Friday the 13th Part 7 : The New Blood

Friday the 13th Part 7 : The New Blood title

Tag Line : Jason is back. But this time someones waiting.

Friday the 13th Part 7 : The New Blood Now this is MUCH more like it! Still imprisoned in chains at the bottom of Crystal Lake (note that the name has changed back from Forest Green), things in the area have been quiet for some time, with Jason in his watery grave.

But the eerie silence is about to be shattered with the arrival of young Tina Sheppard (Lar Park Lincoln), who's staying at one of the lakeside holiday homes (presumably the same ones from part 4). Tina Posses telekinetic powers and can see into the future. She has travelled back to Crystal Lake with her therapist doctor Crews (Terry Kiser), to visit the place where her father drowned years earlier, when the pier he was standing on collapsed.

Doctor Crews however, has his own secret agenda. He isn't really interested in helping her get over the loss of her father, but to exploit her telekinetic abilities. This turns out to be a bad idea, as Tina try's to raise her fathers body, but instead accidentally resurrects Jason from the watery depths.

And so the seen is set for yet another Bloodbath as Jason goes around hacking up passers by, along with the holidaying teenagers who are staying at the house opposite. After finishing off the other youths, he eventually comes after Tina, but hasn't reckoned on her special powers and the ultimate battle of brain versus brawn ensues.

This duel is quite effective in places, particularly where Tina users her powers to shoot Jason with nails and spraying him with fuel from a nearby can, before finally setting him on fire by having the heating furnace shoot flames out at him. Great stuff! Ultimately, Jason is defeated by Tina's abilities, but we also see that Jason isn't the only one to return from the depths of Crystal Lake.

Often referred to as "Carrie Vs Jason", this film is still by far the best sequel since part 4 and definitely the best of all subsequent films. The killings are back on fine form, featuring plenty of blood and gore and Jason appears as menacing as ever, played here by Kane Hodder.

Overall Marks : 7/10.

Other Information.

Director John Carl Buechler had produced several of the previous sequels before deciding to have a crack at directing himself. He's probably better known for his effects work in this field, having worked on the "Ghoulies" films, "From Beyond" and many of the "Halloween", "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Re-Animator" sequels.
CJ Graham was originally going to reprise the role of Jason, however the director lobbied Paramount to let him use stuntman Kane Hodder instead, who he had previously worked with on the film "Prison".
Jennifer Beiko, who plays the young Tina, also played the young girl in Leatherface's family in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3.
Harry Manfredini was unable to score the soundtrack this time round, so the vast majority of it was made up of stock music he'd composed for the other films, with additional music by Fred Molin who also scored the music for the spin off TV series.
Despite Jason being played by at least 5 different actors up till this point, Kane Hodder's name soon became synonymous with the role as he went to play Jason in the three subsequent sequels.
Terry Kiser, who plays Dr Crews, went on to play the late Bernie Lomax in the comedy "Weekend at Bernie's".
The original version of this film was supposedly much, much gorier. But the distributors were forced to edit the movie so to achieve an "R" rating in the US. Arguably the most heavily edited scene being where Jason attacks the couple camping in the woods, in which the guy is disembowelled and the girl repeatedly bashed against the tree.
The fire-fighter who picks up the broken Jason mask near the end of the film was played by the director.
The UK version is apparently the same as the US "R" rated version.
The houses used in filming were specially constructed exteriors which they built next to a small river in Alabama. To make it look the river was a lake, they dug out a section of bank and allowed the water to fill round.
The narrator at the beginning of the film was Walt Gorney, who played Crazy Ralph in the first 2 films.
Look out for Horror actor Bill Butler as one of Jason's first victims, who also starred in Texas Chainsaw 3, Ghoulies 2 and the 1993 Night of the Living Dead remake.