Jason Voorhees once again rises from his watery grave to torment the souls of Camp Crystal Lake. This time he’s met his match when a psychic young girl is amongst the potentials victims. Jason does get to splat many of the naughty teens before the showdown though.
Tina (Lar Park Lincoln) and her mother Amanda (Susan Blu) have returned to their Crystal Lake vacation home at the urging of Tina’s psychiatrist Dr. Crews (Terry Kiser) who joins them there.
Crews has supposedly taken them to this spot because Tina’s telekinetic powers caused the death of her father at the vacation home ten years before. During one of Crew’s agitation sessions he succeeds in sparking Tina’s powers. Unfortunately for the residents of Crystal Lake she revives Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder) from his watery grave at the bottom of the lake.
Luckily for our rotting hero, a group of teens has rented the cabin across from Tina’s so there are plenty of victims. Tina has taken up with one of them, Nick (Kevin Spirtas), and the new couple has to figure out how to send Jason back to the bottom of the lake before he slaughters everyone.
The big draw of The New Blood is that Jason finally has met a worthy opponent in the form of Tina. In an age of heroes, it may come as an interesting twist that Jason is taken out by a heroine. I guess Halloween also had girl power though.
The even bigger draw might be that Kane Hodder donned the hockey mask for the first time in The New Blood. He would become known as the quintessential Jason and would go on to play the role three more times. This was also a first since a stuntman usually played the role and they rarely appeared in the next film with the role being recast with another stuntman. Hodder certainly stands out amongst his brethren.
The film was notoriously cut up by the MPAA, but sadly we’re not treated to a full, gory version since it appears the original cuts were destroyed. You do get to see some of the bloody extensions in the deleted scenes but they’re of poor quality and taken from a battered workprint.
The psychic aspect of the film is one that you’ll either applaud or dislike. I thought it was an interesting twist, not that I’m a big believer in bending forks, etc. It certainly adds something new to the film, as the rest of it is the typical “kill the teenagers” plot. Jason’s makeup is also very effective and certainly beats the heck out of his next outing.
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.
Special features include a commentary with director John Carl Buechler, Kane Hodder, and Lar Park Lincoln. The 15 minute “Jason’s Destroyer” is a making of, the 7 minute “Mind over Matter” looks at telekinesis, the 2 minute “Makeover by Maddy” has teen victims Maddy (Diana Barrows) and Robin (Elizabeth Kaitan) going out for new looks, and there are 16 minutes of slashed scenes (in pretty poor quality from a workprint) with an introduction by Buechler.
Seventh time around adds some charm, but it’s Kane Hodder’s first time in the hockey mask and he tries to add some character to a mindless killer. He succeeds in doing so, but watch out for the psychic girl Jason.
It certainly looks a mite better when compared to the next outing. What’s even better is the nice selection of special features that come with the package.
Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood (Deluxe Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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