3D Terror: “Friday the 13th Part III” (1982) Review

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I have seen Friday the 13th Part III for the first time and to be honest my expectations weren’t all that high to begin with. When I saw it, I was kind of disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, it has some great things going on but it just feels weak when looking at the original and Part 2, which are far better. What worked for me was the cool compilation of what went down in the previous installment (that’s great seeing in every F13 sequel), the opening credits were VERY groovy and so 80s, the kills as usual are inventive and bloody, some of the characters (Shelly, Fox & Debbie) were so much fun, this is the one where the infamous hockey mask of Jason Voorhees was presented for the first time and the scene in which we see that is EPIC, I loved how cheesy it got sometimes and of course the obvious 3D gags that were fun in 2D too. Jason was played extremely well by Richard Brooker as well, may he rest in peace.

Now this movie had lots of flaws! First of all it has a really bad final girl (Dana Kimmell as Chris) who did nothing else than screaming, hiding and whining without pulling out a good fight. I find it an insult compared to Alice and Ginny… This is really a comedown after the spectacular Part 2 if you ask me! The movie in general has bad acting, and some really annoying characters. I also feel that the dream sequence has been done to death in the third entry, it feels tired and repetitive. The final act is nowhere near as suspenseful and powerful as its predecessor. I found Part III okay but nothing special, could’ve been much better, its still not entirely terrible. Still recommend it to the horror fans in general to give this a watch. Might consider upgrading to Blu-ray… Again, its too bad this never got re-released in Real 3D, the way it was made for.

–Ferdi Akkulak

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