Jason Voorhees has found himself in many predicaments — beating the grave, going to space, fighting Freddy Kreuger, and going head-to-head with…Stephen King’sCarrie? Well, not exactly, butFriday the 13th Part VII: The New Bloodwas originally pitched as just that — “Jason vs. Carrie.” Even though this general concept made it into the film, Carrie herself never exactly made the cut.Part VIIdid in factpit a tragic telekinetic high teenager against our hockey-masked slasher, but her name wasn’t Carrie, but Tina Shepherd (Lar Park Lincoln). What came to pass is a pretty entertainingFridayouting, chock-full of plenty of good and creative kills, a nasty, decomposing design for Jason, and an exciting new angle the franchise hadn’t attempted before.The New Bloodabsolutely rocks, and should be held up higherin franchise rankingsfor its efforts.
By the timePart VIIhad rolled around, things had beenmostlypretty same-y in theFriday the 13thfranchise, at least in terms of the types of characters. Although the firstFridayfilm famously features a different killer than Jason,Friday the 13th Parts II,III, andIVfeature the iconic slasher. Likewise, all of these movies are stocked with a cast of college kids for the killer to mow down, butPart IVshakes things up a bit by throwing a little kid into the mix, Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman).Part V: A New Beginningtries to bring a new angle byhaving another new killer for the franchise, but that shake-up was certainly not well-received, seeing as howPart VI: Jason Livesbrings Jason back from the dead as a rotting zombie-like version of the character. But whileJason Livessaw more success than the otherFriday the 13thsequels and would go on to become a fan favorite, there still was the question of how to keep fans interested in the series — would Jason’s return be enough?
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It was the late 80s and ambitions were high for theFriday the 13thfranchise. Now thatJason Liveswasthe first positively reviewed filmin the series since the original, the pressure was on for the producers.Part VIIhad to begood. So,producers pitched the idea forFreddy vs. Jason, which of course, wouldn’t come to fruition until 2003. At the time, Jason was as popular as ever, but the series itself was only doing “well enough” at the box office.A Nightmare on Elm Street, on the other hand, was lighting the horror world on fire. Everyone knew Freddy’s name, everyone was watching the movies, and everyone was afraid of falling asleep. Pit the two up against each other, and how can you go wrong?
Unfortunately, however, New Line Cinema passed on having their hallmark slasher duke it out with Jason, which meant it was back to the drawing board. That’s when screenwriterDaryl Haneybrought his genius idea to the table to have the hockey-masked killer face off against a final girl like always — only this time, the final girl would have heightened supernatural abilities. ProducerBarbara Sachscoined it “Jason vs. Carrie,” and the deal was sealed.Part VIIwas on its way, and it had a killer hook to show for it.
A New Bloodwasn’t just going to be like any otherFriday the 13thmovie though — it was going to be better than any of them. In fact, Sachs was determined to makePart VIIan Oscar winner. Sachs had her eye on several big-time directors (even the acclaimed Italian directorFederico Fellini) to take the reins, but unfortunately for her aspirations, they landed onJohn Carl Buechler. In actuality, there’s nothing wrong with Buechler, but they didn’t exactly land somebody with art-house sensibilities or someone who was a household name. All of this is to still praise Buechler as one of the better filmmakers to have helped bring Jason to the big screen.
‘Friday the 13th Part VII: A New Blood’ Is an Underrated Gem
In all honesty, despite not achieving its lofty goals,A New Bloodis still one of the more memorable films in the franchise. For one, it doesn’t just do the same old thing again. Sure, there are still loads of teenagers running around getting killed by a guy in a hockey mask, but we’re no longer just playing the hits. The attempt at bringing a new air to the franchise is greatly appreciated. Tina Shepherd doesn’t exactly have the most engaging or emotional backstory, but it’s something that the audience can latch on to for once. The film’s storyline follows Tina at every corner, from her troubled childhood when she accidentally killed her abusive father with her abilities, to her teen years when she’s lonely and having trouble making friends — oh, and battling an undead killing machine. Tina as a character is nothing too fancy, but the effort behind the scenes is appreciated, and Lar Park Lincoln sells the character as much as she possibly can. It’s not an Oscar-worthy performance, but one with more intentionality than most in the series.
How about Jason himself? Well, up until this point, loads of actors had already taken the fun opportunity of rocking Jason’s get-up, but this was the first time that fan-favoriteKane Hodderhad filled his shoes. Hodder would go on to play Jason three more times, inJason Takes Manhattan,Jason Goes to Hell, andJason X. From here on out, Jason’s name would be a necessary inclusion to titles, and Hodder’s performance as the character has a huge part to do with that. His physicality in this movie added so much to the killer that was never there before. Just the way Hodder throws people around, walks around with his shoulders bowed up, and towers over everything makes him more intimidating than any actor that came before him. Jason is given plenty of room to take out tons of dumb college kids, with some pretty fun deaths filling the runtime (the sleeping bag kill in particular… man, that’s some high art right there). Jason’s look in this movie is also arguably his best. He has a fantastically disgusting design before he becametoogross.
WhileFriday the 13thPart VIIdidn’t exactly end up becoming “Jason vs. Carrie,” it got pretty dang close. you’re able to really feel the producer’s passion behind the scenes, Park Lincoln rules as the telekinetic protagonist, and surprise, Kane Hodder kills it in his debut. This is also without mentioning the fact that the movie just feels like comfort food. No matter how hard these 80sFriday the 13thmovies tried to differentiate themselves, they all still go down pretty easily. There’s something about these movies being out in the woods, shot on old grainy film, andHarry Manfredini’sscore sending chills up your spine that makes all of them so much fun. It doesn’t matter how you spin theFriday the 13thtop, so long as it is spun in the first place.It’s the best slasher franchise, hands down. Fight me!
