Episode 225: Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives: LIVE!

[Smigg. 509]

Recorded live from Berkeley, CA, Paul, June, and Jason discuss the1986 slasher film Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. They talk about Jason Voorhees’ story leading up to this movie, condom sounds, suspenders under t-shirts, and more.

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace (www.squarespace.com/BONKERS code: BONKERS), Betterhelp (www.betterhelp.com/bonkers), Simplisafe (www.simplisafe.com/bonkers), and Amazon Intersect Festival (www.intersectfest.com code: BONKERS).

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Where to Find Jason, June & Paul:

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[Smigg. 509]

Who would win in a fight?  Jason?  Or Leatherface?  Let's find out!

 

 

[RyanSz 3140]

Correction

So I'm writing the day after seeing this live in Berkeley while it's still fresh in my head, so I don't know what will make it to the final cut of the episode. So with regard to the overall timeline of the series, the first movie takes place briefly in 1958 when Mrs. Voorhees kills the two counselors that she blames for Jason's accident, before the film cuts to 1979 when the son of the original owners of the camp was attempting to reopen the camp. Part 2 starts with Jason, who had actually lived and was presumed dead only because his body was never found, is around 34 and has survived due to being taught survival skills by his mom as well as learning various things at the camp before his accident. Parts 2-4 basically take place over the course of a week as the camp is desribed as being quite large and the killings were taking part in remote areas around it so subsequent victims weren't hearing about the killings in prior films. Jason is only really knocked out at the end of 2 and 3 but is finally killed by Tommy Jarvis in 4, which leads to a copycat killing teens in a blind rage in part 5, followed by his resurrection in this film.

The reason the actor's switched for Tommy between 5 and 6 was because the actor from 5 apparently was an actual counselor or something for a church group prior to filming 5, decided against coming back to the sequel, filmed another film, and then went into the seminary. This isn't the worst case of continuity error as in Part 2 Jason has a full head of hair and part of a beard while in 3, which literally set the following day, is completely bald and even more deformed. For the odd shifting tone, basically the writers were surprised to be doing another F13 movie, so they decided to voice that along with frustration with New Line by adding lines like the Gravedigger breaking the fourth wall and asking the audience "why would someone dig up Jason, can't they just let him rest already?" and a few other things like the snappy editing style that blended different conversations, which I have to assume insprired Luc Besson in how he shot and wrote the Fifth Element, which is filled with that shit. As for the rating, prior to
this film all the movies had to be severely cut down because they were initially given X ratings, so the director didn't want to deal with that and went for a lighter overall film, which ended up giving it the best critical reviews of the entire series.

The budget was also a big bone of contention between the director and studio, which led to some petty shit done by both sides. One of the producers was a real penny pincher and was actually calling dibs on various items purchased for production that he was going to take home when filming was over, namely a large and expensive swamp cooler. Upon hearing this, the director decided to get some payback for how little financial support he was getting by placing said cooler on top of the RV, right before they shot the crash scene, so the large box seen flying off the top of the rv when it starts flipping isn't a TV as Paul thought it was, but rather this massive swamp cooler that a producer was hoping to take home for himself. To answer June's questions, Jason did run after people in parts 2-4 because he was still a living person, it wasn't until this film to Jason X where he has supernatural powers due to being undead. His grave was also meant to be explained in this film as being paid for by his father, who had abandoned him and his mother when Jason was young, but decided that paying for the city to not cremate his son and have him properly buried would act as a sort of repentance. This alternate ending was cut because of the gravedigger being killed in the movie and the fact that the studio didn't want to have to worry about creating the dad's backstory in the sequel.

Also Berkeley can straight screw itself in regards to hosting a show like this as they had a full theater of people on a 95 degree day and didn't turn the air conditioner on, until the near end of the show after Jason complained about it, but by then it was too little too late. It was literally cooler outside of the theater by the time the show was over.

[Aaron TE Price 30]

Like every Jason movie before and after this, there were actually more graphic murders originally shot that had to be cut or shortened to please the MPAA. Rough cut footage of them can be found online and as special features on the movies. 

[hornacek 43]

I'm not a boat guy so maybe these aren't mistakes - anyone that knows about boats can correct me.  But ...

1)  When Tommy is in the boat he pours all the gas into the lake and lights it on fire.  Later he starts the boat motor.  How does the motor start if there is no gas?  The container he dumps into the lake is the gas container for the motor, right?  It's not a spare gas can.

2)  Once the motor is started, why doesn't the boat move?

[grudlian. 4725]

18 hours ago, hornacek said:

2)  Once the motor is started, why doesn't the boat move?

A boat motor still has a throttle. A motor being on doesn't mean the propeller is spinning. Think of it like a car. You can start your car's engine but you still need to step on the accelerator.

[MichaelDeeley 11]

You wondered who put up a tombstone for Jason Vorhees?  The director’s original ending would have answered that.   Tom McLoughlin originally intended for the caretaker to live until the end. Then he’d be visited and paid by a man he called “Mr. Vorhees”- Jason’s father!

[i'll hold the mike 165]

So is Jason Voorhees the Jason of his group?

This film comes in just under the top 5 most profitable movies covered in HDTGM, and is in the top 10 least expensive HDTGM movies (which explains why it was so profitable). This live show is Richmond's first appearance in the live venues list, but hopefully not the last!

If the mention of Paul's Penthouse air freshener sounded familiar, please check out episode 84, No Holds Barred LIVE with Thomas Lennon for a previous mention.
Jason: "Did it smell like pussy?"
Paul: "It was scratch'n'sniff. You could scratch her butthole, you could scratch her front hole..."

Also, Jason's comment at the end of the show about people counting up the kills in a Friday the 13th movie was amusing given the fact that the trailers for the early films actually DID count up the kills for you. Observe:

You get the idea.

[the baa detective 64]

Early in the movie, there is a scene which shows children sleeping in their beds, each with a book laying on their chest, which presumably is the book they are reading before they fall asleep. The last kid apparently has been reading Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1944 existential play “No Exit.”

At first, I thought it’s just a gag (kid reading super-serious literature,) but after some googling the synopsis of the play, I feel it might not be the case. The play goes like this: 2 women and a man found themselves in a room after they died. The room has no window and mirror, only a door which cannot be opened. The three characters all did something terrible during their lifetime. Furthermore, Woman A finds herself to be attracted to Woman B, Woman B is attracted to the man. The man initially is not attracted to either of the 2 women, then later succumbed to the seduction of Woman B. But he is only willing to have sex with her if both women say he’s not a coward; the man was executed for desertion, so he wants people to assure him he’s not a coward. Woman B complies, but Woman A refuses, partly due to jealousy and partly because she’s a sadist. Then the door suddenly opens after the man’s several attempts to open the door, but he refuses to leave the room until he convinces Woman A he’s not a coward. However, Woman A tells him she will never give him the approval he so desires. Also, neither of the women wants to leave the room as well for various reasons. This is when the man realizes they are in hell, and what is torturing them is none other than each other.

In Jason Lives, after we see the kid with the Sartre play, the movie cuts to a shot of the hamster cage, with a hamster frantically running a hamster wheel, almost like trapped in a loop. Maybe the movie is saying that Jason and the characters in his movies, especially Tommy, are kind of like the characters in the play, trapped in a metaphorical hell. Jason can never stop killing and avenge himself and his mother, as there will always be horny teenagers. Tommy and characters in Jason-verse will forever be haunted by the unkillable monster that is Jason.

Oh, if the plot of “No Exit” sounds familiar, maybe it’s because it serves as one of the inspirations for the sitcom “The Good Place,” in which Jason Mantzoukas is a recurring character.  

[i'll hold the mike 165]

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

On 10/25/2019 at 6:03 AM, RyanSz said:

Also Berkeley can straight screw itself in regards to hosting a show like this as they had a full theater of people on a 95 degree day and didn't turn the air conditioner on, until the near end of the show after Jason complained about it, but by then it was too little too late. It was literally cooler outside of the theater by the time the show was over.

I wondered if maybe they didn't even have air conditioning in there. 90-degree weather that lingers past sunset is a real rarity in the Bay Area (though maybe not anymore with global warming).

Tough night to be a balcony monster!

[Smigg. 509]

Paul brings up the trade he made for a Penthouse air freshener.  I'm so glad he wasn't at my school, as I talked about in the Disclosure thread,  he'd have been eaten alive at our school.  If he's making trades for novelty air fresheners, we'd have gotten him to sign over his house, and I'd be married to June right now.

Paul sounds like the kid who tried palming off Naked Lunch on people.

[Cameron H. 23786]

In the climactic showdown, Tommy and his boulder have rowed out to the middle of the lake and have challenged Jason to a final confrontation. Jason, recognizing that he must either accept this affair of honor or forfeit his rights as a gentleman, is quick to oblige and underwater strides his zombie ass to face his foe. As he breathlessly awaits Jason's arrival, Tommy sets the lake ablaze and scans the water for any ripple of movement. After interminable seconds, a flurry of bubbles break the surface of the flaming lake and Tommy leans over the port side of his vessel and prepares his noose. However, both he and the audience are taken by surprise by Jason when he springs up not from the port side, but from from the starboard side of the boat! This is, of course, a classic and well executed misdirect on Mr. Vorhees' part. However, I can't help but wonder what caused the torrent of bubbles to break the surface of the water in the first place. I mean, he can't possibly be in two places at once. Without any other explanation put forth by the film, I can only assume that from beneath the boat Jason was laying down some strategic, underwater farts in order to distract Tommy and get the drop on him.  The full extant of Jason's powers are never truly explored, but I think that it is safe to assume that tactical, supernatural flatulence must be a part of his arsenal.      

[RyanSz 3140]

6 hours ago, sycasey 2.0 said:

I wondered if maybe they didn't even have air conditioning in there. 90-degree weather that lingers past sunset is a real rarity in the Bay Area (though maybe not anymore with global warming).

Tough night to be a balcony monster!

They did because it started to kick on at the end of the show, though thankfully I wasn't all the way up in the highest balcony, yes there were multi-leveled balconies. But even close to the stage it was uncomfortably warm in old school theater seats that had zero give or maneuverability.

1 hour ago, Cameron H. said:

In the climactic showdown, Tommy and his boulder have rowed out to the middle of the lake and have challenged Jason to a final confrontation. Jason, recognizing that he must either accept this affair of honor or forfeit his rights as a gentleman, is quick to oblige and underwater strides his zombie ass to face his foe. As he breathlessly awaits Jason's arrival, Tommy sets the lake ablaze and scans the water for any ripple of movement. After interminable seconds, a flurry of bubbles break the surface of the flaming lake and Tommy leans over the port side of his vessel and prepares his noose. However, both he and the audience are taken by surprise by Jason when he springs up not from the port side, but from from the starboard side of the boat! This is, of course, a classic and well executed misdirect on Mr. Vorhees' part. However, I can't help but wonder what caused the torrent of bubbles to break the surface of the water in the first place. I mean, he can't possibly be in two places at once. Without any other explanation put forth by the film, I can only assume that from beneath the boat Jason was laying down some strategic, underwater farts in order to distract Tommy and get the drop on him.  The full extant of Jason's powers are never truly explored, but I think that it is safe to assume that tactical, supernatural flatulence must be a part of his arsenal.      

Considering that in the very next film Jason literally teleports around a room in order to be in view of his victim and the fact that he walks across the bottom of the ocean to chase after his potential victims, I would not be surprised.

 

[Cameron H. 23786]

So, for any one wondering, according to what I could determine through online research, the amount of force it would take to punch straight through a person’s chest and rip out their heart is approximately 50kN (kilonewtons). To put this into perspective, this is about ten times the force exerted by a professional boxer - who average about 5kN per punch - and over twice that of the bite of a Great White Shark (18kN).

Furthermore, it would take nearly 1,100 lbs of pressure (far greater than mortal man is capable) to crush a human skull in one’s barehands, and depending on the situation, leverage, and torque, it would take anywhere from 30-200kN to rip a person’s arm from its socket. 

All this is to say, Jason’s a pretty bad motherfucker. Especially for someone who was, until very recently, a desiccated corpse.

[Lee Danger Hawken 17]

I watched a Friday the 13th documentary where the director of this movie said that the credit card was shown for so long because he wanted to allow time for an audience member to yell out, "Don't leave home without it!"  He said that a lot of the jokes in the movie are meant for audience participation.

[Kothel 42]

I was at the show and my friend and I felt there was one major omission. When Tommy and Megan knock on the Sheriff's Door, HE SHOOTS THROUGH THE DOOR WITHOUT WARNING! Unless we are both remembering wrong, the Sheriff is unaware of Jason as a threat. Which means that is just how he answers the door. How many doors does that Sheriff go through in a year? I just did the math on an inflation website. The average door today costs between 75 and 125 bucks. That would be between $33.53 and $55.89. If his door is shot out everyday, he's out between $12,000 and $20,000 a year. 

I laughed so hard at that and was shocked it didn't come up. Even if Jason had been a threat, you still want to make sure it isn't your daughter, who stops by frequently.

Also, I didn't catch this at the live show, but Paul said if they had focused on the whacky kids more, it would have been like Salute Your Shorts with a killer. Salute Your Shorts DID have an episode with a murderer. His name was Zeke the Plumber. I don't remember the legend behind him; but he's like a combo of Freddie and Jason. He has a creepy mask, but makes wisecracks and I think visits the campers in his dreams. Correct me if I'm wrong fellow SOS fans. 

 

[grudlian. 4725]

8 hours ago, Kothel said:

Also, I didn't catch this at the live show, but Paul said if they had focused on the whacky kids more, it would have been like Salute Your Shorts with a killer. Salute Your Shorts DID have an episode with a murderer. His name was Zeke the Plumber. I don't remember the legend behind him; but he's like a combo of Freddie and Jason. He has a creepy mask, but makes wisecracks and I think visits the campers in his dreams. Correct me if I'm wrong fellow SOS fans. 

Just an FYI, I won't link it but this episode can easily be found online with a Google search.

Zeke got his nose bit off. He became a plumber because he didn't mind the smell. There was a gas leak that caused an explosion killing Zeke. Now he wears a mask to cover his face and wanders the camp looking for his cursed plunger. If you have the plunger, he'll suck out your brains.

[starri 116]

I always love an episode where June is more clued in to the plot than Paul is.

[Cameron H. 23786]

Seeing Jason become ambulatory after a lightning strike reminds me of 19th century galvanism and how parading corpses across Europe and shocking them with electric currents to make them twitch for the gawking throngs was once a real, popular, and extremely macabre pastime.

A contemporary source, describing the process being applied to the recently executed murderer, George Foster, once wrote: “On the first application of the process to the face, the jaws of the deceased criminal began to quiver, and the adjoining muscles were horribly contorted, and one eye was actually opened. In the subsequent part of the process the right hand was raised and clenched, and the legs and thighs were set in motion.”

Of course, it was these types of experiments that eventually inspired Mary Shelly to write Frankenstein which subsequently led to the whole concept of a lightning strike imbuing a corpse with new life. It’s a trope that’s become pervasive, and it’s incredibly bizarre to me how we all just sort of readily accept it.

Anyway, I don’t suppose any of this is terribly relevant to the movie, but I can never pass up an opportunity to point out just how absolutely fucked up and ghoulish our ancestors were.

[Cam Bert 8145]

So the one boy camper seems to have fallen asleep with a comic book open. Due to the limited appearances by the very visible character of El Aguila it is easy to recognize this comic as Power Man and Iron Fist #99. So what? Well, it is very odd. You see there is nothing about this comic that connects it to Friday the 13th or Jason at all. The issue starts with the titular characters falling off a bridge into water and El Aguila carries a sword which a machete kinda resembles but that's about it for tenuous connections. "So what?" I hear you saying, "It's just a comic book, they just grabbed one and threw it in there." No, that is where you are wrong. See there has to be more of a reasoning behind this comic choice. Power Man and Iron Fist #99 which has a cover date of November 1983 which means it really came out in September 1983. Jason Lives was released in August of 1986 which means they probably were filming early 1986 which would make that comic almost three years old at that point. Was their budget so tight that 65 cents for a current issue would break it so they had to pull something from the quarter bin? Maybe the camp had comics for the kids to read, but why would a newly re-opened camp buy a bunch of back issues? Also when you think about the timeline of the movie it makes less sense because this film doesn't take place in 1986! Part 2 is set two months after the first film, and Parts 3 and 4 follow the day after the previous films. So when Tommy appears as a child in Part 4 that's 1980. In parts 5 and 6 Tommy has now grown up which means this film is suppose to be taking place in 1990! So somehow a kid in a summer camp in 1990 is reading a comic book from 1983? Why? It just doesn't make any sense. Why would that be at the camp? Why would he bring a quarter bin comic to camp if it was his? Why bring or have the second part of a three part story arc? There has to be a secret meaning behind this issue!

[CaptainAmazing 127]

Nitpick: The Jason expert got one thing wrong, or maybe just firmly interprets it one way- After Jason’s mother is killed in the climax of the first movie, the only surviving counselor, at the point of total exhaustion, escapes into a canoe and falls asleep in it as it drifts out into he middle of the lake. She suddenly wakes up and- JASON’S DECOMPOSING BODY JUMPS OUT OF THE LAKE AND PULLS HER UNDER! 

Absolutely the best moment of the movie, IMHO. A true surprise kill. She wakes up in the hospital and is told that there was never any sign of any boy at the camp, so she concludes that he’s still out there. You could interpret that as her having imagined/dreamt/something elsed Jason jumping out of the water, but it’s a little weird to not even mention it as a possibility. 

[RyanSz 3140]

On 10/26/2019 at 6:27 PM, Cameron H. said:

So, for any one wondering, according to what I could determine through online research, the amount of force it would take to punch straight through a person’s chest and rip out their heart is approximately 50kN (kilonewtons). To put this into perspective, this is about ten times the force exerted by a professional boxer - who average about 5kN per punch - and over twice that of the bite of a Great White Shark (18kN).

Furthermore, it would take nearly 1,100 lbs of pressure (far greater than mortal man is capable) to crush a human skull in one’s barehands, and depending on the situation, leverage, and torque, it would take anywhere from 30-200kN to rip a person’s arm from its socket. 

All this is to say, Jason’s a pretty bad motherfucker. Especially for someone who was, until very recently, a desiccated corpse.

I'm assuming it was a Mythbusters type of thing where they figured out that number, rather than some dude in a morgue punching fresh corpses. Also I'll cite the following film, which really should be covered on the show for how insane it is, when Jason gets in a literal fistfight with a kid, who is portrayed in the film as an Olympic level boxer. Nevermind the fact that the guy has every option in order to get around the slow moving Jason and get away, but he decides to throw up his dukes with an undead nightmare. I'll let the video show what kind of good idea that was.

Also how did this not get covered on the Arscheerio Paul Show?

 

[Cameron H. 23786]

I though it was pretty crazy that when the sheriff and his deputies arrive at the camp his first order is “don’t wake the kids.” Motherfucker, there is a sadistic monster on the loose brutally murdering every person that crosses his path! You wake those kids up and get them the Hell out of there!

[Cameron H. 23786]

Based off of what Meghan says at the police station, am I to understand that the head counselors and their staff weren’t expected to arrive at the camp until the night before the kids were dropped off? Were they not planning on doing any kind of preparations or training? What kind of shoddy operation are they running? Those kids would have a terrible summer and I’m glad all the counselors are dead.

#jasonsavessummer