You have to have a sense of humor to see a film called “Friday the 13th Part VI – Jason Lives.”
It also helps to have a sense of humor to make a movie like this. Thankfully, both the film’s writer/director, Tom McLoughlin and its studio, Paramount Pictures, clearly found something very funny about Jason Voorhees.
Not funny enough to turn the character into a murderous quipster (which New Line Cinema did to Freddy Krueger) but funny enough to finally make a movie that kids its audience, lets them share the joke and find laughs by not taking everything so seriously.
Shaping the sixth Jason Voorhees slasher movie into more of a dark comedy than a horror film gave fans something refreshing. This isn’t contempt for an audience but a thank you for everyone who kept this artistically sketchy franchise alive for six years.
It ain’t art, and its definitely not a great horror movie, but “Jason Lives” is something special. Yes, it’s as gross and juvenile as ever, but by doing it with a smile on its face, the movie succeeds as a guilty pleasure and is one of the best in the series.
The story so far: the thought-to-be-drowned Jason Voorhees has been hacking n’ slashing camp counselors who desecrate his beloved Camp Crystal Lake with sex, drugs and bad 80’s fashion statements. Two movies prior, a little boy named Tommy Jarvis managed to out-think and cut Jason into ribbons.
Unfortunately, this led to Jarvis himself being institutionalized. At the beginning of “Jason Lives,” Jarvis (Thom Mathews) and a fellow Cuckoo’s Nest escapee (none other than Ron Papillo, Horshack from “Welcome Back, Kotter”) go to Jason’s grave to make sure he’s dead.
They dig up his bones, Jarvis has a moment of anger and, in a touch Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly herself would have appreciated, Jason is brought back to life by a bolt of lightning. This pre-credits sequence is a kick – it’s intentionally funny, mildly spooky and ends with gobs of gore.
Then there’s the title sequence, in which Jason enters the screen in a James Bond-like fashion. It’s all very stupid and I’m not defending any of this as art. At the same time, it’s thoroughly entertaining and gives the fans a refreshingly tongue and cheek (and other detached body parts) approach to a worn-out tale.
Mathews is so good in this, and he manages to upstage a stunt man dressed as Jason. Mathews’ intensity is the driving force of his performance, and he’s well matched by Jennifer Cooke as the gruff sheriff’s daughter.
She’s plucky and adorable, though it’s worth noting that even David Kagen, playing the no-nonsense sheriff, is better than expected. These aren’t Oscar-caliber performances, but the actors are really giving it their all, which can’t be said of the previous “Friday the 13th” entry.
McLoughlin does what is expected and then some. There are a few lame stalk n’ scare scenes, lots of cheap jump jolts, many moments of teens being teens, one impaling after another and by-the-numbers ’80s horror movie tropes.
There’s also an awesome highway crash-up, a great climactic showdown on Crystal Lake (as opposed to “On Golden Pond”) and an end-credits Alice Cooper song that seriously rocks. The only quality strangely in short supply: gratuitous nudity.
On the other hand, this is the first “Friday the 13th” since the first one that I would describe as atmospheric, eerie, and funny on purpose.
There’s also a shot of a little girl in her cabin, surrounded by sleeping campers. She’s awake and sees Jason walking around outside. No, the movie doesn’t subject us to Jason offing any children (remember folks, he’s a man-child and only goes after teens old enough to see his movies).
FAST FACT: FX guru Tom Savini baked some of the prosthetics for the first “Friday the 13th” film in a pizza oven.
Yet, the shot of the little girl, suddenly jolting up in her bed, scared by the “boogeyman” outside, packs a punch. It might be the one shot in the entire franchise that haunts me. It’s also the essence of why these movies work.
These are campfire tales, chilling in the dark but utterly ridiculous once the sun comes up.
This and “April Fool’s Day,” were Paramount’s unofficial, ahead-of-their-time horror comedies from 1986. They’re both better than expected (“April Fool’s Day” is actually far better than merely good) and, for fans of the genre, they rank pretty high.
When a movie starts with a 007 homage and ends with Alice Cooper singing about Jason over the end credits, it’s hard not to crack a smile.
Happy Friday the 13th, Jason. See you next summer.
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