Freddy's 31 Days of Horror Day 11: Tom Mclaughlin's Friday the 13th part 6 Jason Lives
I am an unabashed Jason fan, I love an unkillable force of nature that is basically a walking cautionary tale for reckless youth. Horror at it's prime. Plus the insane body count and bonkers style of killing, Jason makes the disembowlment of teenagers an art form and the machete is his brush of choice. Plus I'm a hockey fan so the mask doesn't hurt. The first four films are really good and each contribute to the Voorhees mythos. The first film has the killer, Jason's mother Pamela Voorhees, taking revenge for the death of her son on unsuspecting camp counselors. Thanks to Sean S Cunningham. The second introduces Jason himself as a killer, who has survived all these years in the woods and becomes murderous at seeing his mother beheaded. Thanks for that one go to genre vet director Steve Miner who also directed the third installment. Part 3 gives us the iconic Hockey mask that has become the face of the films and our nightmares in the woods. Then we have the Final Chapter that would end Jason's reign of terror on Camp Crystal Lake. Directed by Joseph Zito who had previously helmed another cult slasher film, The Prowler. Zito also brought back Jason's daddy, FX wizard Tom Savini, whom he had previously worked with on the Prowler, to create all the kills as Savini hadn't been involved with any of the sequels since the original under the condition he could kill his creation. This film also gave us Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman) the closest thing to a nemesis Jason has ever had. It is Tommy who mercilessly butchers Jason to death at the end of the Final Chapter. Sadly Paramount wanted a cash grab and they made Friday the 13th A New Beginning, the fifth in the series. It's directed by a Porn Director and the film really feels like it. Tommy's back and he's a troubled teen now. He fights a fake Jason and it's pretty much the worst entry in the series. We don't even actually get Jason in the movie, just a guy pulling a Scooby Doo gag. How do we remedy this?
Enter Tom McLaughlin! Gothic horror aficionado and director of One Dark Night! The man even worked as a mime for Woody Allen! This man with built in sensibilities of horror and satirical comedy delivered us my favorite movie in the franchise, Jason Lives! Tommy is back and deeply disturbed still by his nightmares of Jason Voorhees. He and a friend go out to Jason's grave on a dark and stormy night to dig him up and burn the body so he finally knows for sure Jason is dead! In his anger, Tommy mercilessly stabs at Jason's corpse with an iron rod torn from the cemetery gate and leaves it stuck within Jason's chest as a bolt of lightening strikes him and he is resurrected Frankenstein style! In Jason fashion with his first awakened kill, he punches through Tommy's friends chest and takes out his heart as Tommy runs off into the night. The rest of the movie is Jason doing what he does best as Tommy tries to convince everyone Jason is back but no one believes him as he has been in a psychiatric hospital for some time and the residents of Crystal Lake wish to forget their past even changing the town's name to Forest Green.
At this point this was the bloodiest and most merciless of the Friday the 13th films as there is a kill almost every five to ten minutes and Jason uses anything and everything to dispatch his victims in the most gruesome ways. To parallel the upped gore factor McLaughlin brings in a lot of satirical comedy and humor to the kills. When Jason is resurrected the camera does a close up to Jason's eye where a miniature Jason walks into frame and slashes the screen as a jab at the 007 openings. Jason Bond. Another of my favorite kill jokes is when a girl is about to be murdered she offers Jason money and when she's killed McLaughlin purposefully keeps the camera focused on an American Express Card floating in a puddle in hopes that someone in the theater would yell out, "Don't leave home without it!" The term meta is thrown around a lot in horror movies these days but McLaughlin definitely liked to make jabs at the genre and even breaks fourth wall as a crazy caretaker looks dead into the camera and says, "Some folks have a strange idea of entertainment." 
You want to know who else had an awesome comeback at the same time as Jason Voorhees? Alice Cooper. He had his first album in his newfound sobriety come out the same time Jason was being resurrected and to commemorate this the film features two songs from the Constrictor album, one of which was written for Jason himself. He's Back! The Man Behind The Mask!!! Jason and Alice together is perhaps one of my favorite team ups in history.
This is the movie that really shot Jason into the true realms of insanity as before Jason was just a hard guy to kill but now he was a supernatural force all of his own. Always fear the waters of Crystal Lake because whatever you call it, it will always be Jason's home and he is the keeper of nature's order there.
20 Days til' Halloween Halloween!
20 Days til' Halloween! Silver Shamrock!
