Cast/Notable Credits:
John Carl Buechler (Director): Troll (1986)
Lar Park-Lincoln (Tina): House 2 (1987)
Jennifer Banko (Young Tina): TCM 3
Kevin Blair (Nick): The Hills Have Eyes 2 (1985)
Terry Kiser (Dr. Crews): Side Out (1990), Tammy & the T-Rex (1994)
Susan Blu (Ms. Shepard): Transformers the Movie (1986)
Heidi Kozak (Sandra): Slumber Party Massacre 2 (1987)
William Butler (Michael): TCM 3, Ghoulies 2 (1987), Terror Night (1987)
Staci Greason (Jane): Terror Night
Jeff Bennett (Eddie): Many, many disney cartoon voices...Go figure.
Elizabeth Kaitan (Robin): Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity (1987), Assault of the Killer Bimbos (1988), Vice Academy movies 3-5 (they made that many?)
Trailer:
You would figure after taking an extra year to produce (compared to previous movies), you could come up with something better than this. Psychic girl with powers battle Jason. Okay, throw out all realism and credibility that this franchise might have had left in it. Gone. Out the window. I'm sorry if you're going down the path of chick with powers battling Jason, then it's over. None...I mean zero credibility left. If you're wondering how they pulled off this cock-a-mania idea, then here we go.We start the film with some sort of flashback to a little girl, Tina Sheppard, and her family that lives off of Crystal Lake. She has a fight with her dad and it eventually leads down to the boat dock by the lake. In her frustration and anger, Tina conjures up some psychic power from within and accidentally drowns her dad with her powers in Crystal Lake.
Some ump-teen years later Tina returns with her mother and evil psychiatrist, Dr. Crews, to the lake in an effort to help “rehab” her from her troubled past. Her psychiatrist actually has other plans for her, as he is trying to get her to use her powers more so he could study them. Shortly after arriving, a group of twenty year old's show up in the house next door with their weekend plans for fun and laughter as they celebrate one's birthday.
Once again, the scenery of Camp Crystal Lake has changed. And this one is more mind boggling than previous films. In Part 6, CCLake was being reopened as a summer camp. Cool. There were multiple cabins around the place. Now in this film, there are no evidence of cabins existence, and there are two houses off the lake. So over the course of the two movies, we've had the camp completely demolished and two new houses built.
Factor in that Tina was a little girl around the age of...let's say...8 to 10 years old when shes drowns papa. She returns and she's now like somewhere between 18-24 years old. Let's say it's the minimum amount of years past, 6-8. So within that 6-8 year span, we've had those two houses knocked down and rebuilt in favor of a kid's camp which was then demolished and the two houses were rebuilt the same way.
Or we chalk up another huge mark in the film's credibility and realism category. I'm thinking it's another flaw in the franchise's continuity legacy. Or possibly it's like Part 6, and there's a F*ckin' novelization of the movie explaining sh*t out!
Dr. Crews pushes Tina's boundaries one sessions and she gets all pissed off and storms out of the house and down to the lake. Emotionally stressed, she summons her powers back up into undoing what she did years earlier, drowning her dad. But instead of resurrecting her dad, she accidentally brings someone else to life. A someone who has been rotting at the bottom of the lake chained to a big boulder. Hmm. Who could that be?
Jason comes back to life via Tina's special powers. Novelization, I just can't get over that. Who buys these books? Jason comes back to life and makes chop suey of the party goers and campers who dare to come on his lands. But he's met his match. Tina battles him off with her special psychic powers as she fights for survival. Psychic powers! Oh God.
Villain:
Enter Kane Hodder. The man who comes in and takes over the role of Jason for sequels to come. Finally a man who can be identified with Jason. Not just a stunt man running around with a mask, but a dude whose willing to embrace the character as his own. And in the process, maybe ruining the character for sequels to come.
I gotta say, if there’s any kick-ass, evil looking depiction of Jason, then this film has it. It’s probably the truest form of Jason, and the best Jason on screen. If you’re looking for a monster who is truly the boogieman, than this is it. Fans grow to love this version of Jason.
For me, as I think about it, Part 4’s Jason is good in its realistic image. I mean he's still a creepy dude that runs around killing people. The same principles that hold for you and me apply to him. It's still a man behind the mask.
Now, we've entered into Monster Jason. The icon of horror. Someone whose so huge and terrifying that you wouldn't want to mess with. One look at him and you know you're dead. You have no chance. Fans love him, studio exec.'s hate him. This Jason and Human Jason (Part 4) are the two best of their class.
Cast:
Nothing here to see. A bunch of cannon fodder for Jason to hack up. Lar Park-Lincoln (what a name for a chick) plays the lead female, Tina. She's an emotional wreck, but comes out to play when it's time to get it on.
Other than some other hot chicks (Shark Factor) to look at, there's not much else. There are plenty of bodies for Jason to pile up in this one. And I think we start to see Hollywood cover all of its ethnic bases and stereotypical kids in this one. We have the cool guy, the ugly girl, the b*tchy girl, etc., etc.
SFX/Gore:
Body count: 16. Yes Bookie, 16. I know the parts you saw, it seemed like more people were getting axed, but only sixteen total. You make it out to be nonstop flow of victims, but there is an end to the slaughter count.
The kills are all over the place from kick butt kills to lame. One of the lame, unrealistic deaths came when a chick got tossed from 2nd story window, landed on her shoulder and then died. Don’t ask me. I just work here. And the famous sleeping bag kill is introduced in this film. It will be used in different ways in films to come. :)
Also there is one big house explosion that will make Jerry Bruckheimer and Micahel Bay wet their pants. Nothing better than a little fire for the marshmallows!
TNA:
The films statistics: four hot chicks (Shark Factor), 2 sets of twins, and 2 bumping the flesh acts. Wow. One of the hot chicks is Elizabeth Kaitan (pictured right), who stars in personal late night movie favorites: Vice Academy Parts 3-6, Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity, and Assault of the Killer Bimbos. What a resume! And she gladly shows her “hidden talents” in the film making it one of my favorite Friday TNA films.
Story:
Two words: Psychic Powers. Yeah. I know. It's a tough one to swallow. Considering the premise of the film and it's predecessors, what more can you do with the franchise? Take it on a boat tour to NY? Oh...they did that.
There were a lot more story line flaws than previous Friday films. Pretty hard to accomplish that, but they did. The whole change of CCLake pretty much screwed with me. Maybe it's in the film's novelization. Novelization. I still can’t get over that.
T.Gun's Take:
Considering the elements the film had to work with, it came out pretty decent. For many fans, this is in their Top 5 of Friday films. It did the franchise well in kills, amount of kills, TNA, and of course the ultimate image of Jason.
Once again, I give props for the film bringing sleeping bag kill to the table. Skip to my review of Jason X to fully understand my appreciation of it. I also liked the hiding in the kitchen death/sequence. That was pretty good and eerie.
It also happened to be one of the most edited Friday movies. It had several cuts to sneak under the “X rating”. Wow. The franchise is starting to quickly go down hill...well, maybe not. It's living up to it's "rep" as a slasher flick.
I'm also glad that Bookie’s seen parts and technically “owns” the DVD (but won’t watch it!). By the word “owns”, I gave it to him along with Parts 1-3 once I purchased the box set. So he's stuck in possession of it now. Come on' Bookie, watch it already!
Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on May 13, 1988 and made $19 million at the Box Office ($8.2 million opening weekend)
-One of five Friday films to open on Friday the 13th
-According to the director, Jason was chained at the bottom of the lake for 10 yrs
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