Friday the 13this one of the most beloved and enduring horror franchises of all time, but the franchise’s seventh entry, The New Blood, applies a very different approach to its final girl and gave her some confusing powers.
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood takes place post-Tommy Jarvis and marks a new direction in the series. The New Blood isn’t the best film in the slasher franchise, but it marks Kane Hodder’s first appearance as Jason Voorhees and the movie was looked at with the highest of aspirations. Directors like Federico Fellini were being considered and producers wanted to make the slasher sequel an Oscar contender.
One of the ways in which Friday the 13th Part VII was supposed to make a big splash is that it was originally envisioned as the Freddy Vs. Jason picture, only the right deals couldn’t come together in the end. The New Blood instead pivots towards the creative premise of “Jason Vs. Carrie” and pits the masked killer against a troubled teen with telekinetic powers. It’s definitely Jason’s biggest challenge yet at this point in the series, but there are some inconsistencies present when it comes to Tina Shepard’s psychic powers.
Friday The 13th: How The New Blood Confuses Tina’s Powers
Tina Shepard, the film’s protagonist, developed her special abilities at a young age. An immense hatred toward her father seems to birth Tina’s powers, which coincide with his death. The trauma lads to Tina’s admittance to a mental institution, where Dr. Crews studies and attempts to bolster Tina’s psychic abilities, unbeknownst to her. Tina’s abilities primarily manifest through powerful telekinesis, which she uses to propel objects around, including Jason Voorhees himself. Tina also exhibits precognitive abilities and gets glimpses of the future, which at least has ties to the ESP nature of telekinetic abilities. Oddly, Tina is also haphazardly shown to also possess necromancy skills when she brings both Jason and her father to life from their watery graves.
Tina’s necromancy powers are a sloppy afterthought, but they’re what launch the whole plot into motion. There’s no real connection provided between Tina’s ability to bring people back from the dead and her other psychic skills. The two abilities typically aren’t shown to go hand-in-hand. Additionally the deluxe DVD of The New Blood contains a mini-documentary that focuses on the “truth about telekinesis” and how it’s incorporated into Tina Shepard’s character. It avoid necromancy entirely, which shows even more of a confusing disconnect between the extent and range of Tina’s skills. In spite of this, The New Blood is still a highly entertaining and memorable entry in the Friday the 13thseries. Now someone just needs to make “Pinhead Vs. Christine.”
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