DVD Review: Friday the 13th Part 3 3-D

Jason returns for movie three of eleven in this 3-D Slasher extravaganza. Friday the 13th Part III revisits the world of Camp Crystal Lake; Jason Voorhees, the boy who drowned several decades ago, has moved to a nearby lake front farm named Higgins Haven.

Chris Higgins returns to her family property two years after being attacked by a mysterious disfigured man. Chris is ready to face her fear, and she has brought along her sex-crazed-teenage friends in true horror flick fashion to give Jason a reason to kill. Jason isn’t the only thing Chris and her friends will have to worry about. Her friends Shelly and Vera piss off a group of bikers who want them just as badly as Jason does. Only problem is Jason has no friends and the gang may have to sidestep their grudge to take him down.

Friday the 13th part III also heralds the birth of the infamous Jason hockey mask. In the original Friday the 13th, Jason was still the boy who drowned. In Part II, we learned that Jason never drowned, but instead became a hermit who witnessed his mother’s murder. Jason wore what looked like a burlap pillow case with an eye cut out.

After two Jason flicks, Sean S. Cunningham has left the helm of directing, while Victor Miller no longer has sole writing credit in this third Jason feature.

The special effects take a nosedive from the infamous Kevin Bacon arrow-kill scene. In one scene, Jason squeezes his prey’s head and an eyeball pops out. You clearly see that the head changes to a dummy head before the eyeball flies.

This film was originally shot in 3-D, taking advantage of the era’s craze for 3-D glasses in cinema. The DVD comes with two sets of 3-D glasses. You can watch the movie either in original 3D format, or in 2D.

Sadly, this Deluxe DVD is a little light on the Deluxe. The release comes with no special features.