FRIDAY THE 13th Part VII:The New Blood
This is easily one of the better efforts in the Friday series but it suffers just like the rest of them from cuts, cuts, cuts. This is, apparently, one of the most cut entries by far as the MPAA rejected many of the more elaborate gore effects. Director John Carl Buechler is a respected makeup effects man and was a good choice to helm a Friday flick. A lot was put into the effects, especially for Jason. This marks Kane Hodder's first turn as the hockey-masked killer, and he gets the best makeup effects for the role.
The New Blood's Jason is a full-blown, rotting, hulking zombie. Check out the exposed ribs and spinal column under the shredded clothes. We also get a look at Jason's face, or what's left of it (including a big hole in the cheek, exposed teeth, rotting flesh, etc). That alone is enough for fans to check out the film, even if you're just a casual horror fan.
The ::ahem:: story involves Tina (Lar Park Lincoln), a Carrie-like teen girl who travels back to Crystal Lake years after an unfortunate and uncontrolled episode with her telekinetic powers led to her father's death. Accompanying her are her mother and her psychiatrist. The latter is played by none other than Terry Kiser, aka Bernie Lomax from Weekend at Bernie's(!) Being a psychiatrist in a horror film, he's naturally evil, trying to exploit the girl's powers for his own gains. (At one point Tina finds newspaper clippings about Jason and the murders in the doctor's desk along with a gun. It's never made entirely clear whether he was concerned and afraid of their surroundings or if he wanted to use Tina to raise Jason from the dead).
Next door to the not-so-happy family, of course, a house full of young, stupid, would-be victims. (Apparently the brutal murders occuring regularly around the lake still don't detract vacationers!)
Well, once Tina raises Jason from the dead (involuntarily) the action gets under way. And he's quite busy, as this has easily one of the highest Friday body counts. Ch-ch-ch-ah-ah-ah... Our young vacationers are dispatched with a lovely array of sharp objects, gardening tools, and even a plastic party horn(!) Jason also repeats himself a bit by simply throwing one girl out the window, and crushing some poor sap's head. All of the murders are edited down until there's little blood and gore. What sets this Friday apart from the others in terms of cutting is the fact that Buechler himself has tried hard to petition Paramount to release a proper DVD version of the film with all of the material he had to cut for an R rating restored.
This, of course, is NOT that DVD.
Among the blood and guts left on the cutting room floor (ha!) is the death of good 'ol Bernie Lomax. Jason gets all handyman on us when he employs some kind of weed-wacker with a big circular saw blade on the doctor. You see almost nothing on this DVD, but apparently this was all quite grisly with innards flying everywhere. Supposedly one of--if not the--best effects in the film was trimmed as well. That would be the axe-in-the-face effect on that cheesy preppy guy by the lake. Melissa's death (by axe to head) was also quite special, according to Buechler.
Sure, it's sick. But isn't that why we watch these films? Why won't Paramount give us all a fair shake? And for a director of one of these classics to come out and lobby hard for a restored release--how great is that?
This is definitely one of my favorite Friday flicks. I would just love to see the rest of it. The tone of these films is dampened by all of the cuts and choppy edits in the murder portions.
This DVD is not recommended unless you reeeally want it or if you've worn out your VHS copy. Also, what the heck is going on with the artwork on these DVDs?! Check out the cover of this, or of Part VI. What's up? They can't get the original artwork? Completely, utterly lame.
