SPLATTERdrome

Release Date: August 1st, 1986

Director: Tom McLoughlin

Screenwriter: Tom McLoughlin

Genre: Horror

 

 

Our boy is back and finally embracing the gardening glove/utility belt look he’s been missing all these years. I’m guessing Paramount executives wanted to increase Jason’s appeal among their pastoral demographic and decided to play with his wardrobe. In all seriousness though, Jason Lives is a welcome entry to the series and more than makes up for the previous film and its failure to win over fans. Writer/director Tom McLaughlin takes his gothic sensibilities into the modern day and his self-aware sense of fun is evident throughout the film.

 

Jason Lives begins with the return of Tommy Jarvis (now able to speak in full sentences) en route to destroying Jason’s remains to ensure the terror is really over. He digs up the grave and accidentally resurrects our hero Mary Shelley style, taking advantage of some well-timed lightning and poor craftsmanship on the part of the fencing company. It’s a fleshed out version of how the last film opened but without Corey Feldman cowering in the woods in a parka. This intro is rushed but satisfying. All we wanted to see was the real Jason back in action, it doesn’t have to be creative.

 

The story moves along quickly and predictably with some rapid-fire casualties thrown in for color. We’ve got new counselors and, for the first time ever, actual campers arriving for the summer. That’s a nice variance since normally everyone in these movies is dead before the camp has a chance to open. Anyway, Jason makes his way back home and begins behaving discourteously to the cast in a variety of ways. He commandeers an RV, admonishes an alcoholic, and contorts people into unorthodox shapes with his newfound zombie strength. A fine return to form.

 

The death scenes are surprisingly violent considering the overall tone of the film is more ironic and self-referential. Head crushing and blood splattering abound and Jason seems to have developed a sudden need to dismember his prey. On the flip side there is absolutely zero nudity and only one sex scene. That isn’t in keeping with the tone of the series but I suppose we got more than enough t&a in the previous two films to hold us over.

 

I only have a few complaints about Jason Lives, the main one being that it isn’t scary. Jason gets a good deal of camera time so there’s no suspense about what he’s up to and zero surprise anytime he jumps out of the darkness to attack someone. It’s also a massively predictable script; not in the murder-by-numbers way the others are but every scene in the film essentially tells you what’s happening next. These aren’t deal breakers, Jason Lives is a pleasure to watch and brings a much needed energy to the series.

 

 

 

 

 

Quick Stats

 

18 Dead bodies

0 Breasts

1 Power outage

1 Aquatic honeypot

- Gravediggery

- Dead phones

- Corporate teambuilding

- Head twisting

- Gratuitous bloodsplatter

- Sheriff crushing

- Tool toss