Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) Paramount Pictures/Horror RT: 87 minutes Rated R (language, graphic violence, full frontal nudity, sexual content, drug use) Director: Steve Miner Screenplay: Ron Kurz Music: Harry Manfredini Cinematography: Peter Stein Release date: May 1, 1981 (US) Cast: Amy Steel, John Furey, Adrienne King, Kristen Baker, Stu Charno, Warrington Gillette, Walt Gorney, Marta Kober, Tom McBride, Bill Randolph, Lauren-Marie Taylor, Russell Todd, Betsy Palmer, Cliff Cundey, Jack Marks. Box Office: $21.7 million (US) Body Count: 10
Rating: ****
I may be biased in granting Friday the 13th Part 2 a four-star rating, but seeing that it’s the first F13 movie I ever saw (in theaters no less), it holds a special place in my heart. My dad took me to see it as a reward for making honor roll at school. Seventh grade was a particularly tough year what with switching schools more than midway through the year. In my opinion, I deserved to see a movie of my choosing. Naturally, I seized this golden opportunity to request an R-rated slasher flick. I selected Friday the 13th Part 2 even though I still hadn’t seen the first movie. No problem, classmates that saw it gave me a rundown of the basic story and salient plot points.
As the lights went down in the theater that Sunday afternoon, I felt a wave of excited anticipation wash over me. I couldn’t wait to witness the carnage for myself. It was great! I love that it was my first “mad slasher” flick. Allow me to jump ahead to November of that year when I saw a double feature consisting of both F13 movies. It made me like the sequel all the more. You see, this is one of those rare instances when the sequel is every bit as good as the first movie. That’s my opinion, at least.
Friday the 13th Part 2 is the one that first introduced Jason Voorhees as the killer. The little boy that drowned in the lake in ’57 and pulled Alice under the water at the end of the previous chapter has miraculously become a full-grown man. The story begins with lone survivor Alice (King) having a bad dream about her ordeal with Mrs. Voorhees (Palmer) at Camp Crystal Lake. Outside, a lone unseen figure approaches her house. She gets up, undresses and jumps in the shower. The camera zooms in towards the curtain. Alice pulls it open to see nothing standing there. She puts on a robe and goes to the kitchen holding a knife. She’s sure she heard something. A cat suddenly jumps through the open window. She screams as does half the audience (myself included). She opens the refrigerator and finds Mrs. Voorhees’ severed head leaning against the milk. She screams again and the killer jams an ice pick in her skull. Roll opening credits. Okay, that’s an awesome prologue! It even pays tribute to the infamous shower scene in Psycho. The rest of the movie doesn’t disappoint.
Five years later, Jeff (Randolph) and his girlfriend Sandra (Kober) are on their way to a counselor training center that has opened right near Camp Crystal Lake (referred to as “Camp Blood”). They stop to call their friend Ted (Charno) for directions and get accosted by Crazy Ralph (Gorney) who informs them that they’re doomed. It’s no secret what happened at Camp Blood all those years ago, but center director Paul Holt (Furey) still manages to collect a decent-sized group of young would-be counselors. The list of victims …. I mean, counselors-in-training include wheelchair-bound Mark (McBride), handsome jokester Scott (Todd), sexy Terry (Baker), gorgeous Vicki (Taylor) and assistant director Ginny (Steel). Not only is she Paul’s girlfriend, she’s also a child psychology major at school. Why did the writer do this? So she can analyze Jason’s psychological makeup and speculate as to what he’d be like if he really was alive, roaming the woods and looking for human prey. The massacre begins when most of the others leave for one last night on the town. The aforementioned CITs stay behind for various reasons. Most of them engage or plan to engage in sexual activity. So begins Jason Voorhees’ inaugural killing spree.
So do these horny teens get dispatched? The wheelchair guy gets a machete in the face, somebody gets killed via a hammer to the cranium, a guy gets his throat cut as he hangs upside down after getting caught in a hunting trap and Jason gets a twofer when he impales a couple with a spear while they have sex. Crazy Ralph gets it as well by way of strangulation by barbed wire.
All in all, Friday the 13th Part 2 is a decent bloodbath. The gore effects are very good even though Tom Savini opted not to return for the sequel. It would have been better had the MPAA not forced the producers to cut several seconds of gore from the final cut in order to secure an R rating. An X rating would have been deadly. It’s still a solid horror flick. Harry Manfredini’s score once again ratchets up the tension level. The killer POV camera work is still effective. I think the characters are a little more interesting this time around. I’d like to call attention to Vicki, played by Lauren-Marie Taylor. She’s a knockout! And talented too. 13YO Movie Guy developed quite a crush that summer. Her only other major credit is the final John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd collaboration Neighbors. I sure would have liked to see Taylor make it big.
Bottom line, Friday the 13th Part 2 is a more-than-worthy entry in the series. It puts other horror sequels to shame it’s so good. Kudos to director Steve Miner (House) and writer Ron Kurz for putting it together so well.
