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Saturday, October 15, 2005

Part VI- Jason Lives
Just so you know, this 1986 effort is not to be confused with Jason's 1976 double live album, Jason Comes Alive!.

Tommy Jarvis and Arnold Horshack escape from a lunatic asylum so Tommy can...uh...dig up Jason's corpse and cremate it, just to make sure he's really dead this time. Once they open the coffin, Tommy flips out and stabs Jason through the chest with metal bar from the cemetery gate. Lightning strikes the bar- twice- and, just like Ben Franklin predicted, Jason is resurrected. Now he's nigh indestructible! He's all grey colored and worm covered and he just can't be stopped anymore. Way to go, Tommy.

I liked the Tommy of Part V better, actually. He was a quiet, a bit of a psychopath himself, given to fits of rage. Here, he's just a cute guy who's misunderstood by the mean old local sheriff. That's OK- during Jason's rampage at Camp Crystal Lake (oh, excuse me- Camp Forest Green, now) the sheriff will get his! Jason racks up a big body count of 18 this time.

These movies are getting boring...the characters are strictly Jason fodder now. Alot of people have no reason to even be in the area (like the couple in the woods, at night, celebrating their engagement over champagne...?) besides to add to the body count. There's no style, no atmosphere. And the jokes are getting ludicrous, as well- there's so much overt humor this could almost be classified "horror/comedy". Even Jason hams it up quite a bit here. Thank Jeebus he doesn't speak, or I fear we'd have another Freddy Krueger on our hands. This entry marks the first appearance of actual campers- yes, gasp, children. While it could've lent an interesting new element to the series, the kids just scream on occasion and call each other "dude".

At the end, Tommy has padlocked a huge chain around Jason's neck, the other end of the chain to a big rock, and both Jason and rock are at the bottom of Crystal Lake. "It's over," says Tommy, "It's finally over.". Dammit, he lied! Why did you lie to me, Tommy? There's 5 more movies to go! 5! Mommy, make it stop!

Oh, and no exploding credits, much to my dismay. This movie had the "Jason as Agent 007" opening credits. Funny, yes, but it sets the tone for the movie as less-than-scary. Jason had firmly passed into icon territory at this point. Sigh. Tip #1 for making a horror movie: if you want it to have any atmosphere, or be the least bit scary, treat your subject matter seriously.

How can there still be 5 movies left? HOW?! I feel tears coming on.

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