Friday the 13th Part 2 picks up not long after the ending of the first film. After a lengthy recap of the events that conclude Part 1, Alice (Adrienne King), the sole survivor of Pamela Voorhees’ bloodbath, is recuperating at home when she is brutally murdered by another unseen attacker. Almost immediately, the single remaining loose thread is tied up.
The film then jumps forward to five years in the future and another group of counselors is assembling to attend a training camp at a different campground on the same Crystal Lake, a stone’s throw from the site of the first film’s events. With a marginal amount of variation, each of the counselors is hunted down by another psycho killer. I would not blame you for mistaking any chunk of this movie for its predecessor as largely it’s the same exact movie.
Notably, however, this installment marks the first appearance of an adult Jason Voorhees as the film’s killer, albeit not in the hockey mask many have known to associate with him. Instead, Jason sports a burlap sack covering his horribly deformed head. Two movies deep into this franchise and we still don’t have a recognizable villain. This absolutely blows my mind.
Other than that, as a slasher movie, I’d actually say this one actually ranks marginally more entertaining than the first. For what it lacks in creativity (after all, it’s nearly indistinguishable from the first, in my opinion) it makes up for in slightly more interesting kills, including a brutal double shishkebab through a bed with a spear.
Based on these first two films and what I know about Friday the 13th through pop culture osmosis, I’m guessing I’m going to need to be a bit more patient for this franchise to hit its stride.
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