Vendredi 13, chapitre VI : Jason le mort-vivant

Great and certainly the best opening to a Jason film we are given a FRANKENSTEIN-like beginning from writer/director Tom McLoughlin. Tommy Jarvis (Thom Matthews) and his buddy Allen Dawes (Ron Palillo) go to the Crystal Lake Cemetery or rather the Lake Forest Green Cemetery being renamed to erase any memory of Jason Vorhees. There Jason is brought back to life, but now he is much stronger as he is like a zombie. Tommy then goes to Sheriff Garris (David Kagen) who puts him in the slammer believing what he is hearing from the boy doesn't make any sense.

No give or lulls in the action. In my opinion McLoughlin knew what the Jason fans wanted. My favourite Tommy Jarvis is Corey Feldman, but Matthews does a fine job as the older, more troubled Jarvis. They did sort of throw away certain elements of part V with Tommy like his need for meds and seeing Jason everywhere. In the end though you have to be ready to smirk at the story. Very meta, McLoughlin added more humour than any other Jason, and filled with some good laughs.

Since Jason (this time played by C.J. Graham) is back there are lots of kills and much more senseless murders. Unfortunately, it also adds to much more senseless sequels as this is the Jason going forward. The lumbering, never running, very big, but also not near as scary Jason.

If you felt dissatisfied with part V, I would say tune into this part as Jason is back and it is a really good return. One of the better entries in the series. Alice Cooper has 3 songs in the soundtrack including the title song "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)". Also starring Jennifer Cooke and Tony Goldwyn.

"Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives" starts off pretty interesting. Tommy Jarvis, who is now all grown up, goes back to Jason's grave one stormy night to make sure the maniacal murderer is really dead and that he has no chance of coming back. He opens the coffin, and stabs Jason with an iron fencepost, which is then incidentally struck by lightning, which somehow revives Jason's body. Now Jason is back, alive as ever, and he continues his rampage of teenage slaughter in the forests surrounding Camp Crystal Lake.

I really enjoyed the opening of this movie. At least the writers made an attempt to revive Jason in a interesting way, rather than just have him randomly come back to life for more murders. Jason was presented as a more supernatural presence in this movie, which should've been well established way earlier, because no average human could survive all of the severe battle scars he's taken throughout the series. I mean sure, it is your run-of-the-mill "Friday the 13th" sequel, but this one at least tries to be something a little different, putting interesting spins on things.

There were also some pretty inventive murder sequences too, which isn't uncommon in this series. The director keeps Jason lurking in the shadows throughout the film, having him pop up all over, which, while a little unbelievable, is also pretty effective and good for a couple of scares. It's still a pretty silly movie in it's essential form, but all of these movies are, really, but this one manages to have a lot of strong points and not too many weak ones.

Overall, this is one of the better installments of the "Friday the 13th" series. And if you compare this to the pointless fifth installment, this film looks like cinema gold. While most of the other sequels are just cheap recycled stories of the other movies, at least "Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives" offers something a little fresh in the dulling series. 7/10.

After the utter bust that was New Beginning the franchise finds its feet again and brings Jason Voorhees back from the dead starting a new chapter in his iconic rise to stardom.

Tommy Jarvis returns this time played by Thom Mathews (Who I can't take seriously after Return Of The Living Dead 1 & 2). Sadly it in no way explains his actions at the end of the last film, you'd think that'd be the first thing they'd address.

In a weird opening sequence Jason is resurrected and you guessed it, goes on a killing spree. Returning to Camp Crystal Lake Tommy seeks to end Jason once and for all! A blend of the early movies and the messy last chapter this is certainly a return to form even if it is nothing special.

With a dodgy opening sequence and daft closing scene the film is badly flawed but gets by with it's vintage Jason style killing action.

The Good:

Some interesting kills

Undead Jason > Living Jason

The Bad:

Weirdly comedic in places

Doesn't explain what happened since the last film

Ridiculous opening

Not that well made in places

All this recasting for the lead is very damaging

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The groundskeeper is a farthead

Jason gets revived by a lightning (hmm...that's original) and wakes up really angry and a lot of innocent bystanders get to feel his wrath. It's up to Tommy Jarvis (again) to take a stab at disposing of Jason.

After the horrible 5th entry this one comes as a real treat. Old Jase is back and the Friday series are back on. Little more humor this time around, which annoyed many but I dig it. The movie's brutal and very violent but not as gory as the first four films and that's a miss. The music is pretty good, with that Alice Cooper song in the end credits a nice touch.

All in all, a solid Friday sequel which knocks the socks of part 5 and entertains fans of the series.

The Friday the 13th series has a lot of movies under it's belt. Most range from "bad enough to be good" or "entertaining despite it's flaws" while some titles fall into "just plain bad" territory (A New Beginning, Jason Takes Manhattan and The Final Friday.) But for the most part, this franchise has been surprising competent for the number of films it's put out. It's ratio of good to bad entries is about 9- 3.

"Jason Lives" however, is easily the best standalone film of the series. (I'm not counting Freddy vs Jason because it's a crossover.) It pretty much sets the standard that a Friday the 13th film should strive for.

The plot is pretty standard fair, Jason running around in the woods killing teenagers and tertiary characters while a pair of moony-eyed protagonists try their hardest to stop him. What makes this movie unique is that it's the first one where Jason is "undead." Making him nigh-invulnerable to conventional weapons and totally impervious to pain. He shrugs off gunshots and stab wounds, smashes his way through walls and tosses people around with relative ease. Jason becomes a sort of hulking, lumbering Frankenstien-type monster. Probably why he was revived with a lightning bolt in the intro.

Complete and total '80s slasher cheese, this movie is an absolute blast for people who enjoy these kinds of films. This movie in particular features a touch more comedy then previous entries. Lots of goofy '80s comedy stuff and clever little one-liners. But the funniest moments in this movie, surprisingly, come from Jason. His dull, blank reactions to everything around him are hilarious. His slow head turns, his blank stares, his long pauses. It's like he's constantly saying "Are you serious?" in his mind before he kills someone.

But what really surprised me is that I ended up liking the other characters in the movie. The protagonist, the love interest, even the one character I really hated got a great moment near the end and I actually felt bad to see him die. This movie hits the mark perfectly. It's everything a Friday the 13th movie should be. If you're only ever going to watch one of these movies in your life, this is definitely the one. But you really can't go too wrong, so long as your one movie isn't "The Final Friday."

8/10 - The most Friday the 13thiest Friday the 13th movie ever made.