By Geno McGahee
How do we bring Jason Voorhees back? That decision was made in the sixth entry. The best way to bring him back is to make him a zombie. Before, he was an unstoppable hillbilly that was super strong and aggressive and then he died. In the fifth one, they had a fake Jason and were sort of stuck. So, they elected to bring him back Frankenstein style. Where we left him last was at the bottom of Crystal Lake, chained to a huge rock and helpless. Now, we have to get that chain off of his neck.
We start at Camp Crystal lake with Tina Shepard (Lar-Park Lincoln) headed to the camp with her mother, Amanda Shepard (Susan Blu) to meet up with Dr. Crews (Terry Kiser). Any doctor, especially psychologist, is going to be a jerk and be killed in a horror movie. It’s just the way it is. So, you knew to enjoy Crews while you had him.
Tina has a past that she cannot overcome. Her powers of telekinesis killed her father many years ago and she is still a time bomb waiting to explode. Crews wants to help her get beyond that, or at least that’s what he claims. Remember, this is a horror movie and he is a psychologist and that makes him a prick. He has ulterior motives.
A group of teenagers next door are having a gathering and Nick (Kevin Spirtas) takes a liking to Tina and invites her. It’s a chance at normalcy that Tina and her mom are all for, but not Dr. Crews. He thinks the guy in all denim is going to screw things up. Why did guys wear all that denim in the 80’s? I mean, I was just as guilty as the next guy, but I never knew why we did. I just followed the trend without questioning it. Today, if somebody suggested a wardrobe of 90% denim, I would ask: Why?
This is a Jason movie, so you need plenty of jerks. Melissa (Susan Jennifer Sullivan) fits the role very well as the stuck up rich girl. She uses people and targets Tina. When she discovers that Tina has mental problems, she brings it up and insults her publicly.
Tina is unstable and upset and runs to the lake. She now hopes to bring her father back from the dead, using her mind powers to get him out of that lake. I am not sure what she thought she’d accomplish here and why wasn’t his body recovered to begin with? I have a hard time believing that they couldn’t find the body of her father in that lake, but, for some reason, they didn’t. Her attempt to bring him back would end up releasing Jason (Kane Hodder) from the lake and he has never looked better. The make-up used to create this monster/zombie version of Jason is better than ever.
Jason is now free and is going on a killing spree. It’s much of the same. Unremarkable characters are getting mowed down by this killing force, but the good characters are very good. I really liked Dr. Crews. He was a great bad guy and the unique storyline made this one of the better F13th entries. Jason had finally met his match and the final showdown between the two is a lot of fun. The fun factor is through the roof here and the offended look on Jason’s face when she starts fighting back says it all. He is screaming “how dare you” without saying a word.
The ending proved that Tina was right all along. Her dead father jumps out of the lake to take Jason back to the bottom. What?! I guess if one dead guy can come out of that lake, two can. I would hate to be Tina’s father. Think about this. You pull Jason back to the bottom of the lake and now you have to basically live with him and you know that he’s not going to be happy and complain all of the time. Why would you want to put up with that?
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD is great fun. It’s not a great movie, but it is so much fun that you have to enjoy it.
Rating: 7/10
FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION box sex has been released 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.
