Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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Friday the 13 th Part III 3-D demonstrates an evolutionary development in
death sequence aesthetics through its utilization of editing, piecing together an
increased number of shots of shorter length. This can be seen during Chili’s death
sequence, which also incorporates unverified diegetic sound. After watching Shelly
die in the doorway, she runs upstairs to check on the others in the house. Chili finds
them dead, and in a single full shot, comes down the winding staircase, moves
toward a closed door which is blown open by a gust of wind, backs away from it
moving closer to the camera and turns around, and registers an expression of shock
in close up as Jason’s hand grabs her shoulder. Throughout this shot, the score
dominates the soundscape of the entire sequence, in the background Chili can be
heard muttering to herself and whimpering. The sound of the wind which blows the
door open is heard followed by a scream from Chili just before a loud bang as the
door hits the wall, and she squeals as Jason grabs her shoulder. After Chili squeals,
there is a brief pause and the image cuts to a close up of a red-hot poker held by
Jason as he thrusts it toward the camera (in 3-D), which is still accompanied by the
dominant score, and an increasing hiss as the poker moves closer to the camera,
signifying distance from the viewer and the heat of the implement. This is an
example of an observation made by Bordwell and Thompson: “One characteristic of
diegetic sound is the possibility of suggesting the distance of its source. Volume is
screaming, and the spear emerging from the mattress and hitting the floor, while appearing swift due
to the brevity of the second shot, still provides an opportunity to show where all the sounds are
coming from. There is nondiegetic music, but aside from that, all that is heard is the moaning of the
couple as they have sex, Sandra’s scream which is shown in the second shot, the spear ripping
through the mattress at the beginning of the third shot, immediately followed by the thud of the
spearhead hitting the wooden floor underneath. There is no sound used to render the unseen violent
bodily penetration.