FRIDAY THE 13TH - PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD

US, 1988, 90 minutes, Colour.
Lar Park Lincoln, Kevin Blair, Susan Blu.
Directed by John Carl Buechler.

Friday the 13th - Part VII. The New Blood. is in the same vein as the whole series. In a prologue, it recapitulates the previous films for those not in the know. It also makes a direct connection with part VI. This film has a similar plot to the rest - young people converging on Crystal Lake, the systematic killing of all of them by Jason - in a haphazard, rather than systematic or meaningful way. Jason just seems to kill anybody in his way, especially teenagers.

Where this film has a difference is in the heroine, Tina. As a young girl, discovering telekinetic powers, she causes the collapse of a pier and her father's death. She returns to Crystal Lake with a doctor and her mother in order to help her. Once again, the telekinetic powers are evident. She raises Jason from the bottom of the lake - and he goes on his usual violent rampage. (Some of the murder sequences are, as usual, gory; there is a touch of sex.)

However, the final confrontation is between Tina and Jason - and she generally has the upper hand as she exercises her telekinetic powers on him, with many climaxes and seeming destructions. However, she summons her dead father from the bottom of the lake and he takes Jason back - to be there for the beginning of part VIII.

It is extraordinary how this formula was popular during the '80s. The films are not strong on plot and causal connections - rather they simply present characters who are murdered in turn. This film was directed by John Carl Buechler, director of small-budget horror films specialising in effects such as Troll.