Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

Stop the Madness, 30 January 2005

Normally, I start with a brief (sometimes very brief) outline of the plot. With Friday the 13th Part VII, there's really no point in doing that. A group of young people is staying in a cabin on Crystal Lake. They have sex, smoke dope, and act incredibly stupid. Gee, I wonder what's going to happen to them? Imagine my surprise when Jason shows up and starts butchering everyone in sight.

I'll give the movie credit for trying to throw a new wrinkle into the Friday the 13th story. One of the people staying on the lake is a young girl with telekinetic powers. Think of it as Carrie vs. Jason. She actually proves to be one of the more equally matched foes Jason has faced and the highlight of the movie for me.

While not the lowest point in the Friday the 13th series, Part VII comes close. The biggest problem with the movie is the total lack of suspense. By the time Part VII came out, anyone with a pulse was already familiar with the basic premise. And even though Telekenetic Girl is present, the movie doesn't stray from the tried and true formula. We know Jason is going to show up and kill people. What kind of suspense is that? It doesn't help that we know absolutely nothing about most of the victims. I realize that the majority of Jason's victims are little more than cardboard cut-outs, but here they're even less than that. It's hard to have suspense when you don't really give a damn or know anything about the people in danger.

4/10