Friday the 13th Part 2 – Deluxe Edition | DVD Review

Although the original Friday the 13th was never meant to be the beginning of a franchise, its massive success in theaters made it a no-brainer decision to make a sequel. And with the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” in mind, writer Ron Kurz and director Steve Miner (Halloween H20, Lake Placid) came up with a carbon copy of the first film, albeit with a new killer whose very existence seems to negate the motive of the killer in part one.

That’s right, boys and girls! Jason Voorhees is actually alive and had witnessed the beheading of his mother in part one, even keeping the head as a shrine to her in his dilapidated shack of a ‘home’. Now he’s out for revenge, first hunting down and dispatching of Alice (Adrienne King reprising her role from the first installment) with Mom’s head along for the ride, and then killing anyone who dares to even come near his beloved Crystal Lake. Of course, the legend of Camp Crystal Lake doesn’t deter a camp director from opening a counselor training facility nearby, thus providing the perfect elixir to quench Jason’s thirst for blood. Before long, bodies start to pile up as Jason stalks the camp with a sack on his head (the iconic hockey mask is only introduced in Part 3) and a multitude of weapons at his disposal. It can be a lot of fun if you’re into horror films, but one gets the feeling that Friday the 13th Part 2 was on a figurative precipice, teetering on the brink of becoming something more than a typical slasher film. But alas, instead of delving deeper into the psychological undertones of a mentally handicapped man out to avenge his mother who was out to avenge him in the first place, Kurz and Miner decided to stick to the formula of one death after another until the final “seat-jumper”.

With a bigger budget than part one, Friday the 13th Part 2 had every opportunity to outdo its predecessor in every way, but somehow it falls kind of flat. The very long but effective opening sequence and flashback scene includes some excellent POV shots and the camera work in general is a cut above part one. The acting is better, too, though the film is carried by the very likable Amy Steel (the original April Fool’s Day) as Ginny Field, the inevitable lone survivor (we never find out about all the other couselors who decided to stay at a bar to drink instead of going back to camp early, where Jason was lying in wait for them). In fact, almost everything about the sequel is better than part one except for the one thing that genre fans look for in a slasher flick: gore. The theory is that with the bigger budget the filmmakers decided to increase the violence and bloodshed but that they got cold feet before presenting their final cut to the MPAA and decided to remove a lot of footage so as to avoid getting an X-rating. Not only did this result in a lot less of the red stuff flying around, but they cut out so much that the end product suffers from incoherence at points, or at least leaves a lot of plot holes. And that is the biggest disappointment with this “Deluxe Edition” DVD release: why didn’t they release it with the unrated/uncut version?

As was the case with the deluxe edition of part one, the video and audio on this disc make it the best-looking and -sounding version of Friday the 13th Part 2 yet. Another disappointment with this package, though, is the lack of a commentary track. Some insight into why they cut so much out of it would have been welcome. In fact, nobody involved in the making of this film had anything to do with this release. Special features include:
Inside “Crystal Lake Memories”: This 11-minute interview with Peter Bracke, author of the excellent series retrospective “Crystal Lake Memories”, features many interesting tidbits about the making of part two, including why part one director Sean S. Cunningham and writer Victor Miller decided not to come back for part two.
Friday‘s Legacy: Horror Conventions: is roughly ten minutes of footage from a Scarefest convention where many of the cast and crew from part one were reunited and are interviewed about why they like conventions and how they like to connect with the fans. Nice to see, but fairly hum-drum
Jason Forever: This feature is probably the most interesting for fans of the series. It’s footage of a panel discussion from a Fangoria convention where four of the actors who played Jason Voorhees discuss their experiences and answer questions from the fans.
Lost Tales from Camp Blood – Part 2: This is a short film that picks up where “Lost Tales…Part One” left off, but it just doesn’t live up to the promise that the first one delivered. This scene about a couple getting lost in the woods and then stalked by a killer is just run-of-the-mill horror filler that could have been taken from any old slasher film. Really nothing special.
The Theatrical Trailer also follows in the footsteps of the trailer for part one in that it more or less shows every murder that happens in the film.

It’s plain to see that the ambition to top the first Friday was there, but the success of that film and how much of a public outcry there was against its on-screen violence and bloodshed actually served to hinder Friday the 13th Part 2 in that the filmmakers couldn’t deliver the film they wanted to for fear of having an X-rating slapped on to it. It’s really a shame that they didn’t see fit to include their original vision in this so-called “deluxe edition”, and that is why it gets a rating of “proceed with caution”. This is truly for fans of the franchise only.

Movie rating – 2

Disc Rating – 2