I can honestly say that sometimes i miss the VHS era for a number of reasons. There was something special about 80´s horror films on VHS that had some of the coolest covers you could see. They were so creative in making movie posters compared to present day and i actually miss that. Back in the 80´s the slasher genre was really popular and it was easy to find many titles in this genre. Some of them were fun to watch while others were pretty terrible. Of course the Swedish horror releases at that time were censored a lot ( they cut out basically anything brutal ) so some releases were impossible to watch. Like when i watched the rental VHS of the horror film Vamp with Grace Jones. A film that isn´t too bloody but still had to be censored. If you have seen the film you might remember that there are far more violent 80´s horror films than this, so it´s a bit silly to censor a film like Vamp. Luckily i could get my hands on uncensored films from one special guy i knew called Jonas, who was a student as the same school as myself. I remember he used to get VHS films from England such as Evil Dead 2, The Return Of The Living Dead, The Hidden, Critters and many others. I especially remember one film that i borrowed from him and that was the 1986 slasher horror film Friday The 13th Part 6 - Jason Lives. This was actually my very first Friday The 13th film that i watched on VHS so i had no idea what the other films were about. But i fell in love with Jason Voorhees and his brutality, and this VHS tape from England was actually more uncut than the Swedish release. Most of you may know the story surrounding Camp Crystal Lake where a young boy Jason Voorhees drowned in the lake back in 1957. In the first film Friday The 13:th from 1980 it was Jason´s mother Mrs. Pamela Voorhees ( Betsy Palmer ) who killed teenagers at Camp Crystal Lake as a revenge for her son´s death. As i mentioned earlier the 6th film was the first film i saw, but i eventually watched all of the films of the franchise and i actually enjoy them all ( if we are talking about the original franchise of Friday The 13th, not Jason X ). So this year i noticed that Friday The 13th Part 7 - The New Blood turns 35 years old, a sequel that was quite different from the previous ones. I decided it was time to revisit the film and do a 35 years anniversary review to see if my opinions about the film have changed over the years. Is this sequel better now than what it was in the late 80´s, or is Friday The 13th Part 7 a sequel that have aged more than i expected and don´t have much to offer?
After young Tina Shephard ( Jennifer Banko ) witnessing her alcoholic father physically abusing her mother, Tina attempts to escape the chaos and run towards Crystal Lake and heads out in a boat. When her father attempts to stop her, Tina uses her dormant telekinetic abilities, where she accidently destroy the dock as her father fall into the lake and drown. Years later, teenager Tina ( Lar Park Lincoln ) is still struggling with remorse surrounding her father´s death. Her mother, Amanda ( Susan Blu ), takes her to the same lake residence as part of her treatment from her psychiatrist Dr. Crews ( Terry Kiser ). He begins a series of experiments where he is only trying to exploit her psychic powers. After a particulary upsetting session with Dr. Crews, Tina runs from the house to the dock thinking about her father´s death. While thinking about him, she wishes he would come back. Instead of bringing back her father to life, she awaken mass murdered Jason Voorhees ( Kane Hodder ), who was chained at the bottom of Crystal Lake years ago, who breaks free to go on a killing spree.
I remember the first time i saw this sequel right before Christmas in 1989 and how cool i thought this film was for trying something different. We have never seen a Friday The 13th film where they brought in the idea of a woman who have telekinetic abilities. This gave this film a complete different look and meaning for the franchise, and as i watched the film again i do have some things to say. We might as well get into the positive first and let us begin with the legendary horror actor Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees. Kane knew exactly how to portrait Jason Voorhees using his body language and anger to express himself. There is no doubt that Kane have always been my favourite actor to play this iconic horror character, and i always felt that he really understood who Jason was. Some of the scenes where Jason attack really brutal is where we get to see Kane Hodder really show why he was so perfect for this role. We have to talk about actress Lar Park Lincoln ( who you might remember from the classic House II - The Second Coming ) as the character Tina Shepard. It is so cool to see her fight against Jason with her telekinetic powers, and i actually don´t have a problem if this breaks the traditional formula with the franchise. By this time they needed to do something different to keep the franchise alive, and i think it was a smart move to do it in this direction. Lar Park deliver a performance that matches her character Tina and i like how natural she feel for a woman in her age, she doesn´t come off as a diva. The scenes between her and Jason is definetely the most fun to watch and i actually would have liked to see them fight a little bit longer. Best acting performance comes from legendary actor Terry Kiser ( who have been in several movies and TV series such as The Fall Guy with Lee Majors ) as Dr. Crews. The brutality in this film deliver some tasteful moments, so if you like seeing Jason Voorhees kill people there are some fun scenes to be found here. Anything negative to say about this sequel? Well, perhaps there are a few actors who don´t really do any acting at all, but what else could we expect from a film like this? Director John Carl Buechler ( director of the classic 1986 horror comedy Troll, worth checking out ) proved with this 7th film in the Friday The 13:th franchise that you can do something different and still show respect to the original film. This may not be one of the better sequels in the franchise but i still enjoy Friday The 13:th Part VII for a number of reasons. If you love slashers and Jason, this is still a film that will continue to entertain audiences worldwide for many generations ahead.
Rating: DDD
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