Friday The 13th Part 6: Jason Lives

This may not be many people’s favorite, but I’ve always enjoyed this entry in the series. It’s not a masterpiece, but without the weight of lore hanging too heavily over it, this installment has a "do whatever we want (also without nudity)" approach to direction and storytelling, making it dark, adult and kind of fun. The premise is simple: Tommy Jarvis messes up, and Jason is revived by bolts of lightning. Jason, on his way back to Crystal Lake, kills everyone in sight... again. Nothing new here- a straightforward story where Jason is back, killing everyone, and Tommy Jarvis is always one step behind, trying to stop the entity that has ruined his life. There are some laugh-out-loud moments due to the uniformly bad (but in a good way) acting, and much of it doesn’t make sense. Tommy gets some closure, but this is really the beginning of Jason’s rise as a horror icon. C.J. Graham does a great job as a "don’t-give-any-fucks" Jason! Director Tom McLoughlin might have wanted to try a few different things, but he was likely told to solidify Jason as the villain and bring him back to Camp Crystal Lake. The cut and edit of this film may reflect some passive-aggressive exasperation that turned inward toward the production itself. For transparency, I purposely avoid trailers, articles, and wiki pages before watching and reviewing films, so my take remains authentic. Afterward, I look at sources like Wikipedia to see what’s happened since the film wrapped, who’s still around, who succeeded or struggled in their careers. As a bonus, Alice Cooper performs three songs in this film, including the end credit song, "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)."