Friday the 13th Part 2

A cash-in sequel if I've ever seen one, I may never forget this movie, but not for good reasons. Ow my ears.

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Scott's Self-Indulgent Movie Podcast · Episode 882: Friday the 13th Part Two

The 1980s are widely considered to be the breakout decade for horror. Thanks in part to the surge in popular franchises, the VHS boom, and a being a dumping ground for the violence, nudity, and young people that were often absent from popular movies at the time. The go-to genre was the slasher movie, which was thrust into the public consiciousness via John Carpenter's Halloween and then turned into a money printing machine with movies like Friday the 13th. Because one year after the first Friday the 13th movie was a box office success, a sequel was released and met with...much less enthusiasm despite introducting the franchise's signature villain: Jason. So let's do something weird and...give an obvious cash-in sequel the benefit of the of oubt and see why the second movie in the franchise is considered inferior to the first.

The Setup

Five years removed from the original string of murders at Camp Crystal Lake, a fella named Paul Holt has opened a camp for future counselors, hoping to make sure that the negligence that ended in Jason Vorhees death, never happens again. Not that it matters to a vengeful Jason, who carries on in his mother's murderous legacy and sets his sights on the would-be counselors.

Part 2 genuinely feels like a movie that had half of a script in hand before it began filming. They knew everyone really liked the murder scenes and that those can scare the crap out people, so let's create a setup with a new group of teens that's just far enough removed to avoid feeling like a hundred percent retread. 

And as much fun as it may sound to make a movie on the fly as a lot of beloved comedies of the 70s and 80s did, it also means that everything in movie looks and feels like it was created in a weekend with a truckload of cocaine.

What The Hell is This About?

One of the things that's hard about movies like this, is that as soon as you get into sequel territory the movie becomes less about what it has to say, and more about what it adds to the lore and history of the franchise and which of the kills were more or less creative than the previous movie. So this movie is about introducing Jason (though notably without his signature mask) and is probably best known for impaling a guy and gal mid coitus.

The problem is that the original Friday the 13th had a message. While so many slashers seem to target horny teens as a randomized moral judgment, Mrs. Vorhees attacking counselors taking their pants off makes some degree of sense because her son died due to counselor negligence. 

Admittedly the movie doesn't have a lot to say about the level of emotional and adult responsibility we heap upon teenagers who can't legally drink, nor would I necessarily expect it to, our villain has an understandable motivation to commit the violent acts in question. Horny teens left my son to die, so I'm going to kill them. Nice straight line.

For Part Two the movie seems at war with what it's trying to be about. A good portion of the movie seems dedicatd to the idea that people fail to learn from their mistakes or that violence can quickly become cyclical. Jason, at least as textually described in the movie, is super pissed at camp couselors because he's akin to a feral child who watched a teen kill decapitate his mom. So now he holds her in reverance and tries to honor her memory by continuing her work and killing more teens. A dual vengence.

But also...what the hell do these kids have to do with Jason's experience? The only relationship they have to the camp is the location and that some of them want to get into each other's pants. Which is fine because this is training camp for counselors. There are no campers in sight. 

The most interesting idea the movie has is that Jason could, potentially, be reachable. That with behavioral therapy and support he could've been something different, but he can't because he's been broken by trauam. It's an idea that's introdued just long enoug for our final girl to stab him.

Its not the only slasher like this, but as a direct sequel that seems primed to say something, it stands out.

Sensory Violence

I think Friday the 13th Part 2 is the kind of thing people think of when they think of cheap jump scares. There's a lot of ways you could define jump scares, but the general idea behind them is considered a cheap thrill. You, in essence, startle the audience with a quick image paired with a quick sound and a music sting, with the movie relying on the general atmosphere and threat of attack to do most of the work. This is why so many people think jump scares are cheap. Because even if you're not a good filmmaker, you can still bludgen the audience over the head with loaded images and make the score shriek.

And I guess I've gotten too used to highly competent jump scares from seasoned filmmakers like James Wan, because holy shit guys this is the most abrasive slasher I think I've ever seen.

I should've guessed something was up from the title credits, which literally show "Friday the 13th Part Two" before exploding the title into the abyss and the score, which is higher in the mix than any sound on set, hits string shriek after string shriek after string shriek.

I know I loosely alluded to cocaine use early in this review, but every violent scene in this movie gets this exact kind of treatment.

Quiet moment with some build-up as Jason stalks his next victim and then the loudest sounds of destruction and violins being shredded that you've ever heard, with some moments in the finale feeling like pure farce.

The Verdict: Cheap in Every Way

A cash-in sequel if I've ever seen one, I may never forget this movie, but not for good reasons. Ow my ears. 2/10