Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood

After Tommy Jarvis left Jason to rot chained at the bottom of the lake we thought we'd seen the last of Mr Voorhees, but no a psychic girl accidentally frees him and you know the rest.

That's right Jason Voorhees goes on another rampage indiscriminately killing more 20 somethings with very little story actually present.

This however marked the first time Kane Hodder took on the hockey mask and as ridiculous as it sounds you can really tell and new life is breathed into Jason.

Now rotted, chain around his neck and looking seven shades of undead Jason looks amazing and scarier than ever before. Sadly the death sequences in New Blood are more cutaway poorly constructed nonsense and considering this is the 7th movie in the franchise there really is no excuse.

New Bloods greatest weakness is the finale, the movie builds up to the final battle really well, draws it out into a lengthy encounter but then hits you with a moronic unexplained baffling twist just before the credits.

New Blood isn't bad and it marks a real turning point for Jason, but as a standalone film it's not the strongest part of the franchise.

The Good:

Jason looks amazing

Kane Hodder

The Bad:

Weak death scenes

Awful finale

Jason is stuck at the bottom of Crystal Lake after the events of the last movie. Luckily for him there's a telekinetic girl (Lar Park-Lincoln) who cries a lot and has Carrie fits. She inadvertently frees Jason, thinking he's her dead father! Jason immediately starts killing people, naturally. The series was clearly trying to move in a new direction here with more of a focus on the paranormal and supernatural. Terry Kiser from Weekend at Bernie's plays a shrink in this. He's better with comedy. Lar Park-Lincoln's performance consists of crying or being on the verge of crying at all times. My sister used to love this entry in the series because of the angle with the telekinetic girl and the handsome guy who looks like he belongs at a Superman audition.

First movie in the series where Kane Hodder plays Jason. He would be the longest-running Jason, playing him for the rest of the series. Frankly, I'm not a big fan of Hodder's Jason. He's too big and bulky, like a football player or pro wrestler. Plus they put him in some kind of suit where you are supposed to be able to see his exposed spine and ribcage. It's incredibly cheesy and just makes Jason cartoonish instead of intimidating.

Most of the people Jason kills in this one aren't particularly annoying or bad. The first couple seemed quite nice, actually. The whole vibe to this sequel seems off but it's still a watchable movie. Not the best of the series but far from the worst. There would only be one more decent one after this then it was downhill.

The popular, money-making slasher series continues with Lar Park Lincoln (the best leading actress in the Friday films) as Tina Shepherd, a pretty teen with telekinetic abilities who accidentally uses her powers to release Jason (Kane Hodder) from his underwater grave. He lurks around (with exposed spine) and sets his sights on a group of young people who rent a cabin for a birthday party. To justify some of the murders, many of the characters, like shrink Terry Kiser (who plots to exploit Tina) and Susan Jennifer Sullivan (great blonde bitch) obviously deserve to die.

Gore-wise we have a decapitation, a hand thrust through a chest, a party horn stuck in an eyeball, an axe to the face (twice), a drowning, a body thrown out a window and, the best murder, well I won't ruin it by saying it involves a sleeping bag and a tree, but it's a hoot.

The make-up FX are great, the women look good (and several of them have nude scenes) and there's a surprise ending you may not expect, but still not much plot. Kane Hodder went on to become the only actor who played Jason to receive a little fame for this thankless role. This was the number one box office draw at movie theaters the week it debuted.

Jason has met his match before, going down two-nil to Tommy Jarvis. However, this one is different! Her name is Carrie, but for some reason she uses the name Tina Shepard.

Camp Crystal Lake has been operating peacefully for years, ever since Tommy Jarvis chained Jason to the bottom of the lake. But, you see, in horror movies, any peace is bound to be interrupted eventually. Enter Tina Shephard. Years ago the Shephard family was on vacation at Crystal Lake, when Tina's father drowned under some bizarre circumstances. At the age of 17, Tina and her mother return to Crystal Lake with Tina's psychiatrist, Dr. Crews. Dr. Crews isn't what he seems, he is obviously more interested in exploiting Tina's psychic abilities rather than helping her. This isn't very important, because it isn't very long before Tina accidentally releases Jason from what should have been his watery-grave...

Yeah, this is your average slasher movie. All the characters are obvious stereotypes. Except for the sci-fi nerd sporting a mullet. I can honestly say I've never seen that before. Tina Shephard is basically a re-work of Carrie from... 'Carrie', but she is the films saving grace. Jason against a psychic made for a nice showdown. Other than that, I'm still wondering why people keeping going to Crystal Lake, only to be surprised when maniac wearing a hockey mask tries to kill them.

Apparently this was heavily censored. Kane Hodder makes a good Jason, and there are kills aplenty, but not much gore. Oh well, it had a nice musical score if that makes up for anything...

Not too bad entry in the series - 5/10

Wow! They were really reaching for a new idea for this one! This film could have easily been shortened to about 30 minutes or so. There are numerous chunks in this film that are utterly useless and simply to show yet another death.

I didn't think this film was very good at all. The whole girl with telekinesis sub-plot thing was a bit much for me. Although, it did make for an interesting fight between her and Jason towards the end of the film. ...But the actual end of the film was just atrocious! I nearly burst into laughter! I will give it this though, there were some pretty nice make-up effects at the end of the film and Jason did have a very sinister and disgusting look to him throughout the film. I thought it was odd that Jason seemed to use a new weapon every time he made a kill, and it was hilarious when he busted out that electric long-reach saw.

If you like the Friday the 13th films, then go ahead and watch this one, you might like it. If you didn't like the previous films I can't imagine you would like this one, but I have been wrong before...so do what you will. Anyhow, if you do see the film, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading,

-Chris