Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D (1982) Review
Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D opens with what feels like a rather lazy replay of the final five minutes of Friday the 13th Part 2 — almost as though we’re watching one of those television programmes that begins with, “Previously on…” Ironically, this brief recap turns out to be the best thing in the entire movie.
As the title suggests, Friday the 13th Part 3 jumped aboard the short-lived 3D bandwagon that briefly swept through cinemas in the early Eighties. With Steve Miner, director of the impressive first sequel — and, in my opinion, one of the best horror sequels ever made — back behind the camera, surely this should at least be an OK viewing experience?
Guess again.
After the opening credits’ tacky disco theme has somehow grown on you, albeit in an obscene sort of way, everything else is downhill. Genuine thrills and scares are pushed aside in favour of dated, gimmicky 3D effects designed primarily to make the audience go “Ooh!” and “Ahh!” rather than actually frighten them.
If you can believe it, the film is even more embarrassing when viewed in 2D, where the supposed 3D magic is stripped away and the whole charade is exposed for the fraud it really is.
An astonishing number of objects are thrust towards the camera purely for the benefit of the gimmick: yo-yos, washing poles, eyeballs popping out of heads and pretty much anything else that can be waved in front of the audience. It often feels less like a horror movie and more like a particularly tacky fairground attraction.
After two of the stupidest people imaginable are dispatched by Jason, we are introduced to another group of youngsters, complete with the standard assortment of Friday the 13th caricatures. The exception is the group joker, who has a considerably more macabre sense of humour than his predecessors. From the moment he appears, however, you just know that his particular brand of comedy is going to come back to haunt him later.
It’s a tired reworking of the original formula, even finding room for a crazy local loon who attempts to assume the vacant mantle previously occupied by Ralph.
Our heroine, Chris Higgins, hasn’t been back to Higgins Haven for two years for some rather uninteresting reason, yet somehow manages to have the local male hottie waiting patiently in the wings for her return.
Yeah, right.
I don’t think so.
Chris is suspicious of absolutely everything. And I mean everything. Her reactions are so wildly overwrought that they frequently become unintentionally hilarious. At one point, she panics when her friends get out of the van they have travelled in because they are, quite understandably, no longer inside the van. With the door still wide open, however, she somehow becomes concerned by their absence.
Despite this apparently crippling level of fear, Chris nevertheless has no problem throwing herself headlong into potentially dangerous situations whenever the plot requires it.
Speaking of potentially dangerous situations, we also have three laughably dodgy local thugs, whose Eighties wardrobes are arguably the most frightening thing in the entire film. Would these so-called ‘thugs’ intimidate you?
No.
You’d stop and offer them some fashion advice instead, and they would probably be grateful for it.
There is one nice little touch where the girl lying in the hammock is reading a magazine containing an article about special-effects make-up artist Tom Savini. Unfortunately, that’s about as far as the film’s more interesting touches go.
Jason finally gets his iconic hockey mask, which is perhaps the most significant development here, although even that moment is somewhat undermined by what follows. His mother suddenly appears out of the water, shamelessly aping the ending of the original Friday the 13th.
Uh, hello?
Like… what?!
And then there is Jason himself. He looks remarkably like the freakish creature the kids befriend in The Goonies (1985), while also appearing to have grown by at least a good foot since the previous film. Quite how this happened is anybody’s guess.
Shocking doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Ultimately, Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D is a disappointingly shallow entry in the series. The decision to prioritise gimmicky 3D effects over atmosphere and suspense has dated the film badly, while the familiar formula is recycled with considerably less imagination than before.
There are a few entertaining moments, and the introduction of the hockey mask is undeniably important to the series’ mythology, but watching the film today is largely an exercise in nostalgic amusement rather than genuine horror.