BONUS REVIEW: FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES (1986)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

6

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, once, in September of 2019

BEST SEQUENCE

I'm gonna go with the RV sequence. The RV bathroom kill is great, and the shot of Jason standing on top of the overturned RV is epic

BEST LINE

"So, what were you gonna be when you grew up?"

- Small talk between one endangered kid to another

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

56%

- Second-highest score after the very first one, by the way

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Friday the 13th: Part VI - Jason Lives indeed brings back ol' Vorhees, along with a sense of serviceable braindead fun."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"Tommy Jarvis exhumes Jason Voorhees to cremate his corpse, but inadvertently brings him back to life instead. The newly revived killer seeks revenge, and Tommy may be the only one who can stop him."

DIRECTOR

Tom McLoughlin

MAIN CAST

Thom Mathews, Jennifer Cooke, David Kagen, C. J. Graham

THOUGHTS

• I didn't remember much about this movie, so in looking it up before rewatching it, I was surprised to see that it's ranked pretty highly among fans and critics alike. Some even call it a precursor to the Scream franchise, and it definitely has a fun level of self-awareness, with some very meta jokes that generally land
• That said, and possibly related, it also didn't entirely feel like a part of the same franchise that I've been rewatching. I was surprised to see that this was rated R, because it feels more PG-13. There are some good kills, but it still feels a little tame. I generally liked the change in tone, but when a movie breaks the fourth wall like this one does it also undercuts the scares because it makes it more obvious that this is all fake and not really happening (and incidentally, I'll be reviewing Scream eventually, and it's one of the best examples of a self-aware horror movie that's also still pretty scary)
• Also unique about this movie, and kind of jarring, this is the only one so far to have children campers present at the camp. They're not really in danger at any point, but still
• Best kill: I do like the RV bathroom kill I mentioned above, but I think I have to go with the sheriff getting folded right in half by Jason
• Again, I watched this with friends, and these are their one-sentence reviews:
• Analisa: "Uh-oh"
• Ashley (my wife): "Needs more boobs"
• And speaking of Ashley and Analisa, the group of us decided that it's very fun to have a regular viewing of the Friday the 13th movies every time a Friday the 13th rolls around, but it would be nice to incorporate some other long-running slasher franchises as well. So, with that said, I'm happy to announce two new traditions: every Friday the 12th will be Nightmare on Elm Street day, and every Friday the 14th will be Halloween day. I'll probably write up reviews for them as well, and maybe eventually we'll get to other long-running horror franchises, like Scream and Saw
• But, back to the man of the day, Jason Voorhees. Happy to see you again, fella, welcome back from the grave, and looking forward to catching up with you in November