Review of Jason Lives - Friday the 13th Part VI (1986) by Forrest P — 06 Oct 2010

Some movies fall into the "so bad it's bad" category. Some movies fall into the "so bad it's good" category. And some of those films narrowly miss both categories to land in a spot where it's more or less good at being bad. That's the only way I can think of to sum up Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.

Where do I even begin with this one? I have never seen a film that's so competent at being incompetent. I mean, Jason Lives is a film that seems to know how bad it is and then just embraces it. Unfortunately, it doesn't bother to be anything more than that either. However, Jason Lives *does* have a sense of humor. It does have a few jokes sprinkled here and there. And, oddly enough, they work. They're funny. How bizarre.

So, what are the problems with this film? I'll start with the logic. Or lack thereof. Just to give an example, the first ten minutes of the film is when they bring Jason back to life. And I was curious with how the filmmakers would do it. What was my ultimate answer? A bolt of lighting. They brought him back to life with a bolt of lightning. Come on. This is only the *beginning* of the lazy writing we'll see in this film.

While I'm talking about the beginning of the film and the really bad logic there, the beginning of the film shows two characters driving to Jason's grave. One character is a leftover from the last film, and he wants to dig up Jason because he thinks that destroying Jason's body will get his nightmares to stop. Um. What? It amuses me that movies this dumb will pretend to have any kind of knowledge of basic psychology.

And while I'm stuck on the dumb characters and the brilliant moves they make, I want to ask this question: why is every single cop in this movie an idiot. I'm talking bottom of the barrel dumb-ass. I'm talking cops who say brilliant things like "My cops have better things to do than drive out to look for camp counselors with car trouble." (What do you do then?!) Or, cops who threaten to shoot a kid for "telling wild stories" rather than trying to get him psychiatric help. Only in a Jason film would a sheriff be so stupid and incompetent. I hated the sheriff. I mean I *really* hated him. But I can't leave out the officer who hears someone scream, turns around, and starts shooting before he even has time to see who's there.

All the characters in this movie were so obnoxious that I actually *wanted* them to get chopped in halves. That's what I really hate about these movies: the characters are bullshit and the plot itself is half-assed. I mean, screw the screenwriters of these movies. Don't they see these formulas and cliches as being REALLY tedious? Boring? Tiresome? Old? Anything? Just put in a little effort. I don't ask for much--just effort. It's such a ridiculously tired "story." I put the word "story" in quotes because this is not much of a story. There almost is no story here at all.

That all being said, I cannot put this film on the same level as, say, Freddy's Dead. There are a lot of times I was having some fun here. For instance, here are some lines that I feel like the audience would be saying during any Friday the 13th film, taken directly out of the movie:

"Some folks got a strange idea of entertainment.".

"If this is as exciting as it gets, we're in BIG trouble, dude.".

I mean, that's legitimately funny. For a sixth installment of a series, this isn't all that bad. Believe me, this was a terrible film, but it still wasn't the worst I've ever seen, especially out of the Jason movies. Had a little more effort been put into the characters and plot, I might even have liked it.

4/10.