Friday the 13th Part 7 The New Blood is a misunderstood film in the Friday the 13th series. The film was released two years after the franchise’s previous installment and was a massive departure from previous entries.

Originally the idea for Friday the 13th Part 7 hinged on the concept of a crossover between Jason and Elm Street native Freddy Kruger. The Friday the 13th franchise had been dwindling in popularity but the Nightmare on Elm Street series was still proving to be a box office success. The crossover faired too logistically challenging at the time and the film was left with a half-written script and concept ideas that wouldn’t work in the franchise proper. Screenwriter Daryl Haney decided instead of throwing out all his previous work, he would pivot to a Jason vs Carrie-type film. His concept for a final girl who could fight back was novel at the time and resulted in one of the best films in the Friday the 13th franchise.

Jason vs Carrie

A standard swap for Freddy and Carrie wasn’t exactly feasible. Paramount didn’t own the rights to Carrie and it’s hard to imagine United Artists shilling out the main character from their high-concept horror film to the likes of the Friday the 13th franchise. But the concept of Carrie is simple enough that it proved pretty easy to fit into the franchise.

Carrie is a young girl with telekinetic powers and an evil mother. Tina, Jason’s foil in Friday the 13th Part 7, is more or less the same character. Swap out an evil mother for a dead father and an ill-intentioned therapist and you’ve got Friday the 13th part 7’s lead.

Tina may not be as compelling as Sissy Spacek in Carrie, but Lar Park Lincoln does a great job bringing the character of Tina to life on the screen. After three films of various actors playing a mentally unstable Tommy Jarvis, giving Jason a worthy foe was a breath of fresh air.

High-Concept Horror at Camp Crystal Lake

Barbara Sachs, an executive producer on the film, wanted Friday the 13th Part 7 to exceed the franchise’s expectations. At this point the Friday the 13th franchise had become a joke. There was little left to do with the character aside from raising him from the dead and giving him a bunch of teenagers to slash. Sachs aimed to end that but unfortunately, the film couldn’t rise to her Oscar-worthy aspirations.

Despite the high concept, Friday the 13th Part 7 is standard fare for the series. Jason is inadvertently resurrected at the lake and a group of vacationing teens become his main target. The only real divergent is the inclusion of a telekinetic final girl. While this inclusion in itself doesn’t make the film an Oscar contender, it does elevate it above other entries in the franchise.

A Final Girl Who Fights Back

Each entry in the Friday the 13th franchise typically culminates with a fight between Jason and a newly introduced final girl. This is a common trope and one that the series became known for. The effectiveness of this trope hinges on how compelling each actress plays the role. Lar Park Lincoln may not have had a long career after this film, but she proved her worth with this entry.

Tina embodies all of the common final girl tropes while adding one extra superpower. She dresses conservatively, has a trauma she’s trying to overcome, and is stronger than the men in her life. On her own Tina would have been a compelling final girl but adding in psychic powers elevates the film in a fun and campy way that is on brand for the franchise.

Friday the 13th Part 7 and It’s Glorious Camp

Later entry in the series would delve far too deep into the supernatural. Jason would eventually become a soul-hopping killer before landing himself in space hundreds of years in the future. Friday the 13th Part 7 leans into the series camp and plays around with these wild concepts but does so in a fun way that doesn’t destroy the film.

Jason is killed and resurrected ad nauseam throughout the series. Going into a Friday the 13th movie, especially a seventh entry, the audience has to give in to some level of disbelief. This isn’t a problem in the series. The problem is that by this seventh entry, Jason has become a dull and uninteresting character. His initial motivations are gone and he is just a giant WWE-sized immortal killer. That makes for some fun moments, and some entertaining kills, but a total lack of compelling arcs. Adding in a supernatural being with a compelling arc was the right choice for this film and the franchise.

The Beginning of a New Era for Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th part 7 ushered in a new era for the Friday the 13th series. Tina doesn’t return again in the franchise, but the series leans harder into camp and the supernatural. Friday the 13th Part 7 features the best mixture of these two concepts and delivers one of the more entertaining films in the franchise.

No movie in the series is worthy of an Oscar, but some are worthy of your time. Friday the 13th Part 7 delivers a compelling final girl, a formidable foe for Jason, and some truly unhinged kills. Jason lays down his machete in this flick for various gardening tools, sleeping bags, and even bike horns. Humor has never been this franchise’s strong suit but it works surprisingly well here. Jason ragdolling a girl to death in a sleeping bag while a telekinetic teen harnesses her power is the exact thing this franchise needed.

Friday the 13th Part 7 isn’t the best entry in the series, but it’s the best the series can do after six entries. There’s a reason Kane Hodder would go on to portray Jason three more times. He looks the part, gets the role, and has fun with it. Jason looks absolutely gnarly in this film and Tina is an interesting formidable foil to the masked killer. Friday the 13th Part 7 The New Blood may not have won any awards, but it is one of the most watchable films in the franchise.