FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 (Miner, 1981)

Perhaps the most bizarre thing about stereotypes is that they're often based in truth. The thing about all Jewish people being made of money and nose? Totally true. On a different note, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 single-handedly proves every single cliche about the horror genre (or, more correctly, the slasher sub-genre) correct. There is really a token black guy. There is really one KOOKY guy who plays pranks and does funny voices throughout. There is really a guy in a wheelchair for no reason whatsoever. The people who get naked, or at least sneak into a cabin to fuck, do get punished for their sins. And it's all really, really bad.

F13P2 opens with the Last Girl from the first FRIDAY picture getting an ice pick to the temple. Amazingly, there is actually a sort of interesting, long, unbroken, steadicam shot in the opening sequence. That's about the highlight of the film's stylish flourishes, however. The rest is all just utterly rote 80s slasher trash. The Oedipal undertones of other slasher pictures, such as SLEEPAWAY CAMP and MANIAC, are present here, but unlike in those two others, are not explored in any interesting or meaningful way. I still have a soft spot for the first FRIDAY film, and I love FREDDY VS. JASON with a passion, but aside from those, there are simply no good FRIDAY movies. Amazing, considering how long the franchise thrived for.

At the same time, I can't discount the movies entirely. Sure, its sexual politics are more Falwell than I'd like, and there really is just simple, mindless violence at the core of all of the films. But c'mon. Everyone enjoys sitting in a dark room, with a bowel of popcorn, watching stupid teenagers have horrible things done to them. Anyone who says otherwise is probably a terrorist, or a liar. Or a lying terrorist. The first FRIDAY film I ever saw was JASON TAKES MANHATTEN, and I was probably around ten or so, and it was on TV, but I was still enthralled at the mayhem and the sex and the wonder of it all. Of course, revisiting the series years later reveals the niave nature of my initial thoughts, but just the same, there is still fun to be found in these movies.

I'm not even going to attempt to give this one a serious treatment. FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 is something that you've either seen time and time again, or you're just not going to like it at all. I doubt there are very many people seeing the movies for the first time at this point. I realize this makes for two rather droll reviews in a row (one of which was written while I was drunk, in my own defense), but I'll make up for it next time. TCM: THE BEGINNING tonight!