Tommy Jarvis returns to Jason’s grave to destroy his body and make sure he never returns to kill more people. But, unfortunately, he inadvertently resurrects Mr Voorhees (a metal railing that Tommy has impaled Jason’s body with is electrocuted by lightning) and resurrects the very lucrative Universal horror franchise.

That sequence is great with a sneaky Frankenstein (another Universal film!) reference throw in for good measure. In fact, when it comes to Jason Lives, there are plenty of pop culture references and examples of ‘meta’ humour regarding the conventions of the slasher genre and film in general. A great example is the opening title sequence which is a parody of the gun barrel opening of the James Bond films.

There’s also the fantastic scene in which very stupid paintballers have used Jason’s woods as a place for their fake military manoeuvres. Let’s just say it turns out badly for them. There’s also a great shot where Jason is hit by a paintball.

Jason Lives was, obviously, a return for Jason (the Halloween franchise would do the same in 1988 even though Halloween 3: Season of the Witch was an excellent film). Whilst many fans now consider Jason Lives as an great entry in the series (for many fans its their favourite Friday), at the time it performed well at the box office but earned less than any other Friday the 13th film up to that point. If it ain’t broke, don’t try and fix it.

Jason Lives has plenty to offer from excellent, innovative kills, a great sense of suspense (I’m loving that the local sheriff is as much as an obstacle to Tommy as Jason is) and, the only time it’s happened in Friday the 13th history, a big superstar theme song. And it’s a great song sung by legend Alice Cooper. In fact, this was the first time I heard of Jason Lives, by seeing the 12’’ sleeve of an import copy of He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask) in my local record store.

Jason Kills is an interesting return to form after the anomaly of Part 5, which also sees the series continue to evolve and change in that it feels different to the first four films (which are still my favourites).

3.5 out of 5 stars