The original Friday the 13th overturned all of my expectations when I went back to see it for the first time, after having grown up around the franchise in popular culture. The sequel was no different. All my life, I’ve always seen Jason as a zombie; one of the most famous examples of that class of undead: a walking corpse driven only by a twisted desire for vengeance on the living. In Friday The 13th Part Two, Jason is assumed to have survived the incident in the lake that resulted in his near drowning, having withdrawn from the camp entirely to live in the woods. Having witnessed his Mother’s obsessive crusade and its gruesome conclusion from afar, he takes it into his own hands to continue in her name, murdering anyone who comes near his home at Camp Crystal Lake. That’s how the legend goes, but the people opening up a new camp nearby don’t believe it, or believe they are a safe distance away from Jason’s wrath. The night would prove them wrong!

Compared to the first film, the production values in this one are a lot better, as are the sets. The premise however, is still the same: simple setup to showcase gruesome murders that happen in particularly unexpected ways. Unlike the first film, in which the plot feels like a scary tale gone awry, this film has more of a story behind it, along with a much more psychological look at Jason Vorhees and what motivates him. He is still alive in this film, and wears a bag over his head instead of a hockey mask, but that doesn’t make him any less menacing; he simply isn’t the unstoppable force he would become in the later movies though. It is interesting how they explore Jason’s motivations in this film, using child psychology to give him a purpose: vengeance for his mother.

There are many people who claim that this film is the best one in the series. Having not seen all of them yet, I wouldn’t know; although I enjoyed this take on things, I think I am still more partial to Jason as an undead, rather than what they do with the character here, stretching credulity to try and make him realistic. In any case, it’s a fun movie, and an important one to the roots of the series.