Post by No Personality on Mar 1, 2010 7:05:30 GMT -5
Before you rub your eyes or check to make sure you're hallucinating, I'll just tell you: no, your eyes aren't deceiving you. I really did give this movie one more star than Part IV. I'm well-aware that this is not viewed as a favorite of many Friday the 13th fans. Though, after seeing Part VI: Jason Lives and knowing many people like the humor of that film, I can't imagine why that is. This sequel is in fact much funnier. Both intentionally and unintentionally. With a series like this, either one is a good thing. When the intended objects of humor score honest laughs, you know the guy in the director's chair (if Paramount gave them to the people who directed these films) isn't second guessing what kind of film he's making.
What kind of film is this? It's the most overtly campy of the entire Paramount series. Nothing is serious. Which isn't always for the best. This film's reputation has stood more on how overly abundant the nudity is. Not sex per se. Just a lot of women standing around with no shirts on for minutes at a time. What's wrong with that? I can't tell you. I've never been shy watching anyone (actually... there was the mooner in Cheerleader Camp- but that's enough to make anyone's stomach turn) disrobe. And I know most of the people who criticise this movie for the nudity aren't either. I'm the first one to tell you- nudity is for porn. But nudity is also used in certain cases to say something about the director.
I think I've been told director Steinmann was a porn director for a time. I rather got the impression that he was one of those peace-and-love types. Porn or not, that he just felt the human body should be celebrated. And that horror is fun, but that graphic violence mixed with sex is actually sending a negative message to the viewers. Maybe even that movies of the 80's were telling people that sex and nudity were things to be ashamed of. I could respect that, easily. He has talked about the studio's insistance on a high body count. And he almost seems to resent that. Like an, "if I must" sorta thing. I doubt now that the studio pressured any director into showing nudity. I wonder which Paramount execs were more uptight about.
This sequel has always been given an unfair reception. Though fewer people get angry (like I'm told Halloween series' fans were when they discovered Michael Myers wasn't in Part III) at it now. I've always liked it. The budget for its' time was probably higher than the previous films, but there is a cheapness to it that is actually quite charming. Even the music feels cheap. So- you know it's not going to be very suspenseful. But, after going all-out for Friday the 13th Part III, Harry Manfredini's scores were never as good. Some have even said this movie has no real style. It does on home video! I always got a little thrill from popping in the VHS. Even (if not more) when I rented it. I'd get some pizza and a Pepsi and let the fun unfold.
This movie is a lot of fun. Certainly a lot more free-spirited than the one before it. It lacks scares but has a light air of tension. Mostly generated by the occasional ultra-stylish closeups during the death scenes. One features a titled camera and a hatchet cleaver. Another features same-cleaver smashing through a window at a victim (both with closeups of the victims' reactions). Axes spin. Gnarly hands twist objects that are normally harmless. Bloody hands appear in doorways. Flashes of lightning reveal horrors in otherwise safe and not-scary rooms. Even hallucination sequences suggest you might be in for a big surprise later on. Big surprises never come (hence the half-ass rating), but- this is a slasher film. You know what they're all cut from.
With slasher films, you know that you have to take what you can get. And I've seen 'em in all shapes and sizes. Few are as fun as this one. One reason is, as I mentioned before, it's more free-spirited than Part IV. People still get killed while naked or partially naked after having sex. But you know the killer isn't doing it because of conservative ideology. Nor did the writer devise nasty perverted moments where you wanted the actor to realize what movie they were in and how pointless it is to whine about not getting laid. Having sex and the intense fear of lingering death take some work to be connected when you're making these kinds of statements overtly. To make the story short, the characters here are usually in a good damn mood while having sex.
I should think that would be more appealing to everyone. It's actually a defining element to a great many slasher films. Though not always essential to make a movie work (the original Prom Night is a decent example of horned-up teens in a bad mood). The adults here are usually the ones with all the irritability problems. There's even one slightly annoying moment (though it's also fodder for a lot of fun-poking on my end) where the Pam character suggests more than was intended by a simple "stop it." She turns to the Matt character - who is, when delivering his line, a lot cooler and more calm than her outburst warranted - grabs him and sounds as though she's on the brink of a nervous breakdown.
Though, not because she's stressed. Because she's practically suggesting that he has a serious problem with anger. If that is in any way meant to be expressed in this movie, it was a mistake. The actor playing Matt is completely relaxed (against type? Maybe) the entire movie, save for having to react in a fight sequence. If anything- she's suggesting she has a serious problem with anger. But hilariously, this could be taken a lot further with very little effort. You could see the two of them as almost domestic partners, who see the young people staying at their halfway house / mental home facility as like their children (shades of Child's Play 2 to come?). Who get a feeling of pride (like sending them off to college) when they're able to turn them out healtheir than when they came in. You could add her saying, "you're wrecking our happy home and hurting our family!" Or, "please! Don't drink anymore!" (from Part VII: The New Blood) and after the way she did that "stop it!", it wouldn't seem the slightest bit out of place.
Like I said- this is an unusual sequel. And it is FUNNY! Whereas, in Jason Lives, Martin the caretaker is fairly pathetic comic relief, this movie's Ethel and Junior are an absolute riot. Though together they're stronger than he is when they're apart, I've come to regard Ethel as one of my all-time favorite movie characters. I'm sure they could have done more with her, but even in her brief almost cameo part in this movie- this is a woman you're not likely to ever forget. If you've seen the movie (and I'm betting you have), I'll spare you the details of what she does. Watching her do it is compelling. The redneck / hillbilly stereotypes on display are nothing special on paper. But she brings this character to life. They could literally have made a spin-off movie or show had she lived. They could even bring her back as a zombie. I'd pay to see that!
The rest of the characters are either purely stupid or are just simple stereotypes. But most of the actors do a good job of injecting some life into them. Much as I hate how oppressively low-brow it is, Part IV: The Final Chapter offered the best acting in the series up to that point. And the baton is passed through the next 4 and never dropped (until, arguably- the New Line installments, but who the hell counts those anyway?). Reggie and Pam are the lead survivor characters by default (after it becomes obvious that the story is prepping the returning Tommy from Part IV to be the main suspect for the not-yet-announced new killer) and they're quite likable. Thankfully, for his natural interest in beautiful women, the writers actually made "Reckless" Reggie a young gentleman who doesn't just peep and shoot his mouth off around them.
Carol Locatell as Ethel is of course the only real sorta Inside the Actors Studio type of the bunch of performers here (she's also held up very well all these years), so she completely becomes this character and delivers even-subtleties you wouldn't expect in one of these movies. John Robert Dixon has a real natural and organic quality, though he's only playing the class clown / prankster stereotype here. Without a sad underlying tone to it. That's reserved for the token nerd character- the stuttering Jake. Played by Jerry Pavlon (who I understand is something of a lifelong liberal / pacifist type and quit acting only about a year after this movie), he's the only character played for drama here (other than lead character Tommy, but I'll get to him in a second) and Jerry takes something in Jake to heart and plays him seriously.
Tiffany Helm might be the most talented young actor of the bunch. Because she never gives a similar note to her performance in any two scenes. She also seems to look like a completely different person in every scene she's in. She goes from bratty teenager to very mature woman (in her extreme outdoor closeups) to an even younger little girl with a surprisingly chubby face (in her inevitable death scene). The costuming and makeup people had a field-day with her. Another fun element to this movie is how wild she dresses. And her punky/funky almost-interpretive dance hand moves. She seems to be doing some kind of version of The Robot. Though from what futuristic decade one can only guess.
John Shepherd went ultra-religious (I'm told) after this movie, but he's doing his darndest to channel the real spirit of a psychologically tormented victim of internalized fear and repressed childhood anger... but how can we forget that he only experienced one night that changed his life? I appreciate his trying though and his just an inch too-long hair is the only thing that irks me about his version of Tommy. Lastly, Marco St. John's Sheriff is not the best town sheriff around (in terms of deep, complex characterization) but he's highly likable and is obviously the least likely to be mistaken as a believable red herring.
Oh, just one more thing... can you fuckin' believe Grace's gay-boyfriend Josh (the tofu-loving guy) from Will & Grace is Pete, the straight greaser in this movie?! I'm blowing the Gay-Whistle on Vinnie though, the other greaser. Played by Anthony Barrile. If this movie wasn't his official Hollywood coming-out, then Paramount's Kiss Me Guido was. He's total Italiano. But all his "F"s and "S"s come out "Th"s. Sing it with me right now, everyone and kids - all together now - "Thucking Ath-hole!" ;D
