Two years, two monster hits. Paramount had taken a little known terror title called Friday the 13th and molded it into a solid cinematic juggernaut. Introducing the now infamous character of undead maniac Jason Voorhees to a generation of movie macabre obsessives, the studio saw nothing but dollar signs ahead. But the MPAA was coming down hard on horror films and an always excitable society was drinking the pro-censorship Kool-Aid. Sensing it might be time to get out, they conceived the third Friday the 13th film as the final one. And just to spice things up a bit, they decided to make it in 3D.

It's the day after the events of the second film. Jason Voorhees is still on the loose, killing the innocent citizens of Crystal Lake at random. It's at this very moment that psychologically unstable Chris (Dana Kimmell) decides to return to the locale to revisit some demons from her past. She brings along a group of her pals, including horndog lovers Andy (Jeffrey Rogers) and Debbie (Tracy Savage), a pair of perpetually stoned sidekicks, and faltering fifth wheel Shelley (Larry Zerner). Already waiting for her at the family cabin is local boy Rick (Paul Kratka)... and of course, Jason. Seems the masked killer has a score to settle with the young lady. Sadly it looks like everyone involved in this glorified getaway weekend will be paying the price.

It says a lot about the quality (or lack thereof) of the slasher genre that, by 1983, Paramount saw fit to take its cash-rich Friday the 13th franchise the way of '50s cinematic schlock. While inventive killings were still the main drawing point for this by-now belabored film style, it was the motion picture gimmick that was supposed to guarantee butts in the seats. Perhaps that's why Part 3 tends to play like Dr. Tongue's 3D House of Hackneyed Sight Gags. Just as a small amount of suspense is being created, the filmmakers throw another yo-yo or popping popcorn trick directly at the lens. Talk about distracting. The dopey device, along with perhaps the most irritating character ever to be part of a Friday the 13th film, inspires more drudgery than dread.

But again, there are elements outside the film that make Part 3 significant. This is the movie where Jason gets his hockey mask. Shelley, while more or less repelling every female within 15 blocks with his desperately needy self-deprecation, at least had the good sense to bring some athletic equipment with him. The mask definitely made one facially mutilated murderer more than happy. Similarly, Part 3 has some of the series' best kills. One character gets cut in half from groin to torso, while another takes a long distance spear gun shot to the eyeball. Director Steve Miner, returning from Part 2 for another go-round in the director's chair, seems to have polished up his act a little. Aside from the obvious attempts at audience "gotcha" (including gratuitous weapon handles headed toward the lens), he builds a nice level of tension between slice-ups.

Even the cast appears uniformly good (though the two hippy rejects playing potheads grow aggravating real fast), their typical '80s artifice falling directly into each character's disposability. While the addition of a supposed bad-ass biker gang is more laughable than terrifying, the rest of the film feels solid. Jason even learns to lean on his proposed immortality to generate a decent last act shock. And since the stunt gave the threequel unparalleled box office success (almost besting the original), Paramount put the kibosh on anything remotely "final." After Part IV, however, it would be all downhill for the franchise.

Aka Friday the 13th Part III.