Friday the 13th Part 2 - Movie Review

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

Friday the 13th Part 2 came out in 1981, directed by Steve Miner and is about a new group of counsellors going to Camp Crystal Lake, 5 years after the events of the first film, and this time, Jason is after them! The film received negative reviews from critics, who bashed it for being "gross exploitation". The film was also a huge success at the box office, while grossing less than its predecessor, it grossed $21.7 million on a budget of $1.25 million.

Now we shall get to the review!

THE GOOD

Much like the first film, there is some solid atmosphere here. It always feels like something bad is going to happen at any given moment. Most of the acting is pretty good, although not quite as good as some of the acting in the first one. The cinematography is very good too, there's great wides, the POV shots are really good too. The movie does have a slow pace but does move faster than the first one so I do prefer watching this one over the first one. The characters, while two dimensional, are quite fun! The kills are okay, my favorite being where Jason jams a machete into a handicapped guy's face. I really love the campfire scene where they tell the legend of Jason Voorhees and Camp Crystal Lake, it's perfectly executed and sets a great mood for the film. I also love how different Jason feels here compared to the rest, he just kind of feels like a hillbilly, just one who happens to be a serial killer. You also don't really see him much either, he feels very mysterious throughout most of the movie. The musical score is fantastic, which is something I will say for nearly all of these movies.

THE BAD

While more entertaining than the first one, in many ways it's nowhere near as effective as the first one. There are a ton of terrible cuts in an attempt to make the movie less gory. The climax is entertaining, but it's nowhere near as exciting as the climax from the first movie. It's quite heavy on the slapstick. 

CONCLUSION

Friday the 13th Part 2 may not be as good as the first film purely in the horror aspect, but it's more entertaining than the first one. The film does have great atmosphere, fun characters, a wonderful musical score, and some okay kills, but its slapstick heavy climax and butchered editing during the kill scenes really prevent it from being one of the best in the series.

7/10  -  GOOD

Stay tuned for my review of Ghostbusters, coming October 1st!

Film details

MPAA:  R (N/A)

Release date:  May 1st, 1981

Run time:  86 mins

Studio:  Paramount Pictures 

Sources

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th_Part_2