Oh, hello. Don’t mind me. Just trying on some sports gear! Welcome to a day I always look forward to – the 13th! SATURDAY – THE 13TH..? Ah, well. Close enough. And, fittingly, let’s take a look at Friday The 13th – Part Three!
After a quick summary of what happened in Part 2, Friday The 13th Part 3 continues mere moments after Jason Voorhee’s climatic battle with Ginny Field. Badly wounded, Jason staggers around Crystal Lake, looking for a place to hide. He doesn’t do it quietly, either, with a pair of bloody kills clocked up in the opening act as Jason decides to do a little bit of shopping. Awh.
Meanwhile, a new gang of young, sexy pot-smoking teenagers are bouncing giddily on their way to stay at one of the young women, Chris’ old home. We’ve got Debbie, Andy, Shelley, Vera, Chuck and Chili. Don’t worry, you won’t have to remember their names long. On arriving at the house, Chris is quickly uncomfortable, startled by every noise and shadow. Turns out she has had a confrontation with Jason before, except her memory of him was of an unmasked, mutated man.
That’s something worth pointing out. Apart from the vision of him as a child in the first film, we haven’t seen Jason’s face – until this one. Oh, boy. Part 3 is not afraid of showing Jason in all his deformed glory – in fact, it comes as a bit of a relief when he finally acquires the infamous mask, which he does so almost incidentally.
There’s not a huge amount of plot to concern yourself with this one. One by one, Jason slaughters the young people – eventually weening it down to one final girl – the classic format. The characters themselves are pretty forgettable, with no real time to get to know any of them before they meet their grisly demise and, you know what, that’s okay.
Friday the 13th part 3 is the codifying trope for this series. Brutal kills, shock moments of gore and eye-popping glory and, did you know this film was presented in 3D? Jesus, every other scene featuring SOMETHING coming at the camera. It might have been cool once, but maaaaan, now it just feels like comedy.
Originally, this film was supposed to round off the series. And there are certainly plenty of echoes of the first film to tie everything together, but, man, it was just beginning. My recommendation? Watch this along with the sequels in a big old binge – on its own, it’s more than a little forgettable.
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