Friday the 13th Part III
40th Anniversary Steelbook Edition review by Bobby Blakey
In the world of horror there are only a true handful of iconic movie killers that have stood the test of time. One of the most recognizable and has the most diverse history is that of the hockey mask, machete wielding Jason Vorhees. In 1982 the third chapter of the franchise it theaters in 3D and forever changed how fans saw the iconic killer. Now Paramount is bringing the third film in the famed franchise Friday the 13th Part III to Steelbook to celebrate its 40th Anniversary.
Friday the 13th Part III follows Jason Voorhees, having barely survived a wound to his shoulder from his own machete, back to get revenge on all that visit "his" woods. A new group of friends come over to party at an area close to the campsite.
The first two films in the franchise kept to kind of a story arc with the reveal of Mrs. Voorhees in the original and the evolution and rise of Jason in the second. This ended tying it back to his mother and a seeming death of the crazed killer, but as we all know that didn’t happen. The third chapter pics up directly at the end of the previous film and seeing Jason heading to find some new duds and out for another killing spree.
This series really set the tone and changed a lot of the horror slasher genre over the years. It’s always amusing to me how most of what we tend to remember from these franchises often didn’t happen until later installments such as Jason not getting the iconic hockey mask until this film, but it’s the most recognizable feature of the entire franchise. Funny enough even here it still takes almost the entire film before it finally makes its appearance.
This is a pretty generic entry into the franchise that offers up all the required additions including drug use, sex, clueless teens, motorcycle gangs and plenty of kills. Believe it or not though the kills are few and far between as it tries to build tension evolve Jason to what we know and love now. There are always fun kills in these films and this is no different with them taking advantage to try and enhance them with the 3D aspect complete with my favorite of the harpoon and handstand kills.
Despite it dragging in a lot of places and being a by the numbers slasher flick it still is entertaining and important to the franchise. It is amazing that this series has been around for so long and that this simple entry in 1982 gave us the most impactful and memorable look to a slasher to date known by everyone including those not fans of the franchise.
In addition to the newly remastered edition of the film this release offers up all the legacy bonus content of the film. This is a must have for fans of the franchise so grab your copy of the Friday the 13th Part III: 40th Anniversary Steelbook Edition Blu-ray available now from Paramount Home Entertainment.
