Film Review: Friday The 13th Part 7 - Jason vs Carrie vs The Final Chapter
It is often debated among Friday The 13th fans with the question of what would have happened if Paramount could have come to agreement with New Line Cinema back in the mid to late 1980's for a Freddy vs Jason film of their own? Would Jason Voorhees and Friday The 13th have been kept by Paramount with the expected success of that Horror team-up during a time when both franchises were still churning out sequels? We can only speculate now, but most fans do know now that Friday The 13th Part 7: The New Blood Director John Carl Buechler signed on for the sixth sequel in the franchise with the notion he would be directing a Freddy vs Jason film. When that idea failed to come to fruition, he wanted something similar in spectacle to set his film apart from the other films in the the series.
What the fans got in The New Blood was more or less a rip-off in story and basic plot points from Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter. Now, that's not bad at all, honestly, as The Final Chapter is my favorite film in the franchise, and there is no going wrong with sticking to a set-up that works with partying teens going to the lake for mischievous hijinks in mind. With that being said, what happens in The New Blood are a number of scenes that do just feel like they were borrowed from another Friday The 13th film. Meaning, that after watching Part 7 as an adult, I can truly see where some of the innovative thought and tension building that went into The Final Chapter now looks very generic in The New Blood. If I would have reviewed Part 7 in my younger years, I would have boasted about the how awesome Jason looks and the kills were the best in the franchise. Now, in my adult years, it's hard not to notice the blatant rip-off of ideas that writer Daryl Haney was attempting. It's no secret either, that Producer Frank Mancuso Jr. ordered such a writing mentality and Haney was just carrying out orders.
One last thought on the copying of The Final Chapter for this film. The one thing that truly irritates me is that they used an actual snippet of a scene as an insert in The New Blood! Most of the people reading this review know the scene I speak of where the first person p.o.v. of Jason is stalking the camper's tent in the woods. It's one thing to "borrow" ideas from another film in the franchise, but to lift an actual scene and use it as an insert?
So, these are the only real hangups I have with this film and if you can overlook or just plain not notice this duplication of plot points, then The New Blood should be a fun time watching a true Horror icon in a now well known genre.
Tina as a telekinetic teen works effectively well as a young women struggling with the memory of killing her father and trying to face that demon all the while trying to maneuver through her new scenario of a pushy psychiatrist with his own agenda (the vile Dr. Crews), a new love interest (the hunky Nick}, and some particularly mean teens next door. The telekinetic angle is all set up for not only resurrecting Jason, but allowing for the Freddy vs Jason showdown that John Buechler wanted from the get go. In-between, fans get the very basic and expected stalk and slash scenes.
In perhaps a quite contradictory view to my previous comments, The New Blood isn't entirely void of originality, with the death scenes themselves trying to go for the jugular with some truly graphic depictions of the characters' demise. Unfortunately, the MPAA excised the real true brilliance of the film and that was the make-up effects and execution of those effects. If the Jason vs Carrie angle was suppose to be the main attraction of The New Blood, then the unedited effects would have been a tremendous lead-up to the final showdown.
I did mention previously that the tension building felt very generic in this film, but I have to give kudos to one scene that works very well and that is when Jason is stalking Maddie in the tool shed. If not for a matter of seconds, I still sit at the end of my seat as I watch Jason creep closer, ready to strike a blow.
Overall, this is a Friday The 13th purists hope of what a new film could aspire to be with a basic plot from the franchise with kids at the lake partying and Jason knocking them off one by one with graphic kills. The New Blood has nudity, it has sex, it has some fun characters, and delivers a final climactic chase scene with Jason and the protagonist duking it out for survival. Jason Voorhees does look awesome here and is indeed relentless in his slow stalking mannerisms. However, the MPAA cuts damage the overall enjoyability of the film (not the filmmaker's fault), but Friday The 13th Part 7: The New Blood is fun, delivers horny teens as smorgasbord and introduces a different and strong minded Final Girl to match wits with Jason.
Rating: 3.5 Out of 5 Machetes
Review By: Jason Parker
What the fans got in The New Blood was more or less a rip-off in story and basic plot points from Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter. Now, that's not bad at all, honestly, as The Final Chapter is my favorite film in the franchise, and there is no going wrong with sticking to a set-up that works with partying teens going to the lake for mischievous hijinks in mind. With that being said, what happens in The New Blood are a number of scenes that do just feel like they were borrowed from another Friday The 13th film. Meaning, that after watching Part 7 as an adult, I can truly see where some of the innovative thought and tension building that went into The Final Chapter now looks very generic in The New Blood. If I would have reviewed Part 7 in my younger years, I would have boasted about the how awesome Jason looks and the kills were the best in the franchise. Now, in my adult years, it's hard not to notice the blatant rip-off of ideas that writer Daryl Haney was attempting. It's no secret either, that Producer Frank Mancuso Jr. ordered such a writing mentality and Haney was just carrying out orders.
One last thought on the copying of The Final Chapter for this film. The one thing that truly irritates me is that they used an actual snippet of a scene as an insert in The New Blood! Most of the people reading this review know the scene I speak of where the first person p.o.v. of Jason is stalking the camper's tent in the woods. It's one thing to "borrow" ideas from another film in the franchise, but to lift an actual scene and use it as an insert?
So, these are the only real hangups I have with this film and if you can overlook or just plain not notice this duplication of plot points, then The New Blood should be a fun time watching a true Horror icon in a now well known genre.
Tina as a telekinetic teen works effectively well as a young women struggling with the memory of killing her father and trying to face that demon all the while trying to maneuver through her new scenario of a pushy psychiatrist with his own agenda (the vile Dr. Crews), a new love interest (the hunky Nick}, and some particularly mean teens next door. The telekinetic angle is all set up for not only resurrecting Jason, but allowing for the Freddy vs Jason showdown that John Buechler wanted from the get go. In-between, fans get the very basic and expected stalk and slash scenes.
In perhaps a quite contradictory view to my previous comments, The New Blood isn't entirely void of originality, with the death scenes themselves trying to go for the jugular with some truly graphic depictions of the characters' demise. Unfortunately, the MPAA excised the real true brilliance of the film and that was the make-up effects and execution of those effects. If the Jason vs Carrie angle was suppose to be the main attraction of The New Blood, then the unedited effects would have been a tremendous lead-up to the final showdown.
I did mention previously that the tension building felt very generic in this film, but I have to give kudos to one scene that works very well and that is when Jason is stalking Maddie in the tool shed. If not for a matter of seconds, I still sit at the end of my seat as I watch Jason creep closer, ready to strike a blow.
Overall, this is a Friday The 13th purists hope of what a new film could aspire to be with a basic plot from the franchise with kids at the lake partying and Jason knocking them off one by one with graphic kills. The New Blood has nudity, it has sex, it has some fun characters, and delivers a final climactic chase scene with Jason and the protagonist duking it out for survival. Jason Voorhees does look awesome here and is indeed relentless in his slow stalking mannerisms. However, the MPAA cuts damage the overall enjoyability of the film (not the filmmaker's fault), but Friday The 13th Part 7: The New Blood is fun, delivers horny teens as smorgasbord and introduces a different and strong minded Final Girl to match wits with Jason.
Rating: 3.5 Out of 5 Machetes
Review By: Jason Parker
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