by Lee Skavydis

Created on: January 10, 2011

Friday 13th part III takes place, more or less, right after the second installment and also marks the entry of the famous hockey mask that became an icon for the series.

A group of teenagers go to Camp Crystal lake to camp, even though it was reported on the television that bodies were found there and the teenagers drive past the crime scene. Brainless? Quite obviously!

This is the movie that started to lack the effective and eerie atmosphere that was contained in the first two movies. In the first two, we never saw the reveal of the killer, and we were treated to dark, creepy shots of the trees blowing and other quiet random places of the woods that sent shivers up the viewers spines.

They, perhaps, imitated the directing style of 'Halloween' a little because it used the "killer could be anywhere" camera technique by showing us places where the killer could be, even though nothing really happened during those moments.

But in this third movie we know that Jason is the killer and we know where he is all the time. We are even shown Jason spying on the teenagers at various points of the film, including the beginning when they were unpacking their stuff to take into the cabins.

Originally, this movie was released in 3D, so there are certain camera shots in the movie that are setup to have things "pop" out of the screen, particularly a girl playing with a yo yo and Jason looking at the camera, hands extended as if to reach out at the audience.

Larry Zerner plays Shelly, a simple minded teenager who just loves playing scary pranks on people. He is looking for a girlfriend and is set up with a particular potential female victim, but this ends in hillarious circumstances.

Dana Kimmell's character, Chris has a back story, and reveals that she was once randomly attacked by a mysterious disfigured man a few years before. Could it have been Jason?

The other teenagers are forgettable victims for Jason to kill.

Speaking of Jason, he is played by British actor, Richard Brooker this time around and does a decent job. He appears bigger than Steve Dash's Jason from part two, but the nature of the kills bring down the intimidation factor. One example is that a man's head is crushed and his eye amusingly pops out at the audience for a 3D effect.

These type of comical moments make the movie a little cartoonish in nature, and this affects the Jason character.

There is a small sub plot in the movie. A biker gang come to the camp and have a score to settle with the teenagers since Shelly and his potential date run into bother at a local store early in the movie.

However, this does not give the film any more substance, and just provides more fun for Jason.

I think the part six or part eight are the most fun of all the entries in this franchise but the first three movies are directed well and made efforts, especially the first two films, to still try and scare the audience rather than just throw buckets of blood at them.

This is an entertaining entry if you have no other slasher movies to watch, and it passes the time quite quickly.

Recommended.

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