Steezy's Movie Reviews #4 - Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

• © Paramount Pictures, Georgetown Productions
• Directed by Steve Miner
• Written by Ron Kurz
• Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Slasher
• Rating: Rated R

Who is in the movie?

The main focus of Friday the 13th Part 2 is our cast of character which includes:

• Ginny Field (Amy Steel) - Paul's girlfriend and assistant at Packanack Lake Region Counselor Training Center.

• Paul Holt (John Furey) - The lead camp counselor teaching the rest of the characters at Packanack Lake Region Counselor Training Center.

• Ted (Stu Charno) - The practical joker of the group. He is also one of Paul's assistants.

• Vickie (Lauren-Marie Taylor) - The sweetheart of the group. She seems to have a crush on the wheelchair bound trainee, Mark.

• Sandra Dier (Marta Kober) - One of the new camp counselors Paul is training. She is Jeff's girlfriend and one of Ted's friends.

• Jeff (Bill Randolph) - One of the new camp counselors Paul is training. Like mentioned above, he is Sandra's boyfriend and also one of Ted's friends.

• Scott (Russell Todd) - The troublemaker of the group of camp counselor trainees. He seems to have his eyes set on flirting with Terry while at the training center.

• Terry (Kirsten Baker) - The tomboy of the group of camp counselor trainees. She becomes the target of Scott's affection, much to her dismay.

• Mark (Tom McBride) - A wheelchair bound camp counselor trainee. He was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident. He doesn't intend to be stuck in that wheelchair forever. He bonds with Vickie at the training center.

• Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney) - The town crazy person who takes it upon himself to warn people to stay away from Camp Crystal Lake. It has a “death curse”, as he likes to inform people.

• Jason Voorhees (Steve Daskawisz)/Unmasked (Warrington Gillette) - The son of Pamela Voorhees. Thought to have drowned at Camp Crystal Lake in 1957. He seems to be very much alive and he is our new killer in this film.

• Alice Hardy (Adrienne King) - Our survivor girl from the events of the Camp Crystal Lake murders from the first film.

• Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) - Jason Voorhees' mother. She was killed by Alice in the first film via decapitation with a machete.

What is the movie about?

We open the film two months after the events of the previous film. An unseen figure is seen crossing the street toward a house before we cut to Alice Hardy, the sole survivor of the Camp Crystal Lake murders, having nightmares about her confrontation with Mrs. Voorhees. We get a brief recap of the end of Friday the 13th through Alice's nightmare.

Alice awakens and receives a phone call from her mother. After a quick shower, she receives another phone call, but there's no one on the other line. This makes her visibly worried and she makes sure her front door is locked. Alice begins to hear noises around the house and cautiously proceeds into the kitchen with a knife. She's frightened by her cat jumping in through the window. It's made clear she's been traumatized by that night. When she goes to the refrigerator to get her cat something to eat, Alice finds Mrs. Voorhees decapitated head inside. Our unseen figure steps forward and kills Alice with an ice pick.

Flash forward five years later. Two young teens, Jeff and Sandra, arrive in town and make a quick pit-stop at a gas station before running to the nearest pay phone (remember those?) to call their friend, Ted, to let them know they've arrived. Crazy Ralph makes an appearance to tell the two they're doomed. Doomed! After getting directions, a tow truck begins to take their vehicle, but it turns out to be a prank devised by Ted. The three proceed on their way to camp. They come across a fallen tree and a sign for Camp Crystal Lake. While stopped, they're being watched by our unseen figure from earlier.

Then we cut to Jeff, Sandra, and Ted arriving for a meeting at Packanack Lake Region Counselor Training Center, not too far off from the aforementioned Camp Crystal Lake, run by Paul and his assistant, Ted. Ginny, Paul's girlfriend, and also another assistant, arrives late before they continue on with their meeting. We get to meet the rest of our cast we will be focusing on this time around: Scott, Vickie, Mark, Terry, and many other unnamed camp counselor trainees.

Later that night, everyone gathers around the campfire and Paul proceeds to go into a story about Jason Voorhees and how his body was never recovered from the lake when he drowned. Telling them the locals believe he's still alive and living in the forest somewhere. Alice disappeared two months after the murders at Camp Crystal Lake. Supposedly, as they say, Jason saw Alice kill his mother that night and took his revenge. He will continue to take his revenge on anyone who dares venture into the woods again. No one has heard from Jason Voorhees for five years. He must be out there. Watching. Waiting. Hungry for bloodshed.

This turns out to be just a spooky campfire story Paul is telling them because Ted jumps out in a costume to frighten the rest of the counselors. Camp Crystal Lake is off limits. Jason drowned. Mrs. Voorhees is dead. That's it. Just a spooky urban legend made up to keep people away from that place.

Our counselors decided to have a little party in one of the cabins to celebrate. Ginny decided to call it a night early and go to bed, soon to be joined by Paul shortly after. Crazy Ralph is around, spying on them, probably wanting to warn them to stay away from Camp Crystal Lake, before he gets killed by our unseen killer.

Jeff and Sandra wander off from the group to go check out what all the hullabaloo is with Camp Crystal Lake. While they're wandering through the woods, they come across a mutilated animal carcass. The two are found by the local deputy and returns them back to Paul at the training center to be reprimanded. The deputy begins to leave when he spots someone running across the road in front of him and he gives chase. This, of course, leads to our deputy becoming victim number three when he stumbles across a rickety old shack and gets killed by our unseen killer too.

Later that night, Paul, Ginny, Ted, and a bunch of the trainees go out for a night on the town before the real training starts. Jeff, Sandra, Mark, Vickie, Scott, and Terry all decide to stay back at the training center for one reason or another. While the others are away, our unseen killer begins to stalk his prey around Packanack and the terror begins again.

When does this movie take place?

The film starts two months after the events of the first film, but jumps forward five years after the opening scene. That places us in 1984.

Where does this movie take place?

The film takes place mostly around Packanack Lake Region Counselor Training Center. It happens to not be too far from where Camp Crystal Lake is located.

SPOILERS AHEAD
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Why is this happening?

Jason Voorhees is alive and well. Big shock, right? It's scary when urban legends turn out to be true.

No, Jason wasn't dead like the previous film said he was. In fact, Jason Voorhees is a full grown adult and he's on a murderous rampage because his mother is dead. He wants to get his revenge on the camp counselors for killing his mother, despite our current cast of characters having nothing to do with it. He already took care of Alice five years ago. I guess you could say he's probably a little crazy himself? Perhaps, much like his mother, he is mentally stuck in the night his mother was murdered and views everyone he comes across as someone who is responsible for her death. Or maybe he just doesn't want any of the teens to be trespassing in Camp Crystal Lake.

They don't flat out say it's Jason Voorhees at first. He's going around with a burlap sack over his disfigured face similar to the killer in The Town That Dreaded Sundown and murders everyone he comes in contact with. This isn't the film where he gets his most iconic look, but hey, it works for a slasher look. Maybe they were trying to keep the identity a secret and could've made appear to be Jason's father or one of the locals trying to scare people away from Camp Crystal Lake, but it turns out it's Jason Voorhees.

Paul and Ginny leave Ted behind at the bar they were at to return back to the training center and find the carnage Jason has left behind. It doesn't take long for Jason to strike and start attacking the two. While Ginny is trying to evade Jason in the woods, she comes across that rickety shack from earlier and finds a shrine dedicated to Mrs. Voorhees with dead bodies piled around it.
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How was the movie?

It's not a bad film. They keep things suspenseful much like the last film. The only real problem is that there's no big surprise when they reveal who the killer is. They tried to catch lightning in a bottle twice by trying to follow the same kind of structure they created in the first. It's not bad. It's just they did this before, but now we've got a little more context as to what's going on now.

The idea that the local urban legend turns out to be true is an okay idea, but they don't really do anything to give it any real basis. Nothing is said as to how or why Mrs. Voorhees was unaware her son was still alive. Nothing is said as to why Jason didn't return to his mother before the events of the first film. We are just supposed to stick with the idea that Jason Voorhees didn't drown like his mother thought and he has been living in the forest around Camp Crystal Lake undetected for all these years. He's reached adulthood and no one has ever seen him. Or maybe people have and that's how the urban legend started? I don't know. They don't specify and they don't give us any answers. Again, I'm not saying it's a bad film, but there are plot holes to be pointed out in retrospect that really do need some addressing.

Other than that? It's an enjoyable, fun slasher flick. There's nothing really all that special about it that separate it from other films other than it's the first film to feature Jason Voorhees. He's stood the test of time all these years later as one of the most popular horror icons in the genre. We get the basis for what the character is supposed to be, but we haven't quite reached the point of how we know him today. I recommend checking it out if you want to know where Jason Voorhees got his start in the franchise.