Friday the 13th Part II (1981) - Ginny

I guess I had to divorce the implausibility of Jason’s presence in the film in order to ever enjoy the second film in the Friday the 13^th franchise. Steve Miner and company arranged the beginnings of a franchise that is only halted by the director and writer of the first film. Steele is my personal favorite final girl of the franchise. I liked Beck in my favorite Friday film, The Final Chapter (1984), but Steele is just the model final girl to me. I love the fact that she’s sexually active with Paul and it doesn’t mean a fucking thing in terms of her legitimacy to remain a survivor by film’s end despite close calls. But in this film Jason is a bumbling killer who was more or less successful because he had the advantage of surprise. I mean Jason kills Mark (Tom McBride), confined to a wheelchair and unable to defend himself. It was dark and Mark had no chance to give Jason a fight. Of course, that is sort of Jason’s modus operandi. He can kill folks a lot because they are at a disadvantage. But Jason’s mom sort of provided that method of psycho work so he is more or less inspired by her. But back to Steele. She is not some virginal weakling who cowers and folds when danger presents itself. Jason comes at her and Steele’s Ginny might run and hide but it is because he has weapons and she doesn’t. So she has to outsmart him. At the beginning, Ginny is established as quite smart and witty. Paul is her foil in that regard. Paul helps to jumpstart her car but later loses at chess when he believes his moves have won the game. Paul can often be so serious, setting up Ginny to quip to her heart’s content. Steele is just a natural on screen. I think that is an enduring quality for the character…she doesn’t feel like a slasher caricature. While the ending might go a pop psychology route—assume the role of Pamela in order to persuade Jason to stop until she can strike him down—following up on the bar scene where Ginny considers Jason’s position when his mother died while Paul and prankster clown, Ted (Stuart Charno), sort of humor her while also rather disinterested in the conversation, Ginny, at least, is proactive in her survival. Consider one of the victims who is framed into a corner, Mark’s love interest, Vickie (Lauren-Marie Taylor). Vickie really liked Mark and wants to have sex with him. She puts on the perfume, has on the right panties, and a long-sleeved shirt that Vickie never planned to keep on very long but stumbling on Jason, there is just a knife in a hand closing in as she is frozen in fear. Ginny is written and Steele doesn’t have to act similarly to poor Vickie.