Friday the 13th Part 2

  Friday the 13th is a really bizarre franchise. Even before we get to the truly out there installments late in the series, the way the franchise came together is weird. Jason appearing as the main antagonist comes about here in the second installment, and it’ll take another film to get his iconic mask. This film also begs the question of how Jason is alive. He’s implied not to be a supernatural entity (yet) but the exact nature of his survival is unclear (even the cast were basically told “don’t worry about it”). So yeah, it’s a weird franchise. Let’s take a dive into one of the more grounded entries.

Friday the 13th Part 2 was written by Ron Kurz (Off the Wall) and directed by Steve Miner (Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later). Friday the 13th Part 2 was made on a budget of $1.2 million, made $6,429,784 upon opening, and went on to make $21,722,776 worldwide. Friday the 13th Part 2 was released on May 1, 1981 to generally negative reviews.

Shortly after the events of the original, Jason Vorhees (Steve Daskewisz, Alone in the Dark) tracks down and kills Alice (Adrienne King, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape), the only survivor of his mother’s killing spree (and her killer). Five years later, counsellors gather at a training camp that shares a shore with Camp Crystal Lake. Predictably, Jason begins stalking and killing the counsellors out of a sense of misguided revenge for his mother’s death.

Friday the 13th Part 2 improves upon its predecessor in nearly every way. The budget increase is obvious, with larger sets and improved visual quality. The characters are also largely more interesting than their counterparts in the original. This is most evident with Ginny (Amy Steel, April Fool’s Day), who is a far more interesting and dynamic Final Girl than Alice before her. The pacing of the film is stronger too, with both character development and kills spread out a bit more evenly.

The beginning of the film, however, does not inspire confidence in the eventual pacing. The film begins with it’s opening kill of Alice. Even though I’m not a big fan of Alice, I really don’t like the trope of killing off the previous film’s hero as the opening kill (looking at you Halloween: Resurrection) and it proves no exception here. Killing Alice adds nothing to the story, and the sequence is pretty boring, particularly the flashbacks to the climax of the first film which take up nearly six full minutes of the film’s valuable runtime. Things pick up once we arrive at camp, but that opening sequence brings the film to a screeching halt before it even has a chance to begin.

Friday the 13th Part 2 is pretty standard as far as slashers go, but it’s a fun time with a likable cast and good kills. While not as dynamic a character as his mother, Jason is a force to be reckoned with and iconic in his own right. 

Rating: 3 tow truck pranks out of 5

Other Observations:

• Does the Dog Dies? A dog is killed off-screen by Jason, but Muffin makes it through the film unscathed.

• Harrison’s Favorite Scare: Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney, Trading Places) being garroted. 

• When The Fuck Is This Movie Set? A new feature for the Friday the 13th films because this timeline is FUCKED! Assuming that the original is set in the same year it was released (1980), this film is set in 1985. 

• Next Week: The month continues with Friday the 13th Part III.