Review of Friday the 13th Part III (1982) by Justin O — 26 Oct 2012

The third outing from Jason & Co. is probably my least favorite of the entire series, mainly because it's such a drop off in quality from its predecessor. The direction that Part 2 took seemed like a good way to go for the series, at least to me.

Its strong storytelling aspects were completely ditched because the focus of Part 3 was to make the gimmicky 3-D work. Characters spend their time awkwardly sticking objects toward the camera lens, such as when Jason fires a harpoon directly at the camera.

It's cheesy, and definitely doesn't add anything in 2-D. I've attempted to watch the film in 3-D a couple of times, but it ended up giving me a headache more than anything. As a consequence, everything else in the film suffers.

The dialogue is probably some of the most atrocious of any of the films. The characters are also more thinly drawn. They even did a bit of retconning with the beginning of the film, tossing out the final moments of Part 2.

To be fair, there are some unintentionally funny things and moments throughout the film. The special effects themselves are about average. The only death sequences in the film really worth mentioning would be Andy's character being split in half and Debbie's character taking a machete through the chest from underneath.

I like that the film has the guts to kill a pregnant woman, even though she doesn't look pregnant. The best thing about the film overall is the opening and closing theme, which is catchy and funky.

The score is pretty much the same, but that funky intro and outro is quite terrific, not that it improved the film all that much. The sequels always have their pros and cons, and while some are better than others, some are just not that great.

Part 3 falls into the latter category for me. However, it's not the worst film of the series. It's definitely worth watching, but when you're having a marathon of these movies, you can't wait to get to the next one.