I don't wanna milk Crash's post on Friday The 13th Part III's twenty-seventh birthday yesterday, but since Part III is my favorite of the entire franchise I felt compelled to at least say something.
As far as I am concerned- other than Friday The 13th (1980)- Part III was the most successful movie of the (original) franchise (with inflation adjusted). Some people mistake The Final Chapter to have this crown because it had a better opening weekend ($11.1 million as apposed to III's $9.1 million). Part III's totals for the 1982 run was $36.6 million and it only played on 1,075 screens! That's amazing considering Part IV made a total of $32.9 million on almost 1,600 screens. Part III was also re-released in 1983 in the space between III and IV grossing another $2 million for a grand total of about $38.6 million (or about $90 million with inflation adjusted).
The first time I watched this movie was when it first came to home video in about 1984 or 1985. The hype of these movies were amazing- even in rural South Carolina where the nearest theater may as well have been in the next state because the closest was about 30 miles and it rarely played horror. Back when a good VCR cost about a grand we would rent one for a week and a box of VHS tapes from the local mom & pop. One day my big brother came home with a crap-load of horror movies including a couple Friday The 13ths. Living on a farm Part III's atmosphere stuck out to me, especially since out the back window of my room you could see a creepy old barn!
I have always loved the cast of this movie- I thought they all worked together well and for me they were all memorable. Richard Brooker's Jason creeped me out and contributed to a lot of lost sleep in my youth. Regardless of some people's opinion on Jason III's face, I think it's by far the best make up job. Most fans seem to lean towards Jason VII's face or Jason IV's and that's all understandable. As for Jason VI's-- never liked it, always thought WAY too much was going on and it looked too fake. Part VII's was badass-- but unfortunately The New Blood being a completely shitty movie makes it hard to enjoy Buechler's make-up.
At any rate, I rambled on too long- that's what a blog is for though, right?
Happy 27th Jason III!
HisNameWasBrandon,
ReplyDeleteYour final note of "Part VII's Jason was pretty bad ass--too bad that he was stuck in a pretty shit-house flick, though, so it made it difficult to enjoy" is also roughly how I see it.
Despite having the best franchise bitch in it (Susan Jennifer Sullivan), whom was fine despite the usual generic/routine & Stock rancid Part VII dialogue and the best looking UN-DEAD Jason for him being a zombified slasher villain, sadly, the film is VERY overrated in fan circles I feel. No offense but that film is shot with a horrible blue & white tent which strangely didn't go with it at all, and rips off Part IV, strangely, in chunks I feel.
Take away two cool death sequences which are fuckin' censored anyway & the Jason make-up and the underrated Susan Jennifer Sullivan (whom I'm glad is alive) and honestly is barely a D+ (if that even).
Never understood why many fellow retro slasher film fanatics jerked off to that overrated shit-heap. Ah well ...