By Geno McGahee
After the disaster that was FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V: A NEW BEGINNING, the series had to return with something good. They actually had to bring Jason back. The fake Jason went over as well as any other fake, but Jason was dead and you can’t bring back the dead…but this is a horror movie…so, of course you can.
We begin with Tommy Jarvis (Thom Matthews) and Hawes (Ron Palillo), on the road, escaping from the mental hospital to bring some street justice to Jason. “Jason belongs in hell and I’m going to see that he gets there,” Tommy notes as they drive to the cemetery. Keep in mind, at this point, Jason is nothing more than a dead hillbilly and, as far as I know, dead hillbillies stay dead. This is the exception to that rule. Jarvis digs him up and drives a metal fence post through his heart. Unfortunately, lightning hits it and that brings a new zombie Jason to life. Alice Cooper said it best: “He’s back…he’s the man behind the mask…and he’s out of control.” Well, maybe Cooper didn’t even see the movie, but he got the point. Jason is back.
Of course, we have camp counselors again and the majority is forgettable characters…there merely for Jason to take out in quick fashion. One of the better characters is Sheriff Garris (David Kagen). When Tommy storms into the police station, Garris immediately gets irritated. He wants the people to forget that this place was Crystal Lake, but the return of Jarvis is going to make it tough. Garris has some great lines throughout the film and brings much amusement.
Jarvis becomes a thorn in the side of Garris, especially when he starts getting romantically involved with his daughter, Megan (Jennifer Cooke). She sees beyond his claims of a zombie murderer and his mental problematic past and only sees love and a future. It must have been that cool denim jacket with the fake white fur lining. That used to drive women crazy in the 80s. At least I heard it did. I had one and it didn’t help me at all.
Jason (C.J. Graham) is very cool in this film. He looks great and is very menacing, but there are certain elements that I really hate. I hate the paintball guns characters. They are so over the top ridiculous that it takes away from the film. I know it was there for comic relief but I cringed when I watched it. Jason kills them quickly, thankfully, but they rank up there with the most annoying characters in horror history. Jason deserved better than this!!!
Another character that I could do without is Martin (Bob Larkin), the gravedigger that feels the need to turn to the camera a few times to talk to the audience. I hate that. We don’t need any of that, but they feel the need to add it as yet another piece of comic relief. He says things like “fart head” and then says “you’ll be the death of me” before he dies to his bottle of whiskey. He is just an unnecessary and unfunny character.
Jarvis and Jason have a final showdown and it gets really neat. It’s very neat looking when Tommy goes to the middle of the lake in a boat and sets the water on fire. I don’t think that it did anything to hurt Jason, but it made him think. Maybe this Tommy guy isn’t that bad…he has style. That lighting the water on fire was pretty neat.
The good guys win, the annoying kids rejoice, and Jason is stuck at the bottom of the lake. He is down, but not out. I have to say that Jarvis should have left him buried, but he made up for the mistake pretty well. At the bottom of the lake, there is no way for him to cause any trouble…unless a girl with telekinesis comes along and brings him out of it.
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART IV: JASON LIVES is a fun movie with plenty of irritating characters. The kids are especially annoying, but the good heavily outweighs the bad and the film is a lot of fun. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 7/10
FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION box sex is released this Friday by Warner Bros. Entertainment and is well worth the price. You can own it on Blu-Ray by clicking here and go to the Facebook Page and like the page. Get your ticket to Crystal Lake and get this collector’s set.
