Answer quickly: a hugely successful Horror picture made on a budget that makes a jar full of
pennies look like Scrooge McDuck's vault prompts the studio to call for a sequel. What's the fastest
way to get another movie onto the big screen in under a year? Easy. Remake the original. Taking
that approach, Friday the 13th Part 2 came together faster than a flock of Blu-ray.com
readers lining up for a buy-one-get-five-free sale at Best Buy. With a budget that added a few
nickels found under the couch and a dime or two recovered from the floorboards of that 1976
Chevette, the sequel, like its predecessor, raked in an impressive horde of cash for Paramount.
Introducing Jason Voorhees as the world's favorite machete-wielding, teenager-killing, dead
mother-grieving maniac, Friday the 13th Part 2 sees its hero strangle, stab, and slice a
group of camp counselors and a few unfortunate souls who happen to stray onto his turf. Terribly
repetitive, completely derivative, and a whole lot of fun in a macabre sort of way, Friday the
13th Part 2 revels in straight formula and recalls the glory days of the franchise before, gulp,
Jason went to outer space or some such nonsense.
Jason Voorhees: Mass murderer or disgruntled Detroit Lions fan? You decide.
It's five years after the events of Friday the 13th and
Camp Crystal Lake, better known as "Camp Blood," sits vacant and condemned. That fact
doesn't
stop camp counselor extraordinaire Paul (John Furey) from setting up shop nearby. With his
collection of young and gullible counselors assembled, Paul frightens them with a tale of Jason
Voorhees, famed drowning victim at Crystal Lake and believed to still be alive, now a full-grown
man, living in the surrounding woods, surviving on wildlife, and stalking any teenager that shows
up on the campgrounds. As the night drags on, myth becomes deadly reality for a group of
hapless and hormonal teenagers as the legend himself, Jason Voorhees, turns Crystal Lake red
with blood as he avenges his dark and disturbing past. Only the levelheaded Ginny (Amy Steel)
may have there wherewithal to survive the night, using Jason's own limited brain power against
him.
The name of the game in Friday the 13th Part 2 is "repetitive," and it becomes
borderline
obnoxiously so. The film begins with an extended recap of the events of the first film's final act,
intercut with shots of that film's lone survivor restlessly tossing and turning in cerebral agony as
her
mind sleepily recalls the terrors she faced a year ago. While not quite as dumbfounding as the
instant replay found in Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2, this sequence makes Friday
the 13th
Part 2 rather cumbersome from the get-go. Nevertheless, the sequences sets up the film's
first kill (these poor survivors rarely live past the first few minutes of the sequel; just ask Jay Hernandez) and allows
newcomers to catch up with the story and understand more clearly this film's finale. Through
the
remainder of the film, fidgety audiences play the waiting game as they are introduced to
delectably dull victims that patiently wait for their demise. So thinly developed and
completely unimportant to the story are they that
audiences are apt to forget their faces, let alone names, throughout the film. Remembered more
for how they die in a split-second edit than for how they live through the course of the movie,
this band of skinny and scantily-clad counselors are like diapers: identical, purposeful,
completely disposable when soiled, and more memorable for what they look like at the end of
their
life than at any point before.
Unfortunately, the pay-off for the long wait time to see this collection insufferable characters
meet the sharp end of random toolshed staples is akin to that 87-minute-long stare at the wall at
the dentist's office, only to be called back for a root canal. It's not the kills aren't fun, it's that
they mean nothing in context when "that guy in the wheelchair" or "that one girl that went
skinny dipping" kick the bucket, because their development is about as thorough and purposeful
as a fast food menu. Even then, the kills last but a frame or two, the camera cutting away as
quickly as the brain is able to process the information on-screen. Perhaps it's the Saw-ification of the
Horror genre, but these kills don't pack much of a punch, certainly not playing as squirm-worthy
or painting
the frame red with blood. Sure, a machete to the throat or a hammer to the back of the head
makes for solid Horror kills, but the shots just don't hold up all that well. Finally, there is Jason,
his introduction here, like the rest of the film, slow and purposeful, viewers becoming
well-aquatinted with his hands and feet long before the film finally reveals his bag-covered noggin
(the trademark hockey mask doesn't make an appearance until Part 3).
Nevertheless,
Part 2 features a nice payoff that is worth the wait with a strong, imaginative ending and
a very slow-motion glimpse at Jason's Sloth-like mug, a face that
only a headless mother could love.
Friday the 13th Part 2 slices into Blu-ray with a rather strong 1080p, 1.78:1-framed
transfer. Plenty of grain may be seen over the image early on, appearing so heavy over a few very
dark shots that it seems to mask the image almost entirely. The grain field practically appears
much less substantial during the brighter outdoor sequences. A fair level of visible detail is to be
seen throughout, whether in the interior shots that see Alice's murder or in the bright, vibrant
exteriors where the image truly shines. Also impressive is an old, abandoned, neglected, run-down
shack as seen in chapter six. Its filthy toilet and weather-worn wood planks take on a natural
appearance that places the viewer in the undesirable locale. Colors are vibrant in the daylight,
particularly those in clothing and foliage. The image sports a fair level of depth, and clarity and
detail remain consistent in both the foreground and background. Blacks are sufficiently rendered
and flesh tones appear accurate. Though a few pops and speckles crop up from time to time, they
never interfere with what is an above-average transfer of an older catalogue Horror title.
Friday the 13th Part 2's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack impresses only to the extent
that it gets the job done. The track features a few good, realistic environmental sound effects that
fool the listener into believing they are real, for instance a dog barking far in the distance. The score
plays adequately, the front-heavy delivery not terribly impressive but simply satisfactory considering
the limited source. It spreads out across the front well enough, punctuated by good highs that
make up the trademark "shrieks" and the famous Friday the 13th chanting. Sound rarely
strays to the back channels, but the 5.1 mix nevertheless offers up a more spacious and clear
experience than its mono counterpart. Dialogue sometimes plays at a slightly low volume, but is
otherwise well-presented.
Friday the 13th Part 2 on Blu-ray offers up only a few bonus features. Inside Crystal
Lake Memories (1080p, 11:15) features author Peter Bracke discussing several aspects of his
book and some details pertaining to Part 2. Friday's Legacy: Horror Conventions
(1080p, 6:50) takes viewers into the world of horror conventions. Jason Forever (480p,
29:27) features four of the actors to portray Jason: Ari Lehman, Warrington Gillette, C.J. Graham,
and Kane Hodder. These otherwise silent actors come together for a Q&A session at the Fangoria
Convention on January 4th, 2004. Concluding the supplements is part two of the Lost Tales
From Camp Blood short
(1080p, 8:54) and the film's theatrical trailer (1080p, 2:12).
A copycat of its predecessor, Friday the 13th Part 2 is likely to lull viewers to sleep with an
agonizingly long and familiar set-up before the film starts to take off. Even then, the kills are
well-staged but rather meaningless outside the actual act of murder, because this film tosses in a
bunch of expendable, one-dimensional nobodies into the mix that do nothing but run around
half-dressed in tight-fitting clothes waiting to be killed. Introducing Jason, but not as audiences
have
come to know and love him, Friday the 13th Part 2 is one of the better entries into the
series thanks to its classic, no-nonsense, straight-out-of-the-book approach that might be
repetitive, but it repeats a proven, marketable, and even entertaining-to-a-degree formula.
Paramount's Blu-ray release should please fans. Though the extras are a bit thin, the studio has
included a wonderful-in-context
video transfer and a suitable lossless soundtrack. Recommended for fans of the series.
Paramount Home Entertainment has announced that they will bring the first two sequels to the legendary horror franchise 'Friday the 13th: Part 2' and 'Friday the 13th: Part III' to Blu-ray on June 16th. For both releases, video will be presented in 1.85:1 1080p ...
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