The sequels to Friday the 13th always have their pros and cons, mostly cons from critics and a mixed bag of both from fans. Some are better than others while some are just not that great. Friday the 13th Part 3 is, to me, one of the very least of the sequels while still having some decent moments. This time around,
we're treated to some characters who we don't give a hoot about and are cheering on their eventual demise, which is a gimmick that would flourish throughout the rest of the series. The cast is ok, although some of the actors don't play off of horror very well while others don't seem to know what the hell is going on. Dana Kimmel is ridiculously annoying most of the time while Larry Zerner winds up being one of the most three dimensional characters of the series (in a film that was shot in 3-D, no less). Richard Brooker, who plays Jason, still plays him as human, but more of a superhuman. He can take about as much as he dishes out, even being hanged at one point only to survive. This was the start of the loss of humanity in the character, something that disappeared entirely in the following sequels, and this jarring change of character is very much felt and one of the reasons why this one doesn't work for me. The lack of visuals this time around is no real fault of the filmmakers, including the director of the previous entry Steve Miner, who had to shoot everything in 3-D, leaving the 2-D look of the film out in the cold. I personally prefer to watch the film in 2-D, mainly because the 3-D is so difficult to sit through that it gives me headaches. I suppose if I had saw it on the big screen, I'm sure it would have been properly aligned and worked much better, but at home on TV, it just looks terrible. The special effects are about average for the series with nothing that really stands out. The only death sequences in the film really worth mentioning would be Andy's split in half and Debbie's machete through the chest from underneath. The music here is about the same as previous scores, although the new opening and closing theme is funky and catchy. And that's pretty much it. It's a weak sequel that would be turned around a bit in the next film, but Part 3 is suffers mostly from a plethora of 3-D gimmicks that don't work in 2-D, as well as having weaker characters, story and death sequences.
April 23, 2007
