Review of Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) by K S — 19 Oct 2008

Back to Camp Crystal lake we go with a new bunch of 20 something delinquents who after being warned persistently about the murder percentage of the camp somehow feel it's just a "myth" and there is no crime pattern. That is how stupid and pointless characters in this series are. There is no subplot or background. Basically you start out with a handful of teenagers and one by one we see them get eliminated by the masked, voiceless murderer Jason Voorhees.

In Part 2 the killer is Jason instead of his mother from the first film. Somehow he survived his drowning in Crystal lake decades prior to the setting of this film and now he runs around the camp with a potato sack over his head with a mindless rage against campers. That's about all I can say about the picture. There is no exposition and virtually no story arch. Iwill say that it is technically a better film than the original and it's easier to watch. Unlike Sean Cunningham, Steve Miner gives us a lit screen where we don't have to strain to see the action. The murder scenes are disturbingly entertaining. The film has aged in this department though. Especially in this Saw/Hostel, torture porn horror schlock we get these days.

The psychology of these films is interesting. We're watching this film to be frightened but we feel little to no sympathy or connection with the characters who are brutally murdered. There is no emotional investment. The formula is: One independent, attractive girl with her drunken, jerk boyfriend and a few other stock characters like the dorky guy who has the hots for one of the other girls or of course the badass rebel who does get to sleep with one of the girls. Because that character is such an asshole (naturally) he gets killed in the most horrid way possible. These slasher films know what the audience thinks about these shallow people. So they just supply the carnage.

Watching a Friday the 13th film is essentially a celebration of a mentally handicapped mass murderer. By now, some 28 years since the first film he is almost a folk hero of sorts. For what reason? The answer may be too disturbing to reflect on so I'll leave it at that.