Director: Steve Miner
Cast: Adrienne King, Amy Steel, John Furey, Betsy Palmer
Have I Seen it Before: I dunno… Maybe?
Did I Like It: At the end of my review of Friday the 13th (1980) I lamented the prospect of watching the rest of the series. How much can they wring out of a willfully pale imitation of the Halloween series?
I’m sort of heartened as I finish the first sequel, if for no other reason than the adventures of Jason Voorhees are to the horror canon as Star Trek: Voyager is to the Star Trek canon.
Let me finish.
Voyager really isn’t all that bad, but it does have its challenges, but even during those long stretches where the show doesn’t seem the least bit interested in being an engaging series, it is wonderful white noise. I got an entire paper for grad school—with citations and the whole deal—while this movie was playing itself out.
That has to have some kind of value, right?
That certainly sounds like damning the thing with the faintest of all possible praise, and I’m even having a hard time arguing against that conclusion. There just isn’t a lot of “here”, here. Betsy Palmer returns for a spell to be be Jason’s (Steve Daskewisz) hallucinations of his mother, although it would have been even better if the best actor of the series (sorry, Kevin Bacon) had decided to play the severed head of her former character, but that probably would have been too much to ask from a franchise that doesn’t yet realize it is going to have to be far, far weirder than this to survive.
But, really? A burlap sack is the best they could do as they launch their marquee maniac into our cinematic hearts? Here’s hoping that they come up with something a little bit better for the next movie.