Friday the 13th Part 3 - Movie Review

Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982)

Friday the 13th Part 3 is a slasher film directed by Steve Miner (the same director as Part 2), and has the same plot as the first two, especially Part 2 because Jason isn't in the first one, a group of teens arrive at the campground, and Jason kills them. Released in 1982, the film was the most successful film in the franchise for over 20 years, and like every installment, received harshly negative reviews.

THE GOOD

This is the most well made and most entertaining Friday the 13th that I have reviewed so far. The production value is much better than the first two and the cinematography is definitely a lot better than the first two. This also has a MUCH better Jason than Part 2, he's much bigger and far more intimidating. This Jason is much more unstoppable than in Part 2 and he's much more brutal, so this Jason is much scarier than he was in the previous one. Also, I have to mention that this is the first film to have Jason in his iconic hockey mask! The kills are actually really good in this one, they don't cut away from the violence quite as much, there's some decent gory bits here and there, by far the best kill is where Jason chops a guy in half while the guy is doing a hand stand. You don't see that much at first but it does show the body shortly after in spectacular gruesome fashion. I think part of that is thanks to the fact that the movie was shot in 3D, so we actually get to see more of the carnage. This movie does exploit the 3D to the max, but I know it would be fun to experience it in real 3D. There isn't quite as much atmosphere this time around but for what there is, it still works.

THE BAD

This film does improve with the violence and pacing, but one thing that is worse here is the acting! This film has by far the worst acting in the entire franchise. I won't explain it, I will have my favorite example down below to just provide an example of the terrible acting. Also the ending is just a complete carbon copy of the ending of the first film.

Bad Acting Example #1:

https://youtu.be/0CKs19MGLyA

CONCLUSION

Friday the 13th Part 3 is mostly an improvement over the first two just for the filmmaking aspects and entertainment value alone. The kills are better and Jason is much more intimidating than in his first outing in Part 2. Despite that, the acting is NOT good at all and the ending is a complete rip off of the ending of the first film.

7.5/10

FILM INFO

Rating:  R (N/A)

Release date:  August 13th, 1982

Run time:  95 mins

Studio:  Paramount Pictures