Jason Voorhees, he of the menacing hockey mask and bloodstained machete, returns to theaters this weekend in Friday the 13th, not another of the franchise’s many sequels but, rather, a “reboot” produced by Michael Bay and directed by Marcus Nispel, the team behind 2003’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre do-over. Recently, I braved a return to Camp Crystal Lake so that those unfamiliar with the getaway’s horrific history (or those simply in need of a refresher course) might become well-versed in Jason’s legacy and, thus, properly prepared for his latest exploits. The first of this week’s three retrospectives – in this, the weekly column formerly known as See It First – begins in 1, 2, 3…13!

Friday the 13th (1980)

The one that started it all is something of a snooze, given that it’s mainly interested in generating tension via the mystery of its camp counselor-slaughtering madman’s identity. While numerous shots of the killer’s hands dispatching the staff of Camp Crystal Lake – reopened after twelve dormant years following a 1968 twin-homicide – prove serviceable shout-outs to Dario Argento’s giallos, they hardly rise to the level of suspenseful. Still, the finale’s revelation that the psycho in question is Jason Voorhees’ mother, driven mad by her son Jason’s drowning (thanks to neglectful camp staffers), is deservedly legendary, as is the cheesy gotcha climax in which decaying Jason explodes out of the water to grab hold of sole survivor Alice (Adrienne King).



Friday the 13th Part II (1981)

Steve Minor’s sequel may not be as memorable as its predecessor, but in its employment of various tropes – its introductory dispatching of the previous film’s heroine, its recap exposition, its red-herring scares, stereotypical characters and gruesome murders – the film nonetheless helped set the ‘80s slasher flick template. A resurrected, fully grown Jason, tormented by mommy’s decapitation, is now the one who wants to kill-kill-kill, and his targets are a group of counselors-in-training situated on the shore opposite Camp Crystal Lake. They’re dull, anonymous drones, but Miner’s concluding sequence is reasonably well-executed, and his depiction of Jason as an overalls-wearing baghead in the mold of The Town That Dreaded Sundown’s villain is kinda-sorta chilling – or, least, more chilling than the regurgitated final shot of mutie Jason slo-mo snatching another would-be heroine.



Friday the 13th Part III (1982)

Though ably enhancing a protruding eyeball gag, 3-D effects don’t make this third installment tolerable. Fortunately, however, two other elements just barely do: Jason’s maiden appearance wearing his legendary goalie mask (coming at exactly the one-hour mark), and a flashback that lends some twisted verve to the otherwise torpid proceedings. In said sequence, skittish female lead Chris (Dana Kimmell) recounts how, after being slapped by her parents for arriving home late from a date, she ventured into the woods, where she was accosted by Jason – and, as director Minor none-too-subtly implies, eventually raped. Consequently, Chris’ struggle to slay Jason is cast as an emblematic teenage attempt to break free from domineering paternal abuse/control, a surprisingly intriguing undercurrent for a series predominantly concerned with gory money shots.