Friday the 13th Part III

Dir: Steve Miner

1982

****

Friday the 13th Part III is a sequel that I think no one really expected or was too bothered about. The first Friday the 13th film didn't make much of an impact at the box office but it's sequel, that wasn't nearly as good, did much better and so the cult of the trashy horror it seemed was back and the kids couldn't get enough. A franchise was born. Friday the 13th Part III or Friday the 13th 3D, featured some of the most appalling performances of the franchise, has an incredibly rubbish story and makes no sense what so ever, particularly towards the conclusion. It's also rather brilliant and easily the best film in the series.  This is what 3D cinema was invented for. If I had a time machine, going back to 1982 and watching Friday the 13th Part III in the cinema would be one of the first things I would do. In some respects, and if you're in the right frame of mind (drunk), watching it in 2D is even better. While you can only imagine how wonderful it would have been to watch the scene whereby one of the campers gets his head squashed by Jason, causing his eyeball to pop out, in glorious 3D would have been, there is also something quite captivating about watching someone spin a yo-yo at the screen, continuously, for literally five minutes. The scene whereby a baseball bat is wobbled at the screen for over 60 seconds is completely bizarre when watching it now but you can imagine the roar it would have caused in the teen-packed cinemas of 1982 and how much fun it would have been to have been there. It's full of exaggerated cliches and every death scene is followed by a hilarious 80's disco song, it's awful and I love it.