I usually outline the intracacies of a film’s plot at the start of a review. As the Friday the 13th films are so multi-layered when it comes to their storylines, here goes (I hope you can keep up). Jason wasn’t killed at the end of Part 2 and another group of All-American teens arrive to be slaughtered one by one. Brecht, eat your heart out.

Sarcasm aside, Friday the 13th Part 3 has quite the history with me. For one, its the first of the films I ever watched, after I saw the poster for the video in the window of my local off-license in 1987. I also remember a few years before this seeing copies of the novelisation in a bargain bookstore in York city centre (I should have bought them all as they’d be worth a fortune now).

It was a bumpy ride to the film being released on VHS here in the UK due to the Video Nasties furore which had placed the first two films on Section C (they were both classified and escaped uncensored. We even got a longer version of the first film to boot. Imagine- an era in which films were being cut and banned left right and centre and they actually pass a longer, gorier version of the first film. Oh, the irony!) CIC Video would even issue a statement to the video trade magazines to state that in the current climate (ahem), fans would have to wait a little bit longer for Parts 3 and 4 to be released (basically when all of the broohaha started to settle down).

And that’s just what happened. The films were classified, with 3 seconds being cut from Part 3 (Part 4 would be cut a lot more heavily). So, thats the version I saw- 2D, pan and scan on home video in 1987.

I was then lucky enough to see the film in 3D several times when it regularly played at the National Film Theatre when I was studying Film in London in the late 90’s. The NFT is the official cinema for the British Film Industry and is a cinema where you would be more likely to see a seven hour Icelandic arthouse epic than F13th Part 3. I remember the first screening in 3D that I saw, with it’s recap of the end of Part 2 (obviously in 2D), with some arthouse film lovers in the audience laughing at what they saw. And then the 3D kicked in. And it’s REALLY well done! The titles come out of the screen at you but then they come out even further until they’re pracically scratching your retinas. Everyone in that audience started screaming, cheering and applauding. From that moment on, everyone had a great time, even the French New Wave fans.

The makers of Part 3 must have had a blast thinking of the sequences that could incorporate the 3D effects, whether they were funny (popcorn shooting out of a saucepan, juggling apples, a spl*ff being passed to another character), or horrifying (the eyeball shooting out at the audience, Jason headbutting a car window and then later coming towards us with arms reaching out with an axe in his head).

This is also the Friday in which Jason acquired his trademark hockey mask. The film also features my favourite kill from the whole series- the ‘walking on hands’ kill that still takes my breath away.

There seems to be an intertwining with Halloween 2 with this film, as an original idea was to have Jason go after Ginny from the previous film who was to be housed in a psychiatric hospital (which is basically H2’s plot). Amy Steel refused however. Conversely, H2 wanted to film in 3D but the format doesn’t work in shadowy dark settings. I don’t know if the makers of F13th Part 3 knew this, but the colour scheme here is akin to a horror comic and there’s less moody darkness here and more space too (the barn particularly).

Part 3 is a fantastic rollercoaster of a movie. It’s even quite camp in places, particularly due to Chris Higgins, the final girl. In a word, she’s crap and full of histrionics and terrible acting. Compare the ending where she ‘goes mad’ with Marilyn Burns at the end of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and you’ll see what I mean. But not even a rubbish final girl can diminish how fun Part 3 is.

An aside- Part 3 features a character development which only appears in this film and that is Chris’ flashback to meeting Jason years before but, let’s just say, it seems that Mr Voorhees had other intentions rather than just killing her.

A word about Jason’s appearance here too when his mask is removed. It’s great that he’s discovered clippers. The bald head and clean shaven look suits him. Hillbilly chic was sooo 1981.

The other characters are great as well, whether it be the stoner couple or the candy-ass ‘punk’ gang.

We even get a disco re-recording of the main theme and it works!

Part 3 is a great third film in the series. The next part would shed the camp comic book aspects, bring Tom Savini back on board and be as brutal as f*ck.

Obviously, if you have the choice, watch Part 3 in 3D and ideally in a cinema. It’s quite the ride.

4 out of 5 stars