Post by No Personality on Mar 12, 2010 7:57:24 GMT -5
Director Sean S. Cunningham and writer Victor Miller were the guys who had the brilliant idea to rip off Halloween by setting sexed up young people in a place where a savage killer is lurking nearby. Their one stroke of pure genius of course, other than hiring squeaky-clean reputation'd Betsy Palmer to play the film's murderess, was to set it in a summer camp. An element in their movie that, like the babysitters in Halloween, was all-American and everyone watching knew what it was and could either identify with having gone to some kind of camp or was really excited to see something they didn't know very much about. Actress Robbi Morgan talks in interviews about how her brother said the film was a huge hit on the west coast, not surprising since it takes place on the east coast. It's like something new to them. Something they probably didn't see as often in movies since a ton of low budget horror films shot in California.
When they finished that quintessential first film, they pretty much decided they wanted nothing to do with a sequel and walked away. And makeup FX wizard Tom Savini followed in their footsteps, flat-out turning Paramount down when they offered him a chance to do the makeup and gore in Friday the 13th Part II. After that, they didn't bother asking him to come back for Part III either. Friday the 13th however was too successful to stop at one film. And with it kind of being a really strict family and friends operation, associate producer Steve Miner (who had also worked with Cunningham when he produced Wes Craven's directorial debut, The Last House on the Left) was eventually given the chance to come in and pick up directing wherever the story by Miller and Cunningham had left off. But really, this meant starting everything new.
Other than a ridiculous overload of sleaze, what Part II really concentrated on was the camerawork. Miner became a real tech whiz at planning shots and the use of Steadicam. A lot of shots were roaming and panning and moving all over the place in a much more showy fashion than the original. Miner ended up definitely bringing his own skill and feel to the movie. Compared to the first, it was more professional feeling and maybe even polished. Then, came 1981, the year 3-D in Hollywood became a huge thing with movie sequels for some reason. Universal was putting a lot of steam into their next Jaws film (which Joe Dante was set to direct for the longest time before deciding to go off and work for Avco-Embassy), so Paramount and Steve Miner decided that whatever is good for the great white shark was good enough for Jason.
Though Jason as a character was still evolving- he wasn't evolving fast enough to keep up with Paramount's demand for quick sequel production. Nor did the budgets they gave the films suggest what they expected in return was anything they might win an Academy Award for. So, a terrible story was whipped up for Miner & co(.) to flip through and hand over to their 3-D experts to make notes pertaining to technical effects. With this in mind, you know where the focus was in the minds of the people who made this film. Which makes me have to wonder what the making of Part II was really like. I've always had a lot of respect for Steve Miner after seeing House and Warlock, two excellent and slightly underrated horror films. And his work in Part II definitely screams 'director for hire'. That's why for Part III, although the story truly lacks depth, I'm glad he was able to bring the series' atmosphere to a kind of brand new peak.
I think one of the ways he really did this was to understand that in the world of Friday the 13th, there is too much rain. And it always enters the story at a certain point, signalling that this all comes down to a formula. And a formula tells you that you're seeing the exact same thing you did before. When really, none of the sequels are much like the one to come before. So, any chance to break away from the formula a little bit is good. And what about summer camp screams: "it's gonna rain"? Although... I used to go camping as a kid and it did rain. Usually though, not at the time of night it did in the first two films. Usually in the morning, when it was still dark, and we were still sleeping. You'd wake up and there'd be some leftover drizzling going on. Something about the absence of rain really brings something unsettling about this film to life.
I really think it's the use of whipping winds, a tragically underused element of atmosphere. Dario Argento featured it prominently in 1984's Phenomena and since I saw that film, I knew wind was special. I saw this movie before then and sort of never remembered to make the connection. It's loud, it pushes you when you're outside and your shelter when you're inside. Here, it seeks to drive our last surviving heroine quite mad by forcing closed doors and windows open while she's trying to keep them shut in an effort to keep the killer she assumes is outside from getting in. And in typical early Friday the 13th film fashion, you don't see where the killer is until the chase begins. And then you know they're outside anyway. Thanks to formula. With that, usually the most exciting thing is just to watch the character trying to find a good hiding place.
Or according to the filmmakers, that is. The meaning of survival in a movie like this is like a game the character doesn't know they're playing but we do. Because I know when I go to see a slasher film, what I hope for is like a Ten Little Indians kind of thing. Less a cat and mouse dynamic and more a spider and fly. Where you know damn well the flies are going to get it. Now that's formula. But it's not just the wind that sets this film apart from most of the others. Jason as a killer is at what is clearly his most scary here. He's never been more like Michael Myers before than he is in this film. And Harry Manfredini's music is more dreary and dread-inducing than Carpenter's almost mellow, spooky, fun score. I know that comment will probably raise a few eyebrows but Halloween's bass heavy 90-minute evening is not nearly as creepy as fans might claim it is.
Jason's whole look is different (although, it's radically different in every film). Here it's for the better. He doesn't have anything to cover up his face yet we never see it revealed right in front of us. He chooses to stand behind certain objects. And like Michael Myers, he's always right in the same space as his victims. The new 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio (new in 1982, I mean, for this series) for the film gives more space for him to be on one side and the victim on the other, completely unaware that he is nearby. Although, there are still the obligatory scenes of characters hearing noises and going one way or the other to investigate them. One of the two ways more than the other may lead to - bum bum bum bum (see: Labyrinth) - certain death. But what usually happens is, dictated by formula, which victim will bite it comes down to how much time it's been since the last death scene.
The way Jason moves is different too. His attitude here suggests that, once he gets that hockey mask, he will almost blend in with the rest of the Camp Counselors (I just want to make sure you know I'm using this term symbolically, not literally). So he is more confident to walk around among them or near them and not do as much hiding before striking. This is what sets him apart from Michael Myers (at least in the films from that series that really matter). The first scene where we see him onscreen in his trademark hockey mask is a great, classic horror moment. He walks slowly down the entire wooded dock area while a victim can plainly see him and doesn't react to this with terror until he's more than already drawn his weapon. This almost suggests he's a figure of a kind of death delivery. He takes his time and makes sure he gets it right. Then after he's finished, he knows he has others to take care of and doesn't rush.
This film in the series doesn't progress much over the first two in terms of basic story or acting. In fact, it takes a big hit in the form of Dana Kimmell as Chris. She's highly strung, her voice is grating and shrill, her performance is staggered and nervy, and she delivers every line in an irritating monotone. But she's pretty and has a great smile. And a great scowl. These aren't really plusses for the film - well, not until the trademark Friday the 13th long final chase scene - just reasons the casting people probably hired her. And she's not the only one either who comes off shaky and deaf to the tone of their own voice. Larry Zerner as Shelly the token class clown / practical joker isn't much better. It almost seems he may have been cast just because of the novelty of his quite bizarre afro.
The fact that so many lines come out so shaky still leads me to believe the cold of the late fall / early spring filming dates made the cast unable to relax. And relaxation is important to the performance of a group of characters on vacation. Which is the fundamental shift in story this film takes over the previous two. This time, the group - headed by the terrified-of-sex Chris (which I can more than respect, honest) - are all friends who know each other and head up to the cabin of one of her relatives for an early summer vacation. But it wouldn't be Friday the 13th if this cabin weren't located on Crystal Lake. And it is. Although, something tips this off to not having been filmed anywhere near the east coast. When they go to pick up another friend, Vera, I can see what looks an awfully lot like a palm tree in the background. As you might have guessed though, I care very little about continuity.
What I really care about are things like Chris's preoccupation with noises in the background and things going on behind or many many meters away from her. This sort of catches on with her other friends and it gives the film a very spooky feel to the proceedings. But at the same time, a safe and damn fun feel. Almost like a real game. Or a race where you bet on who's going to get it next. Though you can't exactly predict how. There are some new and very creative death scenes in this film, unlike Part II which was full of a lot of the same throat slitting and mostly offscreen mayhem of the first film. Not to mention the gore gets quite an upgrade here as well. Almost every death is its' own showstopper. From pitchforkings to firepokings, choppings and hackings, things go through victims and things are cut off of them. It's a very rewarding film. I say it still has the best selection of death scenes of the whole series.
Also surprising for this film is a kind of lack of nudity. You come close to seeing one characters' nipples but that's it. Unfortunately, and this is one of the film's few but huge flaws, Miner & co(.) decide to make up for that with more explicit drug content and some very disgusting body-humor gags. Two characters are seen getting on toilets and one is heard... doing his business, as it were. Which may actually be the single most unpleasent moment in the entire series. But I'll tell you something, by the time that final chase comes in the movie- you'll forget all about that stupid stuff. The build-up to the point where Chris starts running from Jason is immaculate. And then, every detail of the follow-through is pitch perfect. Once it starts, it doesn't stop. And you don't even know it's started untl after. Miner shows an amazing control over the pacing and editing of the film.
It's an utterly relentless set-piece that goes on until you think it will lose steam but it never does. And that's because, unlike the first two films, Chris does hide like Alice and Ginny, but Jason's on her tail the whole time. When she disappears, we're following him. And Richard Brooker's performance as Jason is unparalleled. Other actors have played him for good movement and a physical imperialism over the space he inhabits and the victims he stalks, but no other actor summoned up such quiet, intense menace. So the fact that any victim, especially the fairly weak (but as we see later, in no sense a total pushover) Chris, can outrun or outsmart him in any way comes as a big surprise for the series. Before this film, we could only guess that by his actions, Jason was a smart character. But his actions made no sense. Here, they do. What you see is what you get. And taking that to heart, what we see is pretty scary if you can take it seriously for a minute.
This finale is such a damn masterwork of the slasher genre, I want to take special care in detailing it. Every stage of this chase, from Chris alone in the cabin waiting to hear from Rick to her venturing outside and finding the (... actually, I don't want to spoil it for you, let's just say they ripped something from the first film), ups the level of terror to this scene a little bit more each time. And I can't tell what the best part is. The part of this scene that gets the most attention is when she reaches the van only to realize later that it's out of gas. The best though, I think now, is when she is in fact waiting for Rick and doesn't hear anything back from him when she calls. This series of films has always considered itself indebted to Psycho and Alfred Hitchcock - although don't ask me how or why, I'm stumped - and the camera in the shot where she opens the door and thinks she won't be heard because of the wind pans over to the other side of the screen to show us something Hitchcock-influenced. And it's creepy as hell!
The pitch of the suspense builds beautifully at the start of this sequence and just winds tighter and tighter each 30 seconds (rough estimate). It hits its' peak a couple of times. My favorite of these spikes is the closet scene, another kind of rip from Halloween. And Harry Manfredini's music score shifts gears from the very backseat-driving it did in Part II (which actually worked brilliantly for that film's confusing and jaw-droppingly shocking finale) to full speed ahead for this sequence. Not to mention that throughout the film, it actually becomes hugely bass-heavy compared to most of the other Friday films he was paid to score. The music alone, like the bass-heavy Halloween I mentioned before, isn't scary (nor are the action spikes during the closet scene) but in terms of suspense, this freaking thing gets milked for all it's worth.
Friday the 13th Part III is the most exciting of the sequels. And rare for this series, though I love the formula (short of the, I'm sorry but, usually unnecessary and sleazy drugs and sex), this still gets me on-the-edge-of-my-seat. It has the scariest Jason, the spookiest and most sweetly-dreamy atmosphere (that should-be iconic final sequence following the cop car driving away), and the most outright suspense. Though there are too many drug and toilet scenes, and the acting could be better (it's not all bad, naturally), the movie - typical to Friday the 13th as a franchise - delivers when the actors aren't speaking. The 3-D effects are of little consequence one way or the other. I think in 2-D they're more stylish and impressive. And... while some may make fun of that disco theme to the movie... I like it. It's classier than most disco of the 70's. It has a damn good beat, you can dance to it, and... it's actually kind of haunting in a way!
