ago? I take all of that back. I’m beginning to think that the only consistent part of this franchise are the always-lively scores from Harry Manfredini. Jason gets his hockey mask in this installment, so I guess completists would need to suffer through for that moment but otherwise, wow. There’s not a single thing here to recommend. The blandest cast of characters Jason/his mother has dispatched to date, a script that completely upends Jason’s M.O. (why is he suddenly killing Crystal Lake villagers who aren’t in his camp/didn’t provoke him?), nary a shred of genuine suspense, crappy 3-D shots (at least these provide unintentional laughs), and the cheapest effects/costumes yet. And what is with these damned films spending their first ten minutes or so recapping the previous film? As I mentioned in my Part II write-up, continuity isn’t a priority for these films and they’re only being released a year (or less) apart, so it’s not exactly like we need the reminder. Really, by the third film in this series, I’m assuming the producers/directors are already preaching to the choir – the initiated don’t need the reminder and for the untested, this isn’t an episode of Game of Thrones – you’re seeing a Jason film – what more context do you require? Unless you’re dumber than the unfortunate schlubs in this film, of course. I almost forgot to mention the racial ickiness in this one - the antagonists of the film outside of Jason are a group of 3 asshole punk/bikers, 2 of which are black. They are, of course, the only people of color in the film (and thus hacked open first, if we aren't counting the opening kills). This isn't even generally regarded as the worst in the series, so I'm sure I'll be in for some real punishment when I invariably decide to plod onward.

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