Friday the 13th Part 2

The success of the first Friday the 13th ensured that a sequel would be rushed out, and Friday the 13th Part 2 is basically a remake of that film, only this time, there's a different killer.  Following her decapitation of insane murderess Pamela Voorhees, sole survivor Alice (Adrienne King) is stalked and slain within the film's first five minutes.  The action then jumps to a new camp, located unsettlingly close to Camp Crystal Lake, where a bunch of teenagers get together to have sex, do drugs, and tell scary campfire tales of Mrs. Voorhees' son Jason, who may still be lurking in the nearby woods.

The plot is pretty much the same as the first film's, and the death scenes are imitations of what was done before; they're also heavily edited, with lots of trimming and cutaways.  Even Crazy Ralph is back, still trying to warn the kids of impending doom by wandering around the camp alone.  With the exception of Tom McBride and Lauren-Marie Taylor as, respectively, a wheelchair-bound guy and the girl who harbors a crush on him, who have some cute scenes together, the teens are paper-thin and forgettable, existing only to be gruesomely murdered by Jason, who's not yet sporting his trademark hockey mask; instead, he is wearing a burlap sack over his head.  He's also a bit different from the average horror villain; he has the chance to kill a dog and doesn't.  So for what it's worth, F13 Part 2 holds a special place in my heart as an animal-loving horror film.

That's about the only thing this has going for it.  Director Steve Miner alternates between countless shots from the killer's point of view and simply pointing the camera at stuff and filming it as blandly and straightforwardly as possible.  There's not a shred of suspense or atmosphere to be found here, which, combined with the lack of blood, proves quite problematic in a slasher flick. 

Plot holes and logic mistakes are plentiful.  How does a deformed backwoods maniac successfully track down Alice, stalking and making threatening phone calls?  Why does the heroine toss a working chainsaw aside in favor of hitting Jason with a chair?  If Jason was alive all this time, why didn't he step in to help his mama before she got beheaded?  However, this is a slasher, and these kinds of issues can be overlooked as long as I'm getting some decent kills, scares, and entertainment out of it.  Unfortunately, Friday the 13th Part 2 offers none of this.  Skip it.