Back in 1980 Warner Bros released Friday the 13th on a tiny budget and made a fucking killing. Two years previously, Halloween had taken everyone by surprise for two reasons. A. It was excellent and B. It was an enormous success For its $300,000 investment it pulled in $55,000,000 in the US alone. WB wanted some of that easy money and with a budget of $550,000 it made nearly $40,000,000. Not quite Halloween money but still huge.
Despite this enormous success Warner Bros were sort of ashamed of the movie and sold the rights to Paramount. Why were they ashamed? Well the acting isn't good (it did launch Kevin Bacon's career though) and the excessive gore put the studio off. Paramount had no such scruples and put out yearly sequels that all did huge business. Jason Voorhees and that hockey mask had built up a huge fan base but when they killed him in the hilariously titled "The Final Chapter" and put out Part V which didn't feature Jason (outside of flashbacks) there was a backlash.
It was decided that Jason would return for part VI. And Tom McLoughlin was installed as director. His proclivities leaned toward early Universal pictures and so he decided to bring Jason back with a play on the old "it's alive" routine (see video). McLoughlin also knew that a fifth sequel was more than just a bit ridiculous, so he imbued his movie with some enjoyable banter, one liners as well as nods and winks to horror. The marker is laid down pretty early on in the movie where, once resurrected, Jason gets his very own James Bondesque intro (again see video). It's clear, the emphasis is on fun here.
For what it's worth, here's the plot: Tommy Javis survived an attack by Jason in The Final Chapter. He's been in an institution ever since and haunted by his memories. As seen in the video, his attempts to extinguish those nightmares backfire spectacularly and it isn't long before Jason Voorhees is heading back to his old stomping ground to take up his old habits.
If you missed the sense of humour in the resurrection scene, you really can't miss it when Tommy charges into the local Sheriff's office and begs for help. The Sheriff's reaction, "you in showbusiness kid, you sure no how to make an entrance." I mean, that's just straight up ripping the piss and it's brilliant. It's also evident at this point that McLoughlin has managed to cobble together a decent cast. Sheriff Garris (named after horror legend Mick Garris) is played by David Kagen who had been a decent television actor and worked for decades after in some big television staples. He also runs an acting school, the guy can deliver a line! In another fantastic piece of casting, his main deputy is played by Vincent Guastaferro who had also been a solid television actor up to that point before going on to huge shows like The West Wing among many others. This cast had game.
After Tommy is thrown into jail for the night, we are introduced to a couple who you just know are going to die but again, it is to the movies credit that it is done in a pretty funny way. There's a fair bit to unpack here so stay with me: The couple who are clearly lost are driving a VW Beetle. The passanger, Darren, played by Tony Goldwyn (more on him in a sec) is staring at a map. The driver, Lizbeth, played by Tom McLoughlin's wife suddenly hits the breaks. "Darren we'd better turn around" "Why", asks Darren. "Because I've seen enough horror movies to know any weirdo wearing a mask is never friendly". The camera jumps to Jason standing in front of the car with the iron pole that helped resurrect him in hand. It always gets a laugh because her delivery is excellent. This is a movie that constantly winks at the audience. Darren takes a gun out of the glove box and gets out to face our anti hero. There's more fun dialogue from Lizbeth before Jason stabs him in the nuts and launches him through the air. Lizbeth tries to run away but falls into a puddle. She takes out a wallet and offers Jason cash. He stabs her in the face but as she dies her clenched hand unclenches and an American Express card floats in the puddle prompting you to shout "don't leave home without it". It happnes without fail, every single time. Seriously, try it. Watch this movie with more than 3 people, someone will shout that... So back to Goldwyn, he had never acted before but would go on to The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise as well as a whole host of movies and television shows that would make most actors extremely envious. It's just another example of how clever they were casting this movie.
Another decent cast member is Jennifer Cooke who plays the Sheriff's daughter Megan who strikes up a friendship with Tommy Jarvis. She had been in V (the tv show about invading aliens) which was a huge success but, to my knowledge, didn't do anything after this movie. Pity because she was good. Her friend Cort is played by Tom Fridley who I'm pretty sure is John Travolta's nephew. Anyway Cort gets himself an RV and meets up with Nikki for a late night shag in the woods. Nikki is played by Darcy DeMoss and in 1986 she was a slamming hottie. Turns out Darcy had made a some softcore movies but surprisingly for a Friday the 13th movie, pretty much kept herself covered up for the sex scene with Cort. It may have disappointed some but it did show that, despite everything, they were trying to make a decent movie here.It all moves at a fair old pace with Jason in fine form, even showing some comic timing of his own. He could have popped out of the bushes at any time but he waits for the best possible moment...
The movie is littered with moments like this. One cop takes an arrow to the eye, the movie immediately cuts to a dart boad on the back of a door. Another scene has a drunk singing to his bottle of booze, right before his last sip he says to it, "darlin' you're gonna be the death of me, oh but what a way to go". The bottle ends up in his throat... It goes on and on.
Friday the 13th Part VI - Jason Lives is the only Friday that actually has kids on the camp grounds while Jason is doing his thing. Kids are a risk in any movie. They can kill the whole fucking thing Phantom Menace style but these kids are pretty good. While hiding in a cabin under beds and listening to the screaming going on outside, one kid says to another "so, what were you gonna be when you grew up?" Legend!
Another thing this Friday has that others don't is a pretty decent car chase. Megan has broken Tommy out of prison and when driving eratically her muscle car is spotted by a deputy. He calls the Sheriff who is at a road block. Garris asks for a description of the car, he gets it... "that's my daughters car". Awkwardly the deputy asks, "how do you wish us to proceed sir?" "With extreme care asshole. If that kid is with her there's every chance he'll do something crazy". Cut to Tommy saying to Megan, "please don't do anything crazy".You know what, just watch it, it's great fun:
As mentioned before, Jason Lives treats horror fans to some nods to legends of the genre. There's a mention of a station in "Carpenter". There's "Karloff's" General Store and of course Sheriff "Garris". "Cunningham" Road. Another movie did similar in the mid 90's and became a phenomenon. I am talking about Scream. Friday the 13th Part VI - Jason Lives laid a blue print for that movie but instead of whiney teenagers dressed as a ghost we have Jason fucking Voorhees. And while Friday gently pays homage to the genre, Scream goes full meta and, eventually, up its own arse.
One other ace up this movies sleeve is a fucking kickass soundtrack provided by none other than Alice Cooper! The standout tracks are Teenage Frankenstein used brilliantly in the RV scene with Cort and Nikki. Hard Rock Summer, used brilliantly in the car chase scene and He's Back, The Man Behind The Mask which is an exquisite piece of cheese that gets into your head and doesn't leave. Kudos to all involved...
When the movie came out it divided critics which for a Friday movie is serious fucking progress indeed. Predicatably enough some critics just dismissed it as more of the same. It wasn't and I wonder if some of them even bothered to watch it. One review in the Irish Independent gave me a chuckle. It read something like this: "Jason Voorhees comes back from the dead and runs around Crystal Lake searching for whomever is responsible for this trash". Some really appreciated the efforts made by the film makers though and praised its sense of fun. It is still the best received Friday and given that there have been six Jason movies since (two with pretty big budgets) that's a pretty decent achievement.
Friday VI is not a great movie but it is a great Friday movie. The balance between horror and comedy is well done. Jason is viscious but there's a lot of dark humour to be enjoyed too.... If you're that way inclined...
I'll leave you with this wonderful dollop of cheese:
Cheers,
G.
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