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| Release: 1986, Pages: 191 |
Here I am again, reviewing yet another novelization and to top it off, it’s another Friday the 13th novel! What can I say, I’m predictable, but I swear, next book is actually going to be longer than 200 pages. In fact, thanks to the wonderfully amazing TV show, Hannibal, a show you should be watching (look forward to an article about it very, very soon), I will be finally diving into Red Dragon, a book I’ve owned forever and just never got around to reading. But enough about that, let’s get on with this Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives novelization book review (whew, that’s a mouthful)…
Short nitty-gritty plot description from the back cover is as follows: A hideous creature who will stop at nothing in a soul-chilling battle to the death… Something unspeakably evil suddenly attacks and snuffs out the life of a horrified young graveside visitor… Two college students come face-to-face with blood-curdling terror in their last moments alive… A silent masked figure mercilessly stalks a beautiful camp counselor through blinding woods until she smashes into a screaming dead end… Jason, the mysterious boy, possessed of the devil’s power, has been laid to rest, and the inhabitants of a small New England town shudder with relief. The evil Jason is rotting in his coffin… they think. But his ominous shadow rises again… consumed by a furious and overwhelming compulsion to kill… and kill… and kill…
I’m pretty sure you can guess how this review is going to go. I’m going to praise it and give it a good score in the end and yes, that’s exactly what I’m going to do, cause honestly this book is like the movie, which rocked, yet adds in a bunch more insight and an added on ending dealing with a close member of Jason Voorhees (once again, spelt Vorhees in the book) family.
I could go on about the story, but we already know it. Tommy Jarvis digs up Jason Voorhees, lightning strikes and Jason awakes and goes a rampage, as he heads back to Camp Crystal Lake, now renamed Camp Forest Green. If you’ve seen the movie, you will know exactly how the book is going to play out. Yes, there are a few differences. The book is lacking a few kills that the movie has, but these kills added nothing to the story and where in fact not originally intended to be included, which explains the absence from the book. We once again get some more insights into how Jason Voorhees ticks and the thoughts that are going through a few of the characters minds. It was nice to get some more information on Tommy’s doomed friend, Allen, at the beginning of the book and it was nice for me to finally realize that the girl Cory (ripped jeans wearing guy in the movie, dies in RV crash) didn’t actually know that girl he was making bumpty-bump with and only met her earlier that day. Yes, finally I can sleep at night knowing that! We also get some good descriptions of the kills and it seems returning author Simon Hawke, really wants to drive home the point that these people are in a lot of pain when being handed a death sentence from Jason Voorhees.
I think the two biggest positives however for this novelization, is first the removal of the comedic idiocy from the movie. We don’t get that cheesy “what did you want to be when you grew up?” line from the movie and thankfully we are spared having to hear the stupid music played during the paintball scene. This made the story play out more serious and made everything a lot less cheesy. The other final positive I can give this book is the ending. *Spoiler alert* The added scene of Jason Voorhees’ father vising the grave site and knowing that Jason isn’t buried there and is in fact somewhere else, was really neat and would’ve been cool to see that in the movie. (Too bad it was cut from the script and never filmed.)
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| Storyboard for the unused father ending. |
So, another novelization of the Friday the 13th series down and another review is in the books. I enjoyed reading this one and it was a lot of fun. I wish I could get my hands on the Friday the 13th Part 1 and 2 novels, but alas, they are either really hard to find, or are way too expensive. Maybe someday, but for now, I can remember having enjoyed both this one and the previous novelization, Friday the 13th Part 3.
Rating: 4/5 (Like I said before, I love Jason Voorhees. So sue me!)