Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) Directed by Steve Miner
Sequels were the 80s. Whether the genre is action, comedy or horror, the 80s loved sequels. Horror in the 80s was basically three series with a butt load of follow ups: Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th. While the quality of the movies declined with the higher number in the series, a few stand out as solid additions, some even eclipse the original. Having a sequel that is better that the original film is very very rare, but it does happen. Terminator 2 Judgment Day is one of those, and Friday the 13th Part 2 is another. While the original Friday is a classic, it has many flaws that can’t really be argued. Some of the acting is suspect and the budget didn’t allow for the type of scenes they wanted. When they started making Part 2, they had more of an idea of how they wanted to approach it and had a good base to build from. So the idea of a sequel had horror fans excited.
With the overwhelming success of the first Friday the 13th, Paramount saw dollar signs for a sequel. In 1981 Friday the 13th was green lighted. The original idea was to make the Friday franchise a series of unrelated stories, much like they attempted in Halloween III: Season of the Witch. One of the head ups at Esquire theaters insisted that they have Jason Voorhees as the killer, a move that started a long franchise and ushered in an iconic horror movie character. The inclusion of Jason in the original was more or less a joke, think about it he was a young mongoloid boy that drowned in a lake, but somehow he was alive and grabbed Alice in the boat. The whole idea is absurd but I suppose with these movies, a certain disconnection from reality is needed. Tom Savini was asked to return to the special effects work but declined as he was working on a different movie at the time. The special effects for part 2 were headed by Steven Kirshoff, whom worked on Friday 1 in the effects department with Savini.
Adrienne King, aka Alice from Friday 1 was asked to reprise her role, but after numerous encounters with an obsessive fan she only agreed to have a small role and refused to do any more acting jobs. They had to go a new direction and they had to introduce a new cast. This time the story would be about a group of councilors that opens a camp next to Camp Crystal Lake five years after the original film. There is a wide variety of characters in the movie including the reptile guy from Just One of the Guys, I don’t expect many people to get that reference, but whatever. The main character Ginny played by Amy Steel does a great job in this movie. She is by far one of the better “final girls” in the Friday series. She’s kind of a smart ass and has more of an edge than any other main girl in the series as well. The first few Friday movies did a good job of establishing characters and making you actually care if they die. The latter sequels failed to create characters anyone even remembers fully or even cares about.
The cast was made up of teenaged to college aged kids setting up the camp. I already mentioned the “final girl” Ginny. The others are Paul, the manager of the camp, he’s basically the guy in charge, I think he owns the camp. Terry is basically the eye candy that walks around in croptops, braless and in super short shorts, of course she gets naked cmon! Ted is the aforementioned reptile guy from Just One of the Guys, he is the wisecracking jokester of the group. Sandra, the young buxom girl we meet early on with her boyfriend Jeff that was actually underage, a fact that the director didn’t know and had to cut out parts of her death scene for nudity afterwards. Mark the wheelchair bound nice guy that has chemistry with Vicky, the caring and cute girl next door type. Finally we have Scott whom is the resident horndog that constantly tries to bang Terry.
As the film goes on we get to see the personalities of the characters grow and you genuinely care if they survive or not. This was a forgotten piece in the slasher formula, especially later on not only in the Friday series but the genre as a whole. Basically other than Jason and the small return of Alice in the opening scenes, the cast is new. The only other carry over character is Crazy Ralph, whom is always great. The police officer in the film, did not know how to drive before playing this role. That blows my mind because it was 1981, the guy was like 40, how do you not know how to drive?! Also you are playing a police officer, so you’re going to have to drive a damn car dude! Jason in this film does NOT have the hockey mask. Instead Jason wears a burlap sack with a single eye hole cut into it. The burlap sack, in my opinion is much scarier than the hockey mask, although be-it much less iconic. Jason doesn’t wear the famous mask until about 25 minutes through part 3. Clad in overalls and a plaid shirt, Jason resembles more of a backwoods hick than a crazed killer. This look is actually one of my favorites. Jason is basically a man set on the revenge of his mother’s murder, not an undead killing machine with superhero strength.
The acting is solid, the effects are on point and the kills are more detailed than part 1. Jason has more of a human presence than the bulk of the latter movies, he actually feels pain, both physical and emotional. This movie establishes Jason as a sympathetic villain. He obviously holds a grudge on the campers not because of his near drowning years ago but because of his mother’s death in the first film. Being a deformed outcast, Jason’s only friend was his mother, when she was killed, his entire world was taken away. He now lives in isolation, off in the woods in a ramshackle shed. On a table is his mother’s severed head with an array of candles. Where did he get the candles? Does Jason go to Bed Bath and Beyond and stock up? Who knows, but it gives us an insight on his relationship with his protective mother. What this series did better than most slasher movies is establish a great back story for the killer. You get to see why Jason is who he is, why he feels he must kill and you almost feel sorry for him. Most films of the genre just throw in some dude with a weapon, usually an escaped mental patient that has no ties to the people he kills.
This Halloween season, if you’re looking for a solid slasher film, with decent acting, good gore, and a respectable story…check this great sequel out. Basically the first 4 Friday movies are solid additions, if you go past those, you’re going to be disappointed. I really like this movie, it has everything I want in a Friday the 13th movie. I would give this an A-, it is not perfect, but it is better than probably 90% of the slasher movies made in the 80s.
