I enjoyed this one very much. I think that this one is the second film this semester that freaked me out! While watching the film I would predict what was going to happen but it wouldn’t happen that way! Crazy! There were many times that I just knew that the POV of the camera was the killer’s and that (spoiler!) she was going to kill someone. So just as I would pull the pillow, covering half my face, waiting for that moment, it would never come. Just as I became comfortable again and let my guard down, BAM!, the unexpected would happen. This was great! I do enjoy watching a horror film where I know what’s going to take place so that I won’t get scared. But it was refreshing to no trust the director. It made the movie watching experience so exciting!
The killer in this film was quite different from “A Nightmare on Elm Street”. Instead of some psycho dude with a liking for sharp objects we now have a crazy woman with hatred towards summer camp counselors. The director threw me off when the direct of the camp went off for about half of the film. I was almost convinced that he was the killer. So when Jason’s mom showed up, I was blown away! There was a scene in the film where she was hiding in the bushes, her hand was the camera and I immideately thought that the hand belonged to a man and not a woman. That brings up the question: When films like this are made, do we (as viewers) always assume the killer is a man?
I'll give this a 4 out of 5 stars! :)
A lot has been written about the subjective POV or narrative I-camera of slasher film, but I think by 1980 Cunningham can sort of take it for granted and mess with you a bit...playing with the trope to make you think the killer is present.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have a similar trouble with shots of shoes in this film. They clearly look like men's boots and Jason's mother's feet just can't be that big!
The killer as man question might be one you pose to your whole semester of horror films. How often has the killer or monster actually been a woman? What changes when the killer is a woman? (or we think the killer is female as in Psycho or Let the Right One In) Why does horror continue to have male killers so often?
There is a pretty long history of female vampires in folklore as well as literature/popular media. Why is that?