X-Entertainment lurvs Friday the 13th Part 2.

A little over a year ago, I wrote an article listing the top ten moments from Friday the 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter, which at the time was my favorite film in the nearly dozen-entry long series. While I'd still recommend that one first for those new to the lore (if you're ever going to be converted, Part 4 is the one to do it), I must personally flip flop: Part 2 is, and probably will forever be, my favorite Jason flick. That's all I have to say with this one, but let's see if I can squeeze out another 3,000 words.

For mysterious reasons, Part 2 gets a ton of play on the cable movie channels. I mean, a real lot. More than any other F13 flick -- heck, more than any of Freddy's flicks, too. I own Part 2 on DVD, but you know how it goes. We all have movies in our DVD collection that haven't been dusted off in five years, but if the same film makes its way to television, we're all over the channel. Like misguided bats. Maybe we just revel in the fact that someone else, somewhere else is watching the same stupid movie at the same stupid time. Maybe we're just too lazy to disconnect the video games and reconnect the DVD players. Whatever the case, with Part 2's repeated airings on late night cable, I've now seen it 170,000 times. I'm still not bored. I haven't once yearned for a new horror movie whore to make falling asleep easier.

As Part 2 ranks high on my list, I'm coming to realize that I'm not really a hardcore horror movie fan. Not really. I like them, but only a select few are actively and often sought out. What it's really about, I think, is the atmosphere of certain horror movies -- like this one here. If they stripped away the murderers, these are places I wouldn't mind visiting, filled with situations I've wished I was in. I guess what I'm saying is, deep down, I really want to nail a camp counselor and smoke pot with the apathetic police officer.

Friday the 13th: Part 2 debuted in 1982, somewhat of a hit at theaters but a complete and total failure with critics. Then again, successful, money-making movie critics probably find trashing movies like Friday the 13th and its sequels as critical to their job security as remembering not to rip a coworker's head off and present it to a member of the senior staff. Deep down, I bet most of these critics left the theaters really wanting to nail camp counselors and smoke pot with apathetic police officers. I'm sure you could write a list of a hundred things you love that are neither "smart" nor "good." Must we always strive to be better people than we really are? Sometimes, honestly, I just want to be an idiot.

The Film, Finally: Revealing that she'd been the killer all along during the climax of the original Friday the 13th, Pamela Voorhees was subsequently offed by who would've been her final conquest. In the closing moments of the film, it seems as though Jason, Pamela's dead son, returned from the grave (in this case, a lake he drowned in decades ago) to avenge his mother's death by killing the surviving heroine. Not so. As it turns out, that was a dream sequence. Motherfucker. After the longest flashback sequence ever, Alice (star character of the original) is killed. We don't know who did it yet, but yeah, we totally know who did it. So begins the not-dead, full-grown Jason Voorhees' path of destruction, one that's still going strong today, 25 years later. It's not the kind of Jason Voorhees we're used to, but even deranged movie monster serial killers are allowed to evolve. Give sackhead a break.

Below are my ten favorite aspects of (or moments from) the film. It's all wacky and out of chronological order, but you'll be able to piece most of the movie together by the end of it. Actually, if you've seen the original film, you've pretty much seen this one. Part 2 only changed the doorknobs and drapes, but damn, I really dig those new doorknobs and drapes.

#1 - The Ambiance: As mentioned, part of the enjoyment I get from watching F13 flicks is a sheerly associative love for dark, desolate, beat up old places that somehow pass as vacation spots. Love 'em. Heading out to an overused, unkempt forest cabin with a dozen drowsy drunks is my dream vacation, and up until the point where Jason starts hacking people up in these movies, I'm always really envious of everyone.

In Part 2, all of our characters are camp counselors, spending their first few days learning the counseling ropes at a campsite all too close to the now-defunct Camp Crystal Lake. They instead spend most of their time partying, indulging in everything from spooky campfire tales to random dance-offs. It's not that I'm yearning to participate in a dance-off, but you know where I'm going with this. In F13 movies, particularly the earlier ones, none of the characters have any clue that something's off until like, the last two minutes of the film. I prefer things that way. It's a lot more fun to see bad, twenty-something actors play awkward teenage happy-go-luckers than it is to see bad, twenty-something actors play thirty-something survivalists.

Random Trivia Bit: Roger Ebert gave Friday the 13th: Part 2 half a star.

#2 - Ginny: Played by Amy Steel, our lead heroine is the most awesome character outside Jason himself in the entire series. I can't believe Steel wasn't in more films; she's terrific actor, one who doesn't receive nearly enough credit for single-handedly making Part 2 one of the most beloved entries in the series. Steel has to work with what's admittedly some of the worst material in movie history -- including a climactic scene where Ginny convinces Jason that she's his mother by putting on Pamela's old sweater and talking maternally, holy Christ -- and still manages to pull off a performance that makes us almost forget what we're dealing with. Instead of being just the prettiest damsel and thus Jason's main adversary, Ginny was smart, witty and strong. Even factoring in twenty-five years worth of aging, this movie still makes me crush all over Amy Steel.

Serving as the camp leader's second-in-command (and semi-girlfriend), it's Ginny who first ponders the possibility of Jason having survived and grown to adulthood in the wilderness -- if memory serves, she suggests that he'd either be a "boy-beast" or a "frightened retard." And even when she's saying things like that, you never once get the urge to glance over at the other person on the couch and make fun of her.

Random Trivia Bit: I never thought I'd be so into a character named "Ginny."

#3 - Jason, Sort Of: If you're a mild fan of the F13 movies but have never seen Part 2, there's a real important reason to do so: It's got the strangest Jason of 'em all. It's commonly known (okay, by "us") that Jason varies ever so slightly from film to film, having begun as a deranged human, turned into more of a zombie, reinvented as some kind of swamp creature and ultimately ending up somewhere in-between. Discounting the little boy in the lake from the original (after all, that's just a dumb dream sequence now), Part 2 features the first-ever appearance of Jason Voorhees. Even I think I can take him.

He doesn't get the hockey mask until Part 3, folks. Instead, Jason prowls the woods with a pillowcase over his head -- known by fans as the "sack mask." (This is actually referenced visually in Freddy Vs. Jason during one of the flashback/dream sequences.) Smaller in stature, human in speed and movement and wearing god damned overalls, Jason looks like a farmer trying to hide a bad haircut. He's a monster, but he's not all that monstrous. Because of this -- and very unlike the later entries in the series -- Jason does not kill his victims with brute strength. He's just good at stabbing people.

He was given a major makeover for Part 3, and Jason's look in that film stayed with him for the rest of the series. It's interesting to see the icon in this formative stage. Believe it or not, the Jason of Part 2 didn't just have hair -- he had long hair! And eyebrows!

Random Trivia Bit: Warrington Gillette was credited for the role of Jason, but he only played the character during the final moments of the film. Steve Dash (credited only as "Jason stunt double") did the rest, and has spent years making sure fans know it.

#4 - Stu Charno: Part of the reason you're reading this article is because I've already begun my annual, all-too-early anticipation of the Halloween season. When people think of Halloween, they might think of Dracula, Frankenstein, or hell, Jason Voorhees. I think of Stu Charno. It's sick.

Stu played Ted in the film, a geeky guy who never gets called out on that fact. It seems odd to create a character like Ted and not have the others constantly humiliate him, but that's what we get, and Ted's one popular counselor. He pulls tricks, plays pranks and indeed makes it in and out of the movie without getting killed. (He stays at a bar as his friends head back to get chopped up.) If you're Part 2 virgin, you're going to think Ted's an asshole when you first meet him. And to be honest, you're still going to think he's an asshole when the movie's over. But watch it three or four more times -- this guy grows on you like a bastard redheaded fungus.

Random Trivia Bit: Stu doesn't just remind me of Halloween because he was a horror film. He also starred in an old Hallmark Halloween commercial that I reviewed -- he's the guy in the "This Is My Halloween Costume Shirt." Stu has read the article, and thankfully never complained about all the terrible things I said. Stu, baby, I was just a kid then.

#5 - Jason's House: Aside from getting to see Jason Voorhees at his most human, Part 2 also affords us a better view into his lifestyle. We even get to see his house. Jason's grown up in the woods and presumably didn't kill anyone until the events of this movie. Nobody had really been around to kill. He lived his life foraging alone in the woods, eating wild animals and, piece by piece, building the sad shit sack seen above. That's Jason's house!

I don't know why it intrigues me so much. My mind fills with proposed fan fiction whenever I dream about Jason's house. I guess I just think there's a story in it, somewhere. Jason: The Early Years. I always wonder where he salvaged all the materials from, unless it's just crap from the old Crystal Lake campsite. If not, one must assume that each door and wood plank had a story to tell and a killing behind it. I picture Jason at his most agreeable, happily building his shoddy fortress, chewing fox ears and frogs during breaks. The inside is filled with what you'd expect -- a couple of broken chairs and ornaments, a really disgusting toilet (Jason even gave the toilet sector a privacy curtain), and of course, the requisite room full of corpses.

Random Trivia Bit: Jason fashioned his own little window. Like pups sleeping together, that's super cute.

#6 - The Severed Head of Mrs. Voorhees: The idea is that Pamela Voorhees is the only person Jason ever knew, and all of the violence is actually just his weird little way of avenging her death. His obsession with Maw knowing no bounds, Jason has actually saved her disembodied head from the events of the first flick. Freakin' awesome. The Jason of Part 2 lacks a hockey mask, yes, but I think this severed head thing just about makes up for it.

Part of Jason's shack in the woods is a dedicated shrine to Mrs. Voorhees, her head being the centerpiece of a sea of dead bodies. I love that severed head. Best of all is how much its appearance changes from scene to scene. In the very beginning of the movie, it's not quite mummified (and more importantly, it's resting next to an older-style bottle of V8 juice), soon trading it its still-human hues for what you're seeing in the photo up above. It'd suffer through a final makeover for the closing moments of the film -- in fact, the very last scene of the film, where the camera slowly zooms in on the decapitated Voorhees head seemingly for no apparent reason. You might notice that during this scene, the head looks an awful lot like a girl in makeup. It was a girl in makeup. Originally, the ending of Part 2 had the gross head's eyes opening, with Mrs. Voorhees acknowledging the audience just before the credits rolled. Cheesy as it may have been, I go to sleep every night pissed that they didn't do that scene.

Random Trivia Bit: Betsy Palmer reprised her role as Pamela Voorhees for some new Part 2 footage, but admits that she's still never seen the film.

#7 - The Gore Quota Was Met: Having said what I've said, it won't surprise you to learn that when it comes to gore in these kinds of movies, I'm not terribly interested. That is, unless there is no gore. It won't make the movie for me, but it can break it. The great horror franchises of this generation have very important elements of tradition. Ideas that may very well be bad ideas, but fuck you if you change them. All of the big horror icons feature recurring elements throughout their films, and it's no different with Jason Voorhees. F13 flicks must include certain things for the films to feel "complete," and in this case, we need to see blood.

Part 2 isn't the franchise at its goriest, but there's enough here to work with -- especially because the big crackdown on such things hadn't struck in full by 1981. Swords to the face, double impalements, barbed wire choke-outs and simple stabbings helped deliver what audiences really came for. It's not the reason I watch these films, but that shit had better be there.

Random Trivia Bit: Every Friday the 13th film has had scenes cut to avoid an "X" or "NC-17" rating. Every single one. It seems that every death scene in Part 2 was trimmed for content, so if there's not enough gore in it for you, point your water pistol at the MPAA.

#8 - Mark and Vicky: Most F13 installments include one extremely sympathetic character. Part 3 had Shelly, the chubby prankster who just wanted to be loved. Part 4 had Jimmy, a well-meaning geek played by an apparently crack-addicted Crispin Glover. And Jason X had...I dunno...that robot chick. In Part 2, it's not the more obvious choice in Ted, but Mark, a completely nice, normal guy who just happens to be in a wheelchair. He can't go bar hopping with the guys. He can't even go up the fucking stairs. When Vicky, a nice catch all things considered, makes a pass at him, he stops blaming God for the motorcycle accident and starts thanking God for keeping the nerves in his manhood functional. After most of the counselors head out for one last night on the town, Mark and Vicky stay behind to do the Sheeba Dance of Nastry Strokes.

First, they try their hand at a bunch of handheld video games. Foreplay. Then they get steamy and make-outty. Because women are good for nothing, Vicky can't commit to the big fuck without sprucing herself up first and heads back to her cabin to change panties and spray her crotch with perfume. So Mark's waiting around, and you know he'd be pacing hardcore if at all possible. Already self-conscious for leg-related reasons, Mark gets teary and antsy wondering if Vicky will ever come back. She does, but not before Jason machete chops him in the freakin' head. Soooo close. He was soooooo close. Vicky gets the knife shortly thereafter, and we spend the rest of the movie wishing we could turn back time and get Mark laid before the machete thing. We're fine with him dying, but let the guy win a little.

Random Trivia Bit: His bad luck continued. Tom McBride, who played Mark, died in 1995 from AIDS.

#7 9 - The ~~Gore~~ Nudity Quota Was Met: Having said what I've said, it won't surprise you to learn that when it comes to ~~gore~~ nudity in these kinds of movies, I'm not terribly interested. That is, unless there is no ~~gore~~ nudity. It won't make the movie for me, but it can break it. The great horror franchises of this generation have very important elements of tradition. Ideas that may very well be bad ideas, but fuck you if you change them. All of the big horror icons feature recurring elements throughout their films, and it's no different with Jason Voorhees. F13 flicks must include certain things for the films to feel "complete," and in this case, we need to see ~~blood~~ tits.

Part 2 isn't the franchise at its ~~goriest~~ nakedest, but there's enough here to work with -- especially because the big crackdown on such things hadn't struck in full by 1981. ~~Swords to the face, double impalements, barbed wire choke-outs and simple stabbings~~ Tits helped deliver what audiences really came for. It's not the reason I watch these films, but that shit had better be there.

Random Trivia Bit: Every Friday the 13th film has had scenes cut to avoid an "X" or "NC-17" rating. Every single one. It seems that every ~~death~~ sex scene in Part 2 was trimmed for content, so if there's not enough ~~gore~~ ass shots in it for you, point your water pistol at the MPAA.

10 - Jason Unmasked: In nearly all of the Friday the 13th films, Jason eventually loses the mask. I hate the films where he doesn't on principle alone, and that should tell you something about how important this unmasking stuff is. Ginny thinks she's killed Jason, but in the final moments of the film, the monster manages one last assault, blasting through a window without his trusty sack mask. (Ginny had previously removed it to check out the thought-dead creature's face, but audiences weren't allowed to see the results.)

And uh, this Jason uh...yeah. He's...different. With long hair and gross teeth, Jason at this point is merely a really ugly son of a bitch and in no way something conceivably fathered by Satan. Because it's not an impossibly disfigured look, it's easier to imagine seeing something like this on our many travels through dark alleys and death-cursed campsites. That makes it a bit scarier than the norm. This look was entirely abandoned in Part 3, and Jason wouldn't appear with any substantial tufts of hair until his ninth outing onscreen. I suppose I'm drawn to this version of Jason's face because it's not at all "showy." It doesn't try to be so freaky and grandly unveiled that we feel like we're being made to applaud. It's just there, weird and frightening, making us all feel that much prettier.

Random Trivia Bit: Though we find out that Ginny survived Jason's final attack, we never learn what happened to Paul, her boyfriend. Both he and Jason are implied missing at the end of the film, and fans have since debated his chances of survival. Endlessly. Like, with pie charts and PowerPoint presentations.

If I didn't have to already stretch so much for 10, I'd give you a bonus #11. But I did. Goodnight.

-- Matt (8/14/05)

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