For all three of you who have been following this series of reviews like obedient lapdogs, you're no doubt wondering if I've got any more fascinating behind-the-scenes stories to tell you about the creative direction that the "Friday the 13th" franchise was going to take with this particular film. I don't. The reason? From this point on, the series is pretty straightforward.In fact, some fans feel that the remainder of the F13 films after the black sheep of "A New Beginning" is pretty monatonous, and this is a nitpicky-but-true complaint. Speaking as someone who hopes to write movies for a living someday, I can't say that I blame the powers-that-be in charge of the series; the fans absolutely HATED "New Beginning." It's perfectly understandable that the ensuing writers in the series were gun shy, wanting to cater to the tried-and-true "Jason flick" status quo that was on the verge of being radically tampered with.
If you'll recall, the previous two films in the series seemed to be building up toward a reinvention for the tired "Friday the 13th" model. Jason officially died in "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter," leading to an impostor killer in 1985's "Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning." The arc seemed to be clearly leaning toward introducing the Tommy Jarvis character as the killer in the series, leaving Mr. Voorhees in the dust forever. As I explained last week, this was not to be; horror fans were used to Jason, wanted him back, and basically ordered Paramount to bring our favorite hockey-masked psycho back from the grave. Long story short, Paramount obliged.
Having said all that, I have to admit that "Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives" is some kind of fun movie. It was written and directed by a guy named Tom McLoughlin, a highly arty mind with a background in Gothic horror, a huge fan of the series, and a creative writer basically given carte blanche to do what he wanted with the series, with only two guidelines: (1) Jason had to come back, and (2) don't make fun of the big guy, as McLoughlin had told series producer Frank Mancuso that he wanted to interject more humor into the proceedings. Following these guidelines proved to yield a successful film; there is humor, but for the most part it's actually INTENTIONALLY funny, something that felt incredibly refreshing within the confines of an F13 film. Put more simply, this movie is just a blast to watch. It's party movie factor is perhaps greater than any other movie in the series. Moreover, this movie is the only movie in the series to actually meet with some positive critical reception upon its release. At its peak, this movie enjoyed a 62% fresh rating on RottenTomatoes, the ONLY movie in the history of the "Friday the 13th" franchise to attain that coveted ripe tomato on my favorite movie website. While the negative reviews skewed toward the usual "stupid slasher movie" pander, the positive ones heaped praise on the movie's self-referential but wry humor, likable characters, and truly menacing villain.
Now that my usual four-paragraph introduction is out of the way, the film, finally.
First things first, this movie seems to retcon the ending of "A New Beginning," which ultimately showed Tommy on the verge of killing Melanie Kinnaman's character in that film. This flick has an early-'20s version of Tommy Jarvis (who is excellently played by Thom Matthews of "Return of the Living Dead"), still in some form of mental institution, still obsessed with the idea that Jason Voorhees is out there. Unable to live with the knowledge that his childhood tormentor could come back, he takes a trip to Jason's grave in order to destroy his corpse (which retcons the police chief's statement in "New Beginning" that Jason was cremated). Fortunately for the audience and unfortunately for Tommy, a freak accident results in Jason springing to life - undead and now completely impervious to pain. Before the opening credits roll, there's an incredibly awesome James Bondian stinger that you'll easily spot, and within five minutes, we're already more entertained than we were by Danny Steinmann's woeful "New Beginning."
Tommy returns to his childhood hometown, now renamed Forest Green (as the town didn't want to be associated with its infamous hockey-masked serial killer from the past), and does his best to convince the town Sheriff (character actor David Kagen who, just like everyone else in this movie's cast, really gives it his all) that Jason is back. Meanwhile, the Sheriff's daughter (Jennifer Cooke) is one of the counselors at the nearby Camp Forest Green, where the staff are engaged in the usual sex-and-drugs mischief, while a group of paintballers are on the warpath in the surrounding woods.
Indeed, there's plenty of murder fodder in this movie. Writer-director McLoughlin wanted an exact total of 13 kills in this film, one of the many sly references to the series itself that he managed to work into the script (there wound up being 16, as the studio felt that the movie was "too light"). This movie takes the quality-and-quantity approach, as several of the murders in this film are cringe-worthy on par with the brutal Tom Savini-helmed "Final Chapter." In particular, the triple decapitation, head twist and back breaking deaths were visceral. Throw in some excellent bone-crunching sound effects and you've got some stuff with the ability to throw your face into previously-not-thought-possible-by-you conditions.
And the Jason of this film is quite different from anything that had been seen in the series from this point backward. What many people fail to realize is that the Jason Voorhees of the early films that featured him as the villain (Parts II-IV) was completely human. Severely deranged and perhaps a tad stronger than average, but definitely human. This was the first film in the series to have a truly supernatural Jason, and stuntman C.J. Graham was definitely up to the task of bringing Uber-Jason to life. With many of the kills taking place in broad daylight, a Jason without presence would have really stood out, and this ranks as one of the quicker, more menacing Jasons in the series.
While I mentioned it briefly before, this is also some kind of funny movie. Jennifer Cooke's three fellow counselors at Camp Forest Green all have their moments (especially the male of the bunch, who gets some from smokin' hot Darcy DeMoss and gets to explain his theory of Native American tracking to a group of hapless kids). I also loved the caretaker of the graveyard that Jason's body called home; his expression when looking directly at the camera and, in essence, the viewer, while saying "some people have a strange idea of entertainment!" is priceless. The "smiley-face kill" is also groan-worthy, but nonetheless elicits a laugh.
More than anything, though, this movie actually manages to get your emotions. It makes us forget the "curse-transfer" that the series had haphazardly tried to accomplish in the previous installment, and due to the excellent writing of McLoughlin and acting of Matthews, Tommy Jarvis is a likable and relatable hero. It's very refreshing seeing a primary male protagonist in a horror film, and in the hands of a lesser director such a character can be seen as whiny and helpless, but Tommy is a character who has his s**t together, genuinely has a beef with Jason, and leaves us rooting for him. Cooke's character is also one of the better heroines in the annals of F13; she's not much deeper than a rebellious Sheriff's daughter, but she's far more tolerable than Dana Kimmell of "Part III."
So where does that leave us with this movie? Lo and behold, when characters are in peril in "Jason Lives," we find ourselves legitimately tense, because we care about what's going on before us. It's a very tough concept for the horror writers of today to understand, no doubt, given that we are presented with film after film today that feature nothing but vaguely hateable twenty-somethings/teens who leave us with no sympathy at all, making us root for the goddamned villain. This is not the point of horror films, and rooting for the villain has never been my thing. And while McLoughlin definitely leaves his imprints on this particular film with his sense of humor and stylish Gothicness, he always remembers to give us at least one quirk for every victim character, making them stand out a lot more than just "Blonde #2" and "Busty Girl #3".
"Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives" is a mixed bag for many F13 fans; some see it as the point that it all started to go wrong for the "Friday" franchise, while others see it as a masterpiece of black humor. Those in the former camp are definitely wrong. At this point in the series, six movies in and wit ha fanbase crying for their already-dead villain back, this is the absolute best movie that could have arisen from its current status. While the movies seem to have a leisurely sameness about them from this point on, this is a very entertaining speed bump along the path that the series would take toward self-parody, and ranks as one of my top five movies in the franchise.
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