Directed by Steve Miner, the film marks the first time Jason Voorhees (Warrington Gillett unmasked/stuntman Steve Daskawisz when masked) is the antagonists in the film series, as his mother, Pamela (Betsy Palmer) was the killer in the previous film. Jason Voorhees's motive is crystal clear in this film. It is a direct sequel to Friday the 13th, picking up five years after that film. He has to take revenge on Alice Hardy (Adrienne King) who killed his mother in the conclusion of the previous movie. After that, he must try to get rid of the rest of the camp counselors in nearby training camp. It's just another manic Friday for him. Originally, Friday the 13th Part 2 was not intended to be a direct sequel to the 1980 original, but rather part of an anthology series of films based around the Friday the 13th superstition. Like the Halloween film franchise, after the popularity of the original film, villain attacking the heroine, the filmmakers decided to bring back Jason and the mythology surrounding Camp Crystal Lake, a trend which would be repeated for the rest of the series. Stylistically, Friday the 13th Part 2 had a lot of the same elements that made the original Friday the 13th a sleeper hit in 1980, such as first-person camera perspectives, gory stalk-and-slash scenes with the same eerily music, and sex/nudity. One of the biggest problems of the film is trying to connect this to the previous film. The movie took forever to recap the last film. This film has one of the longest pre-credit sequences in cinematic history, nearly 15 minutes in some versions. The main different between this film and the last is the lack of suspense. You know, whom the killer is, this time. It's also, sucks that the movie series lacks a strong "it girl". I was really hoping for a strong female protagonist like Ellen Ripley from the Alien film series or Laurie Strode from the Halloween series in these films. It kinda sucks that the final girl, Alice Hardy from the last movie was kill off, pretty quick in the beginning. Adrienne King was pursued by an obsessed fan after the success of the original Friday the 13th and wished her role to be small as possible in the sequel, because of that. I really find it very odd that the movie has her being stalk and killed as if she was being attacked by that crazy fan. In my opinion, she should had refused to retake the role, until the problems of her personal life was taken care of. Ginny Field (Amy Steel) is alright replacement. The final girl often shares common characteristics: she is typically sexually unavailable or virginal, avoiding the vices of the victims, very sympathizing people that becomes masculinized through "phallic appropriation" by taking up a weapon. Ginny is nothing like the common final girl. Ginny has a lot of vices, sleeps with her boss and mostly catatonic and useless in the end. It undermines the notion of positive final girl. The whole idea that she can pass off as Voorhees mother by wearing her old sweater is a bit goofy. I wasn't impressed with any of the actors acting here, but honestly most of the supporting characters were pretty likable. None of them, had any of the mean-spirit traits, the later films would later put on. It's weird that the teenagers that went off to drink and party, didn't die first in this film. It's weird that the movie would even have the nerves to kill a character with a disability like Mark (Tom McBride). Kirsten Baker as Terry was very sexy, and pretty much, worth watching, just to see her nude scenes. Jason was still pretty sinister, despite, not yet, dawning the hockey mask. The potato sack mask kinda remind me of 1980's Elephant Man in how creepy it was. The movie gorn is pretty intense. The Make Up work is just as good as the first film. The movie had to be cut by approx. 1 minute to secure the R rating, and not an X rating. Some scene, the editing is clearly visible. As of today, none of the cuts have been restored in any way, even with newer release DVDs. The movie really had a cop-out when it came to the dog, Muffin. It's so weird, that the movie preach, it's alright to killed people in a horror, but don't dare, kill the dog. I guess, the movie didn't want to anger PETA. The film's ending has been a source of confusion for fans. Writer Ron Kurz has stated that Jason's window jump was intended to be, like a jump scare like the first film in reality. However, like the beginning of this film, the beginning of Part III, in replaying the end clip, showed Jason jumping into them, as if a dream. In an unused ending, after Ginny questions where her boyfriend is, the scene switches to Mrs. Voorhees' head, which then opens its eyes and smiles, indicating that Jason had killed him. Overall: It's just a carbon copy of its predecessor that it's slowly turning into what the film series is known for. It's not bad, but it's not the worst. It's just mediocre. Worth checking if you want to have cheap thrills.