Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

My favorite of the series, 27 August 2005

It's been five quiet years since a group of councilors were murdered at Camp Crystal Lake. But when a new group of councilors arrives to open a nearby camp, the killing starts all over again. Who's behind the murders? The original Camp Crystal Lake Killer is dead. Could it be her son who was believed to have died in the lake years earlier? By the time someone figures out who the killer is, most everyone else is dead.

Friday the 13th Part 2 has always been my favorite installment in the series. I've always thought that Jason was more frightening before he found the hockey mask and became the unstoppable iconic killer zombie. This Jason is human and that makes him more real. And, to me, the horror factor is increased when the killer is based in reality. He's a primitive being (not dissimilar to the inbred mountain men I recently wrote about in Wrong Turn) capable of extreme brutality, out to avenge the death of his mother.

Most of the movie is about what you would expect - grisly murders, an absence of logic, woeful dialogue, and iffy acting. Friday the 13th Part 2 also features just about every horror cliché that fans have come to expect in a teen slasher. When I saw this movie in 1981, a lot of what we consider teen slasher clichés were still being developed. Back then, a lot of this was still fairly new and fresh. And whether I should or not, I still see the movie the way I did in 1981.


8/10