3 featurettes, lost tales, theatrical trailer in HD

Friday the 13th Part II was originally released in 1981. The film is directed by Steve Miner and stars Amy Steel, John Furey, and Adrienne King. Harry Manfredini composed the musical score. ***

Five years after the events of the first Friday the 13th film, a new group of teenagers ends up at Camp Crystal Lake – where the tragic events of the first film went down. After doing away with the lone survivor of the first film, psychotic and mysterious killer Jason is on the loose again, attempting to kill those who have entered the grounds of the camp. It isn’t long before history is repeating itself, and a whole new group of teens is fighting for their lives. ***

Let’s not sugar-coat things. Friday the 13th=2 0Part II feels more like a rehash of the original film than a sequel. It has the same low-budget feel, the exact same plot, and characters with the depth of a playing card. All things considered, though, it’s still a surprisingly-entertaining film. ***

Part II makes the smart move of keeping the movie short and to-the-point, with little filler and few scenes that drag out. The film doesn’t even run a full hour and a half. But this is its best strength – it doesn’t outstay its welcome. If you’ve seen the first movie, you more-or-less know what to expect here. ***

If you’re a fan of slasher cinema, Friday the 13th is a fun, gory flick in the same low-budget, low-depth spirit of the original. The first film remains the only true “classic” of the bunch (if you can even call it that), but this is a worthy sequel that doesn’t fail to deliver the goods. No slasher fan will want to be without Part II on Blu-Ray. ---

Image and Sound:

Friday the 13th Part II on Blu-Ray marks a good step up from the DVD release. The DVD release came from an inconsistent source, which had a good deal of dirt and print damage. This 1080p transfer cleans things up considerably. However, the movie will never overcome its low-budget origins. Grain tends to spike in a few places, and the image is generally soft throughout. All things considered though, the movie has never looked better than it has here, and it isn’t likely to ever look any better than this. ***

The sound gets an upgrade to a newly-created TrueHD audio track, though like the visuals, don’t expect this track to greatly overcome the film’s low-budget roots. Dialogue is noticeably improved over the old DVD’s audio track, but the sound effects, and particularly, the iconic musical score, don’t get the upgrade you might hope for. Just don’t compare the transfer here, audio or visual-wise, to a larger-budget film from the same era.

Not a whole lot here, though it will be worth checking out for any fan of the film or series. Three featurettes look at the behind-the-scenes aspect of the movie, including what it took to make this sequel. They’re all fairly short, but still a worthwhile view. Like other films in the series, there are new “lost murder” scenes, but these are largely forgettable. The theatrical trailer is included in HD as well. My big disappointment is that these featurettes tend to ignore and not talk to the cast members themselves. They’re more crew-oriented affairs. Still, fans will love this stuff.

Final Words: