Friday the 13th Part 3 3D (1982)

Friday the 13th Part 3 was the first major 3D movie of the 1980s. I, of course, am using the term major in a rather loose sense. But it was bigger budgeted than the two that preceded it--1981's Comin' At Ya! and the 1982 Demi Moore sci-fi horror flick Parasite--and it was the first one to be released by a major studio. It was also the first major hit in 3D in the 1980s. So in a way, it shares those things with 1953's House of Wax. However, that's where the similarities end.

The first of the Part 3 in 3D movies of the era, Friday the 13th Part 3 is generally considered the best of the 3D movies of the 80s. It's also the film that gave Jason his iconic hockey mask (he had a flour sack over his head in the previous film). Having finally watched it in 3D, I will say that the 3D is quite spectacular. The movie, on the other hand, is quite craptacular. I mean, this is the movie Scream referenced with the joke about running up the stairs instead of out the front door. It literally happens in the movie.

I see dead people

The opening five minutes (in 2D) are the end of the previous film. After burying a machete in Jason's arm, that film's final girl leaves. Jason, of course, is not dead, and he promptly gets up and walks off the wound. He heads over to a general store owned by an annoying couple named Harold and Edna, steals some clothes from them and murders them after a set up that feels like it takes forever.

Meantime, another bunch of dumb teens are getting together to go have a quiet weekend in the woods. They are Chris (Dana Kimmel), who is suffering PTSD from an encounter with Jason two years earlier, stoners Chuck and Chili, pregnant Debbie and her show-off boyfriend Andy, annoying prankster Shelly, and his reluctant date Vera. At the cabin they meet up with Chris's horny boyfriend Rick, who can't understand that she doesn't want to have sex due to what happened to her previously. None of these characters except for Final Girl Chris have any personality. They exist merely to be killed off by Jason. Shelly and Vera run afoul of a trio of bikers in a convenience store, who also have no personality but are there to also add to the body count. Death by meat clever, knitting needle, pitchfork, machete, fire poker, electrocution, spear gun, knife, and having one's eyeball popped out of their head ensues. 

The Lucky One

I get that you shouldn't expect too much from a film like this, but it would be nice if there was something to recommend it beyond the 3D. It's my understanding that this is one of the better entries in this series and all I can say about that is that I can't begin to imagine what the lesser entries are like. Most of the acting is non-existent, the characters are just tropes, and frankly, the movie isn't even scary. There's no real suspense to it. The big slaughter happens an hour into the film and is done with in about 10 minutes of screen time. I also understand that the gore effects were tamed to avoid trouble with the MPAA and there's very little nudity in it, too, which I always heard was a big part of these movies.

Instead director Steve Miner put all his eggs in the 3D basket with this one. Like most of the 80s crop of 3D movies, Friday the 13th Part 3 is more interested in what it can throw out of the screen than it is in telling a story. All manner of objects fly towards the audience, and not just implements of death from our hockey masked madman. Wallets, weed joints, popcorn, juggling fruit, and a yoyo coming flying our way along with the fire poker, spear gun, pitchfork, knives, and eyeballs. Some of the effects are pretty impressive while others are just plain stupid. For almost 40 years I heard about the legendary eyeball effect when Rick's head is crushed. Imagine my disappointment at how silly it looked when I finally saw it.

Come on, give me a ride, babe!

Despite the visual assault on the audience, the 3D is surprisingly well shot for this era. I don't know if Shout Factory made alignment corrections or it always looked like this, but the movie doesn't hurt one's eyeballs in quite the same way some of it's contemporaries like Comin' At Ya! do. 3D movies of the 80s had a bad habit of getting their gimmick shots too close to the camera, which made them physically uncomfortable to watch. Though there are some gimmick shots that come way out of the screen in this one, they don't reach the point of ripping your eyeballs out of your head watching them. 

As I've said before, none of the 80s 3D movies are what anyone would call good movies. In 3D they are sometimes fun and that goes for this film, too. I'd never watch it in 2D, though. I suppose if you're going to pick just one 3D movie from the 80s to watch, this is probably the one (though I'm partial to Jaws 3-D myself). Just don't expect anything as good as House of Wax.