Friday The 13th: Part VII: The New Blood

Friday the 13th: Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

Runtime: 88 minutes

Directed by: John Carl Buechler

Starring: The typical random names you got in these movies, plus Terry Kiser

From: Paramount

I watched this on Tuesday night, for reasons I explain in the review. I don't rate this too highly; after all, I am not sure where in the lore of telekinesis is the idea that those people also see into the future... ???

As yesterday (June 13) is the canon birthday of Jason Voorhees, what better time than to see a Jason movie I hadn't reviewed here before? That, and the Friday videogame was recently released. I've heard mixed reviews about it, but once I get a modern gaming system years in the future, I know I'll play it. This has never been my favorite in the franchise; it's a shame as part of it was its legendary battle with the MPAA, where TNB got its ass kicked as at the time, the MPAA was real anal about horror movies so all the kills were neutered and the original version was destroyed years ago and it's a darn shame as a rough VHS copy exists of a few deaths and not seeing them on the big screen is a load of hogwash.

Unfortunately, the movie has other issues besides that. The movie basically being Carrie vs. Jason (they tried to do Freddy vs. Jason back then but not too surprisingly, things went awry and what a long and sordid tale it was before the film finally happened) is definitely wacky and something different, but it has always fallen a little flat to me. Sure, Terry Kiser did what he's good at and play a real jerk but him trying to exploit the telekinetic powers of teenager Tina doesn't work like it should. The fact that the other teenagers you see (aside from the amazingly bitchy Melissa) are incredibly bland and forgettable doesn't help either. The acting overall isn't always the best, but aside from Kiser I can say that Lar Park-Lincoln (as Tina) did a nice job. And of course, so did fan favorite Kane Hodder in his debut as Jason.

The final battle between Tina and Jason is pretty cool. I can't complain about the fight where Tina does various things to try and stop the unstoppable zombie killer... until Mr. Voorhees is finally dispatched. Yikes. I know that wasn't how it was originally drawn up, but stupidity led to what we got. I feel bad for director John Carl Buechler; he had done special effects for low-budget horror movies for years, and he directed the first Troll movie. He got a plum job and look at all the nonsense he had to deal with, between a goofy story, the movie being censored to death, and certain people meddling when they shouldn't have. He deserved better.