Chad

Chad

Additional Posters Part 2:

Spiderbite

This movie is just a barrel of fun for me. I didn't see it at the theater for whatever reason (was only 13 at the time of release but I did see Part V: A New Beginning in the theater a yeah before with some friends. That was a crazy experience!).

So, I didn't see this until it was released on VHS. I believe it was in 1987 because I couldn't drive yet. I was invited over to a girl's birthday party. All the invitees gathered into the dark TV room, and we all watched this movie on probably a tiny 20" 4:3 TV on VHS. You would have thought it was an 80" screen with surround sound the way all us teens reacted. The girls were screaming. The guys were jumping around. It was raucous and after rewatching it tonight with that in my mind, I could understand why.

This is just the perfect teen party movie. It isn't overly gory but has some great kills. It has a lot of humor that is actually funny, but Jason still has a creepy and scary presence. The movie moves quickly and doesn't drag its feet at all. There is some sex and sexual situations, but sex is mostly alluded to and isn't graphic the one time it actually happens.

I just had an all-around great time watching this tonight. I have never been a Kane Hodder sycophant, so I enjoyed the guy who played Jason in this. I thought he did a good job. Having Horshack show up and bite it in the first few minutes while also having Jason do the James Bond walk shows exactly what you are getting into with this movie. But it never felt stupid to me. Just having fun with something that by that point was becoming self-parody anyway.

Hard to believe this movie is 37 years old. Sheesh. You wouldn't know it by the Scream Factory transfer on the Blu-ray. I thought it looked clean as a whistle and gorgeous.

My rating: ****1/2 out of *****

Right before I had planned to watch this, my Steelbook copy of the original Friday The 13th on 4K UHD came in. So I decided to watch it right after. A quite enjoyable evening!

Spiderbite

Oh yeah, when I was looking at the IMDB and looking up some of the actors, I saw that there have been two direct sequels to Part VI. They are fan films and are on Youtube. They have a few of the people in Part VI show up in these. I may have to check them out. They are called Friday The 13th: Vengeance Part I and Part II.

Part I


Part II

numbercrunch

Part VI demonstrates how well the film makers have perfected the slasher formula.
8/10

Cardsfan111

This sequel came out when I was about 12 years old. I think the most frightening aspect for me at the time was Jason having this super-human strength after being resurrected. He went from being a guy you thought you could out-run to an unstoppable force.

Undeadcow

The opening reanimation scene is perfection. The maggots are oozeey and thunder reanimation feels powerful. Its funny that Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter is playing in a horror movie (effectively at that). The Tommy Jarvis stuff is great and adds to the complexity of the F13 films (not unlike Moby Dick). I use to think the paintball subplot was too corny and comedic but it helps the body count along. For a 'slasher' theres a lot of smart ideas from the town rebranding, literal reanimation, the imperiled school kids, maggots, and the conclusion is an epic image, etc.

jholmes

I have to say, I'm not a big fan of the Friday the 13th franchise. I've watched them all in my quest for the They Shoot Zombies list (including the last 3 this month). I love Halloween and Michael Myers. But the Friday the 13th movies and Jason always feels like a cheap imitation. I just watched Jason X a few days ago for the first time, and it's soooo ridiculous. They have a sense of humor about it, which is good, but it's absurd and it just goes on and on with him continuing to come back.

ANYWAY. That said, there are a few of the films I've enjoyed. The original, obviously. Part 4: The Final Chapter is good. And this one I liked as well. This is my second viewing of it and I liked it as much as the first time. It was good for this stage of the challenge with a lot of the kills offscreen and more goofy/comedic than brutal.

Undeadcow

Curiously on the topic of which franchise is best I'll say that Hellraiser is my favorite (surreal gore ftw) follower by Phantasm (they dont even try to be consistent - just fun)... but out of the 'big three' I love Friday the 13th as a franchise the most because I think they've done more gutsy stuff with the mythology. Nightmare on Elm Street (the first film) is easily one lf my top 10 horror films and I love the second installment but they end up doing some wonky things with the storyline (bastard son of a thousand maniacs, Christianity, even dog pee). My dirty secret is that I never liked the Halloween films to begin with - except for the often maligned Curse of Michael Myers (the Thorn mythology stuff had potential, but maybe its a nostalgic film for me).

Crocker Jarmen

Jason Lives is where I consider the Friday the 13th franchise now split into two distinct eras. More than bringing in an overt supernatural element by making Jason a zombie, the more significant change to me is the professionalism of the movies. The first five have an independent spirit that makes them stand apart from studio films. There is a seediness to them, that as a young kid really made them seem like something I shouldn't be watching. Jason Lives is as slick as just about any well-budgeted studio movie to come out in 1986. Thanks to the high quality cinematography and editing and directing, it doesn't have the transgressive atmosphere of the first five. The polish and professionalism makes these later films too respectable. Just another studio movie. I like the awkward, dirty, one-of-a-kind Parts 1 - 5.

Toddarino

I agree with Crocker for the most part. Part 6 is where the series really changed. It got a little too humorous for lack of a better word. I really dislike the paintball scenes.
All that being said I still like this one along with 8 & 9.

clckworang

This is likely up there among my favorites of the series. I'd say part 4 is definitely the favorite, but the other spots could change a bit. I understand some of the knocks on it. Maybe it's nostalgia having grown up watching this on cable, but this one always had a soft spot with me. And I love the James Bond opening.

Crocker Jarmen

Here's the ad from when it played at my local drive-in, September 1986.

DaveyJoe

I've always enjoyed this one but this is the first time I noticed the influence from the Universal Monster films. Jason really feels larger than life, less of a backwoods hillbilly and more elemental, like Frankenstein's Monster. Of course the lightning reanimating Jason should've been the first clue. There are a ton of easter eggs in this, so many character/location names are references to classic horror characters or filmmakers. The self aware humor was fresh in a long running franchise and it had a smart script, with the conflict between Tommy and the sheriff giving us one of the more compelling narratives in the franchise. Part 4: The Final Chapter is my personal favorite due to the characters, but this is probably the best made film in the series, almost transcending it at times.

WillieMLF

I’m a big fan of the series, despite them being a nostalgic journey. I thought the story was a good one where the main protagonist wants to ensure Jason is dead by digging up his body. Lightning strikes the corpse and mayhem ensues. This installment Is a lot of fun.

Obi-Wanma

I watched this a couple of nights ago. The only previous entries in the series that I had ever seen were Jason X and Freddy vs. Jason. I grew up avoiding horror movies of all kinds.

So as someone with no nostalgia for the series, this was kind of shit. From the goofy re-animation in the opening, there was never anything scary or gorey in this film. A lot of the comedy bits are too silly for me and not really funny. My daughter fell asleep during it. For a film that leans into self parody, give me Bride of Chucky any day.