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‘Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood’
By Richard Harrington
Washington Post Staff Writer
May 14, 1988
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Those reviews of "Friday the 13th" movies that come out on Saturday the 14th could never be as mindless and brutal as the films themselves -- not because the films don't deserve it, but because there's such a vast difference between doing dirty deeds in cold blood and doing them in cold type.Yes, Virginia, there is another "Friday the 13th," this being "Part VII -- The New Blood." Yes, Maryland, there is blood, but the manner in which it is set to flowing is hardly new. Yes, Washington, Jason Vorhees is back, this time from the bottom of the lake he was consigned to in "Part VI." He's been there a while, so his body's not in good shape, but that hockey mask has held up rather well (could Jason be one of those dreaded New Jersey Devils)? Once again the woods are full of the inevitable naughty teen-agers who are about to discover the horrors of sex. It doesn't take Jason long to set off on his annual chopping spree once he's been accidentally set free by telekinetic teen Tina. Tina is "VII's" heroine, so what we have here is basically "Jason vs. Carrie" with neither the visceral shock of the first "Friday the 13th" nor the subtleties of the Stephen King tale. In fact, "VII" is a catalogue of cheap self-imitation, from director John Carl Buechler's constant pulling of visual punches to the script's regurgitated cliche's from earlier "Fridays." The ending is the stupidest one ever and that's saying something. So why should we expect "Part VIII (More New Blood)" next year? Well, Paramount has already made $172 million on six sick films and should easily reach the $200 million plateau with this edition. If not entertainment, that's success. It's grosses and it's gross. "Friday the 13th: Part VII -- The New Blood" is rated R and contains scenes of violence and some nudity.
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