Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

As I mentioned in my recent review for Friday The 13th Part 2, people who know the legend of Jason and the F13 films may automatically put "Jason Voorhees" and "hockey mask" in the same sentence. Finally, about halfway through this film we see Jason in his hockey mask, and it's a huge turning point for the series. That mask may not look like much, but it itself is almost as iconic as Jason. Now he's finally got something decent covereing his face, Jason gets a lot more screentime, and the audience can have a lot of fun watching him attack his victims. There's a thrill about it. I feel like this is finally the point where the series picks up pace and just takes off. I thought Part Two got some pace about by letting us see Jason, but Part Three really gets the series moving.

One of the ways which it does this is with the introduction of Chris Higgins (Dana Kimmell), a girl who has met Jason once before, and lived to tell the tale. Chris is just one of the counselors who has come to Crystal Lake. Yet again, there's a whole group of them trying to get a camp up and running, and since Jason survived the last film, he's decided to come along for the party. Jason, however, has a completely different idea of fun, and it's not long before he gets the rematch with Chris he's wanted ever since she got away from him.

That's not before Jason slices and dices his way through the rest of the group like a chef gone mad. It wouldn't be fair to call the deaths here "inventive", as a lot of them are obvious homages to the original, but they're certainly more memorable than what we saw in Part Two. At one stage Jason simply abandons all weaponry and squeezes a kids head until their eye pops out. Not recommended for viewing around the dinner table.

It's more than just a couple of scenes that are eerily similar to Part One though, the axe directly to the head, stabbing someone through the neck after sex, then heading to the shower to take out their partner, all of these gave me a sense of deja vu. All is gory however, and those who were disappointed at the amount of gore cut from Part Two should be satisfied with this.

Returning director Steve Miner makes it clear Jason and Chris are both central characters. Having met and escaped Jason before, it's made obvious she's going to be the one to take him on in the end, but around the middle of the film it's her backstory that caught my attention. The way she told the story suggested there's more to Jason than we know, and I think either Chris or her parents are keeping something quiet. Hopefully, this is developed in future episodes.

Jason screaming in pain when being hit with the machete says to me that if he can feel pain he can be killed, and if he can scream he can talk. Why he doesn't remains a mystery.

Kimmell gives a stunning performance - the best I've seen from one of these counselors. She brings a lot of human-ness to the character; others have seemed one-dimensional. Richard Brooker is Jason this time around, and he's the scariest so far. When he lifts his mask at Chris and grins to show his recognition, that was truly creepy.

F13Pt3 is not big on plot, and a lot of it can be seen in Part One, but it's more thrilling to watch it here. It has more of a 'horror' air about it, with a touch of mystery thrown in, and helped along by astounding performances from Kimmell and Brooker This is easily the best Friday The 13th movie so far.

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This is my first movie entry into Sleeper54's Lean-n-Mean 3 W/O

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Other reviews relating to Jason
Friday The 13th
Friday The 13th Part Two
Freddy vs Jason

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age