Last night after a bitch of a day at work and with cold beer in hand and pizza rapidly cooling, I went through my usual “How can I own so many movies and have absolutely no desire to watch any of them?” battle. Before settling on Friday The 13th Part 2. One of the funnest easiest to watch movies the slasher genre has to offer.
I’d even go so far as to say to the less horror incline of my readers, if you’re to watch only one slasher film on your brief existence in this mortal coil, make it this one.
The reason is simple, within its compact frame (under eighty minutes if you don’t count the ten minute recap that pads- er starts it) contains everything fun (Boobs, Gore, Bad Behavior) that the genre has to offer and a good deal of stuff that kicks it up a notch. Here are the five reasons that Friday The 13th Part 2 non ironically rocks my world, and places it well above the standard fair, making it the type of film that rewards plumbing the most dubious genres.
1) The Opening: Its now standard operating procedure that if someone survives a horror movie they will die in the sequel. But Friday The 13th was written before the rulebook started (and slashers if nothing else follow the rules of their form in a a way that makes Kabuki look improvisational). And its delivered with a vicousness that still shocks.
Part of it is just how hard won Alice’s survival in the first film was. Something we’ve just been reminded of after the recap. Part of it is they made the effort to get Alice Hardy back for the brief part. But most of it is the unmitaged nastiness of her death, an ugly ice pick to the head. Especially shocking coming after that most innocuous of scares “The Cat Jump. After all she’s been through its just plain not fair. Look for Alice to go along with Shelia next time Arbogast does “The One You Would Have Saved”
2) The Final Girl: Amy Steel is a charmer, and one of the few actresses I’ve was genuinely surprised never really made it out of the slasher ghetto. Brash, independent, tough, charismatic, and unashamedly sexual and adult in a way most demure final girls aren’t supposed to be.
This is a woman so cool she scared the shit out of Jason. Coming as close to killing him as anyone has. The bit where she surprises him with a Chainsaw, set up with the meticulousness of Chekov's gun, is kind of beautiful. Its worth noting that even though he's come back many times, Jason has never had the balls to tangle with Amy Steel again. I’d watch her even if she wasn’t in a duel with a back woods mongoloid. Inspeaking of which…
3) Bag Head Jason: With the creepy canvas sack. Mad staring eye. And odd little action (I love him taking a teapot off the stove after dispatching his victim). This is probably the only time that Jason has actually been frightening. When he received his hockey mask Jason became an icon. By definition things that are Icons are familiar and that which is familiar is once again by definition not scary.
4) Steve Miner: Unlike the first Friday which was directed by Sean Cunningham, a man whose sense of pace and mise en scene can charitably described as “clumsy”. Steven Miner is a decent director, He keeps the film at a strong pace, uses creative framing (He creeps his frames nice and open leaving Jason room to appear anywhere rather then the usual, keep the frame tight and cropped so when he comes in from the side its a surprise), creates a good atmosphere, has a rapport with the actors. He’s even able to stage a decent sight gag.
Its no accident that Miner has directed some of the most beloved slashers of all time (and also that movie where C. Thomas Howell drinks a potion that makes him black and Big Bully err….) He stages the kills in a way that makes them more then gratuitous gore shots, and the stalking scenes actually suspenseful.
5) Wheelchair Death: I’ve watched a lot of horror films. And I’ve watched a lot of exploitation films. And this is still one of the most sublimely tasteless things I’ve ever seen.
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