Friday The 13th Part II - Probably should have been the first film

'Friday 13th – Part II’ is better than the original ‘Friday 13th’ film. And it isn’t. What it is, is EXACTLY the same film, just done again. If you were to put Friday 13th on one television and Part II on a TV next to it, you’d feel you were looking at the same film on both screens.

The first film was phenomenally popular, so the makers obviously decided not to stray too far from the original concept. Once again… you have a group of annoyingly attractive teenagers who go to a summer camp to pair off and have sex then get murdered (and not particularly gorily by today’s filmic standards). They get slaughtered one by one until you’re left with the only girl who hasn’t had sex. She is then stalked, while constantly screaming and running away from the killer until the traditional climax. Occasionally the ‘action’ is broken up by an ugly man wandering into the camp to try and warn the kids, only to also get murdered.

You really could just watch this film as ‘Part I’ as it’s technically better, even though it’s basically the same story. Plus the ‘reveal’ of the killer was more satisfying this time round.

I also couldn’t stop thinking of ‘Blackadder II’ when he puts a bag over someone’s head. Here, the killer also wears a bag (and is therefore about as scary as an episode of Blackadder).

The early Friday 13th films are more about ‘horror history’ now than genuine scares. You can watch them for nostalgia value and to see how horror used to be done. However, they’re filled with every cliché that the ‘post-modern’ horror films (such as ‘Scream’) make a living out of ridiculing. Enjoy them for what they were, not how they come across now.

Should really be 3/5 stars for its lack of originality, but 4 stars if you haven't seen the first one.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that