User Reviews

Friday the 13th is one of the highest grossing horror franchise in the United States, nevertheless, it's Friday the 13th Part III, where it become very crystal clear that the film series to starting to get stupid. Directed by Steve Miner, and originally release in 3-D, Friday the 13th Part III is the first movie to feature the antagonist Jason Voorhees (Richard Brooker) with his iconic signature hockey mask, which has since become a trademark of both the character and franchise as a whole. As a direct sequel to 1980's Friday the 13th & 1981's Friday the 13th Part 2, the first part of the film follows the aftermath of the massacres at Camp Crystal Lake, very loosely. We see a recap of the last minutes of the previous film through archive footage. However, it doesn't really fit well, with the rest of this film, since that part wasn't shot in 3D. Other glaring factors is that none of the previous cast, return for this film. Not even, Amy Steel as Ginny Field, who surprising, was never even kill by Jason. I guess, they didn't want to do the Ginny at psychiatric hospital route, since 1981's Halloween 2 kinda did it first. Instead, the movie focus on a new batch of teenagers lead by Chrissy Higgins (Dana Kimmell) in a new location, Higgins Haven trying to have some vacation time, before the new school year on surprising Sunday, the 15th, not Friday the 13th. I wasn't impressed with any of the actors acting here. It was a bit jarring to see, mid 30s somethings, trying to act like teens. Not only that; unlike the other film, where most of the supporting characters were likable. Most of them in this movie, weren't likable! They were all, highly obnoxious! First off, you got Rick (Paul Kraka) whom loves, surprising and forcing sex on supposedly rape victims. Then you got the over-the-top Cheech & Chong rip-off, stoner, Charles 'Chuck" Garth (David Katims) who looks like, he has step into the wrong set! Then you got the cheesy Michael Jackson's 'BAD' looking motorcycle gang that really had, no purpose in the film, just to serve as filler. Then you got the guy, Andy Beltrami (Jeffery Rodgers) and his pregnant girlfriend, Debbie Klein (Tracie Savage) whom gimmick was it, to walk on his hands. Then you got Debbie, whom I really don't know, why they had to try to kill her and unborn child. I guess, the producers really hated, teen pregnancies. Then you got the really horrible character, Shelly Finkelstein (Larry Zerner), whom I didn't like him, at all! He really ruins the film for me. Does he have mental problems or something!? Who does mean pranks like that!? Are you sure, this movie wasn't made as a comedy, because they all, look like a joke! The only person, besides Chrissy that was somewhat decent was Vera Sanchez (Catherine Parks) who had an eye on things. Honestly, for the most part, I wanted all of them to die, quick. It's a bad sign, if you cheer for the bad guy, more than the good guys. Anyways, the movie is full of silly 3-D gimmicks. We get to see, a number of mundane 3-D effects from Yo-Yo being tossed at us to juggling tricks. It seemed like they were really stretching, when coming up with ideas on how to use the 3-D in this film. Still, there were a number of really cool shots that was worth seeing, such as the harpoon gun or pitchfork scene. Still, some of the deaths in the film were edited in order to avoid an "X" rating, and you really can tell, where the cuts ends. The film also contains an infamous alternate ending in which the lead character Chris, played by Dana Kimmell, is decapitated by Jason at the conclusion. Though this sequence has never been commercially released, stills of it can be seen. Still, the ending, they did choose, was very lackluster, with all the fake-outs dream sequences. Despite all the blood and gore, this movie lacks the suspense, compare to the previous two. I really didn't find, the movie to be, that scary. After all, the movie has a funky disco soundtrack by Harry Manfredini that sounds like a Halloween dance-off party and lots of nudity that give anybody, a chubby. When first released, the film was intended to end the series as a trilogy. However unlike its sequel Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter (1984) and the later film, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993), Friday the 13th Part III did not include a moniker in its title to indicate it as such. Overall: it's one of the films, you have to watch at least once, if you into the 1980's horror genre. Just don't think too much about it when watching. It's just one of those films you watch if you want cheap thrills, nothing more.

Writing a plot description for Friday the 13th Part III seems sort of unnecessary. It's pretty much the same as every other movie in the series – a group of seemingly brainless kids goes into the woods only to be slaughtered by an unseen killer. How original! But in fairness, it's actually no better or worse than the other films in the series. Even with the plot limitations, there are some scenes in Friday the 13th Part III that I enjoy: Jason finding his hockey mask, a "dead" Jason pulling himself up to get the rope off his neck, and everyone going to the barn to die are favorite moments for me. The last point – everyone going to the barn to die – is actually something of a joke between my wife and I. At one point or another in the movie, it seems that every single brain dead character makes a trip, whether purposeful or not, to the barn where Jason just happens to be hiding. It's utterly ridiculous, but fun nonetheless.

Friday the 13th Part III was released during something of a 3-D craze in the early 80s. I can remember seeing this movie, the re-release of the 3-D 1953 House of Wax, and Jaws 3-D in the theaters. There are some scenes in Friday the 13th Part III that may seem pointless today that were amazing in 3-D. The best example in my mind is the spear-gun scene. Watching today, it's nothing special. But in 3-D, it blew me away.

Friday the 13th part III (1982, Steve Miner) This is the third chapter in the iconic horror/slasher Friday the 13th mega franchise. It is a direct sequel to part II although features no characters beyond Jason himself from previous films. This is the only film of the franchise to be shown in 3D and it certainly shows. This is the height of 3D at its most gimmicky and every other scene has something obviously poking out at the audience trying to attain that obvious effect. In most cases it is laughably bad or just plain cheesy. Once again a band of young people gather at Crystal Lake to have some good old fashioned teenage fun, but one by one they start falling in gruesome style to the maniacal killer Jason. All of the characters here are silly archetypes and do not go much beyond superficial tropes. They even have three people show up as some sort of motorcycle gain to add some menace and give Jason more people to kill. They look like 'Purple Rain' rejects. Their aesthetic does not age well. About the only good thing in this film is that they finally stumble across giving Jason his hockey mask which is probably one of the most identifiable horror props in movie history. Jason is singularly connected with this specific mask and it remains that way to this day. The final girl here has a back story where she once got assaulted by a monstrous looking individual, but no one believed her and she is still traumatized by that. Not surprising, when she is finally confronting Jason he reveals his face to her which reveals that he was the guy who attacked her all those years ago. Well she gets the last laugh as final girls are apt to do by supposedly killing him... not so spoiler alert. As we know these days Jason is not one to stay deceased for long, but he is deceased at least for the remainder of the film. The girl has some disturbing visions that mainly serve as callbacks to the other films. This was a pretty significant box office success at the time, but really is quite a horrible film. The acting is bad and nothing about the script or direction is inspired. It relies way to heavily on 3D technology as a gimmick and the film is saturated with that gimmick. No character development exists at all so we don't care at all for these people. It is so silly and laughable that nothing here is menacing or scary and even the gory aspects are simply eye rolling. There is little to nothing positive about this film. I really think the only thing is discovering the iconic hockey mask. The rest of this movie is a dumpster fire. Eric's Grade: D-

Friday the 13th 3D is a fun popcorn flick for fans of either the franchise or just the horror genre. This movie does not take itself seriously whatsoever (which is pretty much the same for the rest of the movies) as evident by the 80's dance style theme and the 3D effects. This movie is no masterpiece, but it is better than the second one and has one of my favorite Jasons, and he gets his mask in this one. Check it out if you haven't yet!

As before this starts where the previous film ended but not quite exactly. The start here differs to allow you to see "Jason" (sorry, he died as a child in the 1st movie so this isn't him) as still alive.

The newscaster tells us 8 bodies were found (I only counted 7 murders that I could remember from my review of pt 2), as they were saying the assistant was the only person to live (so they forgot about the boss and the guy who was left at the bar and the dog).

1st dead is a totally innocent shopkeeper, closely followed by his wife (I assume, we never see her killed). Now this is clearly the next day so this is no longer Friday the 13th. It's now Saturday the 14th. So no need for "Jason" to go killing as it's not the anniversary of his death.

Now we have a new bunch of people (mainly stoners) going to a place called Higgens Haven and if they say where this is in relation to Crystal Lake then I never heard them.

After pissing off 3 bikers in the local town, they soon reappear stealing gas from the truck of the campers. the biker girl is killed next (in the barn, unseen by us) along with her 2 male cronies. The girl whose family owns the cabin finally tells us she was attacked by this unknown terrible looking man (we're supposed to assume it's "Jason"), although she says he caught her and was dragging her away and she "blacked out" but she's still alive? Not Jason's M.O. at all that, is it?.

Frizzy haired Joker Shelley is next to be attacked (off camera in the barn we assume) and this is how "Jason" acquires his now infamous hockey mask and he kills the snooty woman with a harpoon next. The couple who were left in the house having sex are the next victims to die, 1st the boy and the girl is killed in the hammock.

When the power goes out, the stoner guy goes to check and gets electrocuted for his troubles by Hockeymask. Shelley shows up to try and warn stoner girl only to be ignored and die in the doorway from his slit throat. She is impaled with a red hot poker.

Rick gets his neck broken leaving only the girl whose family who owns the cabin left alive out of the group. She discovers one of her friends dead in the bath and finds a dead biker in a tree. Ricks body is thrown into the cabin through a window, she discovers yet another dead friend in her airing cupboard.

She stabs Hockeymask in his hand and knee (he cries out in pain both times so is NOT superhuman). For someone recently stabbed in the knee, Hockeymask walks down the stairs with NO hint of any injury.

When she finally tries the truck we all know it's going nowhere as the biker gang siphoned all the fuel in the day time before they all died. The bridge breaking a plank was an obvious thing to happen as they'd taken great pains to show us the loose planks when they 1st drove across it earlier that day.

When Hockeymask is hung from the barn that should have killed him. I totally agree with her "You can't be alive" statement (the drop on the rope would have broken his neck) and the pointless reveal of his face was to allow her to remember the face of her old attacker from the woods 2 years ago.

The black biker turns out to have not been dead but is killed very quickly (while she makes NO attempt to escape, why?). Hitting Hockeymask in the head with an Axe also would have killed him.

The scene of her escaping on the canoe is supposed to remind us of the original movie and it's fake scare (we are now in Sunday the 14th, by the way) and the various non-scares of her hitting the log, being spooked by a duck landing then seeing the very alive and injured "Jason" without the mask screams this a dream. Especially when she's dragged into the water by dead Mrs Voorhees (who has a head, despite being decapitated in the original) and it dissolves to the cops talking like the other 2 movies did.

The final shot of "Jason" shows him looking bloodied with stabbed knee, hand and Axe still in his head looking very dead indeed and unlikely to be rising for any sequel.