2 out of 5

Directed by: Steve Miner

And back to square one.  The original created the shell for #2 to fill with better visuals, stronger horror writing, better pacing, better kills and better music.  Even excusing the 3D gags – which Miner appreciably sprinkled in, the genre an acceptable place to toss in goofy shots of popcorn popping toward the viewer – Ft13th 3 seems so much less accomplished than the previous one, coming across, just two years after our introduction to the series, as one of the hundreds of stalker knock-offs that would follow in Jason’s footsteps.  The structure mimics the first two: the forest, more teenagers, Jason kills.  But we jump back to part one in terms of our connection with this setup.  The ‘intro’ kill has no reference point, as Alice’s did in part 2, and by director Miner’s desire, Jason is now a full-blooded killer and no longer, necessarily, the forest-dwelling crazy, which means he’s granted uber stealth and speed and harpoon skills.  Thus the opening offing is cookie-cutter horror: some fake outs, some shadows, then slickly moving in for the stabbing.  Similarly uninteresting are the gaggle of teens, who have joined their friend Chris on a trip to a cottage and on-again off-again boyfriend so that she can recover from some rattling event a couple years back.  Chris’ arc is a fair attempt at trying to rope in new characters, but actress Dana Kimmell’s presentation is so bland that it’s hard to generate any interest.  When the event is revealed, its lack of conclusion makes the whole thing fizzle out, and now an hour has passed.  When the kills finally begin, the script and Miner take a respectful tact of just zooming through the majority of the cast so we can get to the Final Girl, but Miner’s ditched the exciting one-shots he used in part 2, and our survivor acts in the same helpless, distressed manner as Alice in the original, which means a lot of delaying so Jason can catch up to wherever she’s hidden.  The effects are on par with part 2, but censors required things to be toned down, hence the slightly more, eh, comical feeling to the deaths.  Manfredini’s score still has some nifty cues, but a sudden 80s electronic influence derails the cool chaotic sounds he’d used previously.  Oh well.  Friday the 13th was sorta built to just be a generic horror vehicle, and part III is just that.  It’s no worse than any other generic genre flick, but since it carried the same director as the superior part 2, there were hopes it could’ve added something more to the franchise than a mask.