Review of Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) by Ben B — 29 Aug 2011

The first sequel to "Friday the 13th" does an admirable job of living up to its predecessor. In this case, the original was by no means a masterpiece, so the task might not have been as difficult, but I still appreciated the obvious effort that went into retaining the fun and suspense that made the first a hit while improving in other areas.

This is the first film of the series to feature Jason as the killer, although he still hasn't gained his iconic mask. Here he is seen with a bag over his head and an odd overalls/plaid shirt woodsman look. The cast is overall adequate and avoids being annoying to the viewer, but the actor who portrays Jason actually has the film's best (if only by default) scene by actually doing a damn good job selling the psyche of our killer during the climax. I fully expect this to be the one and only attempt of the series to truly explain Jason's motivations.

The directing is actually improved in this installment. There's some good scenes that utilize the original's killer POV style, and others where we actually know what's going on before a character is killed off. I did wonder how an overweight cop could run a mile straight chasing someone into the forest and not be out of breath, though.

I liked that the film makers tried to tie the story into the first film and introduce Jason without making it too contrived. It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense continuity wise, but we will choose to ignore that. Less forgiving is the pointless fake-out ending that is again tacked on. It doesn't really make any sense and leaves things hanging to the point that one character's fate is never revealed, meaning they are going to be forced to ignore it again for the next sequel.

Even with its inherent downfalls, the concept of the series definitely hadn't run its course at this point, and the film does its job at being an entertaining diversion. There's even something that resembles quality directing work in the final reel, with shots being framed effectively towards selling the big chase scene. But shh, don't tell anyone, I'm sure they will forget all about that by the next film. So goes "Friday the 13th Part 2", an inoffensive film that might actually be a bit better than the original. Score: 6/10.