Friday the 13th: The New Blood

After Tommy Jarvis left Jason to rot chained at the bottom of the lake we thought we'd seen the last of Mr Voorhees, but no a psychic girl accidentally frees him and you know the rest.

That's right Jason Voorhees goes on another rampage indiscriminately killing more 20 somethings with very little story actually present.

This however marked the first time Kane Hodder took on the hockey mask and as ridiculous as it sounds you can really tell and new life is breathed into Jason.

Now rotted, chain around his neck and looking seven shades of undead Jason looks amazing and scarier than ever before. Sadly the death sequences in New Blood are more cutaway poorly constructed nonsense and considering this is the 7th movie in the franchise there really is no excuse.

New Bloods greatest weakness is the finale, the movie builds up to the final battle really well, draws it out into a lengthy encounter but then hits you with a moronic unexplained baffling twist just before the credits.

New Blood isn't bad and it marks a real turning point for Jason, but as a standalone film it's not the strongest part of the franchise.

The Good:

Jason looks amazing

Kane Hodder

The Bad:

Weak death scenes

Awful finale

Last time I blamed Tommy for causing the deaths of others after inadvertently raising Jason from 6 feet under. I must do the same here concerning Tina, the very cute Lincoln as a girl with powers to move things with her mind. Thinking shes moving her dead father from the same lake where Jason is stuck under water, she ends up snapping the chain attached to the rock holding Jason down and hes back in business. So like Tommy, shes kinda responsible for the batch of teens who get skewered. But missing from part 6 and really the rest of the other films, are the inventive murders. Jasons slams a girl into a tree, stabs a few, throws one outta window, its just a little too dull. Theres a couple decent ones like the party favor in the eye or the ol' axe to the face, but the rest are standard. And way too much time is spent on Lincolns character trying to get over her past at the lake and her would be romance with Blair. Most of Harry Mandredinis great music is stuff from previous films as either he and/or Fred Mollin unfortuntely decided to overuse a lot of "banging" sounds. And after being the lead character the last 3 films, Tommy Jarvis was dropped. Tack on a totally unsatisfying ending (Jasons pulled under a dock and disappears) and you've got only a fair follow up. At least its more watchable than 8 or 9.

Wow! They were really reaching for a new idea for this one! This film could have easily been shortened to about 30 minutes or so. There are numerous chunks in this film that are utterly useless and simply to show yet another death.

I didn't think this film was very good at all. The whole girl with telekinesis sub-plot thing was a bit much for me. Although, it did make for an interesting fight between her and Jason towards the end of the film. ...But the actual end of the film was just atrocious! I nearly burst into laughter! I will give it this though, there were some pretty nice make-up effects at the end of the film and Jason did have a very sinister and disgusting look to him throughout the film. I thought it was odd that Jason seemed to use a new weapon every time he made a kill, and it was hilarious when he busted out that electric long-reach saw.

If you like the Friday the 13th films, then go ahead and watch this one, you might like it. If you didn't like the previous films I can't imagine you would like this one, but I have been wrong before...so do what you will. Anyhow, if you do see the film, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading,

-Chris

Jason has met his match before, going down two-nil to Tommy Jarvis. However, this one is different! Her name is Carrie, but for some reason she uses the name Tina Shepard.

Camp Crystal Lake has been operating peacefully for years, ever since Tommy Jarvis chained Jason to the bottom of the lake. But, you see, in horror movies, any peace is bound to be interrupted eventually. Enter Tina Shephard. Years ago the Shephard family was on vacation at Crystal Lake, when Tina's father drowned under some bizarre circumstances. At the age of 17, Tina and her mother return to Crystal Lake with Tina's psychiatrist, Dr. Crews. Dr. Crews isn't what he seems, he is obviously more interested in exploiting Tina's psychic abilities rather than helping her. This isn't very important, because it isn't very long before Tina accidentally releases Jason from what should have been his watery-grave...

Yeah, this is your average slasher movie. All the characters are obvious stereotypes. Except for the sci-fi nerd sporting a mullet. I can honestly say I've never seen that before. Tina Shephard is basically a re-work of Carrie from... 'Carrie', but she is the films saving grace. Jason against a psychic made for a nice showdown. Other than that, I'm still wondering why people keeping going to Crystal Lake, only to be surprised when maniac wearing a hockey mask tries to kill them.

Apparently this was heavily censored. Kane Hodder makes a good Jason, and there are kills aplenty, but not much gore. Oh well, it had a nice musical score if that makes up for anything...

Not too bad entry in the series - 5/10

Another Jason movie, ah yes,takes place years after Tommy Jarvis, and it seems like he's gone, guess again, a girl with telekinetic powers tries to get her dad back, but because she wasn't aware of her power, and didn't know how to control it properly, she accidentally brings Jason back, and oh no he's at it again. Well there's something you don't get everyday, man. Why did they put someone like that in? Someone who is like Carrie, please, Jason does typical murders, while she figures out how to control her powers, and tries to find out who is this Jsaon person. And the way she fights him is kind of pathetic, she just throws stuff at him and rips off his mask, can't she do something better, like smash him or send him flying to space? But then again that would be too weird, and it wasn't that exciting either. But I'll stop there. It did have everything else you'd expect in a slasher film, but I wish they could have done something else instead of a telekinetic person. Watch it if you're into it, or if you would still watch it even though it's like that.