Friday the 13th: The New Blood

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.

"Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood" is the moment. That singular moment that many media franchises reach where there is a bit of a rift. A fundamental change. Something that will forever alter the way the subsequent remaining entries are perceived.

Yes. This is the infamous moment in any series that can only be referred to as "jumping the shark."

This is where the franchise wholly committed to the concept of each movie injecting a quirky "gimmick" in order to drum up audience interest. Sure, I'd argue that the previous film (the excellent "Jason Lives") probably started the whole notion of the "gimmick entry" with its focus on self-aware, postmodern meta-humor... but this is the film that really solidified the fact that the remaining films would all have that silly, somewhat kitschy quality of relying on a singular contrivance to set it apart.

In this case of course, it's focus on the supernatural storyline of Jason fighting a psychic/telekinetic.

When psychic Tina Shepard returns to Crystal Lake years after accidentally causing the death of her father with her latent abilities, the opportunity to learn and perhaps heal is interrupted when she accidentally releases Jason from his watery grave. Now, she and a group of teen-aged party-goers next door must struggle to survive against the newly revived (and quite angry) hulking killer... leading to an insane and actually quite entertaining final showdown.

The most notable aspect of this entry is probably the introduction of fan-favorite Kane Hodder as Jason- a role he would continue to play for the next few entries in the series. Hodder arguably defined the role, and actually finally gave him a consistent sense of "character" through both physical presence and movement, and through his own behind-the-scenes exploration of what makes Jason tick. Interesting tidbit: Hodder actually refused to film a scene where Jason kicks a dog away from him, because he feels Jason would never actually hurt animals or young children due to his childhood trauma. Granted, this doesn't quite fit in with Part IV, but I like the idea- it shows that Hodder actually tried to build a sense of character and "rules" for Jason to follow.

The film is also quite a bit of fun at times. The whole psychic angle is stupid beyond belief, there's no doubt about it. But it allows for all sorts of cinematic mayhem to ensue, with explosions, nails flying through the air, furniture being flung around... it's great fun to see Jason finally face an adversary in Lar Park Lincoln's Tina that can truly stand up to him and perhaps give him more than he can handle.

But the strong entertainment factor aside, this is a pretty bland entry on the whole to me. It lacks the pure sense of "fun" that the previous film literally oozed alongside the blood and trades it in for what actually becomes a somewhat depressive feel for much of the screen time. Not only in terms of basic tone, but also in the writing and even in the music. It's just kind of... mournful. Many of the characters (especially Tina) seem to have a deep-seeded chip on their shoulder and it's not as compelling as it could be. And the others are all just... ho-hum and often grating, with characters like the generic nasty vain girl getting on your nerves very quickly. You just kinda feel bad for everyone even before they start getting axed off.

That being said, despite being a middling entry in the overall franchise, the good characterization in Jason and the wickedly wild and entertaining battles between Tina and Jason do make it worth a watch for slasher fans. Just don't expect the best entry in the franchise.

I give it a middle-of-the-road 5 out of 10.

Okay, Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood was an okay and pretty well-set film. Though Tina Sheperd (the main character) has telekinesis which is very reminding of Carrie, but also put a spark in the series, instead of Jason just killing everyone. All in all, this movie was okay. I give Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood a 6 out of 10

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