With it's lightning pace, plentiful black comedy, frequent and satisfyingly gruesome killings, Friday the 13th Part 6 - Jason Lives signals the welcome return of the real Jason after Roy, the vengeful paramedic stepped in his shoes for a bit while Jason rested underground in his coffin for a few years. Like Part 5, the film begins with two restless young men unwisely desecrating Jason's grave and digging up his corpse, only this time it's Tommy Jarvis himself (Thom Mathews of Return of the Living Dead fame) and fellow mental institution inmate Hawes (Ron Palillo of Welcome Back, Kotter fame) doing the deed. It seems Tommy is bent on destroying Jason's corpse by burning it after continuing to suffer frightening hallucinations of the masked maniac, but his plan backfires (duh) when Jason is revived in his freshly dug-up grave by a random bolt of lightning from the sky. Tommy tries earnestedly to convince the ornery local town sheriff (David Keegan in a strong portrayal) and his vivacious blonde daughter Megan (fantastic Jennifer Cooke) that Jason is on his way back to Camp Crystal Lake, where a busload of young kids is soon to arrive to start their summer vacation at the newly (and foolishly) opened Camp Forest Green. It's worth noting that this is the only film in the series -- aside from the opening sequence of Part 1 -- to feature kids actually at the camp as it's usually just the counselors-in-training and/or owners getting ready for the arrival of the little summer campers.
The cast of Jason Lives is universally likeable and more talented than normal, especially Kerry Noonan as sympathetic Paula and soap star Renee Jones as Sissy. There's several terrific kills throughout, and they come fairly fast and furious. There's a decent amount of blood, but a lot of the strength of the kills comes from the better-than-average written dialogue that breathes life and spontaneity to the characters both before and during their murders, as well as the improved acting and very solid direction by Tom Loughlin. Thom Mathews is very good as hero Tommy, and it's hard not to fall a little in love with Jennifer Cooke's Megan, a fun-loving and carefree gal who develops a bit of a crush on Tommy from the other side of the bars her sheriff dad's been keeping him behind, and who agrees to help him in his quest to stop Jason once and for all. Megan doesn't get an actual chase scene like the heroines in the films previous, but she does get to rescue half-drowned Tommy from the lake while simultaneously fending off and chopping up with a boat engine Jason, who's been chained to a rock at the bottom of the lake by Tommy and isn't happy about it.
Jason Lives is revered for its pretty liberal use of comedy, which is occasionally a little forced but overall is spot-on, and for CJ Graham's menacing Jason, who stalks fast and furiously through the campground like never before. The slasher genre was losing popularity by the time this one came out in 1986, so the writers tried to bring some life into the series with a little humor and self-parody, and it mostly works. Several of the film's best kills combine humor and terror, like the scene where counselors Darren (Tony Goldwyn in his film debut) and Lizbeth (Nancy McLoughlin) are driving down a deserted side road through the woods on their way to camp when they're stopped dead in their tracks by Jason, who is blocking their path. Lizbeth tells Darren she's "seen enough horror films to know any weirdo wearing a mask is never friendly" and begins to put the car in reverse when Darren decides to exit the car and confront Jason with a concealed gun from the glove box. Immediately upon discovering that bullets don't work, Darren is gutted by Jason with a metal fencepost and tossed over the madman's shoulder, blood spraying all over the car windshield. Lizbeth screams for mercy and crawls out of the car as Jason plunges the post through the gory windshield in her direction, narrowly missing her. In an inspired bit of writing, the terrifed, hysterical woman, whilst slipping through an enormous water puddle, pulls her wallet from her pocket and offers the psychopath all her money and credit cards. Her offer is declined by Jason, of course, who coldly shoves the post into her screaming mouth and pins her head under the murky water.
There's plenty of other great kills, such as when the sheriff attempts to bash Jason's head in with a giant rock but is instead bent over backwards and snapped in half by the superhumanly strong madman; Sissy getting pulled through the cabin window from outside by Jason, who twists her head right off her shoulders; a double kill on an in-transit RV driven by horny Court (Tom Fridley) and girlfriend Nicki (Darcy Demoss), with Jason crushing the girl's head into the vehicle wall and sticking a hunting knife via ear canal into Court's head; a rare triple kill wherein Jason jumps from a tree in the woods and simultaneously decapitates three bumbling paintballers; and another double kill with Jason thrusting his trusty machete through a young couple as they unsuccessfully attempt to flee him via motorcycle.
Friday the 13th Part 6 - Jason Lives is definitely a fan favorite due to its elevated writing, casting and energy level, and it features a great Jason and some good in-jokes. There's an average of about one or more brutal kills every five minutes, so those with impaired attention spans shouldn't have a problem with this one. I give Jason Lives a well-earned 7.5 of 10 and recommend it highly to slasher fans.
The cast of Jason Lives is universally likeable and more talented than normal, especially Kerry Noonan as sympathetic Paula and soap star Renee Jones as Sissy. There's several terrific kills throughout, and they come fairly fast and furious. There's a decent amount of blood, but a lot of the strength of the kills comes from the better-than-average written dialogue that breathes life and spontaneity to the characters both before and during their murders, as well as the improved acting and very solid direction by Tom Loughlin. Thom Mathews is very good as hero Tommy, and it's hard not to fall a little in love with Jennifer Cooke's Megan, a fun-loving and carefree gal who develops a bit of a crush on Tommy from the other side of the bars her sheriff dad's been keeping him behind, and who agrees to help him in his quest to stop Jason once and for all. Megan doesn't get an actual chase scene like the heroines in the films previous, but she does get to rescue half-drowned Tommy from the lake while simultaneously fending off and chopping up with a boat engine Jason, who's been chained to a rock at the bottom of the lake by Tommy and isn't happy about it.
Jason Lives is revered for its pretty liberal use of comedy, which is occasionally a little forced but overall is spot-on, and for CJ Graham's menacing Jason, who stalks fast and furiously through the campground like never before. The slasher genre was losing popularity by the time this one came out in 1986, so the writers tried to bring some life into the series with a little humor and self-parody, and it mostly works. Several of the film's best kills combine humor and terror, like the scene where counselors Darren (Tony Goldwyn in his film debut) and Lizbeth (Nancy McLoughlin) are driving down a deserted side road through the woods on their way to camp when they're stopped dead in their tracks by Jason, who is blocking their path. Lizbeth tells Darren she's "seen enough horror films to know any weirdo wearing a mask is never friendly" and begins to put the car in reverse when Darren decides to exit the car and confront Jason with a concealed gun from the glove box. Immediately upon discovering that bullets don't work, Darren is gutted by Jason with a metal fencepost and tossed over the madman's shoulder, blood spraying all over the car windshield. Lizbeth screams for mercy and crawls out of the car as Jason plunges the post through the gory windshield in her direction, narrowly missing her. In an inspired bit of writing, the terrifed, hysterical woman, whilst slipping through an enormous water puddle, pulls her wallet from her pocket and offers the psychopath all her money and credit cards. Her offer is declined by Jason, of course, who coldly shoves the post into her screaming mouth and pins her head under the murky water.
There's plenty of other great kills, such as when the sheriff attempts to bash Jason's head in with a giant rock but is instead bent over backwards and snapped in half by the superhumanly strong madman; Sissy getting pulled through the cabin window from outside by Jason, who twists her head right off her shoulders; a double kill on an in-transit RV driven by horny Court (Tom Fridley) and girlfriend Nicki (Darcy Demoss), with Jason crushing the girl's head into the vehicle wall and sticking a hunting knife via ear canal into Court's head; a rare triple kill wherein Jason jumps from a tree in the woods and simultaneously decapitates three bumbling paintballers; and another double kill with Jason thrusting his trusty machete through a young couple as they unsuccessfully attempt to flee him via motorcycle.
Friday the 13th Part 6 - Jason Lives is definitely a fan favorite due to its elevated writing, casting and energy level, and it features a great Jason and some good in-jokes. There's an average of about one or more brutal kills every five minutes, so those with impaired attention spans shouldn't have a problem with this one. I give Jason Lives a well-earned 7.5 of 10 and recommend it highly to slasher fans.