Rating: B

While Part II didn’t do quite as well at the box office as the first movie, it still made plenty to justify a third and initially final entry. Part III had twice the budget of the last movie, though most of that seems to have gone to shoot the film in 3D. It seems weird now, but the early 80s saw a big resurgence in 3D films—mostly horror flicks like Amityville 3D and Jaws 3D. The 3D here is all gimmick with everything from a yo-yo to a spear gun coming at your face. 

Originally there talk of a plot of having Ginny from part II returning and getting stalked by Jason at a hospital, but that ended when Halloween II came out with the same plot. Fortunately, Friday the 13th changes the game up enough to be much better than the last entry. Steve Miner returns here as the only director to helm more than two of these films, and closes out the first “trilogy." 

The plot picks up right back where we left in 1984 (this was released in 82) with Jason still alive and now causing havoc outside of Crystal Lake. After slaughtering a goofy old married couple, he comes across a group of teenagers vacationing in a cabin transitioning this to more of a spooky cabin in the woods film than another campfire tale. 

While some elements are familiar, like another wacky townsperson replacing Ralph, and the guy who loves pranks, the characters are much more amped up and ridiculous. The teenagers get harassed by a biker gang, there’s a Cheech-and-Chong-style stoner couple, and the loser fat kid is always pretending he’s dead or a serial killer. 

The violence is again more brutal, which led to some problems with the MPAA, though there’s not really any sex or nudity. That’s appropriate considering part of the film is about being a rape survivor. Final girl Chris was once attacked by Jason two years ago, but blacked out and woke up without knowing what happened. That’s left her spooked by nearly anything and unable to be intimate with her boyfriend who doesn’t really understand her problems because men are assholes.

But rather than this being a I Spit on Your Grave revenge film, the outcome eventually breaks Chris by the end. Watching this again after many years, I was impressed that amidst a lot of the silliness they were able to treat this fairly seriously and not nullify it by filling the screen with boobs. 

Jason here is played by former trapeze artist Richard Brooker who did stunts and later became a producer, director, and web design entrepreneur. Notably he was a director on Bill Nye the Science Guy. Brooker is a much taller Jason, and they make him look stockier than the last film. He’s now bald with an evenly “mutant face,” though not as intense as his elephant man look in the last film. Jason gets hanged in this one and takes a machete to the head and lies presumably dead at the end, though they have a lot of fun messing with the canoe in the water ending of the first film. 

Next up: Corey Feldman kills Jason…again! 

Jason Body Count: 12 (biggest yet!)

-James P.