Friday the 13th, Part 2 (1981)

As bad as Friday the 13th, Part 2 is, it's a work of art in comparison to the rest of the Friday the 13th flicks that came afterward. This installment officially introduced us to Jason Voorhees as the killer (if you remember Drew Barrymore's fatal phone quiz in Scream, you know that the killer in the first Friday the 13th was actually Jason's mother), and made the slicing and dicing even more generic. Survivor Alice is dispatched within the first 10 minutes, and we're left with plucky Ginny (Amy Steel, doing a fairly decent Jamie Lee Curtis impression) to do battle with the monstrous Jason. Ginny's part of a another group of horny teenagers (less intelligent as well as less attractive than their predecessors) who try to resurrect Camp Crystal Lake five years after the initial murders--a pretty mean feat, considering this movie was made only a year after the first one. Being a smarty-pants child-psychology major, Ginny tries to outwit the dim Jason, and at one point dons the bloody and moldy sweater of Jason's late mother (which is more disgusting than any of the killings beforehand) in an attempt to confuse the masked killer. Jason may not be the brightest bulb on the tree, but the only one who's going to pull the wool--or in this case, the burlap--over his eyes is Jason himself, who wears a sack with one eyehole throughout the movie to hide his deformed features (he finally found his way to a sporting-goods store and his trademark hockey mask appears in the third installment of the series). Directed by Steve Miner, who also helmed the next Friday the 13th film (in 3-D no less) as well as the more reputable House, Forever Young, and Halloween: H20. --Mark Englehart Amazon.com

Jason takes the stage.

I like this one better than the original.
Amy Steel is right up there with Jamie Lee Curtis as all time scream queen.
This is the last Friday I'm giving five stars.
The idea of Jason running around the woods as some crazed, hillbilly is brilliant.
In later Fridays he bacame more cartoonish.
The direction is great, the acting is good considering it's a slasher movie.
All in all I'd say this is the best of the series hands down.
And the ending???
They show Jason's face, it gave me nightmares as a kid and still does.
The music is some of the best in horror, Friday 2 is, like part 1, a classic and a must see.
Highly recommended!!! June 20, 2008

Jason Voorhees Makes His Debut

After seeing his beloved mom beheaded at Crystal Lake, a demented Jason Voorhees goes on a killing spree that continues to this day. As common a household name as the machete he wields, Jason proves that you can't keep a good serial killer down for long.

I watched "Friday the 13th Part 2" in a "Friday the 13th" marathon that began on Friday, June 13, 2008, Jason's birthday! "Friday the 13th Part 2," I learned, is an excellent sequel, far better than most other sequels in the horror genre. As in the original film, we don't see the killer's face until the end, though we strongly suspect who the killer is. The death scenes, once again, are very gruesome and imaginative. The director, Steve Miner, must've been highly influenced by the Italian Master of Horror, Mario Bava, who directed "Bay of Blood" (a.k.a. "Twitch of the Death Nerve"). Some of the scenes from "Friday the 13th Part 2" closely resemble those from "Bay of Blood." For example, the machete buried in the crippled man's face and the spear thrown into the couple making love on the bed can also be found in "Bay of Blood." I strongly recommend that you buy the "Mario Bava Collection Volume 2" which has "Bay of Blood" along with some other Bava classics from the last years of his career.

In "Friday the 13th Part 2," we learn more about the serial killer's identity than in all the proceeding ones. He is made to appear as an actual person and not a horrifying creature. We learn that he is a mentally deficient mongoloid who didn't drown, but ran into the woods to live as a hermit or to be raised by a hermit. Mistrusting all humans, including his mom, he stayed clear of them; but when he saw his mom die, his fear turned to rage and he had to kill anyone who trespassed in his woods. Knowing he looks different from the beautiful camp counselors that he so loves to stalk and kill, Jason uses torn bed sheets to hide his face in shame. We also learn that he pays homage to his mom by surrounding her decapitated head with burning candles.

"Friday the 13th Part 2" is a must have for fans of the series and fans of the slasher frenzy that gripped our country between the mid seventies and the mid eighties.
June 20, 2008

Meet Jason for the 1st time!

This time, Jason Voorhees is actually the killer! But, he doesn't have his classic infamous hockey mask. Instead, he's a hermit/hillbilly with a sack over his head with one eye-hole. For a sequel, it's okay, but it's not the best Friday the 13th! June 17, 2008

One of the Better Friday the 13th Films

The only "Friday the 13th" films that I enjoyed were the first four. This one brings us Jason Voorhees as the killer for the first time. I saw this at the theater when it first came out in 1981 with my older brother and it scared the living crap out of me! I had not seen the first "Friday the 13th" so I did not know what to expect. This one uses a lot of the same tricks and scare tactics as the original "Friday the 13th" but pushes the envelope a little more as expected for a sequel. The film is not a work of art but it is a slasher classic from the early 1980s. I have a fondness for it since it was one of the first slasher films that I have ever seen. There are a lot of better horror films out there but this is a fun entry in the "Friday the 13th" series. Sure, its cheese but it tastes so good! April 21, 2008

Decent little sequel

The films in the Friday The 13th series were never meant to be award winning films. They were made to give us a jolting good time in the theater and Part is no execpation. The film has lots of gore and cool death scenes. Although the film isn't as scary if released today it introduces us to horror's oringial bad boy with the hockey mask. April 8, 2008

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