Friday the 13th VII: The New Blood (1988)

"The New Blood" could've been so much more and I'm sure it WAS before those rating-board cocksuckers got a hold of it. It's a damn shame how butchered this one was by the MPAA, considering it served as the introduction of Kane Hodder to the franchise as Jason Voorhees in his most gnarled, decomposed physical state thus far in the series. This is also marks the first and only (until "Freddy vs. Jason, I guess...) cross-over into supernatural territory - often dubbed, "Carrie vs. Jason".

A teen girl is carted off to a psychiatric 'retreat' to get a handle on her telekinesis that stems back (as is directly responsible for...) to the death of her abusive father. In a nearby vacation home, the usual mix of partying kids are just waiting to be picked off by the newly resurrected Jason who comes lurching out of Crystal Lake with his trademark bloodlust...

The whole psychic-powers angle was a pretty ill-fitting, yet entertaining enough gimmick that, if anything, makes for a different type of lead-in that sets this one apart, considerably, from the rest of the series. It also allows for a multitude of sharp shit to be 'magically' thrown at "Zombie Jason" during the big climax which is undeniably fun. Speaking of whom, Hodder's Jason debut is cool as hell and the rotted design of him looks neat - what with the ribcage and spine showing. Despite this, however, "The New Blood" thoroughly suffers from its total lack of memorable death scenes. This thing was chopped to absolute HELL - worse than any other F13 entry and it is beyond annoying to watch because of it. The movie is virtually bloodless; a far cry from the slasherific "Part 4" that gave us such classic demises involving a spear gun in the balls and a banana-drooling-throat-skewering. It's impossible to get past how squeaky-goddamned-clean "Part 7" is. It's also considerably low on T&A! In all, it's one of the weakest of the series as far as I'm concerned.