Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives Reviews

Just before being dismembered in this, the sixth entry in one of the most revolting film series ever made, an alcoholic gravedigger quips, "Some folks have a strange idea of entertainment." Indeed. FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES observes the same depressing body-count formula as the previous films, but this time writer-director McLoughlin, who is new to the series, adds a refreshing (relatively speaking, of course) element--self-parody. The film begins as Mathews, the troubled teen who dispatched the last two Jasons, inadvertently resurrects Jason--although there seems to be a bit of confusion over which Jason is resurrected in this film (the one killed in PART IV or the "new" Jason killed in Part V). Mathews skewers his corpse with a metal rod, which attracts lightning to strike not once but twice, bringing Jason back to life. This leaves the hockey-masked killer (Graham) to wander back to Camp Crystal Lake, where he terrorizes cabinfuls of innocent little grade schoolers and their teenage counselors. From the parody of the classic James Bond credits sequence (looking down the gun barrel), in an iris effect Jason strolls in, turns to the camera, and pulls his machete. Dozens of self-conscious little jokes are sprinkled throughout PART VI: JASON LIVES--which proves little different from its precursors. In sharp contrast to PART V, which had the most gratuitous nudity in the series, there are no nubile teenagers displaying their charms in PART VI. The violence is also toned down considerably, with only a few bloody moments, most of the killing being suggested or taking place off screen. The visual style of this film is superior as well, with cinematographer Kranhouse doing a beautifully slick, professional job, adding some very accomplished camera moves and some good underwater footage. Besides the humor and the technical savvy, the biggest difference between this film and the five before it is that the characters are actually allowed to live long enough for the audience to develop some sort of empathy with them. Some of these teenagers are downright likable, and we don't want to see them get killed. That element, more than any other, was the real breakthrough in the series.