Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

Jason 6: Welcome To Camp Blood! An absolute hoot of a addition to the Friday 13th franchise. As is often the way with the "Friday" sequels, you can talk to one horror fan and this is the worst of the bunch, talk to another and it's the best etc etc. There's a more airy touch here and it serves the formula well, which if the series' fans are honest, is a formula that was getting stale quite early in the chain, so any sort of new ideas or direction is most welcome. After a glorious James Bond parody opens the credits sequence, accompanied by Harry Manfredini's superbly thunderous musical score, we get long running tormented character Tommy, here played by Thom Matthews, digging up Jason Voorhees' corpse so as to make sure the evil one is dead - oh and to kill him again. Enter a glorious Frankenstein homage (cheeky steal if you like) that sets us up for another round of stalk and dismember as Jason heads back to Camp Crystal Lake, which is now called Camp Forest Green! The kills are not particularly inventive, but there's a real thud of humour about much of them. From an American Express Card to a bloody smiley face imprint, it's clear the makers have a glint in their eyes. We even get an early appearance from Tony Goldwyn, some four years before Ghost would make him a known name. Adding to the quality score, which BTW rattles around home cinema speakers lie a supernatural entity, is Jon Kranhouse's cinematography, which is gorgeous in colour lens selections. All that and you get an Alice Cooper soundtrack as well. From joyful reanimation to a suitably watery finale, this part 6 delivers more than enough to almost make you rush out to rent part 7. Almost... 6.5/10