Dir. Steve Miner
I went into Friday the 13th Part III knowing Jason Voorhees (Richard Baker) would finally don the iconic hockey mask. Naturally, I thought this would be the object in question to discuss, as it's one of those rare objects in film which is ubiquitous with Jason himself. Hockey masks were never the same once they became tied to the slasher villain, being now a cold, but unique mask covering the disfigured face of the brutal, child-minded killer. Unfortunately however, it's clear in Part III that the film crew didn't realise how iconic the reveal of Jason wearing the mask would go on to be.
The moment comes 60 minutes into a 95 minute film, after Jason has already escaped police capture and murdered his way through the inhabitants of Higgins Haven, as well as visiting young campers. The dweeby, practical joker Shelley (Larry Zerner), is the owner of the mask, who uses it as part of an underwater prank on friend Vera (Catherine Parks). She's relaxing next to the lake, and Shelley grabs her leg from under the murky water, revealing his masked face. Vera rebuffs him, telling him that she'd like him more if he wasn't such an idiot, with him responding that being an idiot is being better than a nobody. It's typical for this franchise, the woes of young campers who just want to sleep with each other while holidaying.
Unfortunately for Shelley, he is soon after dispatched by Jason in the boathouse. We never see Jason take the mask, but nonetheless he appears, now masked, slowly walking out onto the pier. Vera's wading to recover Shelley's lost wallet, and here Jason appears, holding a speargun. Vera doesn't know him, and tells him to leave her alone, with Jason responding by dispassionately raising the gun, and firing the spear, straight down the camera. We cut to the spear impaling the shocked Vera in the eye, as she falls into the lake, slowly sinking. Jason drops the now empty speargun to the ground, turns, and...slowly walks away.
I don't want to criticise Richard Baker's performance, as throughout the rest of the film he brings that beefy menace to Jason that would go on to be so iconic. However the angle of the shot, which follows Jason as he walks back to the boathouse does the masked killer no favours. His outfit, from this angle, alongside Baker's walk, do not paint a picture of an insane killer, but rather a middle-aged man nonchalantly walking through the park! I'm not being critical of the intent. I think the intent of portraying Jason as a cold, detached killer is admirable, as he's clearly unaffected by murdering Vera. But this nonchalant nature utterly dampens what would otherwise be an iconic moment of horror cinema.
Instead of cutting after the kill, or having Jason menacingly walk (as he does in later films), we have this lackadaisical saunter to the house, which does not inspire fear in any way. It's disappointing with the eyes of history that the iconic reveal of the now masked Jason flounders due to a poor performance choice, and unflattering camera angles. The kill itself is well done, as are most within the film, numbering high within the franchise for number of on-screen kills.
The 3D nature of the film, which is lent into heavily throughout, is also present here as the spear is shot straight into the camera, making you imagine how theatre-goers at the time must have recoiled, or laughed at the campy effect. It's truly endemic of what Part III is going for - inventive kills, creepy killer, 3D fun. But the moment ends on a cheap feeling, and an unintentionally funny note with Jason's walk to the boathouse. For that reason, it doesn't feel right for me to select the mask as the object for the blog, at least from this film from the Friday the 13th franchise. Perhaps one of the later films (which I've yet to see) will really sell how the mask can be used to instil fear. For Part III, it has to be the speargun for encapsulating the main problem with an otherwise iconic scene.
As not to end on a bum note, I just want to convey how brilliant the actual ending of Part III is, particularly as the trilogy-ender it was designed to be. Chris (Dana Kimmell), the final girl of the film, had dispatched Jason with an axe to the head. She pushes a canoe into the lake to escape from his body, collapsing from exhaustion. In what we learn to be a dream sequence, the film teases the audiences with potential closers to the film. Each previous Friday film has toyed with the image of the canoe on the lake, where the first film ended with the final girl being pulled under by the supernaturally alive, and rotten body of the young Jason.
In Part III this shock-scare is teased as various noises scare Chris, as we expect something to rise from the lake. Instead, this expectation is subverted as Chris sees Jason, now resurrected for the second time in the window of the house. She panics, and Jason runs down onto the shore, where he disappears, thus making us think that Chris is simply hallucinating out of grief. Then, in a double-twist, the rotten corpse of Jason's mother (Marilyn Poucher), the killer of the first film, rises from the lake and drags Chris down. This twisted reprise of the first film is revealed to be part of a dream sequence, as Jason is shown to still be dead with an axe in his head, and Chris is taken away by the police, mind addled by grief and shock. The final shot of the film shows the still lake, indicating that the danger has indeed passed, and the trilogy has come to a close.
I loved this entire sequence, as it is only enhanced by the knowledge from later films that Jason does often return, resurrected from the grave for one last shock. The presence of Jason's mother, and the nature of her surprise return, is a wonderful tip of the hat to the first film, and gives one last reminder that it is family dysfunction which is at the heart of Jason (and indeed Pamela's) compulsion to kill. This sort of inter-franchise playfulness goes a long way, beyond the normally inventive kills, to convey how much fun the filmmakers are having with the concept, and in this case, that fun is felt by the audience as well.
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