After the misstep that was Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Jason Lives course-corrects the slasher franchise back into Mr. Voorhees’ hands with spectacular results. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives serves as the third and final film in what many consider the “Tommy Jarvis” trilogy of films, a series named for the protagonist that stars in all three. Don’t fret if this connection was completely lost on you, though. Had they not shared a name across the films, I would probably have never put it together because of how wildly inconsistent the portrayals are.
As this film begins, Tommy is returning to Crystal Lake (now named Forest Green) to destroy Jason Voorhees’ body once and for all. Unfortunately, he accidentally accomplishes the exact opposite when a lightning bolt reanimates Jason, giving birth officially to the undead juggernaut version of this character that many have grown to associate with the franchise. Beyond that, the film doesn’t do much to deviate from the typical structure of these films. Where it does differentiate itself, however, is in its strikingly comedic tone.
Sure, the franchise has dabbled in being intentionally cheesy and winking at the camera at times, but Jason Lives starts to drive things into farce territory. For example, the opening scene transitions into the credits as a closeup on Jason’s pupil opens up to reveal Jason walking on-screen a la James Bond seen from within the barrel of a gun. In addition to this, there are numerous times where characters will make self-referential jokes and even break the fourth wall.
Had writer/director Tom McLoughlin spent as much time figuring out a compelling plot for his main characters as he did try to fit in gags and jokes, this installment could be standing high above the rest of the franchise. Instead, to supplement a pretty bare-bones plot, numerous one-off scenes seem to have been shoehorned in to pump up the runtime. There are at least two scenes in which characters are dispatched in the same scene that they first appear. Jason just appears and annihilates them with little to no consequence to anything else going on in the film. The changes made to the formula make end up making Jason Lives one of the better films of the series so far, but not by much.
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Current Ranking of Friday the 13th films:
1. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
2. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
3. Friday the 13th Part III
4. Friday the 13th Part 2
5. Friday the 13th (1980)
6. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning