By Frank Pittarese
Continuing a month-long review of the Friday the 13th film series, I dive into Parts 3 and 4 to discuss the ending that wasn’t…
The 3D One
The third in the series comes with some controversy. It was also in 3D. Let’s get to it…
After a replay of the end of the previous movie, which inserts new footage of a very much alive Jason slipping away, we jump forward to…the next day! Yep, Friday the 13th: Part 3 apparently takes place on Saturday the 14th. But that’s okay; we’ll be on a consecutive run of calendar days through the next film, so what can you do?
After Jason murders a couple of sloppy-trashy store owners, a new crop of kids head up to Crystal Lake — specifically to a piece of land called Higgins Haven, home of soon-to-be Final Girl Chris Higgins. She’s been away for awhile because of a particularly gruesome incident in her past, and just like the late, great Alice, Chris is trying to put her life together the only way she knows how.
In this instance, that means dragging a motley crew of friends to a Crystal Lake getaway. There’s Shelly, an overweight prankster, Chuck and Chili, two weed-obsessed potheads, the wonderfully spunky Vera, and annoyingly adorable couple Andy and Debbie…who happen to be expecting a child. Chris’s hunky boyfriend Rick is waiting at the house with the sole expectation of getting laid up to three hours a day (but, spoiler alert, he barely gets a kiss).
Shelly fakes his own death a couple of times, and gets turned down by Vera, but on a trip to the grocery store, the pair encounter a scary (“scary”) biker gang who follow the teens back to the lake. Jason, already lurking in the barn, starts by killing the punks, then works his way through all of Chris’s friends, until only she’s left for a big showdown.
But there’s a twist! That gruesome incident I mentioned? A couple of years ago, Chris had a fight with her parents and ran into the woods, intending to hide out for the night. (She apparently never heard about The Boy That Drowned.) Jason came barreling out from the trees, literally chasing and dragging Chris hither and yon until she passed out. Chris woke up in her bed. Not a bit dead, like everyone else Jason ever met, and with no recollection of what happened.
But here and now, Chris kills Jason with an axe to the head, and it’s, like, totally permanent until the next sequel!
This was the first Friday the 13th movie I ever saw — and I got to see it on opening night, in 3D and all — so it holds a special place in my heart. As stunt-filled as it is, with yo-yo’s, apples, popcorn, and snakes flying at the audience, it has a lot going for it. At least half of the cast is likable and engaging. Vera (Catherine Parks) is terrific; a rare instance where I was bummed out by a character’s death. Biker Fox (the late Gloria Charles) is only in a few scenes, but she’s a Top Ten favorite victim, with a personality ranging from “tough bully” to “fun-loving kid.” And Chris, as played by Dana Kimmell, has a certain sincerity to her. She’s not as tough as Ginny, but she holds her own against Jason…even if the whole experience drives her straight to the funny farm.
That said, we’re starting to slip into territory where some characters feel more like cartoonish stereotypes than realistic people we’d want to hang out with — and in these things, the stakes are higher if you give a shit about who dies. Shopkeepers Harold and Edna are just gross, and I’m not a weed guy, so Chuck and Chili’s antics were never amusing to me. Worse, they both feel like 30-year-old adults. It’s weird. And as much as I love Fox, the bikers feel like out of place stereotypes, farmed in from a different movie. There’s also a passing attempt at rebooting Crazy Ralph with a ridiculous (and legit crazy) hobo, but fortunately all but one of his scenes were cut.
What’s the point of Debbie being pregnant? It doesn’t serve the plot, it doesn’t change her behavior (except that she won’t “hilariously” eat Chuck and Chili’s weed stash when the police zip by), and it doesn’t make a not-great actress any more compelling to watch. We’re definitely getting into some uneven territory here, with the victims painted in broad strokes while the kills become more interesting (at least until the MPAA steps in later). Andy gets chopped in half, poor Vera gets a spear shot through her eye, Rick’s head is squeezed until his eyeball pops out in all its 3D glory.
This is the first appearance of the iconic hockey mask, which Jason steals from one of his victims. I still prefer the sack, but there’s no denying the menacing effectiveness of the hockey mask. It works. Jason, meanwhile, has mutated even further than he was the literal day before. Yes, yes, that’s due to a change in makeup artists — but I like to think that his mutant healing factor (which enables him to survive most injuries and which possibly saved him from his childhood drowning) is also affecting his body as a whole. The more he’s hurt, the stronger, bigger, and more malevolent he becomes; he’s evolving quickly. I also think there are evil forces guiding these “enhancements,” but we’ll get to that later.
Now to discuss that controversial bit of business about Chris’s first encounter with Jason (trigger warning for those who need ’em). A big question in Friday the 13th fandom is: Did Jason sexually assault her? Nobody has an official answer (although actress Dana Kimmell says he didn’t). Unfortunately, I lean toward yes. We see, via flashback, what Chris remembers of the attack, and much of it involves Jason grabbing the girl and dragging her deeper into the woods (as opposed to, say, stabbing her, decapitating her, or folding her in half). When Jason confronts Chris in the barn during the film’s climax, he makes a pointed effort to lift his mask and leer at her. He WANTS her to recognize him — and she does. Then he tries to kill her, anyway, which he would have done the first time…if he hadn’t done…something else. In my mind, Jason is a rapist, full stop.
Yet again, we end the movie with a WTF vision/dream. This time, it’s a rotten, worm-covered Mrs. Voorhees (head reattached, wearing her favorite sweater) popping out of the lake to drag Chris from her canoe. But it’s okay, don’t worry. The very last scene reveals that Chris has gone hopelessly insane.
So what’s up with that Pamela appearance? It’s those dang evil forces I mentioned. Alice’s vision of Little Jason, Ginny’s window-smashing dream, Chris’s canoe attack… Something “other” is fueling the violence at Crystal Lake, and then exerting its insidious, psychic influence on those who survive. Some higher, dark power has Jason in its protective hand. That “something” is what makes him unstoppable — and it’s tied directly to the Voorhees family. This becomes even more apparent in Jason Goes to Hell, so stay tuned.
Here’s some fun trivia to share at Thanksgiving dinner: This is the first instance (of several in the series) where a character poops, doesn’t wipe, and then gets killed. Bad hygiene abounds at Crystal Lake — and Jason doesn’t like it.
Favorite moment: Chili’s whole “Oh, god…he’s dead! Shelly’s dead!” sequence, where she’s terrified but also looks like she’s about to fall asleep while slow-running through the house. It tickles me every time!
The “Last” One
Released on Friday, April 13, 1984, The Final Chapter was indeed meant to be the last in the series. The plan was to kill Jason once and for all, but that just didn’t work out because people like me kept buying movie tickets.
The story picks up mere hours after the end of Part 3, in a dramatic fashion. Higgins Haven is swarming with police and paramedics, as helicopters hover and shine bright spotlights on the scene. Jason, still apparently dead in the spot Chris left him, is transported to a local hospital, where he stays dead for less than 15 minutes before swiftly killing a couple of goofy staffers.
Back at the lake, we’re introduced to the Jarvis family: a divorced mom, teenage good-girl Trish (Kimberly Beck), and the precocious adolescent Tommy (a pre-Goonies Corey Feldman), who briefly becomes an important figure in this series. Across the road from the Jarvis’s, a hearty group of teen victims arrive, having rented a house for a weekend of partying — the most notable among them being the awkward dork Jimmy (played by the eccentric Crispin Glover, who steals the movie).
Jason, after checking himself out of the hospital with a prescription for murder, just walks back home — killing a hitchhiker along the way — and starts picking off the new kids. Amidst the chaos, Trish and Tommy encounter the mysterious Rob Dier, a man obsessed with hunting Jason because his sister, Sandra, was among his many victims. Sandra, huh? Interesting…
It all ends in pandemonium, with everyone dead except Final Girl Trish and young Tommy — who stops the disfigured Jason in his tracks by shaving his head, popping the collar on his polo shirt, and…impersonating him. The kid actually tries to talk Jason down, Ginny-style, and it almost works until Trish jumps in with a machete, snapping Jason out of his trance. Protecting his sister, Tommy picks up the weapon, practically splits Jason’s head in half, then chops at him a dozen times more. So Jason’s dead, right? Right…?!?
Sure, for now. But the final shot implies that Tommy, in the wake of this violence, just ain’t right.
This entry is one of my favorites, sitting right alongside Part 2. Objectively, Part 2 is a better movie, with stronger characters and some genuinely creepy moments. But the energy of this one, particularly during the final act as Jason relentlessly chases Trish — running from house to house — really pulls me in. And while the teens aren’t the most well-rounded, they still feel like people in a Saved By the Bell kind of way, with some minor conflicts between them to keep things interesting. The kills are brief, but very effective, thanks to returning makeup effects artist Tom Savini, who stepped away after the first movie. Doug’s crunching shower death, even in its edited state, packs a punch, and Jimmy’s “Where’s the corkscrew?” kill is a Friday classic. Jason’s death is a sight to behold, all done with practical effects in this pre-digital age, which makes things all the more impressive.
In terms of world-building (as if anyone involved was actually considering such a thing)…
We’re still in the consecutive three-day run that began in Friday the 13th Part 2. Jason has killed twenty or so people in the past couple of days, but as this movie begins, he’s “dead,” so the Jarvis family are living their lives without a care in the world. The newspaper headline that says Jason’s body has gone missing from the morgue means nothing to them. The Jarvis ladies go blissfully jogging through the local murder-woods and then don’t even lock their front door.
Chronologically, the first film took place in 1979. There was a five-year time jump in Part 2 to 1984. Now, with the “serialized” format of 2, 3, and Final Chapter, we’ve synced up with this film’s release date. But get ready, because more time jumps are coming. Big ones.
This movie establishes that Crystal Lake is located in Wessex County, and in or near Crystal Lake, there’s a Crystal Point, where one can skinny dip with one’s friends before one is hacked to bits.
Mrs. Voorhees is literally buried by the side of the road, with a nice little headstone which reads “Pamela Voorhees 1939-1979, At Rest.” Who came up with that inscription? Who paid for the funeral? Did Mr. Voorhees write a check? There must be a Mr. Voorhees, after all… More on him in a movie or four. And for you trivia fans, this is the first official mention of Pamela’s first name.
As mentioned, Rob shows up seeking revenge because Jason killed his sister, Sandra. Sandra?! There’s never been solid confirmation of this, but it’s pretty much accepted that he’s talking about the same Sandra who was impaled with her boyfriend Jeff in Part 2. But that was just two days ago, and Rob already has a whole collection of yellowed Jason/Crystal Lake newspaper clippings. He sure moves fast! My take is that Rob was already a “Camp Blood” nerd, in the same way that people are obsessed with Bigfoot. When Sandra was murdered on Friday, Rob threw on his backpack and ran out the door.
Little Tommy Jarvis appears to be a Tom Savini-level special effects makeup artist. This is obviously because Tom Savini did the special effects makeup for this film, and he gets to indulge himself through Tommy, who shows off his creations. And that’s great — but when Tommy decides to impersonate Young Jason, our little FX whiz looks kinda silly. They could have cheated things by having Tommy apply some pre-made “monster” appliances from his room, anything to make him look freaky. But instead we get a bald, preppy child, in cut-off jeans. It’s a goofy misstep, but we’re stuck with it. Besides, Jason believed it, and isn’t that what matters most?
The final moment of this movie led to whispers from every corner of the theater. “Tommy is gonna be the new Jason!!” Well…no. That’s like saying Jason was the new Mrs. Voorhees. But the implication that Tommy is “off” leads directly into the next adventure. They’re at least trying to keep a through line going, heading into the next sequel.
And for the record, as far as I’m concerned, Jason does — definitely and officially and for the first time — die in this movie. But although his days as a human being are over, he’ll return after a short nap.
Favorite moment: “He’s killing me! Oh, god! He’s killing me!!” There’s not a drop of blood in Rob’s death scene, but it’s as chilling as can be.
Stayed tuned for more Return to Camp Blood!