Kevin Coughlin
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FULL WATCHALONG ~ FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 7
🕑 Added 2025-06-22 03:24:48 +0000 UTCFriday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) is where the franchise fully yeets itself into the supernatural deep end—and thank God it does, because by this point, we’ve seen Jason stab, slash, and squish every horny teen archetype imaginable. So now? Jason goes toe-to-toe with a telekinetic girl in a lakeside psychic smackdown, and it’s kind of glorious in a “What even is this franchise anymore?” kind of way.
Our new final girl is Tina Shepard, a deeply traumatized psychic who accidentally unchains Jason from his underwater timeout while trying to resurrect her dead dad. Because of course she does. It’s horror movie grief therapy via necromancy, and it works out about as well as you’d expect. Jason pops out of the lake like a rotting gym bro with anger issues, ready to resume his machete-based vengeance.
This entry marks the first appearance of Kane Hodder as Jason, and he absolutely owns it. His Jason is bulky, rage-fueled, and radiates “I hate everything” energy with every stomp. Plus, this is the best Jason design—chunky, rotted, chain around the neck, visible spine, busted mask. He looks like death itself wandered out of the lake because it got bored.
The kills should have been legendary—sleeping bag tree slam, weed whacker to the gut, head crush—but thanks to the MPAA going on a censorship rampage, the gore got butchered more than Jason’s victims. You’ll feel the cuts, and not in a fun way. Still, even trimmed down, the carnage is creative, and Jason’s rage-filled performance carries it.
The teen cast is aggressively disposable, but that’s par for the course. The real villain (aside from Jason) is Tina’s creepy psychiatrist, who exists solely to gaslight her until he gets a saw blade in the guts. Nobody mourns this man. He’s pure slasher karma bait.
But let’s talk about that final showdown. Tina unleashes her psychic powers like she’s auditioning for the X-Men—collapsing decks, swinging wires, exploding TVs, fire, lightning, and a sweet, sweet telekinetic beatdown that turns Jason into a crash test dummy. It’s pure horror movie camp, and honestly, it rules.
Part VII isn’t the most coherent or gory, but it’s fun, fast, and absolutely unhinged. The Jason vs. Carrie concept works way better than it has any right to, and Kane Hodder elevates the entire film just by being an unstoppable wall of murder. It may not be perfect, but it’s the jolt of weird the franchise needed—and it earns every ridiculous, over-the-top minute.
Comments
Lazy Boy Stays Up Late Watching Video Tapes
This one had mostly off-screen kills and censor edits. They had to in order to avoid an X rating. there are YT edits where ppl have gone through and spliced the deleted shots back into the scened. some look liked they would have been good and compete well with the other deaths. One such YouTube channel "MFMT" @MyFanMadeThings , I say had recreated the kills using the delete footage.
Kevin Coughlin
Freddy's are coming up .. we have a whole pile of fun to get to according to Kevin
Derin Argon
Tara, Ive never seen someone laugh so hard at the classic sleeping bag kill.....your smile and laughter brought me joy...the next one, part 8 is a fun one, and i have to say its probably the most '80s' out of the whole series, and probably one of the most 80s movie ever made ( for the plot, scenes, hairstyles, characters, score, music cinematography) and Id put in a top 10 list for that for sure..........also if Tara hasn't seen the 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' movies ( Freddy Krueger) I highly recommend those, and after get through them you guys can dive into 'FREDDY VS JASON' (2003).....so cool and fun, especially if you've seen all the movies in both series and know the lore.
Wade Wallenstein
Director John Carl Buechler has publicly fumed many times over the years about the number of edits required by the MPAA to avoid an "X" rating. The film had to be submitted nine times to the Motion Picture Association of America before being granted an "R" rating, and it stands as arguably the most heavily censored entry in the 'Friday the 13th' series. Fun fact: During filming, Kane Hodder's dressing room was a quarter of a mile down a dirt road. One night filming ended at 2 a.m. and while still in the Jason costume he decided to walk through the woods on a path to his dressing room. As he was walking someone approached him and asked if he was with the movie. He didn't reply, because he thought it was a pretty stupid question to ask, as he was standing there in full Jason costume. When the man asked again, Kane took a little lunge at him and grunted. The guy took off, tripping and running. The next day director John Carl Buechler told Kane that the local sheriff was supposed to stop by, but he never showed. Now it's time to take Manhattan!
