Paramount Pictures, 1982

starring: Dana Kimmell, Paul Kratka and Richard Brooker

directed by: Steve Miner

the plot: A bunch of unlikeable teens (played by 30-somethings) travel to a lakeside cabin for a weekend of fun and debauchery. Jason Voorhees (Brooker), having miraculously survived the ending of “Friday the 13th, Part II,” turns up and decides to slaughter them all—in 3-D! No, seriously. Between the expected deaths, our protagonists have some trouble with a local biker gang, go skinny dipping, and move bales of hay into the barn loft. Ultimately, our female lead Chris (Kimmell), must confront Jason on her own after all her friends have been eliminated.

why it’s good: It’s bad—that’s why it’s good. How can you not laugh at the lengthy yo-yo into the camera 3-D scene, or the squeezing a guy’s head until his eyeball shoots out at the camera 3-D scene, or the making popcorn on the stove so it pops up into the camera 3-D scene? Also, you never feel bad for any of the characters dying, so that’s nice. They actually read like a checklist of stock horror movie victims: apart from our lead, there’s Chris’s hunky and horny boyfriend Rick (Kratka), who likes to act tough and walk around alone; Debbie and her Scott Baio-ish boyfriend Andy, who like to have sex all the time; Andy’s schlubbish roommate Shelly, who likes to scare people by wearing creepy masks or faking his own death; Chuck and Chili, a stoner couple who like to smoke weed in their van until it looks like its on fire; and Vera, who doesn’t like to do anything, at all. Then Jason turns up and starts doing the things you went into this movie hoping to see, like cutting people in half while they do handstands and shooting spear guns into their eyes—you know, the usual. If you pay close attention, you might notice how Richard Brooker (one of roughly 68 people who would eventually tackle the role of Jason) brings a certain human vulnerability to our masked murderer. To top things off, as is the case with most ’80s slasher films, there are some boobies as well.

why you should own it: If you’re a horror movie completionist, you’ll want “Part III” to round out your Friday the 13th set. And, hey, it’s the film in which Jason first acquires his trademark hockey mask; in Part II, he just wears a sack on his head. Sure, there are better Friday the 13th movies, but Part III is still a lot of fun.—Brandon “Our Hero” Gretter