Paramount wants you to write and direct a new film for a successful and established genre series. It's 1986, prior to the direct-to-video boom and the internet. So what do you do? You do the wise thing and take them up on it! That's what Tom McLoughlin did, turning in perhaps the best-critically-received Friday the 13th movie ever made. No joke, a good many critics actually liked it. And it came on the heels of a widely-lambasted previous installment, to boot. But nevertheless, McLoughlin's Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives succeeds marvelously. The beginning takes place some time after the conclusion to Part V. Tommy Jarvis is now played by Thom Mathews, and in the opening scene, he drives a beat-up old pick-up truck down a woodsy highway towards the township of Crystal Lake, which has since been renamed Forest Green in order to detract snoopy tourists. His passenger, one Allen Hawes (Ron Pallilo, who played "Horschack" on TV's Welcome Back, Kotter) is very apprehensive, and rightfully so. Although neither of them know it yet, Jason Voorhees is about to be resurrected from the dead, once they dig up and open his coffin, drive a metal spike into his corpse, and a lightning bolt strikes the stake, reanimating Jason's preternatural body. Does it sound hokey? On paper (or onscreen) it may, but after this absurd opening, leaving Hawes dead and Tommy on the run, the movie takes off in great fashion. The opening title sequence is a wonderful parody of the early James Bond films, with an eyeball graphic looming towards the audience while a profile shot of Jason walks onscreen and turns to face the camera....then swings his machete instead of firing a gunshot! Tommy Jarvis is a troubled fellow. He can't get the local sheriff, Micheal Garris (David Kagen), to believe his story. Garris' daughter Megan (Jennifer Cooke) develops an affection for Tommy, and soon the personnel of Camp Forest Green is in peril from the newly-awakened Jason, who's ready to slaughter anyone who gets in his way, including a four-piece of goofy professionals out for an afternoon of paintball team-building exercises. Mr. Voorhees quickly nixes that whole exercise. And as for this Camp Forest Green, Jason does have his way with just about all of the counselors (plus a few others), but Tommy and his newfound friend Megan are onhand to thwart his efforts. Black humor makes its way into this installment much more effectively than in Danny Steinmann's A New Beginning; for instance, one shot involves a camera pan over several sleeping pre-teen boys. One of them has a paperback of Jean-Paul Sartre's No Escape bookmarked on his chest; didn't see that one coming, did you? Where it lacks in overall cinematic depth, Friday the 13th, Part VI compensates in cleverness. It's a fun watch. And it would be another two years before John Carl Buechler would present the captivating Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood. Principle Credits: Starring Thom Mathews, Jennifer Cooke, David Kagen, C.J. Graham, Tom Fridley, Darcy DeMoss and Vincent Guastaferro. Written and Directed by Tom McLoughlin Produced by Don Behrns Music by Harry Manfredini Special Make-Up Effects by Reel Effects << Back