Welcome back to the scariest, and at times goriest, column here at Film Inquiry: Horrific Inquiry. Each month, I will be tackling all things horror, bringing two films back into the spotlight to terrify and frighten once more. And occasionally looking at those that could have pushed the envelope further. Join us as we dive deep into the heart of horror, but warning, there will be spoilers.
While Horrific Inquiry may have been on a small hiatus, there is nothing that draws a horror fan back to its roots than a well themed day of horrific terror. With Friday the 13th finally returning this September, it seemed only fitting Horrific Inquiry should come back in full force. I wish I could say the same for this month’s selection – Friday the 13th Part II.
Connecting Two Parts
While I turned on the film, I recalled only seeing Friday the 13th Part II once before many years ago. I knew it brought the infamous killer of Jason front and center within the franchise, but there was only one moment in the film that I could truly remember. The one scene that would not only be the film’s climatic conclusion, but the only moment of investment the film could conjure.
As the film opens on a rainy street, I couldn’t help but find myself thinking of Stephen King, the setting more appropriately fitting for the introduction of Pennywise the clown. As we move from the street to inside the home, there is the feeling the film wants to work itself up to the heights of its predecessors, both in franchise and in genre. And as the camera settles on a woman asleep in her bed, viewers are once again introduced to Alice (Adrienne King). It been two months since the events of Camp Crystal Lake and as we ascertain, Alice is doing all she can to put her life back together. As it so happens, the only way she can do that is by living alone.
Friday the 13th Part II lingers on Alice, her nightmarish experience taking life within her dreams. As the film ripples between reality and the dreamworld, viewers are given a recap of the final showdown in Friday the 13th. From the reveal of Mrs. Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) to the machete cutting her head off, from Jason jumping up from the water and grabbing Alice to her waking in the hospital, it feels as though we never left.
As Alice awakens and assures her mother she is fine, the film leans into the feeling she is anything but, the camera moving to give the growing sense that she might not be alone. Part II does not make viewers wait long to find out what happens to Alice. It is sudden and unexpected, working as one of the film’s few jump scares, Alice opening the fridge to find the head of Mrs. Voorhees, a pick penetrating her skull moments later. Her screen pierces as the camera cuts to black, the iconic font of “Friday the 13th” moving into focus.
The film’s opening is mostly effective in its execution – while aware of our curiosity to know what happened to Alice following the end of the film, it also sadly is immediate in its lack of trust in its audience. There is a contrasting effect to the film’s inclusion of a recap of Friday the 13th‘s finale showdown, effective in giving audiences a connection between the films, while also detrimentally working as filler. It is the later that feels the most prevalent as the film moves into its new cast of characters, the legend of Jason find new blood to shed in formulaic fashion.
Regurgitated Horror
Sadly, as happens all too often in a horror sequel, the film plunges into an unrelenting churn of regurgitative narrative. There are call backs to the original film, yet they feel hollow and unoriginal. While the death of Alice takes place two months after the first film, the remainder of Friday the 13th Part II takes place five years after the events of Camp Crystal Lake. Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney) is back, telling all the counselors he meets they are all doomed. A new plethora of camp counselors are each peeled away from the group, each meeting a deadly end. The issue is not only the unoriginality the film is saturated in, but also the lack of horror it is willing to lean into.
This lack of commitment leaves many of the deaths feeling cheesy and fake, rather than horrific and terrifying. It also leaves little investment in our heroine. It is hard to know who is going to be our final girl early on, and by the time the film brings her to full light, Part II has wasted her potential for the entirety of the film. Thankfully the film moves through each element of its narrative quickly, keeping the pacing rhythmic enough to maintain its audience’s attention. And thankfully so, as keeping the audience to the end is vital for the rise of a horror legend.
Conclusion
The ending ion Friday the 13th Part II stands as the film’s biggest moment of intensity, albeit cheesy all the same. As Ginny (AmySteel) comes home to discover the bloodshed and corpses now left throughout the camp counselor training center, she flees deep into the woods only to discover a poorly constructed shed in the middle of nowhere. Thus far the killings have been sub par, and the trust in the audience lacking. While at the casino earlier, Ginny tells her fellow counselors she believes Jason (Warrington Gillette) survived the drowning, living in the woods for the remainder of his life, culminating to the witnessing of his mother’s death. It is a strange hypothesis that strongly holds true later – a reveal the filmmakers believe its audience incapable of understanding in real time.
While this one again displays the lack of trust the filmmakers have in their audience, it does give an explanation as Jason is revealed to be the killer this time around. Yet, as strange as the explanation may be, it does not hold a candle to how Ginny survives. As she finds a shrine in the shed, the head and bloodied sweater of Mrs Voorhees surrounded by candles, she begrudgingly puts on the sweater and stands her ground as Jason enters the room. Ginny begins to speak to him as his mother, the film altering Ginny’s face to that of Mrs. Voorhees. As Jason becomes submissive to the words of his mother, Ginny is almost able to escape unwounded, slicing him with the machete and leaving viewers with the uncertainty of his death.
It is a strange and unusual horror climax, its attempt to justify the sequel’s creation leaving many question in its wake. As the film closes in its final minutes, Part II once again draws from the original film, a now grown Jason jumping through the window and grabbing Ginny. Had this not already happened in the previously film, this might have been an effective jump scare. Yet, viewers are left on the continuous regurgitation of yet another horror sequel.
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