Chris is next seen staggering around
at the edge of Crystal Lake, where she clambers into a canoe and pushes herself
out into the centre and promptly falls asleep. Hmmm, haven't we seen this
somewhere before? … Anyway, she 
awakes
with a squawk and then gets more hysterical with a couple of false scares
as, firstly, a log bumps into the boat; and then a duck flaps past her head.
All this is a bit too much for poor Dana Kimmell to handle and I remembered
why she earned that crown of princess of cheese as she evidently equates frantic
mugging to camera a sufficient way to convey fear. Although, it is understandable
as, as she glances back at the house she sees a bloody, grinning Jason (sans
mask) playing peek-a-boo with her from one of the windows. With her mouth
agape she attempts to escape by canoe (row Dana row!) as Jason smashes
through the front door in pursuit, but when she turns around he's not there
(nor is any of the damage he inflicted) … It was all a dream! … Or was it?
As suddenly Mrs Voorhees, nicely rotted and 
presumably well recovered from her decapitation, bursts up from under Crystal
Lake and drags an incredulous Ms. Kimmell down with her. Or did she? … It
was all a dream (no really). Next thing we know the authorities are on the
scene helping a giggling looney-tunes Kimmell out of the lodge. "Looks
like she was the only one left alive", mutters the Sheriff; "What was
all that about a lady in the lake?" ponders his deputy. Kimmell then looses
it big time in the back of the squad car, but in typically unconvincing fashion
(ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST this ain't), and is driven away shrieking
with insane laughter.
Meanwhile,
over in the barn, Jason's 'corpse' still lies with axe in forehead. For now…
What
strikes me most about FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3 is the fact that whilst
being practically identical to the previous two installments of the series
it is, in a lot of ways, very different too. Certainly the cheese factor was
upped 
considerably
which differentiates it- something ably helped by the presence of the divine
Ms. Kimmell, the disco score, the constant pranking and, of course, the gimmicky
nature of the 3-D (which I guess Steve Miner thought would cover up a multitude
of sins). There seems to be a fine but distinct difference between slasher
flicks made in 1982 and the ones made even just a year earlier- something
which this one displays perfectly. They some how seem less cinematic, a little
cheaper and certainly a good deal hokier.
Dana
Kimmell had another influence on this film (as I said I'd get to earlier).
In that Fangoria interview she boasted that, "When I got the script, there
were some things I was not wild about, I was not to thrilled with the gore
and the sexual stuff , so I talked to [producer] Frank Mancuso Jr. And a lot
of those elements were curbed or eliminated. I still had some inner struggles
as to whether I should do the film. Because of the way I felt about FRIDAY
THE 
13TH
films in general, I felt funny the whole time I was making the movie".
Certainly she managed to change the ending of the film which was originally
supposed to end with her being decapitated by a reanimated Jason after she
comes back to shore after floating about on the lake (footage of this was
actually shot (see photo to the left) and will hopefully turn up one day-
incidentally, there was a third ending considered where Kimmell would have
discovered everyone's bodies in the barn but that one never made it before
the cameras). Anyway, reportedly she balked at her character dying after what
she'd been through, which resulted in the even less sensical sight of Mrs
Voorhees corpse pulling her under the lake in a carbon copy lift of the end
of the first film. However, I doubt she had much effect on the rest of the
film gore wise (although as far as that other old FRIDAY staple goes
it's a little light in the t&a department), in fact it was the American censor
board that had the most affect insisting on cuts from both Andy's and Vera's
deaths before an R-rating would be awarded.
Another
thing Dana Kimmell couldn't have influenced was the British censors the BBFC
who merrily cut great swathes of gore out of the UK video versions of the
FRIDAY movies, for instance, with Debbie's death not only did the scene
loose a second or two of the knife exiting from her chest but they completely
snipped the sight of Andy's body above her, which was the reason blood was
dripping onto the page she was reading (see photo on the right).
FRIDAY
THE 13TH PART 3 is a lot of cheesy fun. It's certainly worse than the
two films before it in the series (and several after) but it's still pretty
entertaining. I can't wait to see what it looks like on the upcoming DVD-
at least it will be wide-screen, but seeing as Paramount apparently want as
little to do with their old cash cow and judging by how unspecial the last
two releases are, we'll be lucky to see a trailer- any hopes for unseen footage
or even (gasp!) a 3D edition are pretty unlikely (for now).
As
for Ms. Kimmell, well, she went on to fame and fortune briefly as a soap star
in DAYS OF OUR LIVES (which I guess is pretty fitting). I know she
hates these films with a religious zeal but I've got a dream- my ultimate
FRIDAY THE 13TH. I know it's pretty gimmicky (and 3D isn't?!), but
I've always thought it would be kinda cool to set one of the series back at
Camp Crystal Lake, but have it as a special camp for people dealing with overcoming
past traumas and, so naturally, all the surviving FRIDAY THE 13TH gals
(Amy Steel, Kimberly Beck and, of course, headed by Dana Kimmell), possibly even a few
from Elm Street too (or even the ones from the other 80's slashers), they'd
all be there. Anyway, chuck in a few teens for good measure,stick 'em all
round a campfire singing 'Kumbyha', and there'd be a stray bolt of lightening
and then, well, lets just say... "chh, chh, chh... hah, hah, hah".
I
wonder how Harry Manfredini would feel about a drum and bass remix?!
BODYCOUNT
12 
female:5 / male:7
1) Male gets whacked in the chest
with meat cleaver
2) Female has knitting needles pushed
through back of her head
3) Female found pinned to post with
pitchfork through her neck
4) Male has pitchfork pushed into
his stomach
5) Female shot in the eye with harpoon
bolt
6) Male chopped between the legs
with a machete
7) Female has knife forced through
back coming up through chest
8) Male seen with throat cut
9) Male pushed into fuse box and
electrocuted
10) Female has red hot poker pushed through
stomach
11) Male has his head squashed between Jason's
hands until one of his eyes pops out!
12) Male has hand chopped off with machete and
then is hacked to death
