Manuel Fidello.

"Jason has practically become an irresistible force of nature," director John Carl Buechler declares. "When he's coming at you there's no natural way of stopping him, so we have evoked the supernatural."

"We've created sequences where Tina battles Jason with her psychokinetic powers, making objects move through the air," producer lain Paterson states. "Tina creates fires, blows floors open, causes a house to explode, a pier to collapse -- Jason now faces someone able to seriously hurt him."

"In addition to that," Buechler adds, "we have a new and unique look for Jason. After all, he has been chained to the bottom of Crystal Lake for years as our story opens."

When asked to comment about the series' success, Buechler replies that the main reason is the popularity of Jason. "For Jason there is no right or wrong, simply the act. Jason has evolved in the movies. He has been taken from being a young boy into adulthood, through death and back again."

Lar Park Lincoln ("House II," "Princess Academy") plays Tina. She prepared for the role by doing research and interviewing doctors and psychics. "I learned what it's like to experience a vision," she says. The filmmakers designed Tina's visions to not be at random and, as with real-life accounts, each is based on a connection Tina makes with someone or a belonging related to the person in her vision. "When Tina sees a vision of a murder, the viewer also sees it and then later experiences the actual killing, which is very scary because not only do you see the murder twice, you know it's going to happen," Park Lincoln relates.

Daryl Haney, who wrote the screenplay for the movie with Manuel Fidello, comments that "The challenge was in trying to make it the best film in the series. I wrote about the things that scare me and tried to introduce more subtle aspects of horror. The

inspiration for one scene was the idea that there could be a person in the room with you when you didn't see anyone enter -- that is frighten ."

Mechanical and make-up special effects in "Friday the 13th Part VII - The New Blood" are more elaborate than those of previous movies in the series. Make-up special effects were provided by MNI (Mechanical and Make-up Imageries), which contributed effects to Sheena Easton's rock video "Telephone" and such movies as "The Re- animator" and "Ghoulies." Mechanical effects are by Image Engineering, Inc., a company with over 25 motion picture credits, including "The Serpent and the Rainbow" and "The Hitcher."

Producer Iain Paterson identifies another reason for the series' popularity is that the movies always have a hero or heroine that viewers identify with and root for to overcome Jason. Also, there are occasionally human villains in the movies that moviegoers like to see reach their end, such as the revenge-crazed Mrs. Voorhees (portrayed by Betsy Palmer) in the first film.

"In this movie we have a wonderful new villain in the character of Dr. Crews," Buechler says.

"He's Tina's self-serving doctor who's interested in exploiting her powers for the sake of furthering his own career," Paterson adds.

Terry Kiser, who portrays Dr. Crews, comments, "People are going to be rooting for Jason to get this guy."