Friday the 13th Part 2

Friday the 13th Part II
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Steve Miner
Written by	Ron Kurz Phil Scuderi
Produced by	Steve Miner
Starring	Amy Steel John Furey Adrienne King
Cinematography	Peter Stein
Edited by	Susan E. Cunningham
Music by	Harry Manfredini
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	May 1, 1981
Running time	87 minutes
Country	Template:FilmUS
Language	English
Budget	$1,250,000 (estimated)
Box office	$21,722,776 (Domestic)

Friday the 13th Part II is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Steve Miner. A sequel to Friday the 13th (1980), it is the second film in the Friday the 13th film series. It was a moderate box-office hit, opening on May 1, 1981 in first place.

Plot

Two months after the conclusion of Friday the 13th, Alice Hardy (Adrienne King), the only survivor of the Crystal Lake murders, is killed by an unknown assailant.

Five years later, a group of young adults have come to Crystal Lake to attend a counselor training center that has been set up near the now-condemned Camp Crystal Lake. While some counselors are in town on their way to the facility, Crazy Ralph appears and tells the counselors to turn back, as the young counselors five years ago did not heed his warning. Paul Holt, the leader of the group, explains how camp counseling is a serious job, and that the main danger in the area is bears. That night, around a campfire, Paul tells the people about how Jason Voorhees drowned in the same lake which their training area also bounds, how his mother was found to be the infamous murderer of "Camp Blood," that Alice survived only to disappear shortly thereafter and that some of the local residents believe Jason is still alive and viciously protects the area around Crystal Lake. When the counselors seem into the story, they are shocked by a man with a spear, but it only turns out to be Ted in a monster mask and Paul claims that Jason is dead.

While Paul and his assistant, Ginny Field, are seen making out, Crazy Ralph is standing by a window, and is suddenly killed by a prowler using a garotte. The next day, two of the counselors, Sandra and Jeff, sneak away to Camp Crystal Lake, which is now in disrepair. As they find a dead animal that they assume is Terry's dog, they are startled by a police officer who catches them trespassing. The cop returns the two counselors to camp, where Paul only recommends a light punishment. However, when driving, the officer sees a masked man dart out in front of his squad car, running in the direction of the off-limits Camp Crystal Lake. The cop chases after the masked man to arrest him as well, only to lose him and go into an old run down cabin. The officer then sees a horrifying sight. It is not shown to the viewer as the prowler who killed Crazy Ralph also murders the officer from behind with a hammer claw.

After getting to know one another and participating in some training exercises (which consist of dancing, jogging through the woods, swimming and a cookout), the majority of the trainees leave the campsite to party in town. The six counselors remaining, which consists of Vickie, Mark, Sandra, Jeff, Terry, and Scott are soon stalked and murdered one by one.

Terry goes for a skinny dip and Scott steals her clothes only to be caught by an animal trap while running from her. She takes her clothes back and promises to cut Scott down. As Terry goes into her cabin to retrieve her knife, Scott has his throat slit by the prowler. When Terry returns, she sees that Scott is dead and attempts to flee, but she too is killed by the prowler.

Back at the cabin, Sandra and Jeff go upstairs while Vickie goes to her cabin to freshen up. Mark waits for her to return but eventually goes outside in the storm to investigate, where the prowler hits him in the face with a machete, killing him and sending his body and wheelchair down the outside steps. The prowler enters the cabin and goes upstairs, taking the spear left by one of the counselors earlier. He enters the room where Sandra and Jeff are on the bed and impales them both before they realize he is there. Vickie returns and finds the prowler in Sandra and Jeff's room, along with their corpses. She is stabbed in the leg before the prowler plunges the knife in her chest.

Eventually Ginny and Paul return to the camp, and at the same time the killer is dragging the slain bodies of Sandra, Jeff and Vickie down the stairs. Ginny and Paul discover the lights are not working in the main cabin and sheets on an upstairs bed appear to be covered in blood. Paul is attacked by a figure whose head is covered with a burlap sack as Ginny screams and runs. On the way she discovers the corpse of Crazy Ralph and jumps out of the nearby window.

After a lengthy chase, Ginny stumbles upon the run-down cabin and enters. In the back room, she discovers a makeshift altar holding the severed head of Pamela Voorhees. Littered around the altar are several bodies of the recently slain victims as well as the rotten corpse of Alice. The killer is identified as Jason Voorhees, who has survived his drowning as a boy and has been living in the woods as a hermit all of his life. Ginny dons Mrs. Voorhees' sweater and deceives Jason into believing that she is his mother (although Jason wises up when he sees his mother's severed head). As Paul appears and wrestles with Jason, Ginny slams a machete through Jason's shoulder. Paul and Ginny retreat back to their cabin believing Jason is dead. Terry's pet dog, Muffin, comes to the door and as Ginny calls to Muffin to come, an unmasked Jason leaps through the window and begins to pull Ginny out. Ginny wakes up while being placed in an ambulance saying "Paul, Paul, where's Paul?" It is unknown what Paul's fate was.

Cast

• Amy Steel as Ginny Field
• John Furey as Paul Holt
• Kirsten Baker as Terri
• Stu Charno as Ted
• Adrienne King as Alice Hardy
• Steve Daskawisz as Jason Voorhees
• Warrington Gillette as Jason Voorhees (unmasked)
• Walt Gorney as Crazy Ralph
• Marta Kober as Sandra Dier
• Tom McBride as Mark
• Bill Randolph as Jeff
• Lauren-Marie Taylor as Vicki
• Russell Todd as Scott
• Betsy Palmer as Pamela Voorhees

Production

File:Sackhead Jason.jpg

Part 2 officially starts Jason's killing spree, though he uses a pillow case to cover up his face in this film instead of the now-famous 1950s Detroit Red Wings hockey mask, which was used from Part III onwards.

Steve Daskawisz was rushed to the emergency room when Amy Steel hit his middle finger with a machete during filming. Steel explained: "The timing was wrong, and he didn't turn his pick axe properly, and the machete hit his finger." Daskawisz received 13 stitches on his middle finger. The finger was covered with a piece of rubber, and Daskawisz and Steel went to do the scene all over again.

In one scene where Daskawisz was wearing the pillow case, part of the pillow case was flapping at his eye, so the crew used tape inside the eye area to prevent it from flapping. Daskawisz received burns around his eye from the tape from wearing the pillow case for hours.

The final scene where Jason crashes through the window has been dubbed one of the classic moments in horror cinema history. This, as well as the scene where Jason raises his knife before killing Vicky, were featured in the 82nd Academy Awards' tribute to horror montage.

The film's ending has been a source of confusion for fans. Writer Ron Kurz has stated that Jason's window jump was intended to be set in reality and that Paul was killed offscreen. However, the beginning of Part III, in replaying the end of Part 2, instead showed Jason pulling the machete out of his shoulder and crawling away as Ginny and Paul leave him for dead in the shack. This arguably retcons the scene of Jason's window jump into a dream.

Rumors sparked that John Furey left before the film wrapped as his character does not appear in the end. In truth, his character was not intended to have appeared.

In an unused ending, after Ginny questions where Paul is, the scene switches to Mrs. Voorhees' head, which then opens its eyes and smiles, indicating that Jason had killed Paul.

Development

Following the success of Friday the 13th in 1980, Paramount Pictures began plans to make a sequel. First acquiring the worldwide distribution rights, Frank Mancuso, Sr. stated, "We wanted it to be an event, where teenagers would flock to the theaters on that Friday night to see the latest episode." The initial ideas for a sequel involved the Friday the 13th title being used for a series of films, released once a year, that would not have direct continuity with each other, but be a separate "scary movie" of their own right. Phil Scuderi—one of three owners of Esquire Theaters, along with Steve Minasian and Bob Barsamian, who produced the original film—insisted that the sequel have Jason Voorhees, Pamela's son, even though his appearance in the original film was only meant to be a joke. Steve Miner, associate producer on the first film, believed in the idea and would go on to direct the first two sequels, after Cunningham opted not to return to the director's chair. Miner would use many of the same crew members from the first film while working on the sequels.

Reception

Like the first film, Friday the 13th Part 2 received great commercial success but was derided by critics.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave Friday the 13th Part 2 half of one star out of 4, stating: "This movie is a cross between the Mad Slasher and Dead Teenager genres; about ten movies feature a mad killer going berserk, and they're all about as bad as this one."

Based on 30 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval rating from critics of 33%, with an average score of 4.4/10.

Other media

• A novelization based on the screenplay of Ron Kurz was published in 1988: Hawke, Simon, Friday the 13th Part II: A Novel, New American Library, New York, 1988, ISBN 0-451-15337-5

External links

• Friday the 13th Part 2 at IMDb
• Friday the 13th Part 2 at AllMovie
• Friday the 13th Part 2 at Box Office Mojo
• Friday the 13th Part 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Film page at the Camp Crystal Lake site