I love any series that includes two “Final” entries, neither of which are the last one. The Friday the 13th series remains the most prolific horror franchise, although Amityville and Hellraiser threatened to come close with their straight to video sequels. Friday has so far stayed theatrical for 12 movies. The premise was simple: the unstoppable killer Jason Voorhees murders counselors (and bystanders) at Camp Crystal Lake, where he drowned as a child while counselors neglected him. So any current teen who indulges in sex or drugs incurs his wrath.
You kids may not appreciate what a rite of passage the Friday the 13th movies were. Not only was it a test of your mettle to sit through Jason’s rampage without getting scared, but you could always count on some good old gratuitous nudity. Back before the internet, we needed Friday the 13th movies to show some skin, and the actresses were good sports about it. I say this to warn you that the nudity will be a factor in my evaluation of each individual entry in the new Blu-ray collection. Don’t cry sexism. I wouldn’t honoring Jason’s legacy if I ignored the boobies he showed us during our formative years.
The Blu-rays:
By Part V, the films get even clearer and crisper. They still have the “film look” and colors aren’t ridiculously poppy, but the quality looks a tad more modern, surprising since it’s only a year between each one. You definitely see all the detail in the walls of the group home in V, the boiler room of VIII’s boat, etc.
Unfortunately, the New Line movies don’t look too hot. They’re still clear and sharp but the colors are really muddy. Even fiddling with the settings on my TV only made things worse. You either get muddy but visible, or a little sharper but then you actually can’t see the shadowy parts of the screen. The transfers really don’t do any favors for the cheap looking spaceship set of Jason X.
Freddy Vs. Jason fares a little better, as it was probably a bigger budget summer tentpole movie, and made by Ronny Yu so the visual material is there. The remake looks like the pristine new release movie it was when the Blu-ray was first released in 2009. A little muted as all the “gritty” Platinum Dunes” movies are but it holds up in the woods at night, and it doesn’t reveal the seams of the gore makeup.
All the bonus features from the “Crystal Lake to Manhattan” box set and Ultimate Edition single disc releases are there, and I had never seen some of the 2009 bonus footage from The Final Chapter before. They’re presented in HD. The box set is a definite recommendation, as even the worst entries (except for Hell) fare better on a rewatch, and the good ones actually get better!
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Shelf Space Weekly. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection
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Friday the 13th (1980)
The original Friday the 13th is kind of a slow burn. It takes its time introducing the camp counselors and keeping the killer hidden, featuring a lot of point of view shots stalking the teens through the forest from a distance. I suppose it could be world building, thought I doubt this was the first killer in the woods movie ever made. I appreciate what it’s doing and it’s a nice juxtaposition against the “kill kill kill” tone the later sequels would exhibit.
The slow burn does pay off though, and when the final girl discovers all the bodies, it is a breathtaking sequence. By now everybody knows the twist. It was spoiled in the opening scene of Scream, although that was 17 years ago so perhaps a viewer could come to Friday the 13th completely fresh.
RATING: 6.5/10
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Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Still in slow and steady mode, Part 2 ups the ante on the killer in the woods movie. By now, they’ve played their big card at the end of the first film, so they’ve got to live up to it. I suppose the kills come a bit more frequently, though what was most impressive to me about this sequel was how much attention is still paid to characters. They’re not just machete fodder yet.
Right now it still seems like a professional group of young adults trying to reopen a camp. They address the legend of Jason in the beginning, showing that these people are intelligent grown-ups who’ve heard all the stories. Ginny (Amy Steel) even thinks about the story later in the movie, showing a depth and sympathy towards Jason. It doesn’t necessarily pay off, because Jason still just goes around killing people, but it makes Ginny a lot more sympathetic that she has empathy.
Oh yeah, Jason wears a sack over his head in this one. They hadn’t thought of the hockey mask yet. Bet you didn’t know that? You always imagined Jason in the hockey mask, so try watching a Jason movie where he’s Baghead.
RATING: 7/10
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Friday the 13th 3D, aka Friday the 13th Part III (1982)
I respect the gimmick of 3D, and doing the sticky outtie 3D rather than the pretentious 3D we have today. I even saw a print of this in the theater and 3D didn’t work for me. They try sticking stuff out so far, I just got double vision, though it seemed to work for others in the audience. It still looks good with the red and blue cardboard glasses home version, with more depth than I saw in Man of Steel or Pacific Rim, though the poking rods and yo-yos still gave me double vision. I mean, whose eyes can combine images that far apart?
This is also the movie where Jason finds the hockey mask so it is important for his future legacy. After watching two mask-less Jason movies I really appreciated the value of the mask more. Unfortunately, this is where all the characters start to become obnoxious so you’re just waiting for them to die. Shelly (Larry Zerner) is supposed to be annoying, and he sure is, but characters who are supposed to be sympathetic are even worse.
Chris Higgins (Dana Kimmell) may be the worst final girl in the whole series, although it’s not her fault. They saddled her with a traumatic backstory that even an early Friday the 13th movie wasn’t equipped to sell as legitimate drama. Her love interest is downright rapey but I guess that was swept under the rug in 1982. There’s the stoner couple, the motorcycle punks, the hillbilly laundry couple so the few other campers scrape by as simply generic look good by comparison. The 3D is fun though. It’s also the only Friday besides Freddy Vs. Jason to be shot in 2.35:1 widescreen so that’s a treat even in the 2D version.
RATING: 5.5/10
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Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
This is the one where they finally got the formula right. Picking up where 3D left off, Jason breaks out of the hospital morgue, taking two hospital staff with him. Then the film introduces all of the incoming campers and actually gives them enough personality to watch, although Crispin Glover goes a long way for that. We also meet the Jarvis family living in the woods, and there is a healthy amount of nudity.
When Jason returns, the kills are extraordinary. Each one is clever, making the most out of subtle twists on the nearby environment, be it a movie screen or a raft. The kills are shot really well, and the bodies revealed with even more masterful cinematography. The lighting makes Final Chapter look like Jason has invaded a real movie where they actually care about setting up the shots.
Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman) feels a bit underdeveloped. He kind of disappears while all the teenager shenanigans are going on, and it’s a bit of a reach when he comes up with a plan to stop Jason once and for all. It works though and this is the fastest paced of all the single digit Friday the 13th movies.
RATING: 8.5/10
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Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
I always had a soft spot for Friday the 13th V, mainly because it has the best nudity. Let me tell you, Debi Sue Voorhees’ nude scene was legendary in my house. The kills were mostly generic, and the more clever ones make no sense at all. Like the leather belt around the eyes, what was that supposed to do? Crush his skull I guess.
I appreciate the effort to reboot the series after declaring “The Final Chapter,” but “The New Blood” was a little misguided. They would rectify it in “Jason Lives” though, and at least they’re still using the Jason motif in New Beginning. This isn’t a Halloween III situation here.
Tommy Jarvis (John Shepherd) is grown up and living in a halfway house. When a hockey masked killer starts murdering the recovering residents, is it really Jason or just a copycat? Honestly, you’re thinking too much, but nice effort. Forgetting about the overzealous mythology, The New Blood is a perfectly entertaining Jason movie with plenty of fodder for kills, and hands down the series’ best nudity.
RATING: 6/10
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Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986)
Jason Lives has the most plot of any Friday the 13th movie. After Tommy (now Thom Matthews) accidentally brings Jason back to life, Jason returns to the renamed and reopened Camp Crystal Lake right when a new batch of kids are to arrive. It’s got a ticking clock of stopping Jason from getting to the kids, while the police are after Tommy because they suspect he’s the killer.
It’s also the funniest Friday the 13th, intentionally so, even funnier than Jason X. Jason Lives is almost an action movie, as it’s Tommy in pursuit of Jason, not just Jason stalking campers. There are several vehicular stunts, and encounters with Jason generally become full on fight scenes, not just quick kills. It also has the best method for dispatching Jason in the end. There isn’t even any nudity in this one but it’s so entertaining you don’t even miss it.
RATING: 8.5/10
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Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
I’ve only recently learned that fans hate this Friday the 13th. I understand the violence is compromised because of imposed MPAA cuts, but it still has the best kill in the entire series with the sleeping bag. In fact, it’s improved by the MPAA cuts. They would have shown a gratuitous sleeping bag kill, but it’s way more powerful the way it is with just one whack.
I grew up with The New Blood as the new Friday the 13th to see. It seems like a reasonable version of camp counselors frolicking and running afoul of Jason to me, just with the added element of the telekinetic girl who can fight him. It was always funny to me that the actress playing the most promiscuous character (Susan Jennifer Sullivan) got away without doing nudity, but the great Elizabeth Kaitan delivered the goods for preteen Fred.
Looking back on it now the characters are pretty one dimensional to fit the formula. Tina (Lar Park-Lincoln) has telekinetic powers and accidentally drowned her abusive father in Crystal Lake. When a psychiatrist (Terry Kiser) brings her back to the scene for “treatment,” she accidentally resurrects Jason, letting him loose on a nearby birthday party. Eh, it does the job with some pretty impressive practical stuntwork by Kane Hodder in his first of four Jason movies.
RATING: 6.5/10
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Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
This is a tough one to rank because it is a combination of the worst Friday the 13th ever and the most awesome Friday the 13th ever. In theory, both parts should have worked. I get that they weren’t going to spend a whole movie with Jason running around New York. They should have, but that wasn’t in the cards. But the idea of Jason on a boat until they get there should have been equally awesome, his own personal Under Siege.
The whole boat section of the movie is dreadfully boring, but fortunately it’s not quite as bad as I remember it being. Writer/Director Rob Hedden gets some good camera moves out of the confined space, but most of Jason’s kills involve throwing people into things. The boat sailing from a lake to New York, I don’t have a problem with that. That would have fallen under my “because it’s awesome” clause, if the result had in fact been awesome. This also may be the worst acting of any Friday the 13th, and I’m not talking about the kids earning their SAG cards on this movie. The adults playing the chaperones are the biggest hams.
Once Jason takes Manhattan there are some fun moments. Just seeing Jason stalking around Times Square is worth this movie being made at all, and of course the fight against the boxer is fun. And oh, the toxic waste fear of the ‘80s, from Toxic Avenger to Jason Takes Manhattan. I guess nostalgia improves the film a tad.
RATING: 4.5/10
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Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
For many reasons, Jason Goes to Hell is confusing. If you’re New Line and you’ve just gotten the rights to this legendary horror character, and if you’d just had success with Fsreddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, why would you make an ultimate Jason movie that hardly has any Jason in it? Except for the prologue and the climax, this is not a Jason movie.
When Jason is blown to bits by a SWAT team (or something), a coroner eats Jason’s heart and becomes possessed by him. WTF? So many things wrong with this, and why a coroner eats a heart is not the biggest problem. Jason jumps from body to body until he’s finally Jason again and gets dragged to hell by... just... I... I don’t even. The final shot of the movie is pretty cool though.
The score is all wrong too. It’s credited to Harry Manfedini but it sounds like he’s aping his own score from the original but can’t quite use the real thing. Perhaps because New Line took over, the score was still copyright to Paramount.
RATING: 2/10
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Jason X (2001)
I love when horror movies go into space and Jason X doesn’t disappoint. Taking the more humorous approach of Jason Lives, which I think is frankly beneficial to formula slasher movies, Jason X has a ton of fun with its ridiculous premise. From offhanded references to wars that took place between our present and their future, to a virtual reality simulation of the entire Friday the 13th formula, Jason X gets it.
The plot, as if it matters, is that Jason got frozen, which seems like the most effective solution to dealing with an unstoppable killing machine. I’m surprised it took so long for someone to think about that. Centuries later, Jason is aboard a spaceship and gets thawed. Jason X still gives Jason plenty of badass moments, far more mileage than on a boat. For example, the liquid nitrogen scene and the entire space station. The über Jason transformation is a bit of a gimmick, but it’s fun for a one-off movie.
Re-watching this whole series, I realized Jason X is not the first time Friday the 13th went into the future. After The Final Chapter, Tommy Jarvis grows up a good decade. After Jason Lives, Jason’s already anchored to the bottom of the lake when Tina is a kid, so flash forward another 10 years or so until she’s old enough to resurrect him. Jason X probably catches us up closer to the present than the previous sequels!
RATING: 8/10
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Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
I was really disappointed in this movie when it came out and pretty much wrote it off. We’d all heard rumors of the story where Freddy was a Crystal Lake counselor who molested Jason, and that’s why Jason went crazy. When I revisited the film, I thought it was great and realized they were smart not to use that storyline. It would have been way too heavy to introduce the suggestion of child molestation into both characters’ backstory, even though Freddy actually is a child molester (a news clipping in Nightmare 5 confirms it even though the whole series skirts around it.)
No, very smartly Freddy Vs. Jason is just about two monsters, and it’s a genius premise. Freddy’s lost his powers because no one’s scared of him anymore so he brings Jason back to get people good and scared again. But, and here’s the genius part, Jason starts killing people before they can fall asleep so Freddy gets pissed that he’s missing kills.
Though Jason gets the majority of kills in the movie, Freddy Vs. Jason is way more a Freddy movie than a Jason movie. It’s Freddy’s rules, with Jason as a special guest. Robert Englund is at his most theatrical, a joy to see him relish this ultimate mashup. The humans get some fun moments too like when Destiny’s Child has to revive a comatose Jason.
I wish the dreams had been a little more fanciful, but they hit some of the important staples like the big old boiler room. Alas, the ending may be anticlimactic but what can you do? They weren’t going to alienate either fan base, but if there ever was a case for this, it’s not whether you win or lose. It’s how you play the game.
RATING: 8.5/10
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Friday the 13th (2009)
It may be blasphemy to rank the remake higher than the original, but I thought it did a great job encapsulating what Friday the 13th became, rather than what the very first movie was. Also surprising, from remakers extraordinaire Platinum Dunes and director Marcus Nispel, not only did Friday the 13th (2009) not suck, but it was a legit modern day Friday the 13th that could conceivably be Friday the 13th XII if you want it to be.
Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki) is looking for his sister who disappeared around Camp Crystal Lake. His serious plot throws a bit of a wet blanket on the fun of a group of campers, but we all know Jason’s coming along to make things worse anyway. They’ve got the pot smokers and fornicators punished for their sins, and an amount of nudity that actually makes things uncomfortable, because the world has outgrown gratuitous nudity in a movie theater, but also because it was so conscious. It’s really not the same as watching innocent ‘80s women cheekily drop their tops. However, the girl whose breasts are called stupendous in the movie really is stupendous.
However, the number one asset to the Friday the 13th remake is Travis Van Winkle as the douchebag. He is the most magnificent douchebag in the history of slasher movies, and so much fun to watch him make trouble and wait for his inevitable demise.
RATING: 7.5/10
