SLASHER FILM RULES - Friday the 13th Part 2

"Jason's a legend, Ginny.  A legend." ~ Paul Holt.

As the name suggests, Friday the 13th Part 2 is a sequel to the original Friday the 13th.  But does that make the 1981 film more or less likely to follow the slasher film rules?

The following may include spoilers for

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

and possibly

Friday the 13th (1980)

The original Friday the 13th film had Pamela Voorhees reeking vengence upon random camp councillors at Camp Crystal Lake, eventually killing 9 camp councillors over a 21 year period for an act of negligence that killed her young son, in a reverse-Psycho mother-thinking-dead-son-is-controlling her deal.  Finally she is decapitated (in self-defence, obviously) by Alice Hardy, who dreams that Jason is still live and young.

OK, it does contains spoilers for

Friday the 13th (1980)

In Friday the 13th Part 2, it turns out that Alice was right, Jason was still alive (but had aged in the 20-odd years) had gather his mother's head up and then heads off to where Alice now lives, killing her and making her disappear.  He then returns home and five years later kills some random people and a new bunch of trainee councillors at the nearby Camp Packanack.

Rule #1 - A Warning Will Come From...

A:  LOCAL LEGEND -  The inexplicably accurate camp fire ghost story/practical joke is an ignored warning.

Ralph is a weird surname.

B&C:  ELDERLY & INSANE - Yes, Crazy Ralph from the first film is back and up to his old crazy ramblings tricks.  And his creepiness has escalated from hiding in a pantry waiting to jump out and shout crazy theories to hanging around outside a girl's cabin and watching her with their boyfriend.  Maybe Mrs Crazy Ralph has passed on or left him because, well, he crazy.  Not the it justifies his behaviour, but it may go some way to explain it.  Then again, maybe she's still alive and even more worried that he's out late at night, rather than just being worried he was out during the day in the last film.  Although, she's go reasons to be worried, since... but let's not jump ahead or get fixated on a really minor character.

Rule #2 - There Will Be T&A

OK, beyond T&A, one character, Terry, gets fully nude.  A few others get all underwear and stuff.  No one seems to be able to shut their cabin door when changing.

Rule #3 - Death Will Be A Punishment For...

While Mrs Voorhees had a legitimate reason - well, a reason - for targeting and killing drinking and fornicating teenagers, there doesn't seem to be a specific reason for Jason to kill, let alone to target "transgressors."

Ginny & Paul have sex and drink.

A:  SEX - Jeff and Sandra are impaled with a spear post-coitally.  There's a metaphor in there somewhere.  It's not shown what Ginny and Paul did the previous night.  Ginny certain woke up in the shirt Paul had been wearing the night before while he was kissing her.  He'd left while she slept, leaving a message on her mirror.  So probably sex.  But then, Ginny did try to inform Paul of something before they started kissing, and the message about being ware of bears my be a call-back to him previously telling female councillors that menstrual blood attracted bears, maybe it wasn't the right time for sex.  Or maybe they did anyway.  Or maybe they're   just at a patting  stage  in  their  relationship.   Once  again,  what
happens off-screen stays off-screen.  Ginny is "on-screen" innocent (stripping to a bra, probably having sex with Paul but not shown) while Sandra is on-screen impure (does wear a bra, has naked on-screen sex with Jeff).  Which couple dies? The on-screen sex couple:  Sandra & Jeff.  Which couple lives?  The off-screen sex couple:  Ginny & Paul... well, maybe Paul... maybe not Paul.  This film has so many holes.  Vicky and Mark were going to have sex, but were killed while looking for each other, but let's not count those.  Or Ted who wanted sex with the barmaid.  [2/4] or possibly [3/4]

B:  NUDITY - Alice showers and we see her (shock, horror) naked shoulders only.  She dies soon after.  Ginny strips to a bra and survives.  Sandra & Jeff have naked sex (skin, no "bits") and die.  Vicky spends some time wandering around the camp in her sexiest underwear and dies after getting dressed.  [1/1] shown, [3/3] shown or implied, [4/5] some state of undress.
C:  DRINKING - Ginny, Paul, Ted and 6 other go out for a night on the town.  Drinking ensues.
D:  DRUGS -  Vicky offers Mark drugs.  Both die.  Paul finds Vicky's weed and complains that the kids smoke better drugs than he does.
G:  SLEAZY GUY - Crazy Ralph spies on people.  Scott's all about harassing Terry.
H:  BYSTANDER - I'm counting the Police Officer.

Rule #4 - Never Go...

A:  DOWN TO THE BASEMENT - No basements.
B: UPSTAIRS - Sandra and Jeff use an upstairs room for sex and die there.  Vicky is killed when she finds their bodies.  None of them run upstairs to escape a killer.
C:  FOR A SHOWER - Alice does.  Alice dies.
D:  SHEDS & OUT BUILDINGS - The camp has many cabins, but no sheds or out buildings that anyone goes into.  The Police Officer, Ginny and Paul go into Jason's hut.  Ginny and Paul get out alive.
E:  THE FOREST - Ginny runs into the forest to escape Jason.  She survives.
F:  ANYWHERE ALONE - Thinking that Paul is dead Ginny runs around alone.  But, that's all she can do.
G:  ANYWHERE REMOTE - Those who stay at the camp die.  Those who go to town probably live.


Rule #5 - Order of Death...

There are at least 13 camp councillors shown and 15 credited.  All but 6 head to the town to drink, the 6 who stay behind are all killed, and only 2 are shown returning to the camp.  Perhaps others returned later and contacted the authorities and ambulance that took Ginny away at the end.  Maybe they were all killed one by one upon returning while Ginny was unconscious.  Who knows.

The first three characters seen.

A:  THE FIRST PERSON ON SCREEN - The legs of a small child appear, followed by the legs of Jason.  Alice is the first person to fully appear on-screen, and the first to die.

B:  THE BLACK MAN DIES FIRST - One of the councillors is black, but he is one who heads to town and is never seen again.
D:  THE BIMBO - Terry wears skimpy clothes and skinny-dips.  Sandra goes around braless and has sex with Jeff.  Vickie flirts outrageously with Mark and wonders around in her underwear.  They are the 5th, 8th and 9th victims.
E:  THE NERDY/FUNNY GUY - Definitely Ted, who we last see in town asking about after hours bars, as he looks nerdy and pranks Sandra and Jeff and with Paul pranks the whole group.  Scott also plays jokes on Terry.  But they're mostly him flirting like an eight year old.  Firing at her butt with a sling-shot, stealing her clothes while skinny-dipping and getting his throat cut while hanging upside down in a rope trap.  That third one may not have been initiated by him.
F:  THE MACHO JERK - Scott is a bit macho, as is Mark.  Both die.
G:  THE PROTECTOR - Paul is the protector, whether he lives or not is unknown.  The police officer, as authority should fill this role, but gets killed.
H:  THE SENSITIVE GUY - Paul is a sensitive guy, as is Mark.  Mark dies.  Paul, look, you've read G, right?

I:   CHILDREN & ANIMALS - Muffin appears to be the 4th to die, however, she appears again at the end of the film, so the horribly mutilated corpse of a cute little dog was some other cute little dog.  So, don't fret dog lovers, Muffin is fine.  Although orphaned with Terry gone.  And, like Paul, never seen again after the final attack.  So who knows.

J:  THE FINAL GIRL - Ginny is the Final Girl and survives.

Order of Death:
1.  Alice  [A-ish]
2.  Crazy Ralph [?]
3.  Police Officer  [G-ish]
4.  Scott [E/F]

Trainee Camp Councillors

5.  Terry [D]
6.  Mark [H]
7 & 8  Jeff [F] & Sandra [D]
9.  Vicky [D]

10?  Paul  [G/H]

Ginny survive.  It is to be assumed that Ted and the 6 "extra councillers" also survive.

Rule #6 - Especially When They Are Most Needed, The Following Things Cannot Be Relied On…

A:  COMMUNICATION DEVICES - Early in the film Ginny points out the phones aren't working yet.
C:  VEHICLES - Ginny's already unreliable car won't star.  Another car is locked.
D:  YOUR OWN LEGS - Ginny stumbles at least once while running from Jason.
E:  AUTHORITIES - Annoying, hassled the kids, died by a hammer blow to the head.

Rule #7 - The Final Girl

Ginny prepared for the return of the little doggy.

A:  FINAL - Paul and Ginny are final.  Something happens to Paul when Ginny passes out.

B:  GIRL - Yes.  Boobs and everything.

C: MASCULINE - Not really.  She uses a chainsaw, but that's not having testicles or anything.

D:  WELL DRAWN - She's the one most aware of something in the bush, goes to grad school, the one who "guesses" Jason's backstory and works out away to confuse and beat Jason.

E:  VIRGINAL & INNOCENT - As discussed above, probably not.  But on-screen a lot more innocent than others.

F:  WILL BE REBORN - She is, especially in Jason's hut.  Does end up semi-conscious and babbling at the end, though.

Rule #8 - The Killer has a connection to...

A:  LOCATION - Camp Packanack is near Camp Crystal Lake, on the lake and near his hut, but no real connection like Camp Crystal Lake had.

B & D:  THE FINAL GIRL & OTHER VICTIMS - Apart from Jason's revenge on Alice at the beginning he has no known connection to any of the other victims.

C:  THE PROTECTOR - Nope.

E:  FEMININITY - Not really, no.

F:  SPECIFIC LOOK - He wears a hessian-sack with an eye-hole cut in it (which was the deformed monster style since the success of the previous year's Elephant Man.

G:  SPECIFIC WEAPON - Possibly a machette, maybe even the one that was used to decapitate his mother, but anything that came to hand was fine.  Ice Pick:  Alice.  Garrote:  Crazy Ralph.  Hammer:  The Police Officer.  Machete:  Scott, Mark, probably Terry.  Spear:  Jeff & Sandra.  Knife: Vicky.  

Rule #9 - Evil Never Dies...

A:  ALWAYS KILL THE BAD GUY TWICE - Ginny buries a machete deep into his shoulder and he collapses.  He later returns (with the machete still in him.)

B:  THE BAD GUY LIVES ON - Unknown.  Paul and Jason both do not appear after Jason's final attack on Ginny and Paul.

C:  EVIL IS IMMORTAL - Hard to say, Jason was supposed to have drowned many years earlier, but seems to have been living alone in the woods all this time.

Rule #10 - The Sequel Will Be Bigger/More Formulaic

A:  THEY WILL FOLLOW THE RULES MORE - The film feels like it does as it mimics Friday the 13th a lot in plot and pacing, however, an oversimplified look at full compliance on the rules follows (Rule #5 omitted because it compliance isn't simple.  Rule #10 because only one is a sequel.)

On a simplistic scale, Part 2 follows The Slasher Film Rules slightly less than the original film.

B:  THEY WILL BE MORE FORMULAIC - The killer changes from Pamela Voorhees to her son Jason.  The location of the kills changes from on the way to and at Camp Crystal Lake to a counsellor training camp (also on Crystal Lake), while "killing random councillors" seemed to be the still around, Jason has 2 or 3 non-councillor victims.

C:  THERE WILL BE MORE T&A - Full nudity by one of the female characters trumps a guy's butt and girl's breasts in the first film.  Beyond that there was a less graphic (no butt) sex scene, but slightly more women in underwear.

D:  MORE AND BIGGER DEATHS - Jason has at least 9 victims, Mrs Vorhees had 9 also.  No increase, however, many of the deaths were more graphic.


Results

The following rules were followed:  1a; 1b&c; 2; 3g; 3h; 4c; 5d; 5f; 5i; 5j; 6a; 6c; 6d; 6e; 7a; 7b; 7d; 8f; 9a; 9b; 10c; 10d.
The following rules were partially followed: 3a; 3b; 3d; 4b; 4d; 4f; 4g; 5a; 5e; 5g; 5h; 7e; 7f; 8a; 8c; 8g; 9c; 10b; 10d.
The following rules did not apply:  1d; 1e; 1f; 1g; 1h; 1i; 3e; 3f; 4a; 5c; 6b; 7c; 8b;
The following rules were not followed: 3c; 4e; 5b; 8e; 10a.

~ DUG.

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