Tuesday, June 23

Voorhees Part Deux - Quick Thoughts and Little DVD Comparison

They blew one of the biggest sequel potentials in slasherdom here. I can't think of any other fright flicks that had such potent makings of one of the biggest reveals in mainstream Horror history than Friday the 13th. Mrs. Voorhees' cherished son could have made one incredible introduction, but instead F13 II blows that wad in nonsensical fashion before the opening credits. If things had been so quiet for five years after the massacre; how in the hell could have Jason found Alice? Let alone crawl out from his shack down by the river to even walk suburban streets and then find his way back?

would you like fries with your hotness?

This sequel is full of questions like that. Why does Jason run from a lone sheriff? Why does he move the whistling pot off the hot element? Where did all the camper teens go? How does Ginny defeat Jason? Ginny pees herself? How does Terry's little furry feces factory magically re-animate? Where's Paul? It's so downright frustrating that even the small questions annoy. One can imagine the surprise hit that was the original spurred a quickie sequel that forced a gloss over on these things and more. The introduction of Jason is there, however as noted; Miner and Kurz mostly squander an opportunity that seems so obvious...and rip-off a Mario Bava kill from Twitch of the Death Nerve.


I am coming down hard on the film. It goes for what's easy and reduces itself down to an (albeit good) stock standard slasher. Though maybe it was a degree of uncertainty whether or not eleven and a half more additions would be the future. Well, twelve and a half more...

*fap fap fap*

The above capture is one of the things the film gets so right. If there's one featured actress I would want to see undress, skinny dip, dress, and then die--it's Kirsten Baker. Jason is at his most human and his actions act as a good refresher for the whiners of his intelligent antics in the most recent installment. Also the big lingering reveal of sack head in the cabin's bedroom is perfect and little shots like Vickie's bloodied shoes limply dragging down the stairs eerily stick with you. Otherwise, there's so much the story could have done to be much more suspenseful and epic feeling in scale. I guess so is life and at least it's not Freddy's Revenge.

Paramount's new High Definition-sourced transfer is generally great looking, especially evident in the earlier daytime sequences. There is some noise reduction, but the bright and lively image topples the original 1999 DVD presentation with little problem. Also kudos to the studio for including the original mono soundtrack.

1999 DVD / 2009 Deluxe Edition

No comments:

...do you dare tread upon the staircase?