Tina Sheperd
can see the future and levitate objects. Her doctor knows just how dangerous
telekinesis can be, but he's out to exploit her, not help her. And now
it's too late. Tina has accidentally unchained Jason from his watery grave
- and the bloodbath is underway.
"I've done something terrible.... I've released
Jason!"
- Tina |
That's right!, Tom Carl actually managed to pull a brand new idea for this
extensive saga. Without loosing the main structure, Friday the 13th
VII: The New Blood shows an unexpected character who fight against
the legendary psycho killer, Jason Voorhees. This fascinating character
I'm referring to, is Tina Shepherd, a retracted teenager with a special
gift (or disgrace) from life: telekinesis. It is absolutely outrageous
to see those struggling duels between this disturbed young girl and the
famous villain from Crystal Lake. However, as I said before, Tom Carl didn't
miss the point at all by doing this and the classical slasher structure
is still on. What I mean by 'classical structure' is: A psycho killer nearby,
a bunch of imbecile stereotyped teenagers on vacations, party all the time,
alcohol, loud music and a lot of promiscuous sex. You see?, the main idea
is still on and that's always appreciable.
It was very pleasant to find such a decent, distinguished and dynamic plot
in this sequel. Surprisingly, Tina Shepherd (the main character) happened
to be anything but a stereotyped girl and that's pretty unusual in this
kind of films. I don't remember any other girl with telekinetic powers
in a slasher. It was like a nice combination between Friday the 13th and Carrie. My point is that, usually, the main characters from
slasher movies turn out to be 100% conventional and it is a relief to add
someone like Tina to the story. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks
that a character like her is more lovable than the conventional ones. Moreover, Friday
the 13th VII combines a small portion of drama and terror. In the beginning
of the movie, we see Tina as a little girl killing her father by accident
with her telekinetic powers. Several years later, she returns as a teenager
to that place with her mother and she faces her painful past again. Unfortunately
for her, apart from the memory of her late father, she will also have to
face a bigger challenge related to Crystal Lake... Jason Voorhees.
In spite of Jason's major ability to kill, Tina also has a lot of power
and rage to fight against him fairly. For that reason, this may be the
first time they ever show a fair duel and perhaps the most exciting one.
It is awesome to see Tina taking Jason by surprise with her amazing unexpected
powers.
Basically, I think may be one of the best sequels for Friday the 13th and I was pleased to finally find an unconventional character besides Jason.
We are used to see the same kind of moronic teenagers all the time and
Tina's presence happens to be a kind of oasis here. Apart from the plot,
I was glad to see Jennifer Banko performing Tina as a little girl. She
also appears in Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III and it
was good to see her again killing her father.
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- This film was originally intended to bring Jason Voorhees and
Freddy Krueger together onscreen for the first time. But when Paramount
Pictures (at that time was holding the rights to the "Friday the 13th"
franchise) and New Line Cinema (who holds the rights to the "Nightmare
On Elm Street" series) couldn't agree behind the scenes, the script
was rewritten to pit Jason up against the telekinetic Tina Shepard instead.
- Walt Gorney (who played Crazy Ralph in Friday the 13th Parts One and Two) is the opening narrator at the beginning of this film.
- Often referred to as "Carrie vs. Jason" because of the heroins
similarities to Sissy Spacek's character in "Carrie".
- Much of the film's score (credited to Harry Manfredini and Fred
Mollin) is recycled music by Manfredini from previous Friday The 13th films. Manfredini was given credit for the use of his music, and Fred Mollin
composed the rest of the score.
- John Carl Buechler was so impressed with Kane Hodder when he ate
live worms on the set of Prison, that he pushed for Paramount Pictures
to let him cast Hodder in the role of Jason. If it had not been for Buechler's
persistence, the role of Jason Voorhees would have been reprised by C.J.
Graham.
- Original writer Daryl Haney was sacked after his agent contacted
executive producer Frank Mancuso Jr. and told him that Haney would not
do any more work on the project unless he received a large pay increase
(even though Haney had never told his agent to do any such thing). The
screenplay was completed by a second, unknown writer, who was credited
as Manuel Fidello.
- There were a number of filmed scenes that were edited out of the
final cut in order for the movie to gain it's R rating including: Maddy's
face getting stabbed in the wood shed, Dr. Crews' body being cut in two
in the woods, a longer death-in-sleeping bag scene, Russell's axe in the
face by the lake, Jason holding David's head, and an ending scene of Jason
jumping out of the water and grabbing a fisherman.
- Iain Paterson played Russ's dead body in the distant shot of him
lying on the shore.
- Kane Hodder did all his own Jason stunts in this film, including
falling through the stairway, and having the porch roof fall on his head.
- Director John Carl Buechlercan be seen as the firefighter who
picks up Jason's broken mask at the end of the film.
- Kane Hodder said he had difficulty with the scene where he kills the camper
in the sleeping bag by bashing her into the tree because the dummy inside
was heavier than he thought it would be. The scene required a number of
retakes because he kept swinging as hard as he could but no matter how
hard he swung the sleeping back he couldn't get it to look right. By the
final take, he was so fed up with the situation that after he dropped the
bag he kicked it angrily. This is the shot that appears in the final film.
In retrospect, Hodder said that was one of his favorite "kills" and he
later recreates it in Jason X.
- There were several different stuntwomen who played Sandra during
her drowning scene; two for the underwater shots, and one for her corpse
being pulled onto the shore by Jason.
     
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