With the ‘Tommy Jarvis’ arc firmly put to bed, Part 7 seemingly was somewhat floundering with what to do with the franchise now that they’d pretty much exhausted the ‘Hocky Mask killer stalks teens in the woods’ genre of film making…I can only assume that Jason being ressurected as a Zombie in ‘Part 6’ gave the producers enough dutch courage to eek into the supernatural a bit more by asking the question: ‘What If Jason fought Carrie?’

Because thats kind of what this movie is, as we follow telekenetik teen ‘Tina’ who, after having had her powers commence at an awkward moment that unfortunately resulted in her fathers untimely death, is riddled with trauma and isnt exactly sure how to control her powers now shes in adolesence.

Her mother, sends her out to a facility near Camp Crystal Lake, where the on site doctor is promising to study and treat these psychic abilities with care and compassion. Unfortunately the doctors there seem more intent in antagonizing Tina into using her powers, than helping her control them. After one outburst too many her abilities run amock and in the process the chains that have bound Jason to the bottom of Crystal Lake are broken and he’s able to rise to the surface and continue his chaos.

…Oh! and next door to the psychic doctors office, theres a group of teens setting up for a birthday party for one of their friends. You can guess what happens next…

And its at this point in the Friday the 13th franchise that I start to go crosseyed in trying to figure out exactly when the HELL any of this is supposed to ACTUALLY be taking place. With the first film having happened in June 1979, the second taking place not long after in the summer of 1980, part 3 takes place (possibly) in the summer of 1981. Then part 4 happens IMMEDIATELY after part 3, so still summer ’81, Part 5 jumps 5 years into the future to bring us in line with the year that film came out (1985), Part 6 takes place a year after that in ’86…And this film opens 3 months after the events of Part 6 (so Fall ’86) with a Young Tina, before then jumping forward in time 7 and a half years to what is presumably Summer 1993…This film came out in 1988…and Part 8 happens 1 year after this one which means its 1994 in 1989 aaaaaand there goes those crosseyes…

While there isnt all that much in originality in ‘Part 7’. The best way I can describe it is ‘It looks back at the previous films, pinches the best bits and just makes something fairly solid’ and thats basically what this is.

You have a script thats…Not the strongest work in the world and very derivitive, but it IS entertaining, it has its moments and I think its better than AT LEAST half of the films in this franchise on this level alone. The pacings a little slower than previous entries, but what it lacks in build up, it more than makes up for in the 3rd act finale.

Tonally, its a bit more subdued than parts 5 and 6, but we do have some interesting and animated characters, this film isnt afraid to use a little bit of humour here and there and the kills are pretty good fun.

It has a clean 3 act structure with decent transitions between the acts, it takes its time in getting you from scene to scene, which I could see how it would annoy some people, but I was okay with that.

The direction isnt as sharp as ‘Jason Lives’. Because the scripts a bit thinner on the ground than previous entries it kind of lacks a strong vision on that front, which then has a knock on in being able to generate a strong vision within the visuals. That being said, the kills and the final showdown sequence are absolute highlights of this entry and easily some of the series high points.

Direction of the cast is a bit flat, it seems the only directions were where the edge of the frames were, because cast members dont really interact with their surroundings very much, DO seem a little bit lost and it really takes time for these characters to warm up when compared to previous entried.

The cine is actually kind of solid, again; its not *quite* as creatively charged as parts 5 and 6, but it DOES have a destinct stylization in mind and there are a lot of shots here that are visually very interesting and compositionally sound.

Sequences seem fairly well constructed with plenty of B-roll, its nice to see this entry doesnt shy away from using a bit of colour here and there rather than the washed out offerings from earlier entries. and the kill scenes are well choreographed and quite interesting too. Though, I do also have to add that the ‘telekenesis’ used in this did raise a chuckle as I couldnt stop thinking of the ‘Garth Marenghis: Darkplace’ episode ‘Hell Hath Fury’ with some items clearly flying on fishing wire. Its so corny.

The performances are a bit of a mixed bag, a lot of the cast dont really seem to know what tone to go for (I.E: whether this should be a ‘Part 4’ style of performance, or a ‘Part 5’ style of performance) Lara Park Lincoln is probably the best of the bunch here as Tina, she works a decent enough range…But even then shes not the strongest lead this series has ever had.

Throw in some fairly unmemorable scoring which, to my ears, didnt sound THAT much different from the score used for the first 3 movies and you ultimatley end up with a film that is inoffensive. The scripts not bad, but it doesnt break new ground, the direction and cine have their moments, but theres nothing jaw dropping and the cast do what they can…but what they can do is just kind of acceptable.

If Inoffensive is the worst this film gets, then I WILL take it as a win…But at the same time, an ‘inoffensive’ ‘Friday the 13th’ movie is a bit like a chocolate teapot…nice…but ultimately kinda pointless.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/friday-the-13th-part-vii-the-new-blood/