Friday the 13th: Part 3

Picks up where Part 2 ends. Another group of teens head to another lakeside cabin where an increasingly indestructible Jason slaughters them. Along the way, Jason picks up his iconic hockey mask.

While Part 2 grew on me, revisiting this entry proved less kind. The Coors beer cases and Southern California foliage betray any illusion that we’re still in New Jersey. Crystal Lake has shrunk to a glorified pond. And the final girl reverts to the first film’s strategy of incapacitating Jason only to flee instead of pressing her advantage.

Jason himself survives multiple mortal wounds, crushes a man’s skull with his bare hands, and then throws said man’s corpse through a window. Yet an array of falling books send him to his knees.

Speaking of inconsistencies, I chuckled at how the cabin’s windows flew open at the slightest breeze, but when the final girl finds a window her only escape, it’s sealed tight.

Still, the film proffers some highlights. The 3-D gimmicks prove fun enough, and Larry Zerner provides a memorable performance as Shelly. And I appreciated the Tom Savini homage kill.