Friday the 13th has long been a nostalgic favorite for me. I have an older brother, close in age, so as we grew up, we tended to split things. For example, we both were into Star Wars; he got Luke-themed things, it was Darth Vader for me. Yes, Leia would have made more sense, but even at an early age, my folks knew what they were working with. He picked Freddy for Halloween, so I got Jason. That early fandom choice started a lifelong fascination with silent masked killers, and a need to celebrate on the rare occasion when we actually get a Friday the 13th. Like today.
Why Jason Lives
Counting Freddy Vs Jason, there are twelve Friday the 13th movies. Jason Lives may seem like an odd choice as it’s the 6th movie in the franchise. It’s also the first that feels like it has a budget. I like the grimy homemade feel of the earlier films, but this needed to be a major upgrade to make up for the previous movie.
- Directed by Tom McLoughlin
- Written by Tom McLoughlin
- Starring CJ Graham, Thom Mathews, Jennifer Cooke
Jason Lives is a necessary step for the franchise, moving Jason firmly into the category of a supernatural creature with his Frankenstein-style resurrection. It also tones down the nudity and moves into more of a fantasy realm. Adding self-aware humor without easing up on the tension creates an enjoyable viewing experience. It’s a contrast to the endless slog of unlikeable teens being killed that so many of the 80’s slashers became.
How Jason Lives: Spoilers Ahead
Tommy Jarvis is determined to finally settle things by digging up and cremating Jason’s corpse, along with Hawes, a friend from his time at the facility. This is Tommy’s 3rd appearance in a Friday the 13th movie, and his 3rd actor as well.
This opening sequence takes place on a dark and stormy night, in a lonely graveyard designed to pay homage to old Universal Monster movies. After Tommy impales Jason’s corpse with a metal spike, a lightning bolt reanimates him. From there things go poorly, especially for Hawes.
Tommy makes it to Sheriff Garris’ office, where his panicked state and traumatic history do not make him a reliable witness. After he tries to grab a shotgun, the Sheriff locks him up. Sheriff Garris comes across here as antagonistic, but only because we know Tommy is telling the truth. Now that I’ve rewatched this several times, I’ve softened on Sheriff Garris a bit and find him to be more understandable. Jason was so traumatic, the town changed its name to find peace. The sheriff is just trying to keep that peace, even though he’s over the top about it here.
I have not, however, changed my opinion on his deputy. Deputy Rick is an idiot.
Jason is heading to camp where he begins his killing spree, starting with two camp counselors. They mention that in horror movies, meeting a masked stranger leads to getting killed, right before they get killed. It’s one example of the self-aware humor that would go on to inspire Kevin Williamson for Scream.
Megan and the Counselors
We meet the rest of the counselors when they go to the sheriff’s office to report the missing couple, including Megan, his daughter. Megan is immediately into Tommy, who keeps trying to warn people about Jason’s return. The other counselors aren’t as well defined as characters. We know they’re just there to be killed, but I can’t bring myself to dislike them either. Each of them has a moment that shows they are decent people, clever or caring in their own way.
Except for Cort. He’s just slasher bait.
Time for More Kills
Because Jason needs a bigger body count, we get to encounter five corporate execs on a paintball team-building exercise. This is one of the more comedic scenes in the movie, so much so that it can lean towards cheesy. But I’ll always love Jason looking at the amputated arm still holding the machete. I had a chance to ask C.J. Graham what he was thinking during that scene. He laughed and said, “why is there an arm on my machete”. If you ever can meet him or attend a Q&A panel he’s on, I highly recommend it.
After that kill, we get a triple decapitation that was drastically edited down by the MPAA. You can see both versions on some version of the Blu-Ray. This is 100% a case of editing for the sake of editing.
The last paintballer sees the carnage and takes off running. The cops find what’s left of him later.
Back at Camp
Megan recaps the story of Jason as a pretty effective ghost story for the other counselors. There are times when this movie is effective at setting and holding mood.
And then the kids arrive.
This is the first Friday the 13th movie to heavily feature kids. We see them arriving, doing camp stuff, and being terrified by Jason. They make the camp feel real, and avoid the annoying kid trap that other horror movies fall into.
Back at the sheriff’s office, Garris is ready to escort Tommy out of town. Tommy has other plans, and leads the officers on a chase to Jason’s grave. Martin, the drunk caretaker, has already filled it in, not knowing that Jason isn’t the one in the casket. R.I.P., Hawes.
After a pointed 4th wall break – some folks have a strange idea of entertainment – Tommy is kicked out of town with a not-subtle threat of violence.
Spending Time with Jason
Martin the gravedigger is still drunk and stumbling home, when we’re introduced to another couple on a romantic night picnic. Martin gets interrupted by Jason, who then kills the couple in a 2-for-1 stab.
At camp, Sissy, one of the counselors, has invented up a card game about Camp Blood. She starts to get into the rules, but before she can finish, a screaming child sends her and Paula running to help.
Has anyone finished the rules for Sissy’s card game? I would totally play this.
In one of the better kid scenes, Paula calms down the child, Nancy, who tells her that it wasn’t a nightmare, “it was real just like on TV”.
Slasher Bait
In the most slasher movie scene in Jason Lives, Cort and his girlfriend die after hooking up in her RV. They go outside to investigate suspicious activity, and of course Jason gets in the vehicle and kills them both, while Cort drives away trying to escape.
Every part of this scene reinforces how much of an idiot Cort is. But we get an awesome RV flip, and a pretty iconic shot of Jason on the flaming RV.
Escalating Wildly
Megan is back at the sheriff’s office arguing with her dad, when the deputy discovers the dead counselors. Tommy calls the sheriff’s office to try to get more help; Megan answers the phone and agrees to help him. This is where Megan really gets to shine as a character. Unlike other Final Girls who get pulled in for personal reasons or their own sense of justice, Megan is a thrill seeker.
She leaps at the chance to get involved in Tommy’s mess, and delights at the high-speed chase with the cops. At least until she ends up at the wrong end of her dad’s shotgun.
Inevitability and Suspense
There are so many nice visual moments here. Jason walking into Camp Forest Green next to the sign with the counselor virtues is wickedly fun. This is what we’ve come to see though, and it’s time for Jason to go to work. The officers start discovering more bodies while Jason finally starts stalking the camp.
We know that most of the adults/teens will die. Now it’s just a matter of when and how. Slashers are successful if they can maintain that balance of suspense with the inevitable kill. Jason pulls Sissy out the window almost too quickly. Although the head twist afterwards helps a little.
Paula has a much more effective kill scene. After comforting Nancy, who comes to wake her while holding a bloody machete (the last person he killed was a neck snap – whose blood is this?) Paula tucks her back in; we can see Jason watching them from the window, just out of Paula’s line of sight.
He stalks her until she is alone in a cabin with banging doors and open windows. We know Jason is coming in, but we don’t know when or how. Terrified, Paula finally makes a move to close the front door. The door closes for a second as she smiles, finally feeling safe. That’s when he bursts through the door, slamming it behind him. We only see the outside of the cabin during this kill, except for one shot where Jason throws Paula’s body through the window before dragging it back inside.
Megan’s Jail Break
Sherriff Garris locks Tommy up again, with Deputy Rick left to guard him while everyone else goes to the camp. Megan is Tommy’s alibi for Cort’s murder, but Sheriff Garris isn’t taking any chances.
Megan believes in Tommy, so she plans a jail break that he reluctantly joins. Thanks to her plan, Rick gets locked in a jail cell and survives the rest of the movie. While the two of them race to the camp, Jason is busy killing officers; one with a dart through the forehead and one just by crushing his skull.
Sheriff Garris tries to kill Jason with a shotgun, then a handgun, then runs away. He’s hiding in the woods when Megan arrives, yelling for him.
Final Confrontation
The sheriff heroically tries to stop Jason from going after Megan. He gets an extended fight scene where he beats on Jason for a while. In one of the best combinations of practical and sound effects, Jason literally folds him in half, backwards . After that, Jason continues his pursuit of Megan, bursting through cabin walls and terrifying some kids to get to her.
He bursts out of another wall to attack Megan, but Tommy insults him and lures him away.
Jason walks through the lake to get to him – future writers should have remembered this moment, as it definitively establishes that Jason has no issues or fear of water. For further proof, refence Jason Takes Manhattan where he rides the outside of a boat for an extended period.
Jason and Tommy fight on a boat, surrounded by flames. Tommy finally loops a chain around Jason neck. Attached to a massive rock, he sinks to the bottom of the lake. Jason drags Tommy down with him and drowns him. Megan dives in to save him, but Jason is just alive enough to grab on to her leg. She turns on the boat propeller and aims it at Jason’s face, ending his second life. She really is the best girl.
Back on shore, she is able give Tommy CPR to ensure he survives his second encounter with Jason.
The movie ends with a shot of Jason’s open eye waiting underwater.
End Major Spoilers
Jason and the Campers
Since this is the first Friday the 13th with kids, it brings up some interesting conversations around how much danger they were in. Would Jason have killed the kids if he hadn’t kept getting interrupted? There is a commonly held belief that Jason doesn’t kill children. However, he went after twelve-year-old Tommy Jarvis, breaking through a window to grab him. Did Tommy blur that line first by going on offense with the surviving teens? Or does Jason simply pursue targets of opportunity, and he just never gets around to the kids before he’s stopped? Children are never put in his path again after this movie, so maybe the upcoming projects will answer that question better.
Removed Scenes
Since I have the Blu-Ray of this, I was able to watch the unedited cut scenes. These scenes are a few seconds longer to linger on gore, or show more blood from a different angle.
There is also a feature that talks their original idea for the ending called: Introducing Mr. Vorhees.
Martin the caretaker was not supposed to die; instead, he continued on taking care of the graves. Mr. Vorhees shows up and pays him for his work. The camera focuses on Mr. Vorhees’ angry glare, then cuts to the lake and Jason’s mask.
There is a part of me that really would have liked to see this. But ultimately, Friday the 13th should be about a mother and son relationship. Where was Mr. Vorhees when things were bad, before Jason died? It’s an interesting concept, and I’d love to see what Mr. Vorhees could add to the lore, but I’d hate to see it take anything away or over-complicate things. The dilemma of a fan.
Final Thoughts
The director set out to make a movie where Jason had moved into the realm of myth. He was allowed to add humor, but only if Jason himself was not the joke. For me, the humor works because it is countered by C.J. Graham’s towering physical presence and wordless acting. His head tilt as Jason examines his prey is iconic.
Redefining Friday the 13th as a supernatural slasher gave the franchise room to grow, while keeping the focus on the man the audiences came to see: Jason. The next film upped the paranormal stakes with their version of Carrie vs Jason, and the casting of one of horror’s best ambassadors: Kane Hodder.
What I liked:
What I Didn’t:
- Better characters & plot
- Self-aware humor
- C.J. Graham
- Humor can push to far into goofy
- Deputy Rick should have died
- Aggressive, unnecessary edits by MPAA
Friday the 13th is available to rent on Amazon Prime
Check out my other Horror Retro Reviews:
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