Friday the 13th Part VII - The New Blood (1988)

By 1988, the Friday the 13th franchise was seven films deep and showing the strain that comes with any long-running horror series. Paramount Pictures had washed its hands of Jason Voorhees after Part VI, and the property had shifted to production companies closer to the series' origins, with Friday Four Films Inc. and Sean S. Cunningham Films (Cunningham being the producer of the original 1980 film) steering the ship for this instalment. The question hanging over The New Blood before a single frame was shot was a familiar one: where do you go with a character who has already died, come back, died again, and been revived by lightning? The answer the production arrived at was to borrow liberally from another corner of the horror genre entirely, pitting Jason against a teenage girl with telekinetic powers. The concept is, on its face, rather daft. But daft ideas in horror, executed with some conviction, have a long and respectable history.

The film was directed by John Carl Buechler, a special effects and make-up artist by trade whose background meant he arrived on set with a particular investment in the practical creature work rather than the dramatic mechanics of the story. That priority shows, both as a strength and a limitation. Buechler had done effects work across a range of genre productions before stepping into the director's chair here, and his sensibility is very much that of a craftsman who understands monsters. The result is a film that is polished but unremarkable in its staging, yet genuinely inventive when it comes to what Jason looks like and what happens to the people unfortunate enough to cross his path. Horror fans with an interest in the era of practical effects work (a period also well represented by something like Re-Animator) will find plenty to admire on a technical level. The lead is played by Lar Park Lincoln as Tina Shepard, the psychically gifted young woman whose emotional breakdown inadvertently frees Jason from Crystal Lake. Terry Kiser, Kevin Spirtas and Susan Jennifer Sullivan round out the principal cast, with Kiser in particular given a character who sits outside the usual template of Friday the 13th supporting players.

The most significant piece of casting, though, is Kane Hodder in the role of Jason Voorhees, the first of four times he would wear the hockey mask. Hodder brought a stuntman's physical intelligence to the part, and there is a weight and presence to his Jason that feels noticeably different from previous portrayals. He became, for a substantial portion of the franchise's fanbase, the definitive Jason, and watching The New Blood with that context in mind it is not difficult to see why. The film sits alongside a wave of late-1980s horror that was pushing against its own genre conventions in small but interesting ways, something you can also see in Wes Craven's work from the same year with The Serpent and the Rainbow. At 88 minutes, it moves briskly, and the Crystal Lake setting, dressed up with stormy skies and gothic lighting, gives the whole thing a somewhat more atmospheric look than several of its predecessors.

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) leans hard into supernatural absurdity, telekinesis, ghostly possession, and a teenage psychic unleashing Jason Voorhees from his watery grave with sheer emotional trauma. The Carrie comparisons are obvious (and intentional), but it actually works in the film’s favour, giving it a distinct flavour in an increasingly stale franchise. Instead of just another group of campers getting picked off, we get a gothic tone, stormy visuals, and a final girl whose inner rage accidentally resurrects the very monster she fears. And honestly? I quite liked it. For all it's silliness it’s one of the more entertaining entries so far. The kills are creative, the practical effects are solid, and Kane Hodder makes his first appearance as Jason, bringing a physicality and menace that would define the role for years. There’s a dream logic to the whole thing that makes it feel like a nightmare you can’t wake up from. Is it good cinema? No. But within the series, it stands out, not because it’s deeper or smarter, but because it fully commits to the madness. It knows it’s ridiculous and leans in with style. Surprisingly fun, visually bold, and weirdly memorable. Not a classic by any stretch and if you’re ranking Friday films… “best so far” might not be saying much, but it’s still something.

I keep coming back to Kane Hodder's performance when I think about what makes this one stick. There is something in the way he carries himself through every scene that elevates material which could easily have felt throwaway, and for a franchise entry this late in the run, that is no small thing. The telekinesis angle is silly, yes, but silliness handled with commitment is far preferable to the kind of joyless going-through-the-motions that kills a series stone dead. If you have been working your way through the Friday films in order, as I have been, this one lands as a genuine surprise, a film that might have been cynical and lazy but chose instead to be weird and energetic. Sometimes that is enough. For more late-eighties genre fare worth your time, have a look at my thoughts on Homework or, if you want something with a bit more craft behind it, Re-Animator remains the decade's gold standard for gleeful, committed horror absurdity. The New Blood will not change your life. But on a Friday night (yes, intentional), you could do considerably worse.

Rating: ★★★  | Year: 1988  | Watched: 2025-10-01

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Trailer

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