Overall rating: 5.5/10
Let me be clear, Friday the 13th, part VII: The New Blood is not a good movie. That said I think we’ve reached a point where standard slashers with tons of anonymous teenage victims, even with a lame gimmicky psychic whinny final girl, is still better than average.
The bad things about this film are the usual complaints about Friday the 13th movies, no character development and the fact that plot really only exists in the loosest sense of the word. On the other hand I’ve watched so many of these movies that any film I don’t fast forward through large non-murder related portions of (I’m looking at you Nightmare on Elm Street 6)might as well be Citizen Kane. It’s not just that there are loads more deaths in this film, 16 people die, but there is also a nice variety in the methods used to dispatch “characters” that I am forced to differentiate by hair color because they are so interchangeable. Sure, Jason Voorhees is quite fond of his machete but he’s a modern adaptable reanimated serial killing indestructible zombie guy. He’s not afraid to mix it up, pick up a weed whacker, crush a head with his hands, or tie someone up in a sleeping bag and smash them against a tree.
At the same time this film seemed slightly less extreme than others of the series. There was not a lot of blood in this installment. While there is never much in the way of gore in this series, part seven seemed to have even less blood than usual. And while just about all the teenagers had sex with each other we only saw one set of boobs. In terms of non-whites there were two black teens in this film, which puts it ahead of most of its brethren.
The best part of the movie was when we realized that the shady psychiatrist who popped the color on his tweed jacket was Bernie from Weekend at Bernies. That realization added a little something extra to an otherwise mediocre addition to the franchise.
Continue reading for a list of victims and the final girl.
Final Girls 