Friday the 13th Part VII - The New Blood (1988)


A pattern I have seen in horror franchises is that the first two or three movies will be pretty good but, after that, they just start to repeat themselves.  That's a major problem with slashers as they seem not only to be repeating the movies in their own series but every other slasher that came before them.  There is not a lot of variety.  It's kind of like an AC/DC album.  When a song suddenly breaks away from the established formula it tends to stick out. 

Such was Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.  The first two movies were good and the fourth okay, but by killing off Jason things took a nosedive.  The writers just couldn't figure out what to do without Jason even though he was never the central figure in the original.  Tom McLoughlin did figure it out by throwing in references to James Bond and Hammer Horror, bringing Jason back as an unstoppable zombie and making a Friday the 13th movie with some lead characters the audience gave a damn about.  It also didn't feel as torn apart by censors as previous entries. 

Jason Lives didn't make as much money as its predecessors and that was probably due to the disappointment that was Friday the 13th: A New Beginning.  Still, it has stood the test of time and, for the fans, it made the series worth watching again.  When effects artist John Carl Buechler took over directing the seventh entry there was some anticipation of a bloody good time despite McLoughlin taking his win and moving on, and because screenwriters Daryl Haney and Manuel Fidello decided to continue to at least try something different.  Unfortunately, the same old problems that plagued the movies in the past once again arose.

Some time has passed since Tommy Jarvis defeated Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder) and chained him to the bottom of Crystal Lake.  Tina (Lar Park-Lincoln) is a teenage girl who grew up on the lake and, after a particularly violent argument between him and her mother (Susan Blu), Tina killed her father (John Otrin) using telekinetic powers that erupt when she is emotional.  This has led to her getting psychiatric treatment from Dr. Crews (Terry Kiser), who hopes to manifest her powers and use her for his own gain.

When she arrives she wishes her father was still alive and, in doing so, wakes up Jason instead.  He frees himself and once again goes on a rampage, picking off a group of college kids in the house next door that have gathered for a birthday party.  At first Crews thinks Tina is delusional, but when bodies start turning up he is both concerned she may be responsible as well as excited about the prospect of it further stressing her to the point where her powers manifest.  Along with a boy named Nick (Kevin Spirtas) Tina finds herself going up against Jason and having to use her powers to put him back where he belongs.

Despite being known for the part - and fans being upset that he didn't play Jason in Freddy vs. Jason - this is the first time Kane Hodder stepped into the role.  Buechler had a major hand in the effects and makeup, creating a rotting, moldy face that was custom made for Hodder and, when it is revealed later in the movie, is the best zombie Jason makeup in any of the later films.  Where he has been portrayed as just a walking, mindless killing machine, Buechler's look for him reveals the anger and hatred Jason embodies.  Even with the mask Hodder gives the killer some actual personality.  Some of that came through in parts two and six, but there is a reason that, despite the movies he plays him in not being the best in the series, Hodder's version of Jason is quite beloved.

That makeup was supposed to be featured, even under the hockey mask, throughout the film.  Unfortunately, it took multiple attempts to get The New Blood past the MPAA with an R rating, so much that the movie, which was made as one of the bloodiest in the series, comes out to be the most anemic entry.  Some kills were cut out entirely where a number were trimmed down.  The makeup that Buechler had spent so much time on had to be hidden in shadow.  It was trimmed to the point where this entry might as well be PG-13 if not for the nudity and some f-bombs.  It is bad enough that it affects the whole film and, unfortunately, most of the footage in its original form is lost.  What does remain is on VHS workprints that, for fans, has at least been released.  The real movie, as intended, will never be seen.

What is left is a by-the-numbers Friday the 13th film with an undercooked subplot involving Tina's psychic abilities and Dr. Crews's attempts to use her.  This is where Buechler stumbles as Crews needed to be a bigger villain than Jason in this.  There are some hints toward that being the direction they were going but it seems like there were second thoughts when there shouldn't have been.  The entire psychic angle is what makes this stand out from the other films and it is a shame it wasn't done better.  

This wasn't the end of the series but, like Jason Lives, no one from this movie returned for the next one except for Hodder.  Except for the one kill involving a sleeping bag, which would be parodied in Jason X, everything that happened in this entry had no bearing on the remaining films.  If it had gone all in on the supernatural aspects and not been butchered then it may have taken the series in more interesting directions. 

Friday the 13th Part VII - The New Blood (1988)
Time: 88 minutes
Starring: Lar Park-Lincoln, Kevin Spirtas, Susan Blu, Terry Kiser, Kane Hodder
Director: John Carl Buechler

 

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