Friday The 13th

Part 2

Now here is a movie that proves that ratings and reviews aren't everything. Not only did Friday the 13th Part 2 get terrible reviews but it did so badly at the box office that the makers of the series weren't even planning on making any more after this one. Made in 1981, just as the Horror genre was on the brink of a tremendous boom in sales and avid watchers, this film manages to set itself apart from the droves of popular slasher films that were beginning to capture the market. Not unlike the Halloween films, this series lives up to it's stereotype as being cheesy at times, for the most part poorly acted and relatively predictable. By predictable I obviously mean that you pretty much know what's going to happen, and can generally even figure out who will "get if first". However, what makes these kinds of movies fun is the whole "when" aspect. You know it's coming, and you know it's going to be bloody, but no matter how prepared you are, the hand crashing through the window or the stalker coming out of the bushes always finds a way to catch you off guard.

This movie caters to those who never found the chance to see the original film as it recaps the main events at the beginning of the movie. Basically, the viewer is informed that young Jason Voorhees didn't really drown at Camp Crystal Lake and is now lurking somewhere out in the woods, now fully grown, mourning his mothers dramatic death (a death which many believe he witnessed while still only a child) and waiting to pounce on anyone that ever dared venture near the camp again.

I know what you're thinking: bring in the horny teenage camp counsellors and all the porn, right? Well, you're right on some accounts. Yes, this movie does involve a bunch of hormone-driven teens, but what's a real shocker about this film is that it really doesn't involve all that much skin and moaning and groaning, at least not like we've come to expect from slasher films. Filled with some great (and some not-so-great) actors, this installment in the series perhaps is one of my favourites due to its tremendous ability to build suspense and therefore heighten the experience. And although you pretty much always know what's coming, it still gets you when it gets around to it. A definite dust-covered Horror shelf gem!

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 IMAGE GALLERY

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