A disgraced televangelist finds a cursed glove with the power to heal anyone of any injury or illness. The catch is that he must transfer these maladies to an unsuspecting victim or absorb it himself. Jack immediately recognizes the glove during a TV broadcast and enlists the aid of an old friend who has his own reasons for getting the glove back...
"Faith Healer" has everything a good Friday the 13th episode needs: tons of good scares, great special effects, great writing, great performances and an imaginative premise. David Cronenberg even directs it! They really threw some money at this one and it shows. No episode can truly be perfect, but this one comes pretty close.
This episode is high on gore and the effects used to convey it are really good. The effects of each disease on Stewart Fishoff's gloved decaying hand are gross, and unique too as every illness is different. The after shots of each victim are pretty grotesque and we're even given a few transformation scenes as a bonus. Jerry's tumor is suitably disgusting although it's so massive I did wonder why he wouldn't already be dead by that point.
The writing is very solid. Plot holes are few and far between here mainly because we're given just enough to keep the story moving at a reasonable pace. The whole story is set up nicely at the beginning: Jerry exposes Stewart for the fraud he is, Stewart finds glove, heals someone, discovers he now has disease, finds bumbling policeman, touches cop, cop decays before our eyes. Jack's friend, Jerry, comes off as a tragic villain as he is given a valid motive for wanting the glove.
There are a few problems, but they're mostly minor. Jerry is a little too quick to believe in a cursed glove, as many people on this show seem to be. The second victim, a woman with a poodle, is very annoying and unsympathetic, even for the two minutes that she's on screen. She also seemed oddly overdressed for the neighborhood she was in. I don't consider either one of these a big deal, though.
"Faith Healer" is one of the high points of this season and firmly establishes that this show is here to stay. I was about 10 when I first saw in and I couldn't look at the TV it was so gory. The only other episode to send me running out of the room was "The Quilt of Hathor" but that's for another review.
"Faith Healer" has everything a good Friday the 13th episode needs: tons of good scares, great special effects, great writing, great performances and an imaginative premise. David Cronenberg even directs it! They really threw some money at this one and it shows. No episode can truly be perfect, but this one comes pretty close.
This episode is high on gore and the effects used to convey it are really good. The effects of each disease on Stewart Fishoff's gloved decaying hand are gross, and unique too as every illness is different. The after shots of each victim are pretty grotesque and we're even given a few transformation scenes as a bonus. Jerry's tumor is suitably disgusting although it's so massive I did wonder why he wouldn't already be dead by that point.
The writing is very solid. Plot holes are few and far between here mainly because we're given just enough to keep the story moving at a reasonable pace. The whole story is set up nicely at the beginning: Jerry exposes Stewart for the fraud he is, Stewart finds glove, heals someone, discovers he now has disease, finds bumbling policeman, touches cop, cop decays before our eyes. Jack's friend, Jerry, comes off as a tragic villain as he is given a valid motive for wanting the glove.
There are a few problems, but they're mostly minor. Jerry is a little too quick to believe in a cursed glove, as many people on this show seem to be. The second victim, a woman with a poodle, is very annoying and unsympathetic, even for the two minutes that she's on screen. She also seemed oddly overdressed for the neighborhood she was in. I don't consider either one of these a big deal, though.
"Faith Healer" is one of the high points of this season and firmly establishes that this show is here to stay. I was about 10 when I first saw in and I couldn't look at the TV it was so gory. The only other episode to send me running out of the room was "The Quilt of Hathor" but that's for another review.