The final (maybe?) piece of my Horror Heroines line! Since I really like the Friday the 13th series, I wanted a heroine to represent that franchise. For me, it was no question that I wanted a figure of Chris from Part 3.
Part 3's my favorite Jason movie -- I think it's the one that completely delivers on franchise creator Sean Cunningham's "roller coaster thrill ride" credo, with a bunch of fun characters and creative kill scenes. It's also one of the only times I think Jason even comes across as spooky. I always thought that Chris was one of the more memorable protagonists of the series -- certainly when it comes to the earlier installments.
When the movie first introduces us to Chris, she's rounding up her friends for a getaway at her family's farm. She's a little nervous, a little on edge, and it's revealed that she managed to survive an attack in the forest a few years prior, which is something she's kept to herself. She's using this getaway as a way to conquer her fears and reclaim her life in addition to just trying to have fun with her friends.
The movie's not set at Crystal Lake -- it's nearby -- so it's not a case of a bunch of stupid teenagers ignoring folks and going to party at a place they knew very well is bad. Jason's on the run after Part 2 and just happens upon Chris' farm and then gets up to his usual tricks. Chris happens to be on a walk when Jason first hits the farm, and when she returns, knowing something's not right, seeing the aftermath, it opens those old wounds and she's reliving her nightmare. At first, she doesn't realize that the person causing the carnage at the farm is the thing that attacked her in the woods that time, but Jason actually unmasks himself to let her know. And that's one of the spooky things about Jason in this movie -- when he's unmasked, he's constantly grinning, obviously getting a kick out of tormenting Chris.
So while Chris is a little jittery, a little on edge, I never thought she was weak or incapable like a lot of the Friday characters are considered to be -- she gets in quite a few hits to Jason. Look at the damage she does -- she throws a bookcase on him (for that 3D effect), stabs him repeatedly with a knife, smacks him over the head with a humongous log, smacks him in the head with a shovel, hangs him... Who else has done that much? Part 2's Ginny pees herself as she hides from Jason. Part 7's Tina was telekinetic and the best she could do was drown him in a puddle of chocolate milk. Most importantly, Chris chops him in the head with an axe, giving him the infamous split in his hockey mask that the movies continued to depict for most of the following sequels. A traumatized Chris ends the movie in the throes of a breakdown, but I like to think she recovered and is ready to face Jason again if she had to, giving his hockey mask a split on the opposite side to match. Chris' journey in the movie leads it to be a little downbeat; she's trying to finally heal from her past encounter with Jason, only to encounter him all over again, and this time she's led to a breakdown. But, like I said, I like to think she recovers.
People have given actress Dana Kimmell flak for some of her acting choices, but I thought she played the role right. The scene that people like to poke fun at is Chris finally telling her ex about the night she was attacked. While I like the way director Steve Miner decided to have the scene with the attack superimposed over Dana delivering the lines, I think the mistake was having all of that dialogue done in one uninterrupted take. I still don't think it's as bad as people make it out, though -- Chris is opening up about this for the first time. She's nervous, she's traumatized at reliving it -- I think Kimmell does a good job. She, Chris -- and Part 3 in general -- are really underrated.
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| Ready to watch the movie! |
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