Revisiting FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART 2 in 4K...with a Couple of Nagging Questions

FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART 2 45th Anniversary Edition (4K UHD)

1981 / 86 min

Paramount

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Being totally transparent here, this guy’s never been a huge fan of the Friday the 13th franchise, though a couple of the early ones certainly impacted my teenage years. Simply plotted and loaded with jump scares, gore and pre-marital sex, catching one of these with a gaggle of friends was a great social activity. They also made great date movies, especially first date movies. Nothing prompted a girl to grip your hand more than an relentless killer stalking camp counselors. 

Even back then, I had no illusions over the actual quality of these movies. Good? Hardly…even the original’s director, Sean Cunningham, acknowledged he was just ripping off Halloween. Fun? On the big screen in a packed theater, surrounded by the right people…absolutely. And it didn’t really matter which one you were watching because the plots were interchangeable. Roger Ebert once said his negative review of Friday the 13th Part 2 could apply to any other film in the franchise, and he wasn’t entirely wrong. Of course, he wrote that before anyone made the creative decision to launch Jason into space.

Big fans of ‘80s slasher horror might argue differently...that each film is a distinct and important chapter in the continuing adventures of Jason Voorhees (or his mom, or whoever assumed the stabbing duties in Part V). And actually, Part 2 is generally held in really high regard among a lot of Friday the 13th fans, mainly because it’s the first one where Jason does the killing. Other than that, it’s business as usual, with even fewer plot twists than the original (though admittedly, it's a bit more skillfully directed). 

"Fine...I won't stay where I'm not wanted."

This 4K UHD release is for the die hards who can differentiate Amy Steel from Adrienne King. But despite being touted as the 45th Anniversary edition, this is the exact same disc that was part of the Paramount Scares Volume 2 boxed set from 2024, right down to the bonus features and cover art. So while it’s technically not a “new” release, at least it’s now available separately and fans should be more than pleased with upgraded image quality. The 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio track, while still really good, is the same as the original Blu-ray.

Revisiting this film 45 years after getting a bruised forearm from my date squeezing it too hard, I do have a couple of nagging questions that perhaps only superfans could answer. Friday the 13th Part 2 opens with Jason killing Alice (Adrienne King), the only survivor from the first film, in her own home. How exactly does he figure out where she lives? And if he’s been dwelling in the woods around Crystal Lake since he was a child, how the hell does he get to that house years later, do his dirty work, then head back to Crystal Lake in time to kill more counselors? Did he drive?

Since Michael Myers managed a similar feat in Halloween, I’d like to know who thought teaching these psychos how to drive was a good idea.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - Inside “Crystal Lake Memories” (the book's author discusses putting it together); Friday's Legacy: Horror Conventions; Lost Tales from Camp Blood Part II is a horror short inspired by the franchise (others are available on other F13 titles); Jason Forever is a Q&A featuring four guys who’ve previously played Jason Voorhees.

10 RILLINGTON PLACE: No, Grandpa, No!

10 RILLINGTON PLACE (Blu-ray)

1971 / 108 min

Alliance Entertainment

Review by Mr. Bonnie, the Butcher🙀

I should probably preface this review by admitting I haven’t seen a lot of the films in Richard Attenborough’s lengthy career. I’m mostly familiar with the more iconic ones, including The Great Escape, The Sand Pebbles and The Flight of the Phoenix. But hey, at least I know his legacy extends beyond sharing the screen with dinosaurs. 

Still, Attenborough’s unnerving performance in 10 Rillington Place threw me for a loop. He plays outwardly congenial landlord John Christie, and in the opening scene, offers to cure a neighbor’s bronchitis with a gaseous medicine he’s concocted. Instead, she’s rendered unconscious. Afterwards, Christie rapes and strangles her (and maybe not in that order!), then buries the corpse in the building’s community garden. 

Jesus Christ!

Christie is immediately revealed to be a serial killer and 10 Rillington Place is based on a true story. His next victims are the financially struggling Evans family, who move into one of the flats in his building. Timothy (John Hurt) and Beryl (Judy Geeson) have a baby daughter and are continuously fighting, compounded when she announces she’s pregnant again. That’s when Christie, feigning expertise, offers his surfaces to abort the pregnancy. Instead, he murders her, but tells Timothy that she died during the procedure.

"What happened to the Twinkies I stashed here?"

Timothy wants to go to the police, but Christie argues that both of them are complicit and would go to jail. Not being too bright to begin with (and unable to read or write), Timothy agrees to remain silent and go away for awhile to avoid questions over Beryl’s whereabouts. And while he’s away, Christie kills their baby. Making matters worse, Timothy is suspected of both murders, which Christie exacerbates when testifying as a witness in the subsequent trial.

Though tastefully handled, this is a grim, disturbing film, largely due to Attenborough. Not only are Christie’s methods horrifying, the actor depicts him as perverted, quietly psychotic, remorseless and indifferent to the suffering he inflicts. Like Henry Fonda playing a sadistic hired gun in Once Upon a Time in the West and Denzel Washington’s turn as murderously corrupt cop Alonzo Harris in Training Day, Attenborough’s performance is a revelation. Who knew he had it in him?

It’s amusing to imagine viewers who only know him as kindly grandpa John Hammond in Jurassic Park or Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street getting an eyeful of this one. Narratively and aesthetically, 10 Rillington Place is bleak enough as it is, but Attenborough makes the film a memorably horrifying experience you won’t be able to unsee.