After the massive success that was the original Friday the 13th, a second film was put in rushed into production. Sean S Cunningham wanted nothing to do with it as the studios wanted this movie to be about Jason. Tom Savini and Victor Miller quickly followed suite. Passed off to Cunningham’s assistant in the original, Steve Miner and written by Ron Kurz, someone who helped on a few passes with Miller’s original script, things were underway. By this point, the MPAA was established and ready to give this movie a pounding because quite a few cuts were made to keep it within an R rating. Even with fairly negative reviews, part 2 still grossed $21.7 million from the box office off of a $1.25 million budget so the success was enough for a 3rd installment to immediately hit production after this one is released.
Over the years, part 2 has developed a fairly healthy cult following, most saying that this movie is better than the original. I’m not necessarily one of the people who love this film. I think it’s a decent sequel and I think it does some things better than the original but I don’t necessarily think it’s overall the better movie.
I think Amy Steel’s Ginny is a far superior final girl over Adrienne King’s Alice, although I think the child psychology thing is pretty out there. I’d say that sack-headed Jason (The Town That Dreaded Sundown ripoff since we’re counting) was a lot of fun, albeit not very intimidating. We used to joke about him when I was a teenager and referred to this as Jason’s “rookie years”. He’s tripping over things, breaks through his chair, he’s almost worse than some of the dumb teens he chases in future entries. The kills were fun as well, even though 2 of them in particular were ripped off of another movie, A Bay of Blood, which I’ll get into more detail later. This will be easier to just go ahead and break down.
Synopsis
The movie starts out showing the only female portrayal of Jason Voorhees, albeit it’s just her boots. We get to see Alice from the previous movie ad lib some lines, find the severed head of Pamela Voorhees and then take an ice pick to the temple.
Next we get to meet this movies meat bags. We get similar trope characters in this one that we do in the original because if a formula makes money, you don’t stray from the formula. We’ve got Paul, the new owner who actually isn’t quite as sleazy and the main character Ginny is actually interested in. We’ve got the horny couple (although these ones don’t get show it so much even though I believe they tried but the girl was a minor) Sandra and Jeff. Then we have Terry who doesn’ t have any kind of personality, she’s just this movies nudity quota. Scott who is this films sleaze, which really the only thing he does that’s sleazy is taking Terry’s clothes and throwing a rock at her butt, but hey, gotta make this character interesting somehow. Ted who is the jokester, and then Mark and Vickie who is an attempt at more horny, but also some handicap diversity as Mark is in a wheelchair.
The plot is the exact same as the previous movie. A bunch of camp counselors do sexy teen things while separating and getting killed. There is a cool scene with a large exposition dump around a campfire where Paul gives an explanation about Jason’s legend and I remember watching this movie as a young child and that scene always stuck with me.
So Paul ends up taking a lot of councilors to town to a bar (even though the only recognizable people in this scene is Paul, Ted, and Ginny) so we get rid of all of the extra characters and Ted becomes the luckiest character in the franchise.
While Paul and Ginny are away, the remaining councilors are killed one by one until they are all dead. Paul and Ginny come back and we start our final girl (plus one?) circuit where the couple find all of the bodies as well as ol’ sack-boy Jason. This ends up in Jason’s shack in the woods, around his shrine of his dead mothers sweater and severed head. Ginny does some dumb child psychology thing where she puts on Pamela Voorhees’ sweater which distracts Jason long enough for them to put a machete through his shoulder.
Plot: 4/10
I can’t give this movie a good score for the plot. It’s literally the same plot as the original with Jason substituting his mother and completely negating the plot of the first one. Jason was supposed to be dead, not missing, which is the whole reason they lost Savini, Miller and Cunningham for this project. I can’t say I hate it because it spawned this entire franchise and it’s bar none my favorite of the big horror icons but it is fairly ridiculous.
Characters: 7/10
I will, however, give a little higher on the characters. While following the same tropes as the original, these characters are infinitely more interesting and enjoyable to follow around. The cast is in the same boat as the previous film, a bunch of inexperienced teenagers, many of them not even 18 yet, but they all do a believable performance. None of the characters really try to oversell their role either which makes this film much easier to immerse yourself into. Unfortunately, none of these actors really took off after this film either. Amy Steel (Ginny) got a leading role in the slasher April Fools Day a few years later and Stuart Charno (Ted) got a supporting role as one of the bullies in John Carpenter‘s Christine, but that’s about it. It’s unfortunate really as this ensemble is a delight to watch.
Cinematography: 6/10
I gave the original a lot of praise on the cinematography and it deserved it. This movie? Not so much. It’s not bad, it just doesn’t blow me away like the original. The director of photography in this one, Peter Stein, was still fairly early in his career when this was shot and makes great use of the steadicam, a technology used for wider shots without having to worry about the camera man shaking. It was popularized by Rocky and The Shining.
Sound Design / Score: 7/10
I hate to take points away from this one, but it’s still pretty much the same score from the original. If you couldn’t tell, I’m a Manfredini fan but this just feels like a carbon copy with the same editing put into film. It’s alright, Harry, you redeem yourself later in the franchise.
The Kills / Makeup and Effects: 7/10
The practical effects in this film are pretty close to what Savini accomplishes in the original, but it’s still not quite Savini. It’s worth noting that the severed head in the beginning was created by legendary Stan Winston who was originally supposed to do makeup for this film but had to back out due to scheduling constraints.
As for the kills, I’ll cover this more in depth in the Kills Analysis, but it’s worth noting a few things.
I’m not going to pretend like I don’t enjoy the kills in this film, but whether Steve Miner wants to admit it or not or they were his creative decisions or not, you can tell where these were pulled from. It’s hardly even an inspiration, it’s taken directly from this movie.
Cheese / Camp Factor: 7/10
I’m just going to take one point away from the original. This movie still succeeds in being a campy slasher but it succeeds in the same way the original does without really adding anything to the mix. I’d probably give it lower if it wasn’t for the Paul Holt scene that allows this franchise to exist.
Rewatchability: 7/10
Like every Friday film, I’ve watched this movie countless times and I’ll never be done watching them. There are some that I could go the rest of my life without seeing again and trust me, I’ll mention it in the future. This one, however, isn’t one of them.
Conclusion: 6.4/10
As mentioned, I’ve got a film with a lower score than the original that I enjoyed more. This movie moves at a much better pace, the characters are a lot more interesting and I can become sucked into the story a lot easier than the original, but I can’t give it a higher score due to its lack of originality. This movie succeeds in a lot of places that the first film fails but doesn’t really add anything new to the table. It’s still a must watch film for anyone who’s never seen it and is in the list of movies I’d recommend to someone trying to get into the genre (my son is already way past the age of when I saw this movie for the first time, but trust me he’ll get baptized in the pool of Ginny pee that is Friday the 13th Part 2).