Plot: The legendary horror series continues. After lying dormant at the bottom of Crystal Lake, Jason is released from his watery grave by Tina (Lar Park-Lincoln), a telekinetic teenager who returned to the site where her father drowned. She hoped to bring him back from his watery grave by using her psychic powers, but instead she sets off a killing spree helmed by the hockey-masked murderer. Can she control her powers enough to stop Jason?

My Review: I’ve always had a hard time reviewing movies that I’ve seen hundreds of times. I’m not sure why. But I’ve never felt comfortable about reviewing the Friday The 13th series, I think part of it is that I know so much info behind the scenes and I‘ve seen it so many times, I don‘t have any sort of first impression to write about. I was approached by my fellow reviewers to help review the series leading up to Friday May 13th, 2011. I finally agreed to review my favorite in the series. The New Blood. I should also make quick mention that on May 13th, 2011 this movie will celebrate its 23rd anniversary! That’s right it was released FRIDAY May 13th, 1988! Kick ass that this May 13th is also a Friday!

The movie begins with a young Tina witnessing her mother and father arguing and physically fighting. Tina runs away and takes a boat out on Crystal Lake, her father follows along and with one look from Tina and the words “I wish you were dead” the dock Tina’s father is standing on collapses and he falls into Crystal Lake.

Teenage Tina wakes up in the car next to her mother. She appears to have aged about ten years. (in fact the director has claimed that the entire movie is supposed to take place 10 years after Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, but due to some specific factors, I believe this to be impossible. For in-depth details and explanation please visit my Friday The 13th Timeline)

Anyway, we learn that her mother and her are traveling to Crystal Lake for the first time since her father’s death. They are meeting Tina’s shrink (Dr. Crews) there, who supposedly thinks that she’ll get over her fathers death by returning to where he was killed. Dr. Crews ends up being one of the best villains in the series – other then Jason, and Melissa from this same movie.

Once at the lake house we are introduced to the group of young adults next door – Russell, Sandra, Maddy, Ben, Kate, David, Melissa, Robin, Eddie, and Nick, Tina’s love interest. They are all there to celebrate the birthday of one of their friends who doesn’t show up – Nick’s cousin, Michael. I absolutely love the cast in this movie. They seemed to have a blast filming, it just sticks out to me and according to behind the scene stories it was like a non-stop party and they really seemed to have all gotten along (again according to behind the scene info apparently Lar Park Lincoln and Kevin Spirtas didn’t get along on set, which just amazes me because they looked so comfortable and good together, but thats good acting for you. The same thing happened with Dirty Dancing and the two leads in that movie!). I just love Lar Park Lincoln. I had the opportunity to meet her years ago at a Friday The 13th convention and she was super sweet and nice. She totally put my nerves at meeting her at ease and that just makes watching the movie even better for me. A good movie has a good cast, and I just adored them all and found them all fun to watch. They all had different personalities which is another good draw. Especially considering how many people there were in the movie.

Back to the movie – Later that night Tina goes to the dock to reminisce about her father and attempt to bring him back to life, but unknown to her Jason is under the water and she brings him back instead. She faints at the site of him, and nobody believes her later when she tells her shrink and mom about the scary man that came out of the lake.

Eventually people start dropping like flies and nobody but Tina knows whats going on. She begins having all sorts of different visions and with the help of Nick they team up against Jason. As some of the TV spots say…”Its Tina Vs Jason”, and if the studios had their way it would have been Freddy Vs. Jason. But alas that didn’t happen, and I for one am happy that we got a Tina Vs. Jason movie instead because it kicks ass to see Jason up against someone with powers. He doesn’t understand how she’s doing what she does to him in the final battle, but its awesome to see his (Kane Hodder’s) reaction through all the make up. Especially the scene where Kane rips the cord off of his neck. There is a specific shot of him making such an evil looking face its awesome. You can tell Jason is PISSED during this scene. I love it!

As we ALL know by now, Jason comes back in a few more sequels. But if you ask me, this was the last “awesome” Friday The 13th film. The others are “good” or “okay” but this is the real last GREAT Friday The 13th….so far *wink*

Gore/FX: The FX in this movie is one of the best in the series. Jason’s makeup and costume is amazingly detailed. One of the things that used to scare me about this movie when I was little was picturing Jason looking exactly like he does in this film coming after me. The spine showing through his torn clothing is just creepy as hell. If you imagine just for a second someone coming after you looking like that. Its terrifying. The deaths in the film are interesting too, but not nearly as interesting and graphic as they could have been. This movie is known for being the most edited of the series. Fans for years have tried getting the uncut version released, and back in 2009 they “sort of” got their wish. The deleted scenes were included on the DVD, but not within the film. The quality was just too bad to put it back within the film. If you would like to see those deleted scenes, please visit the Video Gallery on Camp Blood.

Sexual Content: Loads of sex and nudity in this film, just about every couple has sex. Only two specific shots of frontal female nudity I can think of at the moment.

Acting: I’ve heard that this has some bad acting. I honestly don’t see it. Sure there are a few spots that are a little “iffy” but overall I think its VERY decent. Maybe its just that I grew up with it, I have no idea, but I find really no issues with the acting.

Overall: Many people do not like the fact that telekinesis is a huge part of this movie. But if you really think about it Jason IS some sort of Supernatural creature by this point, he somehow keeps coming back, and later Freddy even exists in his world, so is it really that far fetched that other supernatural people could exist? This is one of my favorite movies in the series due to the great FX, the awesome look to Jason, and the kickass cast. I love the character of Tina and I love the way she puts up a great fight. When I’m in the mood to watch a Friday The 13th film, this is usually the one I pick.

[rating:5/5]

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