The title Jason Lives was a reassurance to the fans that the Scooby Doo era of ersatz Jasons was over, and the classic killer was returning to, once more, kill lots of people for no particular reason*. This was both a good thing and an admission that basically these movies are all the same and are never really going to change, which is also a good thing. There's nowhere to take a character like Jason except all over the place in terms of physical geography. Whether you call it Crystal Lake or Forest Hills, or whether you call Toronto New York City, or whether it's space 400 years in the future, Jason will be doing the same thing, and that is reassuring in its own way. Should a horror flick be reassuring? No, and this is why the series turned, as every series does, into a comedy.
"Does he think I'm a fart head?" - actual dialogue
Tommy Jarvis is suddenly cured of his murderous impulses from the ending of Part 5, and Jason just as wondrously cured of his cremation. So of course Tommy must go and dig him up in order to make sure he's dead, which of course means he comes back to life. He vaguely explains he's been having Jason dreams and this may be the only way to lay them to rest. I know this came out way before Freddy Vs Jason was conceived as an actual project, but wouldn't it be fun in retrospect to imagine that Freddy engineered those dreams to get Tommy to dig up Jason in the first place?
For no reason at all, Tommy brings a mask with him to the cemetery. It's like he wanted what inevitably happens to happen.
Anyway, Tommy and some guy go dig up Jason, who is then hit by lightning and thus revived to kill again. Unfortunately for us, he spends most of the picture whacking annoying unfunny comic relief characters on a corporate paintball outing before finally making it to the camp, making it only the second and final time in the series Jason himself actually kills camp counsellors.
This superqt should have been the Final Girl 2bqh my fams
So Tommy butts heads with the local sheriff, makes out with the said sheriff's daughter, and gets in a car chase, all of which is amiable filler, but filler regardless. Finally he hatches a successful plan to defeat Jason by tying a rock round him with a chain and letting him sink to the bottom of the lake, for someone else to deal with further down the road.
Metaphor for the b**mers polluting the world for their descendants, or not that?
Sadly this would be the last time we'd ever see Tommy, and therefore the last time a main protagonist recurred during the series. It also signposts a major turning point for the tone of the series, as from now on surviving the movie is a life-affirming experience that allows the protagonists to overcome their demons, as opposed to the early instalments in which the survivors were visibly traumatised if not outright nuts from their ordeal. Even goofy as fuck entries like Part 3 and Part 5 went with this, whereas from 6 onward, surviving basically meant peace of mind. Protagonists even tend to survive in convenient romantic pairings, which suggests a sort of closure I'm not sure we really expect or want from these movies.
This kid gets it.
But by far the most important takeaway from this one is the soundtrack of Alice Cooper songs, including the official Jason theme song, "Man Behind The Mask", with its accompanying music video which is maximum 80s/comfy/horror/rock-kino. You'll never guess the twist ending!
*They stopped bothering with motive around Part 4.
