Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1981
Running Time	83:22
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Programme
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Steve Miner
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	Amy Steel John Furey Adrienne King
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Harry Manfredini

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.75:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Slovenian French German Swedish Danish Norwegian Finnish Dutch Bulgarian Icelandic Portuguese Hebrew Greek Croatian Arabic Turkish Polish Italian Spanish Romanian Czech Hungarian	Smoking	Yes, frequently
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes, mildly
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Sometimes, when I review a particular film, I find it very hard to say anything that hasn't been said before, so I simply like to come up with a good quote that I heartily agree with. One critic who was once in the employ of the Sydney newspaper known as the Sunday Telegraph described the Friday The 13th series as being "the ultimate in recycling - so much so that you cannot tell which of the sequels you're watching after a while". While I suspect I may have gotten one or two words in that quote slightly wrong, it is an opinion that I heartily endorse, even though the films do make good popcorn or date flicks.

    Those who have seen the original Friday The 13th will recall that it ended with a surviving counsellor (I think that's the American term used here) cutting off a certain Mrs. Pamela Vorhees' (Betsy Palmer's) head. Those who have seen this film will also recall that the original was more of a mystery thriller than a slasher flick as such, an element that is promptly jettisoned in this, the first of nine sequels. Jason Vorhees (Warrington Gillette) soon rises from his watery grave, upset that his mother has lost her head, and just in time for a group of camp counsellors to arrive at a nearby campsite for what looks like a training seminar. None of them are particularly developed, character-wise I mean, to warrant any real description.

    The plot from this point is strictly by-the-numbers as the screenwriters attempt to come up with more and more creative methods to dispatch characters, and Jason gets very minimal screen time in which to grunt and groan. Those who haven't followed the development of the series should be advised that one of the great trademarks, the old hockey mask, is nowhere to be seen in this episode. Instead, Jason hides his rather disfigured face using a sack and some string, a method that has drawn bouts of laughter both during and after viewings. To be honest, this film is really only going to be appealing if you enjoy the sight of abundant wobbly bits, blood, or equal helpings of both, but B-grade horror film fans will lap this up regardless.

Video

    There is one problem that, unfortunately in this case, detracts from what is already a rather average effort. The rest of the problems, thankfully, are inherent in the source materials, so more on this as we get to the relevant portions.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.75:1, and it is 16x9 Enhanced. Most, if not all, previous home video versions have been presented in 1.33:1, with the mattes removed, but such is the photography on offer here that you'll hardly notice the difference.

    The sharpness of this transfer, at least during the few portions that occur in well-lit locations, is excellent. However, most of this film takes place at night, in very low lighting conditions, and this, combined with some of the poorest shadow detail I have seen in a twenty-one year old film, does not help the clarity of the film at all. There are portions of the action that might not make complete sense on the first viewing due to this poor shadow detail, in fact. However, one major advantage of the DVD-Video format is its ability to produce crisp, noise-free blacks, and this film really benefits in that sense. In other words, low-level noise is nowhere to be found.

    The colours of this film are very dull and far from life-like, with only the few daytime sequences around the campsites providing anything that approaches what we'd call vibrancy. This transfer is a good reflection of what the makers intended, and what the photographic techniques of the time presented them with.

    MPEG artefacts were not found in this transfer. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of a problem that I have often found on Paramount DVDs, namely aliasing. It can be seen on power lines at 15:25, or on cars at such places as 20:16 and 43:36. While this problem is infrequent, it is severe enough when it occurs to get rather distracting, and it is a major detriment to the overall transfer. Film artefacts are also quite a problem in this transfer, with numerous black and white marks of all sizes finding their way onto the picture, the most conspicuous being a circular scratch in the middle of the picture at 39:31. Aside from this mark, however, there was nothing resembling reel change marks.

    English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are present on this DVD, and they are extremely accurate to the spoken dialogue.

    This disc is RSDL formatted, but I was hard-pressed to find the layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are five soundtracks on this disc, all of which are in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono at 192 kilobits per second.

    The first, and default, soundtrack is the original English dialogue, with dubs in German, French, Spanish, and Italian for good measure. I stuck with the English soundtrack.

    The dialogue is generally clear and easy to understand, except that much of it consists of screaming, or grunting and groaning in the case of Jason, who is really little more than a glorified punching bag. The dialogue is definitely a secondary consideration in this film, compared to the blood, nudity, or gore, so one shouldn't worry too much about it if they have trouble understanding what the characters are saying. There were no discernable problems with audio sync.

    The music in this film is composed by Harry Manfredini, and much of it consists of what sounds like snakes hissing in time, or something. It is not a creative score, but a strangely effective one.

    The surround channels were not used in this soundtrack. Neither was the subwoofer. They were not particularly missed.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu is static, appears to be 16x9 Enhanced, and is easy to navigate.

Theatrical Trailer

    This two minute and five second trailer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound that would seem to be quite monaural.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

    The two discs are pretty much identical from what I have read, except that the Region 1 version misses out on some 23 sets of subtitles. I'm sure they will be missed. The local disc is much cheaper.

    Friday The 13th, Part 2 is one of the more interesting sequels in this franchise, but that isn't saying a whole lot. If you really need to have a film to throw on when you have a date over or something, then this is worthy of consideration, but it is otherwise wholly unremarkable.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall