Thank God It's Friday The 13th: Friday the 13th Part 2!!!

Every Friday the 13th two things happen: Jason goes on a killing spree, and I write an article in tribute to him. This time our subject is arguably the best film in the entire series, Friday the 13th Part 2. This article contains spoilers and gluten.

The movie opens with Alice, the sole surviving camp counsellor from the first instalment, who is still haunted by nightmares of her ordeal at Crystal Lake. This seems to have been done mostly to pad the movie out to feature length, which is always a good way to start. Alice gets a call from her mother, who is as concerned as you might expect. This is an interesting point because the dialogue suggests she still has unfinished business at the lake, setting her up to be the protagonist again. This is, of course, an effective fake-out which, like the mystery element from the first film, is sadly no longer effective. Nowadays, we all know she's about to get whacked.

Another story tragically cut short because it would require character development.

So Jason kills her with an ice pick to the temple, which presumably he found in her abode, since it's unlikely he keeps one in his shack in the woods. Had she been staying in a hotel he'd have had to order room service to get something to kill her with. But first he pranks her by leaving his mother's rotting head in her fridge, the absolute madman.

I've got worse in my fridge tbh

With his mother's killer now avenged, Jason returns to his woods to live a quiet life of contemplation and ease. Unfortunately a new batch of camp counsellors decide to set up shop by Crystal Lake, so he pretty much has to kill them all too. I mean, it was that or not kill them, and keep being a hermit in peace, and, really, what kind of choice is that?

Given the state of Jason's cabin, his motive may just be the search for new piss bottles and cum socks.

Sack-wearing Jason aside, one thing that elevates this movie above the pack is the Final Girl, Ginny Field, played by the legendary Amy Steel.

Literally waifu tier.

Ginny is by far the smartest and most resourceful of the Friday the 13th Final Girls, and beats Jason with an uncanny knowledge of psychology the writers made up. It's her analysis of Jason that basically sets the template for our understanding of the character: he's a child trapped in a man's body, unsure what to do without his mother's guidance. You can kind of argue that the reason she is able to survive is she's the only one who cares to try to understand Jason, which is a pretty interesting idea. She also wails on him with a chainsaw at one point, which is pretty sweet.

She also pisses herself during the final chase scene, but nobody's perfect, unless you're into that.

But then there's also the fact that Part 2 is scary, which puts it in rare company with Part 1. Zombie Jason was never scary and from Part 5 or 6 (depending on how much you credit Part 5 for intentionality) the series became more of a broad comedy with gore. Part 2 uses the innate scariness of the woods to good advantage and the hallucinatory atmospherics of the ending are still effective.

Next Friday the 13th we'll cover Part 4, which isn't really scary but is atmospheric and the last "good" instalment. After that things get real retarded real quick, but as the 80s wore on, the distinction between retardation and brilliance wore, at times, extremely thin.