Many Days of Friday the 13th - Part II

Friday the 13th - Part II (1981)

     This installment tends to be overlooked by many fans of the series.  That's a crying shame, because it's one of the better ones, and is, in fact, my favorite of the series.  I think the reason it's overlooked is because Jason doesn't have his hockey mask yet.  He also doesn't dress the way he does in later installments.  No, in this one he's farmer bob with a bulap sack over his head!  I'm talkin' suspenders and flannel!  Another reason it's not as popular is because of the cuts the MPAA forced on the film after the outcry over the first film by people like Siskel & Ebert.  But let's talk about the story.  For those that don't remember, here's how the first movie ended.

    Which leads to a pretty bad inconsistency.  Jason died in the 50s, but in that scene in 1980, he's still like 12 years old.  Now, granted it was shot as a "it could have been a dream" ending, but Jason's in part 2.  My theory is that it was a dream due to the woman's horrible night, but that Jason was in the area, fully grown.  Still, it's just a sequel, and making sense of the last movie is the least of this one's problems.  The plot here is that another guy wants to open a camp.  This time it's across the lake from where Camp Crystal Lake was.  Surely that'll leave enough room, right?  Also, it's 5 years later.  Once again, new camp councilors come, and once again they die one by one.  Womp, womp, womp, wwwooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmpppppppp!

          In case you didn't notice, the trailer here is done exactly like the first movie.  Just showing off that this is a continuation of the first film with the body count rising.  In fact, the film's tagline was "The body count continues..."  I think that's one of the best taglines out there for a slasher film.  It knows what it is, and it has no qualms about it.  It doesn't try to be more or less than it is advertising.

     The film still has the low budget feel of the first movie, though the film had over twice the budget, coming in at 1.25 million dollars.  The pacing is a whole lot better.  The movie is only 87 minutes long, and about 10 of that is a recap of the first film, leaving only a bit over an hour to tell it's story.  For a slasher film with not much story like this one, 75-90 minutes is just about right.  The film is better directed.  Sean Cunningham moved on to other things after the first film, and this film was shot by Steve Miner, who was the Production Manager for the first film.  He's a much more capable director, and would go on after this to shoot Part 3, Forever Young, House (1986), Halloween H20, and Lake Placid.  The killer is more convincing.  The first film's killer was kind of laughable, due to overacting and the fact that a person of that build be easily overcome by a teenager.  Also the kills are more interesting. Those are all great qualities.  But how about the bad?

     Well, as I stated, the MPAA demanded a lot of cuts to the gore in this one.  The shot above is from the back of the VHS case, but is not in the film.  That shot was cut due to the MPAA.  The death is still there, but the money shot as it were, was not there.  You simply see the girl noticing Jason, Jason raise the pole and start to bring it down, then an under the bed shot of the pole coming through the mattress.  (Oh, and just as an aside, this death and one other were taken from Mario Bava's Bay of Blood.  They are tributes if you will.)    The film doesn't have a lot of blood in it due to the cuts, but it's nowhere near as bloodless or tame as the late 80s Friday films would become.  I also do not like the first 10 minutes of the film being a recap of the first movie.  However, this was before video cassettes were widely available, so I can understand it.  When this came out, it had been a year since the first film, and I'm sure some had not seen it before going to see this one.  Today we can just pop in the older film and watch it first.  Not so back then.  Also, the plot here is pretty non-existent.  It's a retread of the first film in many ways.  Still, the characters are a bit more likeable and better looking.  The acting is still not great, but serviceable.  Those are about the only negatives I can think of.

     So why is this my favorite?  Well, for one thing, the burlap sack is awesome!  Jason's whole outfit including the sack is stolen from a 1970s horror film called The Town That Dreaded Sundown. It seems more like what a deformed guy would find to put on his head.  It makes more sense than a hockey mask, as it covers the whole head.  Makes him look more mysterious too.  I also like how Jason makes mistakes here.  There's one scene where he's about to impale a girl while he's standing on a chair.  He's about to make the plunge, and one of the legs breaks.  He has to run to catch up with his victims too.  All of this goes along with the story that he may have been a bit mentally disabled as a child, as was alluded to in the first film.  After this film, Jason gets real smart and becomes more and more invincible each film.  Here he can get hurt, he falls down...  He's human.  I also think the last 20-30 minutes are the best in the series.  It's suspenseful, which is surprising coming from a Friday film.  Most of these just don't try for that.  There's one shot in particular that I love.  Ginny is being chased by Jason, and finds his shed.  She runs in and closes the door.  The door has a window in it, and we see Jason running at the door while Ginny's back is turn and she sees him coming just in time to start running again.  It's probably the most suspenseful scene in the series, and is just great.  During the whole chase, Jason is just within arm's reach of her, which makes things more terrifying.  Also, the characters in this film are a bit more likeable than in the first film.  There's a sweet guy in a wheelchair (and he gets one of the best deaths in the series) who reminds me of Jason Ritter's character in Joan of Arcadia. (And oddly enough, he was in Freddy Vs. Jason.)  The lead girl is a bit less of a goody goody than the one in the first film, and in this guy's opinion, she's prettier too.  

     Just because Jason doesn't wear his hockey mask yet is no reason to skip this one.  It's probably the best put-together in the series, even with the jump cuts and logiclessness caused by the MPAA cuts.  There's more nudity, more deaths....  What's not to like?  Oh, the less gore?  Psh.  Get over it.  It's not like they cut all the blood out like they did for later installments. 

Discussion on part III will come on Sunday!