As the spooky season continues to roll, we officially come to the fourth night of ‘Bounding Into Halloween’ – and what better way to celebrate the first Friday of October than by taking a dip at Crystal Lake?
Friday The 13th Part III (1982)
The body count increases as the ‘Death Curse’ continues for the counselors at Camp Crystal Lake in this franchise favorite from 1982.
With Friday the 13th Part III and Warlock director Steve Miner returning to the director’s chair for another hike through the trails in the company of everyone’s favorite woodsman, this third entry in the franchise starts off with a recap of the last film. And while it’s hard to believe that there are people who actually go see the sequel for a movie they haven’t even watched, they do exist – but really, all that matters is that Jason is back, and he’s ready to permanently cool down some overheated teenagers. Only this time he will be doing it in 3-D!!!
After suffering a humiliating defeat in the last movie, Jason Voorhees (the late/great Richard Brooker) chooses to withdraw back into the woods for some much-needed R&R.
Still burned by his trickery-based loss and far from being in the mood for games, Jason makes a quick stop on the way home to kill a shop owner (along with his nagging wife) and steal some new clothes. An easy way to get some clean threads and peaceful solitude – or so he thinks.
Meanwhile, before the blood from its previous visitors even has a chance to dry, Chris Higgins (Dana Kimmell) and her friends make a trip to her family’s campground-connected property, Higgins Haven (Cha-Ching!).
Coming back to Higgins Haven to pull some old skeletons out of her assumedly spacious closet in an attempt to find closure for an old trauma, Chris is joined by the extremely active couple Andy and Debbie (featuring a hammock), the groovy stoner pair Chuck and Chili, the poor Vera and her obnoxious blind date Shelly, a pitiful soul with a body as round as Heathcliff’s who always feels the needs to play pranks on everyone (without giving too much away, Shelly eventually gets killed, albeit not soon enough). Waiting for Chris at Higgins Haven is her friendly (but soft-headed) boyfriend, Rick, who has a serious crush that’s close to the point of bursting. Better keep an eye on him.
This movie came out during a time when film studios (in all their wisdom) thought that everyone would want to sit through an entire movie in 3D, rather than get tired of it after 20-30 minutes. This effect admittedly does nothing to improve the movie, but that doesn’t stop its use on the opening credits from being a novel delight. Friday the 13th Part 3 is also the installment that introduced Jason’s iconic hockey mask, which would go on to become a permanent fixture of his character still being bled dry to this day.
Let the normies have that cold recycled coagulant, and watch this one over on Paramount+.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
All good things must come to an end, and in the ’80s, despite the genre itself entering into its arguably (or, in my opinion, objectively) greatest era, this included a certain popular horror character.
With amazing magazines like Fangoria flying off the shelves, and immediate support from the growing heavy metal movement, the 1980s were an amazing time to be a horror movie fan. However, producer Frank Mancuso, Jr., didn’t seem to care about any of that. Seeing an ebb in the popularity of slasher films (and nursing his own inflated ego), he decided to end the Friday the 13th franchise with its fourth installment.
To do so, he brought in make-up effects wizard, Tom Savini (who worked on the first movie), to splatter the sets with his dark magic. Then on Friday, April the 13th, 1984, Paramount Pictures released Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. Possibly the best sequel of the entire series, it also holds the most dishonest title in all of film history.
Believed to have finally been slain at the end of the last movie, Jason Voorhees (Ted White) is taken to the local morgue. But of course, his ”dead status” doesn’t last for very long, and soon upon arrival he beheads the coroner with a hacksaw, disembowels a nurse with a scalpel, and makes another break for freedom (but this time it’s just him leaving the hospital).
How Jason managed to get out of a hospital that’s more than likely infested with police remains a mystery (but at the same time, hey, who wants to get in that guy’s way?). It’s all for the best as he manages to get back to the forests of Camp Crystal Lake just in time, as more visitors are on their way.
Either because they’re not too bright or they have ignored the news of wholesale homicide in the area over the past week, or both, a group of friends has chosen to rent a house on the lake, their crew including series mainstay Tommy Jarvis (who makes his introduction in this film), a hitchhiker who’s looking to avenge the death of his sister Sandra (who got speared by Jason in Part 2), and Tommy, as portrayed by Corey Feldman just before he hit it big with the other Corey (and what followed after that…)
Moving along, the group also features Crispin Glover in an early role as the ill-fated Jimmy, a neurotic Melvin whose self-esteem is lower than the bottom of the lake. All he wants to do is get lucky, and although he eventually does, his luck runs out soon after. Coming out a year before Back to the Future (and two years before he would jump the shark on Letterman), The Final Chapter, Glover’s role as a “Dead F*&k” nearly immediately preceded his performance as George McFly. Like Ted said, the computer “don’t lie.”
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter was obviously not the final movie in the franchise, but it’s considered by a lot of fans to be the last one to feature ”Rambo Jason”, who was followed by the mercifully brief ”Impostor Jason” of Part V and then the much beloved ”Zombie Jason” that followed after. Whether this one is the best of the franchise will always be up for debate, but there’s no denying that it has the coolest poster.
This 80s horror classic is over on Paramount+ – have a Happy Friday and definitely check it out.
