Camp Blood

Another Friday the 13th greets us once again. Each of you has their own marathon planned, perhaps in advance, and will once again venture into the wilds of Jason Voorhees' domain. I decided on Part 2 myself. The Steve Miner duo, if you will.

 Paul: I don't wanna scare anyone, but I'm gonna give it to you straight about Jason. His body was never recovered from the lake after he drowned. And if you listen to the old-timers in town, they'll tell you he's still out there, some sort of demented creature, surviving in the wilderness, full grown by now... stalking... stealing what he needs, living off wild animals and vegetation. Some folks claim they've even seen him, right in this area. The girl that survived that night at Camp Blood, that... Friday The 13th? She claimed she saw him. She disappeared two months later... vanished. Blood was everywhere. No one knows what happened to her. Legend has it that Jason saw his mother beheaded that night. Then, he took his revenge, a revenge he continued to seek if anyone ever enters his wilderness again. And, by now, I guess you all know we're the first to return here. Five years... five long years he's been dorment. And he's hungry. Jason's out there... watching... always on the prowl for intruders... ready to kill... ready to devour... thirsty for young blood.

"You're doomed! You are all doomed!"

I didn't really add much Friday to the post, although I had planned to. Honestly, how many times have we Friday fans seen these films and discussed them? I have a review for the film I had written back in 2012, and I think I pretty much covered the first ten films now as well as I can. I will re-iterate that I find the sequel refreshing in that Jason hadn't perfected the art of killing. He stumbles and falls. He isn't as effective when the victim (s) know he's coming after them. I think why Amy Steele is so beloved is because her battle for survival was all instinctive and dogged. Then she uses mind games against a killer that functions specifically out of a silent rage in defense of a mother that committed her acts because she loved him. Sure the flaw of "well, Jason is dead, he drowned" aside, the film is not all that impactful in its violence, although the kid in the wheelchair getting the machete in the face tells you Jason isn't functioning under any form of conscience. That he would kill that victim proves it is a straight-ahead assault on *them all*. The burlap sack--ala, The Town That Dreaded Sundown--for a mask and the Mario Bava murders, this sequel isn't exactly original. It is a collection of young adults falling prey to the killer in the woods. It is a collection of "pop goes the weasel" murders that come and go in a workman-like manner. Miner doesn't stylistically re-invent the wheel, but Jason's behavior and reason for doing it does get some time in the dialogue with Steele and Furey discussing what it must have been like to experience what he did (the drowning and seeing his mother perish as she did) in a bar in the nearest town.

I like the daytime scenes where the characters gather, and you see that Steele isn't the prototypical final girl as she is sexually active, and her sense of humor and attitude isn't all so innocuous or innocent. However, Steele brings this character to life. I think that she offers this human person that isn't just a caricature (unlike future films) helps significantly. The plot itself--a camp counselor training school gathering a number of potential counselors or those Furey had worked with in the past--isn't anything not seen in the previous film. I thought the first film has some nice characters and a cast that is likable enough. I can never use the argument that the sequel is a work of art. It gives the audience a bit of what it wants. There is some nudity and violence, but I think the fourth film gives you more of both. All in all, the cast is fun, the running time doesn't outstay its welcome, and Jason is human, not The Shape of Halloween.