Even compared to the other movies in the series, Friday the 13th Part 3 is a bad movie. The acting is awful, the special effects are laughable, the dialogue sounds like it was written by apes on crack, and this movie has the distinct dishonor of being released in 3-D! Ah, yes. 3-D. That bane of the early eighties moviegoer. What's even more annoying than watching a movie in 3-D is watching an old 3-D movie in plain old 2-D!
Whoa...look out for that yo-yo!
What a fake looking snake that just jumped out at me!
Hey, watch where you're sticking that dismembered eye!
Unfortunately, the 3-D feature is no longer available, so instead we're subjected to all of these objects simply jammed up against the camera lens! I digress. As a big fan of the F13 series, I feel responsible to at least be honest. That 3-D revival? It ranks right below The Vietnam War in the book of bad ideas.
As for the movie itself, it's pretty weak, and that's taking into account the two movies that came before it. Tell me if you've heard this one before: Uninteresting group of teenaged stereotypes wander into the woods, only to be slaughtered in spectacularly messy style. Okay, so originality is not the strong suit of these movies.
What's particularly disturbing about this entry is the truly awful disco-sounding music. Why not just stick with the old Ch-Ch-Cha stuff? Just wait till you hear the Waka-Chiki-Waka stuff in the opening credits! You'll break out some bell-bottoms and get funky! This sequel is also notable for introducing completely pointless characters, solely to up the body count! There's a biker gang in this movie, for cryin' out loud! Why not just have the circus come to town?
The saving graces for me are usually the creativity of the killings and the amount of graphic gore. Yeah, I'm a sicko but we already knew that based on my other horror reviews. Friday the 13th Part 3 seems too preoccupied with the whole 3-D gimmick, but certainly doesn't get in the way of the gory fun. Jason comes across his soon-to-be-famous hockey mask, so this movie is at least worth a look for you film historians.
While it's definitely not the worst of the series, Part 3 seems like a notably lazy and cheap affair. It's worth a rental for the horror freaks out there who have yet to see it, or for fans of that awful 3-D thing I had to live through. Never again.
Hardcore Horror Stats:
Male Body Count: 7
Female Body Count: 5
Total: 12
Total for series so far: 32
Gore Quotient:
This one guy gets slashed VERTICALLY, while walking on his hands! (in 3-D!): A-
One poor lass takes a harpoon in the eyeball!: C+
Biker girl gets a pitchfork through her neck: B-
Our hero (?) gets his head squooshed until his eyeball pops out! (in 3-D!): B-
Overall Gore Quotient: C+ (mainly because it all looks too fake)
Note: Cinematically, this is an awful movie. I rate it three stars due to my life-long adulation of these movies. I accept no responsibility if you rent this to watch with somebody more discerning than I.
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