“Friday the 13th Part III” (1982) Movie Review

Directed by Steve Miner

Written by Martin Kitrosser and Carol Watson

Starring: Dana Kimmell, Tracie Savage, and Richard Brooker

Having escaped, Jason Voorhees is back, hockey mask and all, to continue his murderous rampage across Camp Crystal Lake.

I think most people know what they’re in for when they fire up a Friday the 13th movie. Now, with that said, you’re free to enjoy this the way it was meant to be. The opening music is some Funkadelic meets Weird Science jam, potentially some of the best worst music from the genre; an audible cue as to where this is headed. As the franchise continued, each director and writer apparently tried to make a more violent and ostentatious follow-up – this is no different.

The events of Part III take place immediately after the slaughter at Camp Crystal Lake. Jason gets over his mortal machete wound and creeps along the countryside, finding new kids to kill. That’s a precise synopsis right there, promise. As anticipated, the double dates go south, giving us a wider range of horror clichés to kill. There’s a nerdy kid into playing gruesome pranks, the stoners, jocks, the traumatized girl, ad nauseam. Not quite as fun or serious as the second movie, this one relies heavily on its 3D gimmicks. There is no real purpose to the 3D. Any mundane or innocuous object becomes the movies’ momentary focus. Oh, a rabbit – put in 3D! Look! A piece of string…3D! I roped my Dad into taking me to see when I was 12 or so, and my Dad was no movie aficionado, but even Dad knew this was no A Clockwork Orange.

Cliche to a fault, filled with terrible 80’s synthesizer music, a pointless plot; must be Friday the 13th. And I say all this from a place of love. Promise. Hey, this the first appearance of the hockey mask; I guess Part III does have its merits. Comic nerds will like the convenience store scene that proudly features Ghosts #112 and even a little Master of Kung Fu. There’s a handful of straight up brutal deaths, something that grew in intensity from the first two. All things considered, Friday the 13th Part III is a fun, schlocky good time.