FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES (1986)
Jason Lives! screams the title of this film, and boy, does he ever. After the outrage over the unfairly maligned A New Beginning, Tom McLoughlin's more comedic take on the Friday the 13th mythos not only wraps up the Tommy Jarvis trilogy but introduces the final piece of the puzzle: Zombie Jason. With this addition, the series' formula would be complete. And just think: it only took six films to get here.
Part 6 opens in a virtually identical manner as Part 5: Jason's casket is unearthed so that Tommy (Return of the Living Dead's Thom Matthews this time) can make sure once and for all that ol' maggot-head is really dead. Still plagued by nightmares of his hockey-masked tormentor, Tommy wants to burn Jason's body and end the visions. With a little help from Welcome Back Kotter's Horshack (a clearly slumming Ron Palillo), Tommy pierces the body repeatedly with a metal rod and douses the corpse with gasoline. As he prepares to start the fire, however, a freak thunderstorm erupts. Lightning strikes the rod, still protruding out of Jason's chest, and awakens the rotting corpse of our favorite machete-wielding madman. (Just go with it. You know you want to.)
Yes, boys and girls, Jason's back. You could probably tell by the smell.
Writer/director Tom McLoughlin (the first filmmaker to both write and direct a Friday the 13th installment) pulls out all the stops to make this a fun, kinetic adventure. This film is almost kid-friendly in its presentation, with a strong reliance on humor (a first in the series) and less emphasis on terror. Gore is kept to a minimum, nubile female bodies remain clothed at all times, and on-screen drug usage is conspicuous in its absence. The change in tone, especially coming on the heels of the excessive amount of cocaine and breasts glimpsed in Part 5, feels like a prudish regression... and yet this is one of the best-loved entries in the entire franchise.
So how does McLoughlin keep his audience entertained? With the sheer force of his directorial style. The film's lighting and sense of location are among the best of the series, and Tommy's hare-brained scheme to return Jason to his former resting place on the bottom of the lake is both completely ridiculous and internally consistent with the rest of the franchise. Matthews isn't much of an actor, but he brings a likable earnestness to Tommy and reasonable chemistry with leading lady Jennifer Cooke. But the stand-out performance of the movie goes to the cranky-pants sheriff (David Kagen), and that's not sarcasm: I love this guy! McLoughlin coaxes fun performances from some other colorful supporting characters as well, including the playful Sissy (Renee Jones) and the slimy Deputy Rick (Vincent Guastaferro). CJ Graham brings presence and mute impenetrability to his performance as Jason, which is exactly what's required. But make no mistake: the movie's playful tone is the star, not any actor.
I'll also give Jason Lives credit for being the first (and so far only!) film in the series to realize that children typically occupy summer camps. Parts 1 and 2 took place as preparations were being made for a camp to open, but the kids hadn't yet arrived. No such luck here--a busload of children has just arrived on the premises as Jason rears his mask-enshrined head. Of course, you can't really expect a movie like this to put the kids in any real jeopardy, but it's fun to see moments in which the kids think they might be in danger. ("So... what were you going to be when you grew up?" a young boy asks his friend after Jason's presence is discovered.)
I realize that I've been pretty effusive in my praise of the last few Friday films. With the exception of Part 3, I've been pretty enthusiastic about all of these movies, and no doubt some of you have written me off as a Friday loyalist blinded by nostalgia for the series. Well, if that's the case, you won't want to miss the next few entries of this retrospective. We're about to start the Holy Trinity of Friday Suckage with our discussion of parts 7, 8, and 9. Let's just say they aren't exactly Schindler's List. Stay tuned.
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives is available on VHS. It's also available as a stand-alone DVD, or as part of the Friday the 13th: From Crystal Lake to Manhattan DVD box set, which contains the first eight films in the series.
Go back to the Friday the 13th Series Retrospective main page
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