Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives

Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives videos

Cast & Crew

Thom Mathews

Tommy Jarvis

Jennifer Cooke

Megan Garris

Ron Palillo

Allen Hawes

David Kagen

Sheriff Michael Garris

Renee Jones

Sissy Baker

Kerry Noonan

Paula

C.J. Graham

Jason Voorhees

Darcy DeMoss

Nikki

Tom McLoughlin

Director

Tom McLoughlin

Screenwriter

Victor Miller

Writer

Don Behrns

Producer

Alice Cooper

Original Music

Harry Manfredini

Original Music

Jon Kranhouse

Cinematographer

Bruce Green

Film Editing

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Critic Reviews for Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives

Audience Reviews for Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives

• Nov 25, 2019

  This movie was my introduction to this classic 80's horror franchise back when I was an underage kid who definitely shouldn't have been watching it. The ironic thing being, I didn't watch this sneakily behind my parents back, oh no. I actually saw this one night with my dad! I can't remember how or why this happened but I think it happened to come on one night and my dad (who normally would [b]never[/b] watch anything like this) decided...oh what the hell. I think he must have thought it was OK for me to watch seeing as he was there. Either that or he just forgot I was there or didn't realise what the movie was about, probably the very latter. Anyway, it scared the shit outta me alright, bad move dad. So I don't really think I need to go into the plot, but just in case. The movie (kinda) picks up from the previous sequel with an adult Tommy Jarvis (Thom Matthews this time) heading back to Crystal Lake in order to make sure Jason is dead. Tommy makes his way to the cemetery with his friend, and future Jason fodder, Allen. They both proceed to dig up Jason's corpse (because Jason being buried isn't enough?) much to the hesitation of Allen. Upon seeing the corpse Tommy has a flashback and gets a tiny bit upset, so he proceeds to stab at the corpse with a metal railing he easily pulled off the metal fence. Allen watches bemused by Tommy's actions. Then before you can say...this is freaking me out, lightning strikes the metal bar and brings Jason's corpse back to life. Initially everything seems OK and the duo prepares to leave. But wouldn't you know it, old Jason climbs out of the grave, kills Allen, and starts off after Tommy. What follows is Tommy's desperate and unsuccessful attempts to warn the locals of Jason's return and Jason's highly successful ever-increasing body count. Now I haven't seen many of these iconic slashers for some time, but I know without a doubt that this movie is by far my favourite...and in my opinion the best example in the series of a classic 80's horror (with 'Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan' a close second). It took some time for this franchise to really get into gear in my opinion. It's like they didn't realise that the franchise worked better when being more tongue-in-cheek and almost comicbook-esque. The first few movies were too serious whilst not being particularly scary; and of course we didn't actually get the iconic hockey mask until the third flick. Until that point it was a block running around with a flippin' burlap sack on his head (looked shit). K so let's have some fun here. We know this franchise was initially trying to ride the coattails of the 'Halloween' franchise and luckily the people in charge knew they couldn't carry on doing that. Hence we have this gloriously stupid yet wholly entertaining entry to save the day. Setting aside the fact that Tommy digs up Jason's corpse and then stabs at it over and over, the actual corpse is at first completely unrecognisable. There is no face, no muscle, no anything! Just a vaguely human-shaped mound of decayed flesh covered in worms cobwebs and earth. At this point Jason is essentially a fragile-looking mummy. Yet the minute the corpse is struck by lightning it somehow gets eyeballs that work. And the next minute he's bounding out of the grave looking like he's been drinking protein shakes for the last six months. From here on its a Jason tour de force as he effortlessly kills plenty of innocent yet very stupid people in various silly ways. But hold on, where did Jason get his clothes? Pretty sure his corpse didn't have anything on, it would have rotted away. So where did he find such perfect fitting attire? From his boots to his gloves, did he pop into a local store? Lucky for Jason Tommy brought his favourite hockey mask along too huh, otherwise he'd have to pick up a balaclava or something. Speaking of the various stupid victims, twas also pretty lucky that one just happened to have a machete on-hand eh. Not sure why you'd need a machete when you're paintballing though. Did anyone ever wonder why so many people were out and about at night, in the woods, when the weather is clearly bad? Like one of Jason's victims were a couple literally having a picnic in the middle of the woods at night. Who does that? Then there was the other couple driving a shitty Volkswagon Beetle down some dirt track through the woods at night, like you do. There is the old grumpy drink obsessed gravedigger who seems harmless enough but that doesn't matter to Jason. And what 80's slasher horror is complete without the stereotypically good-looking young couple having sex that end up getting killed gruesomely. It's also highly amusing and annoying how the local Sheriff (David Kagen) absolutely refuses to listen to Tommy at any point in the movie, literally until he actually sees Jason in the flesh (ahem) before his own demise. The guy is obsessed that Tommy is behind all the recent murders that are popping up everywhere despite the fact that for half the time Tommy is locked up in his jail! Ha! You keep thinking how on earth this cop is coming to these conclusions. Simple geography and physics put Tommy in the clear but this guy ain't having none of it. Doesn't help that he's also obsessing over his hot blonde daughter Megan (Jennifer Cooke) who's been eyeing up Tommy the whole time. She loves a bad boy behind bars I guess. Turns out she's the bad girl while Tommy is the only down to earth person in the area (the Sheriff's Deputy is obsessed with his 'Terminator' laser sight gun). The movie finally comes to a close back at Camp Crystal Lake which this time actually has kids at the camp. One by one the young adults are taken out by Jason as the kids cower under their beds. Is Jason evil enough to murder little children? Well I guess he isn't or he just doesn't quite get around to it because other better targets keep popping up just in the nick of time. Again looking back it is amusing seeing these cabins. I say cabin but they look like basic garden sheds for Pete's sake. They look like a high wind would knock them down. The slightest bit of cold weather and you'd freeze to death, doesn't matter about the single fireplace geez! You call those thin things windows?? Feck me! So Tommy knows that he's gotta kill Jason in the lake where he originally died, because occult-like reasons, don't question it. So luring Jason into the lake Tommy (on a boat) manages to wrap a chain with a large boulder attached (how on earth did he manage to get that to the boat?) around Jason's neck. The silly part is at no point does it actually look like that chain is tight around Jason's neck. It looks like he could just remove it quite easily. You also have to wonder if Jason couldn't maybe break the chain seeing as he now has super zombie strength in this movie. It's also weird how when sunk at the bottom of the lake, Jason simply floats there and doesn't attempt to free himself. Not to mention the fact he is still able to grab Megan's leg, this lake must be shallow! Luckily the boat propellor is able to reach Jason (eh?) and seemingly cut him up, even though at the very end he still looks in one piece. I tend to put this movie in the same category as 'Evil Dead 2' in the sense that its a classic in the franchise, a cult, and a good movie within the genre. Whilst no one is gonna say this movie is a great movie outside the genre, within the genre it's definitely a cracker. As I've already said, this movie is basically the epitome of 80's horror. There is an even balance to the horror and humour. The humour itself is at times self-aware whilst at other times a bit goofy. Whereas the horror can swing from pretty creepy to also being somewhat goofy. The effects and visuals are solid and the cast do their job well enough despite their characters all being pretty hollow. Continuity and plot...eh just run with it. Director McLoughlin clearly knew what he wanted to do and how to go about it (possibly taking inspiration from earlier horror-comedy classics). Look out for a wicked rock tune from Alice Cooper in the end credits.

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  Super Reviewer
• Sep 16, 2016

  It took five crappy movies before someone finally realized that the only way to extract any fun from this worn-out formula would be to make it explicitly campy, and so this is the best chapter of the series, with a hilarious metahumor, witty dialogue and even good performances.

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  Super Reviewer
• May 08, 2016

  After it looked like Friday 13th films would only get worse part 6 comes along and it's pretty fun, Some very gory deaths, This time Jason's back for real this time after getting dug from his grave by Tommy from part 4 and 5 to make sure he's dead (As you do) And then Jason gets struck by lightning and bought back to life only more stronger and invincible, He's a badass zombie in other words, Incase you were like me and wondering why Tommy is normal again now after Part 5 ended where Tommy lost the plot and took over as the new Jason, Well there's a deleted scene where he's about to kill Pam but she snaps him out of it just before he does, It's entertaining and the pace is good too, It has more humour in it too like the opening scene there's a little wink to the James Bond Movies, It won't win any new fans but hardcore fans will love it.

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  Super Reviewer
• Feb 21, 2016

  I'll be completely honest here, I had a blast watching this movie. It's stupid as shit, but it's so much fun. Like seriously. I'm not even joking. Ok, the stupid shit starts immediately. This is a symptom of not only Jason, but both Freddy and Michael Myers. And that is the fact that these are supernatural beings who can come back to life and overcome death a variety of times...except when they have to die at the end of each movie. That's just absurd to me. And, of course, these types of horror films operate on a realm where the laws of humanity do not even come close to applying, but the film pretty much betrays its own rules. This guy can be revived by lightning bolts hitting a metal fence post that he has been stabbed with, but he can't survive drowning or a boat motor to the neck? The end of the film implies that he can, but the way he was revived in the seventh film, which I reviewed, suggests otherwise. But, with that said, I still enjoyed the hell out of this movie. This movie is a fan favorite because of its self-referential humor and its breaking of the fourth wall, some even see it as a precursor of Scream. And I can kinda see that, the film is definitely more overtly comedic than one would have normally expected. It plays with the slasher concept in some interesting ways. But, at its core, this is still an experiment in 80s horror cheese. And boy, oh boy does the movie not disappoint on that front. Though, to be fair, it's obvious that it was purposely designed that way, it was tongue-in-cheek. Not like other films where they were trying to make a serious horror movie and it ends up looking goofy and cheesy only years after the fact. So I'm glad this movie embraced the B-movie elements. It was definitely to its benefit, because the film does have some witty moments here and there. I still wouldn't say the movie was good, there were a couple of rough spots here and there. And like the whole thing about Tommy wanting to send Jason to hell by burning his body, only to end up reviving him, which ends up causing the death of a ton of people, seems really stupid to me. In theory, at the beginning of the film, this motherfucker is already dead and gone. What does Tommy want to accomplish with his lifeless corpse? Burning his corpse won't send Jason's soul any more to hell. So we're already starting off stupid. Realistically speaking, Jason isn't even the biggest villain in the film, it's Tommy. So I wish the movie would've played more with that idea of Tommy being the villain in bringing about the return of Jason. Then the beginning wouldn't have been so stupid. Hell, the sheriff is even justified in treating Tommy the way he did. He may not be killing the teens, but he certainly had a hand in allowing Jason to do that. So, yes, that beginning was supremely stupid to me and it's something that the film chooses to ignore. Other than that, however, this movie is pretty much a blast. It's a movie that invites you to enjoy it in whichever way possible. Whether that is to laugh at it or with it, it doesn't really matter, just as long as you enjoy it. I can imagine watching this with a group of friends would be even better. In spite of some real stupid shit, I had a super fun time watching this movie and I would recommend it for sure, even if I gave it 2.5 stars. Get a group of your friends together, watch this and hilarity will ensure. I guarantee it.

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  jesse o Super Reviewer