Movie Info
Movie Name: Friday the 13th Part 3
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): August 13, 1982
MPAA Rating: R
I tried knocking, but you didn’t answer
Jason Voorhees (Richard Booker) is on the run after the attack of Ginny Field (Amy Steel) and hiding in the woods of Crystal Lake. Chris Higgins (Dana Kimmell) has returned to Crystal Lake to confront her fears about an attack years earlier and has brought her friends to help her. Unfortunately for Chris and her friends, Jason isn’t done with his killing spree, and Chris’ past is returning to haunt her.
Directed by Steve Miner, Friday the 13th Part 3 is a horror slasher film that is sometimes also known as Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D. Following Friday the 13th Part 2 in 1981, the horror franchise film garnered negative reviews but was a financial success (it is credited for knocking E.T. out of the number one spot for the first time).
It took two films, but Friday the 13th Part 3 set up the film series with what became its iconic look. The first film featured Jason’s mother as the killer, the second film featured Jason in a sack (resembling The Town that Dreaded Sundown’s killer), and this film finally introduced the hockey masked killer that everyone identifies the series with. Friday the 13th Part 3 is classic Friday the 13th, but it isn’t my favorite of the series.
I’ve often argued that most horror movies need 30+ seconds of intense yoyo-ing
The movie is more of the same (as if those expected something different). The original plot was going to surround final girl Ginny Field being hunted at a mental hospital (a la Halloween II), but Amy Steel declined to return. The movie instead keeps its old format with Jason killing a whole bunch of horny teenagers at a cabin in the woods. It is good that it is a direct continuation from the second film (because teens or anyone continuing to come to Crystal Lake despite the warnings would be stupid), but the need to serve up fresh meat to Jason leads to lame ’80s bikers, the tormented subplot of Chris’s past, and an ending that mirrors the first film’s ending.
The cast is as expected as well. Dana Kimmell isn’t as interesting of a lead as Amy Steel and most of the other characters are cardboard cutouts of stock characters in ’80s horror films (especially the pudgy “funny guy” Shelly played by Larry Zerner who is responsible for giving Jason his mask). Jason is played by Richard Brooker in this film.
You’re right guys…no more mask. I’m beautiful inside!
Part of the reason that this film ranks lower for me is that it was shot in 3D. As a result you have things like yo-yos coming toward your face and a snake striking at you. This might have been ok in the theater (I somehow doubt it was very convincing there either), but it is cheesy and with video already on the rise in 1982, the makers had to know that it would likely not be seen in 3D often after its release…leading to a painfully shot film.
Friday the 13th Part 3 is an ’80s slasher film to the max. It is the type of film that is made fun of when films spook slasher films. It is funny which is sometimes intentional but often unintentional, but I argue that a bad horror movie makes the best comedy. Friday the 13th Part 3 will please fans of the film and was followed by the superior Friday the 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter in 1984.
Related Links:
Friday the 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter (1984)
Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
