This is the one that provided the last and most prominant piece of iconary to the series. Part one gave us the "Ch-ch-ch, Ha-ha-ha" music. Part two made Jason the slasher. Here he gets his trademark accessory- the hockey mask. And so the legend is born... in 3D, no less!
Aside from the mask, Part 3 brought nothing new to the series. It's big gimmick was the 3D, a fad briefly reborn in the early 80's. The counselors/cattle are pretty bland and the formula was becoming routine. Watching the film on video only puncuates the boredom felt between killings. Long shots of a yo-yo dropping and receding into the camera look pointless without the 3D. There are a few bad-ass bikers, looking like they just walked off the set of "Beat It", to add some personality, but they are the first to go. But they're black, so what did you expect?
It's interesting to note how quickly the hockey mask caught on with the public. I would dare say that without it the series wouldn't have made it past another sequel. Ironic since I'm pretty sure the mask was an arbitrary decision by the director. It was used merely to copy the Halloween bedsheet scene where the victim doesn't realize it's Jason, and not their goofy friend, behind the disguise. The mask gave Jason a personality and established him as the reason people came back to see these films over and over again. So what is it about the mask? It's a pretty innocuous looking piece of sporting apparel. Perhaps that's the appeal. With just two eye holes and a couple of lines it just barely resembles a face. The mask is devoid of any personality save what we project upon it. Most artists (and anyone who's read Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics") will tell you we project ourselves onto inanimate things. Even an electrical outlet looks like a face. The blanker the slate, the more personality we project upon it. So, kind of like the old school horror technique of showing little and leaving the worst images up to the audience's imagination, we each see something different, but scary in Jason's mask.
Or maybe it just looks cool.
The ending to this thing, especially following the tired routine of the rest of the film, is so balls to the wall bumfuck crazy, it almost doesn't belong in a Friday The 13th movie. It's a (supposed) dream sequence straight out of a Fulci film that tries to top the shock scare endngs of the previous two. An amalgam of elements from the entire series that provide the only unpredictable moments in the entire movie.
Friday The 13th Part 3D. Accidentally producing one of horror's biggests icons.
Aside from the mask, Part 3 brought nothing new to the series. It's big gimmick was the 3D, a fad briefly reborn in the early 80's. The counselors/cattle are pretty bland and the formula was becoming routine. Watching the film on video only puncuates the boredom felt between killings. Long shots of a yo-yo dropping and receding into the camera look pointless without the 3D. There are a few bad-ass bikers, looking like they just walked off the set of "Beat It", to add some personality, but they are the first to go. But they're black, so what did you expect?
It's interesting to note how quickly the hockey mask caught on with the public. I would dare say that without it the series wouldn't have made it past another sequel. Ironic since I'm pretty sure the mask was an arbitrary decision by the director. It was used merely to copy the Halloween bedsheet scene where the victim doesn't realize it's Jason, and not their goofy friend, behind the disguise. The mask gave Jason a personality and established him as the reason people came back to see these films over and over again. So what is it about the mask? It's a pretty innocuous looking piece of sporting apparel. Perhaps that's the appeal. With just two eye holes and a couple of lines it just barely resembles a face. The mask is devoid of any personality save what we project upon it. Most artists (and anyone who's read Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics") will tell you we project ourselves onto inanimate things. Even an electrical outlet looks like a face. The blanker the slate, the more personality we project upon it. So, kind of like the old school horror technique of showing little and leaving the worst images up to the audience's imagination, we each see something different, but scary in Jason's mask.
Or maybe it just looks cool.
The ending to this thing, especially following the tired routine of the rest of the film, is so balls to the wall bumfuck crazy, it almost doesn't belong in a Friday The 13th movie. It's a (supposed) dream sequence straight out of a Fulci film that tries to top the shock scare endngs of the previous two. An amalgam of elements from the entire series that provide the only unpredictable moments in the entire movie.
Friday The 13th Part 3D. Accidentally producing one of horror's biggests icons.
