Friday the 13th Part 3 -- 1982 -- R

I do try to find some kind of redeemable quality in movies, but this one really didn't do it for me. I guess the actors and people had some work for awhile, but it was hardly worth it. Let me count a few ways in which this film had problems.

We start with a flashback to Part 2 to see how it ended. Unlike Part 1's flashback, this one did not serve much of any real purpose other than to kill about 5 minutes and establish that we are 1 day following the end of that film.

We move on to some people who apparently live somewhere near Crystal Lake, but this is where we find problem number one. Friday the 13th has a simple premise: kill anyone who camps on Crystal Lake. These people (the first victims) had apparentlylived in this location for some time and even owned a store there. Why did he attack them? Why now? And the dude: no wipe, no flush? He deserved to die.

Anyway, we move onto the main girl and her horny friends, and she's going out to a farm house that she hasn't been to in 2 years. Apparently her family lived there prior to that time, undisturbed. So at some point, Jason decided the whole lake was his, and this occurred some where betwee parts 1 and 2. Figure out why. I dare you. Actually, I beg you. I have no idea and the movie didn't go into it.

So miss skittish reacts to every noise and sound she hears. A scream? Must run and check it out. She went out to the van and commented on the door being open, and she knew she'd left it closed. Hm. There are about 8 other people who could open it, and big surprise, one of them did. Also, these caracters check out every single frigging noise they hear. Who does this? A tree branch rustles. Who's there? Maybe the wind? It got very old, very fast.

They go into town for a second and run into this 80's gang, who of course, go out to this farm and get hacked. One of them even heard the obligatory noise and checked it out. Guess what happened the her... These guys served no purpose in the plot narrative beyond some early fodder and syphoning the gas out of the tank. One might think this created a no escape for the protagonist, but there were other, much more believable ways to do this rather than creating 3 kills for Jason. Well, one of them died, and then came back in the end or a helping hand only to die again. Weird. Maybe it's something in the water, since we will see Jason in another 8 films after dying in this one.

There were also highly curious instances of characters passing points where other characters died without noticing any blood. For some of those kills, there would be blood. Lots of it. It ain't coming out of the carpet. It happened multiple times to distraction.

A final comment on my complaint section would be some bizarre reference to "The Wild Bunch" like we've suddenly landed ourselves in the series finale of a bad sitcom. By that time, my eyes has rolled so many times that I about fell over.

Now, one significant point in this film that simpl must be mentioned is that this is the film where Jason first dons his legendary hockey mask. It is first worn by a character named Shelley (a male), who is probably the best developed character in the film. He isn't another teen cliche like everyone else. He attempts a slight character arc before he dies, but his arc was overshadowed by all the other crap in this movie.

Finally, they get kudos at one point because I did jump when the guy flopped out of the tree.

The plot attempted a shred of originality in that it involved a girl coming to face her demons at her old home with her friends. She didn't come for drinking, partying, or sex. She had a run in with Jason a couple years before, and we don't know fully what happened there, but she lived and left soon after. This was just to prove to herself that she could face the old homestead again. Where her parents are is anyone's guess.

Unfortunately, despite a decent premise, it went downhill quickly. There were so many kills in this film that occurred so close together that it got boring in the middle. I nearly fast forwarded it to the third act so something would happen again. It began rehashing elements from the first two films after awhile. The two main characters separate while everyone else is hacked. Two characters upstairs have sex and die. Kevin Bacon's death is redone. As in the end of 1, the survivor hops in a boat and then has a nightmare of someone coming up from the deep and dragging her under.

I could probably go on for awhile, but I recall doing that with two. These people need a script doctor to go over this tripe before they film it. There are a ton of talented people on the net who could do this, and I know quite a few. With all the talent available, stuff like this doesn't have to get out there.