Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood

There's a legend around here. A killer buried, but NOT dead.

Jason Voorhees is unintentionally revived from his watery grave by a girl with telekinetic powers.

And so the Friday the 13th bandwagon rolled on for another sequel, a part 7, that once again pitches the unlikable Voorhees against a number of annoying teen types. Those involved here deserve some respect for at least trying to add some impetus to the flagging series, here by way of a gimmick, that of a telekinetic foe played by Lar Park-Lincoln, but ultimately it just ends up same old same old. In fact it's a considerable step down from the more fun and funky part 6.

The telekinetic issue becomes something of a side-bar, which is annoying as there's a potentially great thread involving a devious doctor (Terry Kiser) that never reaches the heights it should have. There's a little thought in the writing as regards grief management, but ultimately all hope of something more substantial gives way to Voorhees slicing and dicing kids we don't care about anyway. We could watch the first 3 films if we wanted that again.

A decent confrontation fight at the finale saves it from stinkerville, but really it's a weak sequel that offers nothing to warrant it being made in the first place. 4/10

I know a lot of die-hard horror fans who hold The New Blood as either their favourite Friday the 13th movie since the original, or even just straight up their favourite Friday the 13th movie. Personally though, The New Blood is the franchise low. It's arguably the most ridiculous, but that isn't the problem for me. The problem is that they take something that ridiculous, and then treat it so seriously, and riding that line doesn't work with Friday the 13th for me. The older and more grounded first few movies I dig, and then the absurd but having fun with it movies that came later I dig, but Part VII simultaneously doesn't try to be either of those things, and falls apart from the word go.

Final rating:★½: - Boring/disappointing. Avoid where possible.

"Carrie" vs. Jason with a subpar script

Released in 1988, "Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood" takes place about ten years after the previous film, which explains its title "The New Blood": Tommy Jarvis is no longer in the picture and there's a new set of youthful blood for Jason to spill. This installment is the second to feature Jason as an inhuman rotting corpse and the F/X of Jason at the end are great. The highlight of Part VII is the inclusion of a Carrie-like heroine with mental powers who squares off against Jason at the end. We also get Terry Kiser as Tina's therapist, Dr. Crews. If you're not familiar with Mr. Kiser, he played the charismatic preacher in 1968's "Rachel, Rachel" in the mind-blowing Pentecostal service sequence.

Although my title blurb describes this segment as "Carrie vs. Jason," it's the same Friday the 13th formula, but with a protagonist who has Carrie-like abilities. The script is weak however and needed tweaked to work out the kinks, which makes it the weakest in the series next to Part III (and the last act of Part IX).

This entry features a quality collection of females, which the franchise is renowned for, but the creators failed to milk them for their potential, so to speak (and I don’t mean nudity or sleaze since the movie has a little bit of both). For instance Jane (Staci Greason) and Robin (Elizabeth Kaitan) are the top women, but not enough is done with them. Jane’s role is too brief as she’s the first to buy the farm while Robin eventually has some quality screen time, but the director fails to truly capture her beauty. For those who care, the attractive Sandra (Heidi Kozak) has a brief skinny dipping scene. Meanwhile Melissa (Susan Jennifer Sullivan) is decent, but she’s depicted as such a biyatch you almost WANT her to die.

As far as locations go, Part VII was shot in Southern Alabama, just northeast of Mobile, with bits done in Southern Cal (e.g. the house where Robin is killed is in Topanga).

BOTTOM LINE: Part VII is another retread of the same Friday formula with the distinction of the protagonist having psycho-kinetic powers and, like the previous film, Jason is now totally inhuman, an infernal monster. In addition, the climax is the best yet, featuring the "Carrie" vs. Jason fight and a spectacular explosion. Unfortunately Part VII fumbles the ball a little in regards to its subpar depiction of the women. Worst of all, the script is amateurish like Part III. Nevertheless, it's a fairly entertaining installment that thankfully lacks the camp of III, V and VI.

NOTE ABOUT THE ENDING (SPOILER): No, the corpse of Tina's Dad was not left in the lake for ten years, the original ending made it clearer that her Dad's body coming out of the lake was a product of Tina's mind powers, although the long chain was real. Of course, this doesn't explain why Jason's corpse was still in the lake early in the film, but I suppose we could chalk that up to the curse that was on Crystal Lake and the fact that no one in their right mind would want to visit that part of the lake (near "Camp Blood") by this point in the series.

The film runs 88 minutes.

GRADE: C

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood continues where its predecessor left off. It has an iconic tone that balances campiness while tacking itself and the antagonist seriously. The added element of telekinesis, thanks to the badass Tina, which really sets this one apart. I really enjoyed seeing a final girl that also has supernatural powers that are able to truly take on Jason one on one. But other that Tina, there were not a lot of characters that were really memorable, most of them were the run of the mill teenagers that were simply there to add to Jason's kill count. The kills in this movie were pretty mild as well, although the sleeping bag kill is iconic and is probably the coolest kill in series history. I was really going to give this movie 3.5 stars, but the ending was so weird and corny that I had to lower it to a 3. Even though this movie takes a lot from part VI, the loss of Tom McLoughlin is definitely felt with the slight decrease in quality.

Score: 65% Verdit: Decent