Plot
Following his most recent massacre, a believed Jason Vorhees escapes hospital and goes on another kill spree – this time a family who live by Crystal Lake, and a group of friends who are camping nearby.
Breakdown
Directed by Joseph Zito, it starts with another recap of earlier films, as well as where #3 left off (Jason dead). Here he is taken to a morgue at a nearby hospital. This feels eerily similar to Halloween 2.
The kills start early (the poor hospital staff) – and then we spend a great deal of time with the six friends at Crystal Lake, as well as the family of three, as well as Tina and Terry the skinny dipping friends (including plenty of 1980s movie nudity) as well as Rob – who is at the lake to take revenge on Jason for murdering his sister…. phew.
All of these characters are mostly, if not entirely cannon fodder, with plenty of love triangles. The primary characters that we are really focused on are brother and sister Trish (Kimberly Beck) and her little brother Tommy (played by future star Corey Feldman).
When the kills do occur, they are filled with some pretty decent practical effects, and Trish and Tommy’s team up on Jason has them a solid final pair (it is also fairly gruesome). It also feels like this cliffhanger ending was a precursor to Halloween 4’s gotcha ending with little Jamie Lloyd’s.
Overall
Fairly by the numbers, which has moments which it feels like it stole from other films (Jason in the hospital sequence), but also did first (Tommy’s cliffhanger).
The characters are all quite interchangeable, and aren’t all that memorable. Some good practical effects, and a solid cliffhanger help this stand on its own… just.
3.5/5
