Review of Friday the 13th Part VII - The New Blood (1988) by Shelby B — 26 Mar 2014

With series box office and interest still on the decline, Friday The 13th Part 7 tried to shake things up, and in doing so, threw all attempts at keeping the series even remotely grounded out the window by having Jason go up against a young girl with telekinetic powers.

It was basically Jason v.s. Carrie and, to be honest, I liked the audacity of it and since Jason was already an invincible zombie, a psychically powerful, cute blonde wasn't exactly going to make it any less far-fetched.

The story has troubled teen Tina Shepard (Lar Park Lincoln) returning to a house on Crystal Lake (or is it still Forrest Green?) with her mother (Susan Blu) and her shady psychiatrist (Terry Kiser). Tina has a telekinetic ability that arises when emotionally distressed and years earlier during an argument between her parents, she lashed out at her father who was drunk and hit her mother and causes the dock he's on to collapse, drowning her dad in the depths of the lake.

To this day she is traumatized by guilt but, it is her powerful mind that the scheming Dr. Crews (Kiser) is after, not a cure to her woes. Across from their house is another filled with rowdy teens, there for a surprise party, including handsome Nick (Kevin Spirtas) who takes a liking to Tina.

But, after one of her sessions with the doctor, a distraught Tina rushes to the docks and tries to raise her father from the depths but, unfortunately raises Mr. Voorhees instead, who is still chained at the lake bottom, put there by Tommy Jarvis in Part 6.

Oops! Now freed from his watery grave Jason begins to stalk and kill the party goers and pursue Tina and the members of her house but, this final girl has some weapons of her own and the slaughter can only lead to a showdown pitting telekinetic powers against undying rage.

.. and garden tools. Who will win, if anyone? This was one of my favorites of the series when I first saw it, although I found it wasn't quite as fun as I had remembered it upon my recent revisit. This entry is directed by make-up FX man John Carl Buechler (the original Troll) and while he does a competent job, this particular flick, with it's outlandish premise, could have used a more lively and colorful touch such as graced the previous Friday flick.

Buechler returns to a dead serious tone and takes the material equally serious but, this is a film about a zombie serial killer battling a telekinetic teenager after all and begged for someone to take the story and run with it, Roger Corman style.

I appreciate Buechler trying to give the series some of it's dramatic strength back but, the story just doesn't really live up to it potential with the deadpan approach. The climactic showdown between Tina and Jason is the only time the film has a bit of fun with it's premise but, even that could have been a bit more creative.

.. though it does have a few amusingly absurd moments. And despite that Buechler's team did the make-up FX, the kills are very routine and we, for the most part, only see the aftereffects of Jason's handiwork.

Also, Jason's ability to find completely random power tools is getting out of hand at this point and also betrays the more serious tone of the film. That and the formula is just basically getting tiresome at this point, another reason they just should have had a good time with the story instead of trying to recapture past gory glory.

The cast are OK. Lincoln is a brooding and troubled teen and does that fine. Kizer is a bit hammy as her psychiatrist with a personal agenda but, as the secondary villain, it works well. At least Kizer got the tone of the material and had a little fun with it.

Spirtas is a handsome and adequate hero but, doesn't have a real strong presence to make him really endearing and the rest of the secondary characters/victims are equally attractive and adequate as Jason fodder.

And speaking of our iconic killer, fan favorite Kane Hodder would make the first of four appearances as Jason and cement his status as the quintessential Jason performer and Buechler's look would become the favorite of Jason's incarnations with it's thick chains around the fiend's neck evoking the Frankenstein monster.

I still like this entry to a good degree but, it just wasn't quite as fun as it certainly could have been and not as much a good time as I remembered it. Still one of the better entries but, not as high on the list as it was in 1988 when I first saw it.