Like most low-budget horror films, "Friday the 13th Part 2" is not a well-made film. The cinematography is bland, the dialogue laughable, and the acting...oh, the acting. However, of all the "Friday the 13th" films, this installment contains the most interesting story elements and the scariest scenes. Consider this: A deformed homicidal man-beast stalks unsuspecting counselors wearing a potato sack over his head; one crazy eye stares through a hole. He is territorial, keeping others off his land as an act of revenge over the decapitation of his mother (which he witnessed). He survives off the wilderness and lives in a dilapidated shack in the woods where his mother's head sits amidst a circle of candles and an increasing pile of dead bodies.
If the filmmakers had handled the material well, it could have been a monumentally scary film of "Exorcist" and "Blair Witch" scale. Unfortunately, the underdevelopment of most of the characters and the noticeably lackluster aesthetic qualities drag this down into Bad Movie Land. On the other hand, there are parts to this film that are as scary as anything out there. Most of these moments are singular shots or images, and there's usually not enough fright to last an entire sequence.
If you like the series though, you will probably enjoy this sequel as well.
If the filmmakers had handled the material well, it could have been a monumentally scary film of "Exorcist" and "Blair Witch" scale. Unfortunately, the underdevelopment of most of the characters and the noticeably lackluster aesthetic qualities drag this down into Bad Movie Land. On the other hand, there are parts to this film that are as scary as anything out there. Most of these moments are singular shots or images, and there's usually not enough fright to last an entire sequence.
If you like the series though, you will probably enjoy this sequel as well.