There's a legend around here. A killer buried, but not dead.
A curse on Crystal Lake. A death curse. Jason Voorhees' curse.
Few have seen him and lived. Some have even tried to stop him... No one can.
Now it's time for this franchise to take a stranglehold over the slasher craze of the 80s. We're thrown into action immediately as we see now that Alice from the first movie has been struggling mentally and trying to piece together her life after the incident. When we see Steve Christy compliment Alice on her drawings in the original film, she remarked with "Thanks. I wish I had more time to do it." As Alice is creeping around her apartment investigating noises, she turns the light on in one of the rooms and we see she has been drawing. A couple of drawings that look to be of herself, stone faced. I can't make out the significance of them, if there even is one. All we know is Alice has now had more time to focus on her drawings. All of a sudden she gets an ice pick in the skull after opening the refrigerator door to find the head of Pamela Voorhees inside.
I'm trying to view this through the eyes of a theater-goer in 1981. You gotta believe it's Jason at this point, right?
After we're introduced to all the new counselors, night falls and we're treated with possibly my favorite campfire story in horror history. This one is extremely unique in that it's a campfire tale of a legend we've already learned a bit about. As far as audiences go at this point, we know as much about the legend of Jason as all the counselors do. Alice got the ice pick shortly after killing Mrs. Voorhees with no killer found. And with the new tidbit of knowledge that Jason's body was never recovered from the lake, the story ends with a mountain of mystery... and then a goofy jump scare!
Crazy Ralph returns and we now get to view him as the concerned citizen who is simply there to warn anyone who goes near the lake, although he is clearly off his rocker. He is the first one at the camp to be killed, and I think this was to show that Jason knows about his plans to warn the others. Or it could also be that he was the first victim to be in the wrong place at the wrong time... But I prefer the former instead of the latter.
We get a brief glimpse of Jason through the windshield of a police car as he is entering the woods. The officer follows and finds a tattered old shack. There is evidence in small places that indicate it is actually being occupied by someone. He enters a room and is horrified, only to get hammered in the back of the head seconds later. The contents of the room remain a mystery, which does great for the suspense of the film, and ultimately, the set up for the ending. We then catch up with Ginny at a bar in town where she expresses genuine concern about the legend of Jason. We learn new things about Jason from Ginny as she presents the theory that maybe he really is out there, and that he went mad after seeing his mother killed. She explains that his mother was the only person he had, and that perhaps seeing her killed all because she loved him could have been his breaking point. She expresses empathy and humanizes him here, as well. If there's one thing this franchise does better than any other, it's in the way of setting up the elements of the movie for it to come crashing down on you in the 3rd act.
My two favorite counselors of the group are definitely Mark and Vickie. They seemed to genuinely dig each other and their chemistry was superb. Aside from smokin' the wacky tobaccy, they seemed to be the most innocent two of the group. Vickie clearly had no qualms about dating a paraplegic, and Mark's inspiring optimism about getting out of his wheel chair and walking again made for a couple of great characters. "I don't intend to be in this thing the rest of my life"... Unless you plan on walking in the next 10 minutes, I've got some shitty news for you, Mark. I was genuinely bummed for these two. And holy hell, Mark received no mercy in the way he was offed. This is one of the most brutal and impactful killings in the entire franchise. The freeze frame as he reaches the bottom of the stairs with the screen turning white as it's zooming in on Mark made it that much more raw and gritty.
Kill of the film: Mark
Paul and Ginny return to find everyone missing and are soon confronted by Jason. After a struggle breaks out between Paul and Jason, Ginny eventually reaches the shack that we saw earlier in the film. The mystery room is revealed to be a shrine for Mrs. Voorhees with candlelight surrounding her severed head, centered on the table. Ginny's idea of Jason turned out to be correct, as she quickly improvises into pretending to be Jason's mother. He briefly falls for it in some sort of crazed hypnosis. He really is crazy... and he really loves mommy... Jason catches a glimpse of his mother's head still on the table, puts 2 & 2 together and a struggle ensues where Paul returns, distracting Jason just long enough for Ginny to put a machete into Jason's shoulder. Muffin the dog returns as Jason bursts through the window and grabs Ginny. She awakens the next morning as she's being loaded into the ambulance. Paul is nowhere to be found.
But let's go back to the shrine with Pamela's severed head. We get about a two-second shot of the shrine, and what do we see? Obviously the shrine, but three corpses surround it. A fresh corpse of the police officer who was killed earlier in the day, a fresh corpse of Terry who is now confirmed to be killed by Jason as she was only presumed to be killed off-screen, and the third corpse is the five-year-old corpse of Alice, with ice pick still in place, and the corpse placed at the feet of Pamela's shrine as a trophy killing and vengeance for her death. It couldn't be more fitting that after the legacy of Jason and the countless kills we see throughout the franchise, that his very first kill is the person who killed his mother. This franchise went deep with everything. No stone is left unturned, and what should be a mystery remains a mystery as each movie is made. I have never seen a movie franchise so calculated as Friday the 13th.
The Muffin Theory:
Muffin the dog wanders off early in the movie, and is last seen walking up to Jason in the middle of the woods. Sandra and Jeff discovered what they believe is a mangled up dog who could be Muffin, and that is the last we see of her until she shows up at the doorstep of the cabin right before Ginny is attacked by Jason through the window. The theory is that Muffin returning was just a dream sequence, indicating that everything that happened between Ginny hitting Jason with the machete and waking up on the gurney didn't occur. I've never favored that theory, and the film-makers attest to the fact that it wasn't a dream. Going deeper into the franchise, Jason has had multiple opportunities to kill pets and never does, so this instance wouldn't have fit the pattern of Jason ignoring pets throughout the franchise.
In all, I think the big takeaway from part 2 is it had a superior slasher element to the mix, as well as doing a great job of being different from the original in that the killer isn't even the same person, but the motives interact with each other. More brilliant stuff from the franchise.
"the killer isn't even the same person" remember this is 1981. there were no slasher series' yet. (i don't think halloween 2 came out before f13 2?) and also that mrs. voorhees was seen to have died, both at the end of the first and a reminder at the start of this one. why would you think it would be any other way, as an audience member?
what do you think it is about jason that made him a standout as a villain, compared to the others in 1981? madman mars, cropsy, harry warden. etc what captured imaginations enough that they kept coming back for sequel after sequel? or was it just that the other filmmakers didn't have any kind of faith in their own character? (as reason why they didn't do sequels for the others)
also... even if the dog was not muffin. it's still a dog. they made a point of showing it to us. so, jason didn't kill muffin. it's still probable that he killed that dog, whatever it's name was. or at least that's gotta be the assumption the filmmakers wanted to leave you with, right?
That whole ending to 2 is a mess. I love 2, but the ending is a mess. They go back and forth on whether it's a dream or not, yet no Paul and no Muffin is shown in the morning, even acknowledging they haven't found all the bodies yet when she asks about Paul.
Best theory really is Jason ate Muffin. Mongoloid's gotta eat, yo.
Plus, Gordon still looks thrown through that window in 4, with kill music happening.
I also never bought into the lame theory of "Jason doesn't kill kids!"
Just cause he didn't get one, didn't mean he didn't try. 6 had bad suspense built up when he's around kids, but when he charged into that cabin near the end, you bet your as he was gonna try. Then of course he wanted to kill little Tommy.
zombie wrote:also... even if the dog was not muffin. it's still a dog. they made a point of showing it to us. so, jason didn't kill muffin. it's still probable that he killed that dog, whatever it's name was. or at least that's gotta be the assumption the filmmakers wanted to leave you with, right?
i guess if it wasn't meant to be about killing a dog. it could be commentary on real life murderers, how they often kill animals too. and drawing your attention to it, to ultimately, and really subtly if that's the case, show that jason isn't just a normal sicko murderer. he has a purpose for it. that kind of goes along with what ginny was pondering too.
but i still think it was there to show that he does kill animals, whether it's for thrill or for food.
zombie wrote:i was thinking... there are really only three pure friday the 13th films. (the original, pt. 2, and 4) the rest rely on gimmicks and such.
maybe even just 2, if you count jason's "death" as a gimmick.
zombie wrote:"the killer isn't even the same person" remember this is 1981. there were no slasher series' yet. (i don't think halloween 2 came out before f13 2?) and also that mrs. voorhees was seen to have died, both at the end of the first and a reminder at the start of this one. why would you think it would be any other way, as an audience member?
what do you think it is about jason that made him a standout as a villain, compared to the others in 1981? madman mars, cropsy, harry warden. etc what captured imaginations enough that they kept coming back for sequel after sequel? or was it just that the other filmmakers didn't have any kind of faith in their own character? (as reason why they didn't do sequels for the others)
I don't say the killer is different as though the audience didn't expect it. The two killers being different with an identical motive in each movie is what stands out.
Some movies work well as stand-alones. My Bloody Valentine and The Burning could have put out sequels, but it's hard to say if they could maintain the magic of the first one. Friday the 13th is really the only top-level horror franchise that wasn't overshadowed by the strength of its first movie. The evolution of Jason was probably the biggest attraction. Especially after he gets the hockey mask.
Jason wrote:
I don't say the killer is different as though the audience didn't expect it. The two killers being different with an identical motive in each movie is what stands out.
Some movies work well as stand-alones. My Bloody Valentine and The Burning could have put out sequels, but it's hard to say if they could maintain the magic of the first one. Friday the 13th is really the only top-level horror franchise that wasn't overshadowed by the strength of its first movie. The evolution of Jason was probably the biggest attraction. Especially after he gets the hockey mask.
okay, yeah. friday the 13th is the only one that follows the killer from the sequel. or at least the only one i can think of. the only big one, for sure. i think there were others that weren't overshadowed by the first movie, but i guess that's debatable.
though, if you're using that as reason to not try it again. i don't know if that's reason enough to keep them away. more than one series worked, despite not overtaking the original's acclaim.
zombie wrote:"the killer isn't even the same person" remember this is 1981. there were no slasher series' yet. (i don't think halloween 2 came out before f13 2?) and also that mrs. voorhees was seen to have died, both at the end of the first and a reminder at the start of this one. why would you think it would be any other way, as an audience member?
what do you think it is about jason that made him a standout as a villain, compared to the others in 1981? madman mars, cropsy, harry warden. etc what captured imaginations enough that they kept coming back for sequel after sequel? or was it just that the other filmmakers didn't have any kind of faith in their own character? (as reason why they didn't do sequels for the others)
I don't say the killer is different as though the audience didn't expect it. The two killers being different with an identical motive in each movie is what stands out.
Some movies work well as stand-alones. My Bloody Valentine and The Burning could have put out sequels, but it's hard to say if they could maintain the magic of the first one. Friday the 13th is really the only top-level horror franchise that wasn't overshadowed by the strength of its first movie. The evolution of Jason was probably the biggest attraction. Especially after he gets the hockey mask.
F13 was an enormous success. A HUGE moneymaker. That is why it got sequels. My Bloody Valentine basically broke even and The Burning lost money.
The key moments that gave the series so much longevity was the big bounce back in box office for part 3 and then sustaining it in 4. F13 turned out to be brilliant for those first 4 because they kept them low budget, but kept the gimmicks interesting enough to make them must sees.
Foo wrote:F13 was an enormous success. A HUGE moneymaker. That is why it got sequels. My Bloody Valentine basically broke even and The Burning lost money.
The key moments that gave the series so much longevity was the big bounce back in box office for part 3 and then sustaining it in 4. F13 turned out to be brilliant for those first 4 because they kept them low budget, but kept the gimmicks interesting enough to make them must sees.
what made the first such a success though? was pt. 2 also that much of a success? what made it the success that it was too, compared to most others?
Foo wrote:F13 was an enormous success. A HUGE moneymaker. That is why it got sequels. My Bloody Valentine basically broke even and The Burning lost money.
The key moments that gave the series so much longevity was the big bounce back in box office for part 3 and then sustaining it in 4. F13 turned out to be brilliant for those first 4 because they kept them low budget, but kept the gimmicks interesting enough to make them must sees.
what made the first such a success though? was pt. 2 also that much of a success? what made it the success that it was too, compared to most others?
2 dropped off significantly, but still made good money. The real rebound was in part 3.
I recall being very young and people still talking about the ending of F13 years later. It really was iconic. It was a must see.
Can't say many other slashers ever captured that moment. Jason was the star slasher in the mainstream, while Michael had slipped to a genre star.
Foo wrote:
2 dropped off significantly, but still made good money. The real rebound was in part 3.
I recall being very young and people still talking about the ending of F13 years later. It really was iconic. It was a must see.
Can't say many other slashers ever captured that moment. Jason was the star slasher in the mainstream, while Michael had slipped to a genre star.
fair enough then. i guess i can just chalk it up to the ending more than anything else. michael also went a couple years between films (the first and part 2) so that's probably a lot to do with the drift in his star power.
