Jason Goes All Telekinetic

By 1988, Jason Voorhees had become a bit of a wandering corpse, both in the movies and beyond. Paramount Studios, the same folks who unleashed the brilliant yet monstrous original flick in 1980, thought they had finally buried the hatchet with our favorite hockey-mask-wearing dude. They tried to end his reign of terror with the third installment back in 1984 called The Final Chapter. Gold rush mentality kicked in, and after realizing it made some cash, they decided that maybe Jason wasn’t so dead after all!

Fast forward a few years, and what does Paramount do? They thought, “Let’s throw Jason into the ring with a new twist!” Enter stage left: a telekinetic teen named Tina Shepherd, who’s got issues with her abusive parent and some really messy dad drama. Sounds familiar, right? A little Carrie vibes here, thanks to our good buddy Stephen King. This epic monster showdown finally gave our beloved Jason some much-needed juice, setting the stage for some serious monster-on-monster action. Who would have thought?

Resurrection Shenanigans

Let’s be real for a moment: the Friday the 13th series was never the crown jewel of creativity. It started out as yet another holiday slasher because John Carpenter made it look easy with Halloween. Cunningham whipped up his version with a plot centered on Pamela Voorhees, who just had a vendetta against summer campers because, you know, terrible parents. With iconic effects by Tom Savini and a conclusion that ripped off Carrie (yeah, he admits it), the first installment sank its teeth into audiences, raking in over 59 million bucks on a shoestring budget. Not a bad haul!

And, of course, someone thought, “Let’s make a sequel!” Because that’s what you do when the original party is a success, right? But how do you bring back a motherless killer? Cue supernatural mumbo jumbo! They took what logic they had and flipped it on its head. Surprise! Jason’s been lurking about Camp Crystal Lake, not really dead but instead playing hide and seek with the living. Why? Who knows! The timeline makes as much sense as Jason teleporting across the lake to find a new victim.

The New Blood Awakens

The New Blood kicks off like any other sequel with a lot of old footage, giving the audience a nostalgia trip, but then BOOM! We’re greeted by Tina, who’s more Carol Anne from Poltergeist than a doomed victim. Kid witnesses her dad being a total jerk and responds by doing some serious telekinetic damage. Bye-bye, dock! Helpless dads everywhere just shivered. Jump several years later, and teenage Tina is trying to manage her unique abilities and trauma with Dr. Crews, a guy more interested in profit than mental health.

Move over, summer camp shenanigans, because we’re getting a dose of horror therapy at good ol’ Crystal Lake, where it all went down. Spoiler alert: Jason is still hanging out at the lake. When Tina’s powers go haywire, guess who gets released from his underwater nap—not just the dock but Jason himself! Cue the horrified reaction! But wait—Tina’s also being haunted by daddy issues while Jason’s ready to unleash more carnage.

Courage versus Carnage

So here’s the scene: it builds up to a climactic showdown between Tina and Jason. Finally, a challenge! Forget about Tommy Jarvis; Tina’s ready to throw down while rocking some serious telekinetic skills that would make Carrie proud. Think of all the fun ideas if Carrie had decided to ditch prom for a getaway at the lake—horror nerds are already dreaming!

In essence, The New Blood gave new life to this tired franchise, injecting energy like it was Halloween candy on the back-to-school sales shelf. Alas, that energy was sadly wasted as what followed didn’t quite pack the same punch.

Bad Decisions Lead to Bad Blood

Now, let’s take a breath: you could argue that The New Blood isn’t the absolute top-tier entry into the franchise. Director John Carl Buechler—great at special effects, not so much at balancing the various elements—had a tougher time than expected juggling character development and his usual artistic flair. Super rad gore effects? Sure! Too bad they were so heavily censored that we barely saw any sweet kills.

Yet, the concept itself? Golden! Look at what they forced out after! Instead of terrorizing Manhattan like they promised, Jason Takes Manhattan turned into a tired rehash of better flicks. The following two movies from New Line Cinema then tried to put their spin on Jason: first as a massive fail with Jason Goes to Hell, then a surprising hit with Jason X. And the 2009 redo practically put us to sleep, offering only nasty kills as a glimmer of hope.

And yet the only film with any real spark since could hardly avoid it: Freddy vs. Jason wouldn’t have had that spark without a monster-on-monster showdown! The potential for a zany franchise blowout was right there in front of them; all they had to do was look back at The New Blood and learn a thing or two.

And for everyone excited to go on this wild ride of horror, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood is now available on Paramount+—get ready for some nostalgic scares!