Director: John Carl Buechler
Writers: Daryl Haney and Manuel Fidello
Starring: Lar Park Lincoln and Terry Kiser
Body Count: 16
Review: Friday the 13th Part VII is probably the best example of a Friday film. There's really nothing new about it, but it represents a compilation of the best elements of the series. The film opens with a great visual summary of the legend of Jason Voorhees, has some wonderfully creative and humorous death scenes (one involving a giant weed-whacker, and another an infamous shot of Jason smashing a sleeping bag--with a girl inside--up against a tree), and some great cheesy dialogue ("King Tut..Rises from the tomb!").
The story (oh come on, you don't really care, do you?) revolves around a telekinetic girl who is dealing with the fact that she accidentally caused her own father's death many years ago (he's actually floating around the bottom of Crystal Lake along with Jason). She comes back to Crystal Lake with her mother and shrink in order to work through her problems, but ends of raising Jason from the dead and creating a whole new set of problems.
Jason takes a lot of abuse in this one (lights smashed over his head, nails in the face, fire, explosions, etc.), but still manages to look his best, thanks to the personal touch of director Buechler, who runs his own special-effects workshop called Magical Media Industries. They did an incredible job on the Jason make-up, with a visible spinal collumn among other things (wait until you see Jason's face in this one!).
All in all, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood doesn't really manage to scare at all, but it's a damn fun film to watch, and one of the best examples of what's great about the slasher genre.
Trivia: The heroine of Part VII, Lar Park Lincoln, went on to quit acting as a proffession and now markets her own women's fingernail care products--she can be seen giving special demonstrations on various home shopping networks!
