Review of Friday the 13th Part III (1982) by Foreverfinalgir — 15 Dec 2021

The first time watching Friday the 13th Part 3 I remember liking it. (Granted, I nearly always like slasher movies at that time). This time watching it, I don’t like it as much. I was kind of annoyed with the main character. And some of the acting by Dana Kimmell and Paul Kratka was frustrating.

PLOT.

Having survived the previous movie encounters, Jason Voorhees (Richard Brooker) is back when a new set of friends decide to party at a house near the lake. Chris (Dana Kimmell) along with five friends show up at her old family home. There she runs into Rick (Paul Kratka), a potential love interest. These friends need to fight three punks and Jason to survive the night.

MY THOUGHTS.

For me, the two things this movie is well-known for is: 1) this is in 3-D (even though with rewatches it’s not in 3-D). 2)Jason gets his iconic hockey mask for the first time. Having said that, there is quite a bit not to like.

Starting with the continuity of Jason. This is supposedly the day after the events of Part 2 but Jason is so different between the two movies. I get it that it’s a different actor but the whole look of Jason is completely different. Add in the part that Jason may or may not of attempted sexual assault (WTF?) on Chris (Dana Kimmell).

There are more kills, about 12. They are somewhat bloody. Some of them are off screen and you only see the aftermath. Some of the good kills are of Andy (Jeffery Rogers) who is split with the machete while doing a handstand. Also, Debbie’s (Tracie Savage) gets a similar kill as Jack from the first movie. Vera (Catherine Parks) was killed with a spear from a spear gun when Jason shot her in the eye. I almost forgot that the eye popping scene was actually pretty good.

We get the basic characters that are in every movie. You have the clown, the horny couple, a couple of pot heads, and then you have the heroine and her love interest. The difference is that they added three other people who are part of a motorcycle gang that harasses Shelly and Vera, and become added victims for Jason. The acting is ok, but Paul Kratka as Rick just annoyed me. It was bad. The final girl Chris also annoyed me with her whining and just unbelievability.

I felt deja vu while watching this movie. They ripped off so many scenes from the original. There’s a recap at the beginning of the movie talking about Ginny. We have similar kills like Debbie, who died like Kevin Bacon’s character. We have the ending scene where Chris gets into a boat and a rotting and bloating corpse of Mrs. Voorhees comes out of the water just like Jason did in the first movie. We also have a new town crazy who tries to warn them of a killer.

I will say the music is pretty good. Plus we get some good kills. And we get the iconic hockey mask for Jason. Overall, Friday the 13th Part 3 is not a good sequel, but far from the worst in my opinion.

This is the first Friday the 13th sequel that uses the iconic hockey mask.

This movie was actually released on a Friday the 13th.

This is the only movie where Jason’s name is not said by any of the characters.

This movie takes place the day after the incidents of Friday the 13th Part 2.

The last film in the series to have a female only survivor.

The only movie in the series to have a pregnant woman be killed by Jason.

If you want to see my other Friday the 13th reviews, click here: Friday the 13th Franchise.

Let’s get into the rankings:

Kills/Blood/Gore: 3/5.

Sex/Nudity: 2/5.

Scare factor: 2.5/5.

Enjoyment factor: 3/5.

My Rank: 2.62/5.

IMDB: 5.7/10.

Rotten Tomatoes: critics: .7/10 audience: 4.2/10.

Letterboxd: 2.