This one featured "Sack Jason" before he got his mask, and he resembles a crazy hillbilly more than anything else. I like the original slightly better.

B

The Original was the Best of all the damn sequels, but this is still kinda good!

B-

Who would have known that the Friday's would spawn 8 sequels? It is a testament to not only their immense popularity with the teenage crowd but to how you can make a horror film with a small budget. While the Friday's aren't anywhere on par with Halloween and the first Nightmare, the first 4 were scary and atmospheric. Here, Steve Miner has directed a scary tense film, especially the opening ten mintues and the final 20 minutes. In between is a good film but the moments mentioned above really are what true horror is all about. And what is memorable of this installment of Friday the 13th is that it introduces the horror world to the killer Jason Voorhees.

This picks up a short time after the first one ended. And it starts off in the city where the survivor of the first one is home and resting and trying to put her memories to rest. Needless to say that she doesn't last too long in the film. And then we get to the parts that we want to see. A bunch of counselors at Camp Crystal Lake. They are basically lined up to be slaughtered and all that's left to do is to try to figure out who is going to go and who isn't.

What is so great about this one is that it pays attention to some of the elements that made Halloween so scary. There is a lot of gore in here but it is background for the suspence. There is one scene near the end where Ginny knows someone is in the dark room with her and Paul. She doesn't know why she knows, she just does. And then Jason strikes and we all jump. It is a perfect scene and it deserves mention because it is a technique that early 80's horror films were good at and one that 90's films aren't. The film also has great false scares and when Ginny is in the cabin in the woods and she comes face to face with a ?ghost? and what she has to do to survive, well it is one of the best scares in all the Friday series. And that is because it uses so much tension, so much anticipation, so much intelligence. We know Ginny is in danger and we are hoping that she gets out of here alive. It is really a great scene.

Friday 2 is a good horror flick. It has all that you could hope for in a scary movie. If you want to remember what it was like when you were a kid and watched these movies in the dark, my advice to you is to do it again. Get your barbecue chips and Coke and turn off all the lights, get your girlfriend, wife, fiancee or dog and sit back and enjoy a great 80's horror movie. This is one of the better ones out there.

F.