Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

Jason’s back, and he’s brought meta-humor.

Ignoring the prior film’s events, this entry opens with Tommy Jarvis and buddy¹ en route to Crystal Lake, where they plans to dig up and incinerate Jason’s corpse. Tommy’s also brought Jason’s hockey mask, a plot hole best ignored.

Tommy and his friend dig up the corpse, but a lightning strike reanimates the maggot-filled carcass. Undead Jason makes short work of Tommy’s pal, but Tommy escapes to warn the local sheriff. Of course, the sheriff doesn’t believe Tommy and runs him out of town.

Meanwhile, Jason resumes his murderous ways. He offs some corporate paintballers and a few camp counselors before Tommy gets back to town. Thinking Tommy committed the murders, the sheriff imprisons him.

Not to worry though, the sheriff’s plucky teen daughter soon frees Tommy, and the pair head to Camp Crystal Lake to confront Jason using a plan Tommy gleaned from reading a book on the occult.

This entry cements Jason’s transition from deranged madman to supernatural monster. Jason now has superhuman strength. Bullets can’t kill him. Early on, Tommy looks to incinerate Jason, but the skies open and the resulting rain prevents Tommy from striking a match. It’s a nice touch that casts Jason as unstoppable.

This installment also sports a nice streak of self-referential black comedy. As a surly groundskeeper fills in Jason’s grave, he looks into the camera and mutters, “Some folks sure got a strange idea of entertainment.”

But this entry lacks edge. As Tommy, Thom Mathews reminded me of Michael Dudikoff in American Ninja. Minus the ninja bad-assery. If part 4 saw Jason wander into a raunchy hard-R teen comedy, this entry sees him wander into more PG-13 fare. There’s no nudity, and the counselors are mostly wholesome. I enjoyed the meta-humor, but more sleaze, please.