Blu-Ray Reviews: ‘Friday the 13th Pt. 2’ and ‘Friday the 13th Pt. 3 in 3D’

‘Friday the 13th Part 2’

The Movie:

How do you follow-up a highly profitable, independent, slasher film with only one survivor and a villain without a head? Easy, you bring in the killer’s son to take out said, single survivor in the sequel’s opening fifteen minutes, and you never look book. That is exactly what the producers behind ‘Friday the 13th’ did nearly one year to the day after the film was released.

Starting just a few months after the events of the first film, ‘Friday the 13th Part 2’ is probably the most basic of the Jason Voorhees-led films in the series. This is your standard killer in the woods terrorizing a group of teenaged camp counselors, picking them off one by one in grand and graphic fashion. We would still be one film away from Mr. Voorhees acquiring his trademark hockey mask, and, in ‘Part 2’ his disguise of choice is a tattered sack with a single hole cut out for one of his eyes.

Overall, the “sackhead” Jason, as he is to be known in this film, is scarier than the hockey mask. In hiding Jason’s entire head, the sack reveals less about Jason to us than the hockey mask. The hockey mask, popular as it may be, gave Jason more character, and personified him to the audience more so than merely throwing a sack over his head. This mystery about what is underneath that sack is part of what makes ‘Friday the 13th Part II’ one of the scariest in a franchise not exactly know for its scares.

The ‘Friday the 13th’ franchise is known for its gore and its elaborate kills, and, up until recently, I believed this film had some groundbreaking kills. However, you always have to go back to the source of such material, and in finally sitting down to watch Bava’s ‘Bay of Blood,’ it dawned on me that some of the kills were not all that inventive. The double impalement, probably the most popular death scene in the ‘Friday the 13th’ franchise next to the infamous sleeping bag death from ‘Part 7,’ is directly lifted from ‘Bay of Blood.’ Even though it is effective in ‘Part 2,’ it’s not all that innovative.

In the long run, ‘Friday the 13th’ stands up there with the best of the series. Most die hard, ‘Friday the 13th’ fans rank it at the very least in the top five of the series, and it is understandable. There are even some cinematic qualities to ‘Part II’ not seen in many of the other entries into the franchise. Director Steve Miner and cinematographer Peter Stein never let the camera sit idle while things are happening. The shots are constantly moving, giving the film a more suspenseful quality than other films in the series.
The Blu-Ray:
While the transfer looks brighter than previously seen from this film, it’s still nothing to write home about. Everything is smooth, but nothing cries out as being vibrant. You can’t really blame the people behind the disc for this, though, as the film’s original color was nothing wonderful. Overall, the color on this Blu-Ray is about as good as the color in this film can look.

The sound, on the other hand, is very crisp. The remaster in TrueHD 5.1 really brings out the sharpness of the sound effects, and it does wonders for the movie’s score. Manfredini’s strings have never pierced so precisely.

The Features:

Inside “Crystal Lake Memories” (11:15) – This is essentially a two-shot interview with Peter Bracke, author of “Crystal Lake Memories,” conducted by Del Howison.  Bracke discusses the Genesis behind ‘Part 2,’ the MPAA cracking down on horror films at this time, and special effects that were cut from the final film. He briefly goes into the film’s alternate ending and very briefly talks about ‘Part 3’ and the legacy of the entire series. In looking at the special features on the other Blu-Ray films in the ‘Friday the 13th’ series, I was stunned to find that this was the only disc that featured a snippet of this interview. This should have been a franchise-spanning interview with Howison picking Bracke’s brain about the entire series. It could have easily been cut into pieces and strung across all the discs.

Friday’s Legacy: Horror Conventions (6:50) – This is a brief look at Scarefest and the people behind it. There are interviews with Scarefest creator Jeff Waldridge, Tom Savini, Ari Lehman, Betsy Palmer, Harry Manfredini, Tucky Williams, and Victor Miller. All-in-all a decent featurette, though it should have been longer, and it should have, at the very least, given Scarefest a little bit of a plug. They don’t even mention where or when the convention is held or where you can go for more info. FYI: It’s held in Lexington, Kentucky in September each year, and you can find more info on it at www.thescarefest.com.

Lost Tales From Camp Blood Pt. 2 (8:54) – The less said about this the better. It’s a larger narrative, a ‘Friday the 13th’ narrative, I believe, though the killer looks nothing like Jason, broken up into parts for each disc. It’s very low budget, and it offers absolutely nothing in the way of interest. This part features a couple walking through the woods. One of them dies. It’s awful.

Jason Forever (29:27) – This is a very interesting featurette, though it’s not ‘Part 2’ specific. It is a panel from the 2004 Fango Convention in New Jersey featuring Ari Lehman, Warrington Gillette (Jason in ‘Part 2’), CJ Graham (Jason in ‘Part 6’), and Kane Hodder (you know who that is). Moderated by Peter Bracke, it offers some really good insight into these four actors and how they came to get into the role both mentally and physically. The panel is intercut with talking head interviews with each of the actors as they discuss the panel and other notable stories they didn’t get into during the panel. Ari Lehman’s talking head interview is just long enough for him to plug his band’s CD. The panel was filmed right after the release of ‘Freddy Vs. Jason,’ so some of the questions pertained to Hodder not returning for that film. The questions from the crowd are difficult to hear, and they really should have been miked better. Other subjects brought up involve Hodder’s ability to vomit on command and his nickname of “Stinky” Voorhees on the set of ‘Part 7’.

Trailer (2:12) – It’s just the trailer. Nothing great and wonderful.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

‘Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3D’

The Movie:

If ‘Friday the 13th Part 3’ is known for anything, it’s known for being the film where Jason Voorhees finally tosses the burlap sack and grabs hold of his trademark hockey mask.

Once again, it’s your standard ‘F13’ plot with Jason running around killing a whole bunch of teens in the woods. This time around, though, Jason has to contend with a trio of bikers, a goofball outcast who likes to fake his own death, and even hippies. That’s right, folks. Jason Voorhees is a friend to the right.

Released in August of 1982, the people behind ‘Part 3’ decided to give a little more time to hone the story and craft the characters that would make up the film’s plot structure. Oh, wait, that’s another movie entirely. This movie doesn’t do that at all. The extra time spent on making the movie was due to the fact that the producers decided it was time to unleash 3D on the world of horror. They then proceeded to lug the massive cameras needed to shoot said 3D all around California and New Jersey, spending hours upon hours, take after take, to get the 3D effects just right. Not much time was spent working with actors or trying to establish a first-rate script. This was all about showmanship, and, once again, Steve Miner stepped up to take directing duties.

There are some decent 3D effects here, even if they are all painfully and obviously thrown deliberately at the audience.  The eyeball popping scene is one of the favorites, even if the spring is clearly visible.  Jason uses a spear gun here, a weapon he will return to a few more times throughout the series. Of course, like the eyeball, the spear coming right out at the audience is clearly on some kind of wire.

The film doesn’t offer up much in the way of classic ‘Friday the 13th’ moments other than that, though.  Most of the deaths are standard machete slicing and pitchfork thrusting.  There are some moments of real scares, particularly in the film’s finale inside a barn, but there is nothing to put this anywhere near the top of the franchise pile.

In fact, after the opening kill, the pacing of the film crashes into a mountain like its hunting the Abominable Snowman. It’s nearly an hour after the opening sequence that we get the first kill from the main group of kids. Those bikers don’t stand a chance, but outside the barn, there’s a whole lot of nothing going on here.

Funnily enough, though it may be near the bottom of the list in terms of quality, ‘Part 3’ boasts a box office take of just under $36.6 million, ranking it number 4 in terms of overall box office. It would be the highest grossing entry into the series for 21 years before ‘Freddy Vs. Jason’ came out in 2003.

The Blu-Ray:

The visuals and audio are just as good of a transfer here as they were on ‘Part 2.’  That God awful opening theme pierces your brainstem like a Tingler, but the real purchase point with this disc is the inclusion of the film in 3D.  Complete with cardboard, green-and-red 3D glasses (which resemble the hockey mask, ain’t that cute?), the film can be seen in both 3D and 2D.  Really, there’s nothing to see here in 2D.  However, you, and all your friends, can sit around laughing at the ridiculousness of the 3D special effects.  It is bad a number of times when something goes blurry as it is jumping out at you, but you can’t expect perfection here.  Or, maybe you can, in which case, you’ll be severely disappointed here.

The Features:

Fresh Cuts – 3D Terror (12:52) – This features Peter Bracke, author of the book “Crystal Lake Memories,” going over ‘Part 3’ and the idea to use 3D in the film.  Bracke discusses the earlier ideas of the film following Amy Steel’s character from ‘Part 2.’  Other interviewees about the 3D process and the audience reaction include Martin Jay Sadoff, Larry Zerner, Richard Brooker, Sandi Love, and Douglas White.  White brings the most interesting aspect to the table, as he discusses the original look of Jason under the mask.  Special effects master Stan Winston was brought in to create a look for Jason.  He did just that, but the look was not used.  Pictures still remain of Winston’s design of what Jason might have looked like in an alternate ending of the film.

Legacy of the Mask (9:33) – Bracke talks here about the evolution of Jason’s look.  Richard Brooker, Martin Jay Sadoff, and Douglass White also offer up some words about Jason’s move from the child to the burlap sack to the hockey mask.

Slasher Films: Going for the Jugular (7:09) – At just over seven minutes in length (and that includes ending credits), this feature is the biggest disappointment of the ‘Part 3’ disc.  This is a tiny refresher course on what makes slasher films so much fun, and, with the stable of interviewees involved, it really should have been longer.  Popping up for their two cents on the slasher genre are Tom Savini, Tony Todd, Tony Moran, Harry Manfredini, Richard Brooker, Ari Lehman, Robbi Morgan, Del Howison, and Larry Zerner.  Sincerely, this featurette should have been at least 30 minutes long, but what it does offer is very insightful and extremely entertaining.

Lost Tales from Camp Blood  Pt. 3 (4:49) – It’s short.  That’s about all I can say in its defense.

Trailer (2:09) – Amazingly enough, this trailer is all of three seconds shorter than the one for ‘Part 2.’  Wait a minute.  Three seconds?  ‘Part 3’?  3D?  My God, it’s a conspiracy!

Overall Rating: 3 (Whaaaaaa??!?!?!) out of 5