If you thought the original Friday the 13th was thin on plot, Part 2 says, “Hold my machete.” This is the film where Jason Voorhees finally takes over as the main killer, and instead of the iconic hockey mask, he debuts with… a pillowcase over his head. He looks less like a menacing murderer and more like a guy who got lost on his way to a sack race.
The Plot: Déjà Vu with a Limp
Five years after the first movie, a new crop of counselors gather at Crystal Lake for training, which is basically summer camp orientation except everyone is over 18 and most of them are allergic to wearing clothes. The setup is so familiar it feels like the filmmakers just taped over the original film and filmed new actors reading the same lines.
We open with Alice, the sole survivor from the first film, who gets killed in her apartment with an ice pick to the head. That’s right—two months after decapitating Pamela Voorhees, she’s taken out by her mildly perturbed son, Jason, who somehow walked from the woods of New Jersey to her home like a burlap-sack-wearing Forrest Gump.
Jason: Before the Mask Was Cool
Jason here isn’t the hulking, silent killing machine of later films—he’s more like a confused backwoods uncle who’s angry you didn’t RSVP to the family reunion. His burlap-sack look isn’t intimidating, it’s just sad. He looks like he forgot it was Halloween and had to improvise a costume out of his laundry hamper.
Also, the man’s murder methods are… wildly inconsistent. He uses a machete, a spear, a garrote, a kitchen knife—basically anything lying around. It’s less “signature killer” and more “Home Depot clearance aisle.”
The Kills: Now With Bonus Inconvenience
The film was hacked up (pun intended) by the MPAA, so most of the kills are as quick and bloodless as a network-TV soap opera. The infamous spear-through-two-people mid-coitus scene? Blink and you’ll miss it. A paraplegic guy gets a machete to the face and rolls down a flight of stairs, which sounds shocking until you see how awkwardly it’s staged—it’s basically America’s Funniest Home Videos: Slasher Edition.
And then there’s Crazy Ralph, the local prophet of doom, whose big survival tip is “You’re all doomed!” He gets strangled behind a tree in about three seconds. The moral? Don’t be the guy who’s actually right in a horror movie.
The Counselors: Meat with Dialogue
Aside from Ginny (Amy Steel), who at least tries to use her brain, the rest of the counselors are here to pad the body count. They have all the depth of the characters in a driver’s ed video. Their hobbies include skinny-dipping, wandering off alone, and ignoring obvious signs of danger.
The “comic relief” guy Ted survives purely because he stays at a bar all night. That’s right—alcohol is literally the safest choice in this movie. If you want to make it through Friday the 13th Part 2, don’t run, don’t hide—just order another round.
The Climax: Therapy via Sweater Cosplay
The showdown between Ginny and Jason reaches new levels of weird when Ginny puts on Pamela Voorhees’ old sweater and pretends to be his mother. Jason actually falls for it for about 30 seconds, which is somehow both hilarious and depressing. It’s the first time in the series where the killer could have been stopped with a decent therapist and some family counseling.
The Ending: Schrödinger’s Paul
The movie ends with Jason bursting through a window to grab Ginny, but then she wakes up in an ambulance calling for Paul—who is nowhere to be found. Did he die? Did he wander back to the bar? Did he get lost looking for the bathroom? The film doesn’t care, so neither should you.
Final Verdict
Friday the 13th Part 2 feels like a placeholder slasher—a necessary stepping stone for Jason to become the icon he’d be in later films, but in the meantime, he’s basically a murderous scarecrow with commitment issues. It’s got a few fun moments, but most of the movie plays like a campfire story told by someone who forgot half the details.
Cast of Friday the 13th characters Amy Steel as Ginny Field John Furey as Paul Holt Adrienne King as Alice Hardy Kirsten Baker as Terry McCarthy Lauren-Marie Taylor as Vickie Perry Stu Charno as Ted Bowen Warrington Gillette as Jason Voorhees (unmasked) Steve Daskewisz as Jason Voorhees (masked) Ellen Lutter as Jason Voorhees (stand-in for Jason’s feet in the beginning) Walt Gorney as Crazy Ralph Marta Kober as Sandra Dier Tom McBride as Mark Jarvis Bill Randolph as Jeff Dunsberry Russell Todd as Scott Cheney Betsy Palmer as Pamela Voorhees Cliff Cudney as Max Jack Marks as Deputy Winslow
