How many franchises can you name that got to film number 7? Not many is there. But here we are and the unstoppable force that is Jason Voorhees is still going.

This film brings Jason’s strongest opponent so far in the series, Tina Shepard (Jennifer Banko) a girl who possesses telekinetic powers, powers which she accidentally killed her father with when she was younger. The place she killed him…….. Crystal Lake. This film often gets called the “Carrie VS Jason” film, well here’s a little fact for you, it was actually supposed to be the “Freddy VS Jason” film but Paramount and New line couldn’t agree a script so it was rewrote to have some super natural element in the film.

This film also brings in my favorite person to play Jason, Kane Hodder, he brings so much to the role and is a more creepy and stronger Jason. His subtle changes to the way he moves and fights really gave us the we know & love today. If you enjoy the brutalness of Jason then this is the film for you, he doesn’t hold back at all, in-fact it features my favorite kill, the girl in the sleeping bag (For those who haven’t seen it I wont give it away).

It may not be the best film of the series but I applaud the studios for trying something new with the storyline and for a 7th installment its quite good. If you enjoyed the previous films then you’ll still enjoy this, it won’t change your life or open your eyes to a whole new world but it will give you damn good entertainment!

Also who doesn’t want to see zombie Jason’s face?! Love it or hate you cant deny the quality of the special effects team that made it!

Miscellaneous facts about the film:

Much of the film’s score (credited to Harry Manfredini and Fred Mollin) is recycled music by Manfredini from previous Friday The 13th films. Manfredini was given credit for the use of his music, and Fred Mollin composed the rest of the score.

John Carl Beuchler was so impressed with Kane Hodder when he ate live worms on the set of Prison, that he pushed for Paramount Pictures to let him cast Hodder in the role of Jason. If it had not been for Buechler’s persistence, the role of Jason Voorhees would have been reprised by C.J. Graham

There were a number of filmed scenes that were edited out of the final cut in order for the movie to gain its R rating including: Maddy’s face getting stabbed in the wood shed, Dr. Crews’ body being cut in two in the woods, a longer death-in-sleeping bag scene, Russell’s axe in the face by the lake, Jason holding David’s head, and an ending scene of Jason jumping out of the water and grabbing a fisherman.

Kane Hodder did all his own Jason stunts.

Kane Hodder said he had difficulty with the scene where he kills the camper in the sleeping bag by bashing her into the tree because the dummy inside was heavier than he thought it would be. The scene required a number of retakes because he kept swinging as hard as he could but no matter how hard he swung the sleeping back he couldn’t get it to look right. By the final take, he was so fed up with the situation that after he dropped the bag he kicked it angrily. This is the shot that appears in the final film. In retrospect, Hodder said that was one of his favorite “kills” and he later recreates it in Jason X.

Director John Carl Beuchler has publicly fumed many times over the years about the number of edits required by the MPAA to avoid an “X” rating. The film had to be submitted nine times to the Motion Picture Association of America before being granted an “R” rating, and it stands as arguably the most heavily censored entry in the ‘Friday the 13th’ series.

At the start of the film, just before the camera pans up and we see the younger Tina and hear her yelling father, Jason is seen inert and chained to a rock at the bottom of Camp Crystal Lake, where Tommy Jarvis left him at the end of the previous film. His clothes have discolored to a blue hue, but remain otherwise intact. When we see, during the main action of the movie, Jason just before he is revived, his clothes have turned to rags, and his gloves and tool belt are now gone, presumably having rotted away. Some viewers debate how much time Jason spent inert at the bottom of Crystal Lake before his revival at the start of this film. They prefer to think that the establishing shot did not take place in the past but rather near the present of the main action of the movie. However, in the documentary Friday the 13th Chronicles included with the Crystal Lake to Manhattan box set, the director John Carl Beuchler stated that Jason spent 10 years chained and inert before the main action of this movie.

Jason’s mask in this film was cast from the same mold as the original mask from Friday The 13th Part ll, but was modified slightly; in addition to the damage seen in the mask (the axe cut and propeller damage), the edges of the mask have been trimmed to make it smaller, to allow more of actor Kane Hodder’s head to be seen around the mask.

On the Special Features of the DVD, Kane Hodder talks about a near-fatal take that’s in the movie. When Jason falls through the stairs, only a certain amount of the steps were meant to give way. Kane’s head narrowly misses one of the actual steps as he goes through.

During filming the dressing room for Kane Hodder was a quarter of a mile down a dirt road. One night filming ended at at 2 a.m. and he was still in the Jason costume, and he decided to walk through the woods on a path to his dressing room. As he was walking someone approached him and asked if he was with the movie. He didn’t reply, because he thought it was a pretty stupid question to ask, as he was standing there in full Jason costume. The man asked again, Kane took a little lunge for the guy and grunted. The guy took off, tripping and running. The next day director John Carl Beuchler  told Kane that the local sheriff was supposed to stop by, but he never showed.

Walt Gorney, the veteran actor who played Crazy Ralph in the original Friday the 13th and in “Part 2,” returns as the voice of the narrator during the opening of this film.
Raz

Written by

Raz

I have an obsession with all things Horror and it's an honour to share my passion with you all!