FRIDAY THE 13TH - VI: JASON LIVES

US, 1986, 87 minutes, Colour.
Thom Matthews, Jennifer Cook.
Directed by Tom Mc Loughlin.

Friday the 13th Part VI. Jason Lives. At the end of part V, it seemed certain that Jason was finally dead. However, the victim of the previous film wants to make sure that Jason is dead and on a stormy night, opens his grave. Putting an iron paling through his corpse, lightning is transmitted and he is energised and comes to life again.

A rather solid, even stolid Jason stalks throughout the forest. He kills anybody he meets, quite indiscriminately. There is not the suspense of who is to be the next victim, as was the case in the previous films. In fact, Jason is quite arbitrary, killing young people, killing people in the forest, killing a group of adults playing war games. He terrorises young children but does not kill them.

As usual there is an anxious hero, young people at a youth camp, a sceptical sheriff an his assistant, his adventurous daughter. The hero spends a lot of his time in jail, as well as trying to persuade people about the truth of Jason.

The film seems less gory than its predecessors and definitely much less emphasis on sexuality and casual relationships amongst young people. Often, there are touches of send-up dialogue in the film - with references to seeing horror movies and kids talking about ending up as `dead meat'.

The film ends with Jason once again destroyed - but obviously leaving a (literal) eye open for a sequel.

The film was written and directed by Tom Loughlin - some practice for later films including the exact opposite comedy, Date With An Angel.

By this stage in the late '80s, Jason had become very well known and was a symbol of horror nightmares for young film audiences. Several sequels were to follow this one.