For those who haven’t seen Friday The 13th Part 3D, this article contains spoilers.
Jason Voorhees is one of the most enduring figures in horror. Regardless if you love or hate the franchise, there’s no denying its impact on popular culture. Often overlooked is what went into making the 12-film series. Through extensive research and interviews, I’m inviting you to take a closer look at each of the Friday The 13th films. This is Crystal Lake Confessional.
You push through the crowded theater engulfed in the fumes of hot buttered popcorn. Goobers threaten to slip from your sweaty palms, and you wonder if your date notices the sweat while she leads by the hand to the clearest seat still left.
The lights dim, and the screen directs you to put on a goofy set of cardboard glasses. From speakers hidden within the walls, an electronic disco theme fills the theater. The blood-red title flashes on the screen to thunderous applause. Teenage chatter and clapping transform into hushed “ahhs” as Friday The 13th Part 3 appears to jump off the screen directly at your face.
This installment is going the extra mile. A new dimension in terror!
When Friday The 13th Part 2 hit theaters, 1981 became the official year of slasher films. Not since the science fiction craze of the early 1960s did a sub-genre influence every aspect of the cinematic experience. Unfortunately, over-saturation meant the bubble could pop at any moment. In order to stay on top of the box office, director Steve Miner and newly promoted producer Frank Mancuso Jr would have to offer a little more flair to convince filmgoers to return to Crystal Lake for the third time. Friday The 13th Part 3 in 3D.
As the screenwriter duo Carol Watson and Martin Kitrosser pounded out the screenplay, Mancuso let the story take a backseat to the unpredictable technology. The last 3D film from Paramount was 1954’s Jivaro so it was obvious the studio had mixed feelings about the format. But with films like My Bloody Valentine, The Funhouse, and Halloween 2 treading on the franchise’s territory, Jason’s return had to be bigger and scarier than before. Even at the cost of adequate storytelling.
Friday The 13th Part 2 proved the core audience cared more about executions than execution.
To save money on renting prototype 3D cameras and to be closer to Paramount’s base of operations, Friday The 13th Part 3 moved production to the West Coast. Filmed in Saugus California, set designers built a full-sized cabin, barn, and even a pond to double for Crystal Lake. For the first time in the franchise, Part 3 was going to be a different kind of film inside and out.
When Watson and Kitrosser delivered their first draft of the script, Mancuso was disappointed. It had all the makings of a typical slasher film, but it needed a simpler story. With production hinging on how effective the kills were in 3D, Miner devoted his undivided attention to the visuals. Mancuso handed the script over to his friend Petro Popescu for an uncredited rewrite. His direction? Simplify the characters and make Jason dead set on destruction.
Part 3 devolved the Friday The 13th formula into its simplest form.
On this go around, the action moves from Camp Crystal Lake to a nearby summer cottage where a group of twenty-somethings plan to spend the weekend. Things take a turn for the worst when each of them is stalked and murdered one by one. The films before it aren’t known for complex storytelling but Part 3 steps it back even further. Gone are the hypothetical theories of Part 2 or the false sense of security of Part 1.
For better or worse, Friday The 13th Part 3 is the most streamlined installment of the entire franchise.
Each character represents an archetype: the nice guy Rick, Andy the jock, Vera the flirt, and of course, Shelly the comic relief. Unlike the previous films, the prankster is probably the most well rounded. Shelly spends most of the film pulling elaborate pranks then groans about his insecurity when he’s called out on it. However, it’s through this character where Jason receives his iconic hockey mask and final form throughout the rest of the series.
Chris, the final girl, reveals a backstory where she ran into Jason in the past but can’t remember what happened or how she survived. It’s vaguely hinted that Jason may have sexually assaulted her and her lack of memory is a form of repression. Unfortunately, the subplot has no payoff and those questions remain unanswered.
In reality, Dana Kimmel, who played Chris, was at odds with Miner about her character’s arc. Miner was set on having Jason be even more sinister than Part 2, but Kimmel refused to have her character suffer through rape. Ultimately she won and Miner didn’t leave it to the audience to speculate as to what happened. It’s painfully obvious Miner was far more concerned about visuals than the paper-thin story.
Putting the focus on visuals didn’t make the shoot any easier either. From day one, the process was tedious and excruciating.
Every scene had to be written, mapped out, and rehearsed multiple times in order to line up perfectly with the 3D cameras. Not just action sequences but standard story-driven scenes as well. Even second unit shots of environment exposition were approached with 3D in mind. With so much money being wrapped up in this new technology, Paramount wanted their money’s worth.
Miner’s laid back style of direction began to deteriorate early into production under the pressure of the complicated shoot. Despite getting along with most of the cast and crew, time constraints and pressure from Paramount took an immediate toll. Shooting a film using finagled technology under strict deadlines would be a daunting task for a seasoned director. Friday The 13th Part 3 was only Miner’s second film.
This was filmmaking at its most cold and calculated, the polar opposite from the films before it.
With so much emphasis going into the visuals, the sloppiness of performance poured into the storytelling as well. In Part 1, Pamela Voorhees was driven by vengeance. In Part 2, Jason was driven by obsession. But in Part 3 he just kills for the sake of killing. Chris’s summer cottage isn’t even on Camp Crystal Lake property.
It’s also worth noting, the name Jason Voorhees, or his legend aren’t muttered once. That’s not to say Part 3 is a retcon in any way, seeing as the first 10 minutes of the film recap the events of Part 2. It’s just visually and tonally inconsistent.
In fact, with so many inconsistencies, Part 3 acts as a mere stepping stone in the franchise. Aside from Jason getting his iconic mask, nothing presented in this film carries into the next.
However, box-office receipts said otherwise. Friday The 13th Part 3 would take in $36 million dollars in its theatrical run, making it the most successful sequel in the series.
Paramount would spend an additional $2 million to optimize theaters to even play the film properly. The success of this film would convince other studios to take advantage of the technology, ushering in a brief revival in 3D. Despite films like Jaws 3 and Amityville Horror 3 doing good business, none would match the quality of Friday The 13th Part 3‘s technical acclaim.
Even with all its shortcomings and flaws, Friday The 13th Part 3 isn’t a complete loss.
The 3D effects aren’t spectacular by today’s standards, and the disco-funk theme music is borderline laughable. But there is a certain campy quality to Part 3. The writing is bad, the characters are mediocre, and the kills are average, but it sort of falls into the so-bad-it’s-good territory. Richard Brooker’s portrayal as Jason is another positive aspect. He’s formidable and ruthless, setting the groundwork for other actors to follow.
Visually speaking, Part 3 is stunning! Even in standard 2D colors pop and the focus on the foreground gives the film a distinctive look. Friday The 13th Part 3 is just as much a cash grab as it is a product of its time. But in a weird way, the archaic trappings are part of its weird charm. Mancuso and Miner’s devil-may-care approach to filmmaking makes the film feel more like a gratuitous summer event than a proper sequel. Friday The 13th Part 3 may be an odd sidequest in the grand scheme of things, but at least it looks good doing it.
Catch up with previous installments of Crystal Lake Confessional here.
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5 – –Part 6 – Part 7
Part TS – Part 8 – Part 9 – Part HM – Part 10 – Part FvJ – Part 2009