Retrospective Film Review

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) • 35 Years Later

Tommy Jarvis goes to the graveyard to get rid of Jason Voorhees’ body once and for all, but inadvertently brings him back to life instead.

When a horror movie proves successful, strange and wonderful things can follow, like low-budget affairs ballooning into studio blockbusters. And while companies milk their intellectual properties dry, the creatives put in charge do their best to remain… well, creative. Humble stories of summer camp slashers, babysitter stalkers, and haunted dolls have mutated into decades-spanning soap operas of murder and mayhem. The toughest challenge is overcoming a dud. Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985) was a financial success, grossing $22M, after series highlight The Final Chapter (1984), but it was also a bad film. The ‘new beginning’ being just anyone could wear the infamous hockey mask after Jason’s demise wasn’t received well by audiences, least of all because of the supposed twist that — spoiler alert! — some paramedic named Roy was the killer…