Scream Factory's FRIDAY THE 13th collection is coming!

FRIDAY THE 13th, 1980

GENRE: FRIDAY THE 13th
SOURCE: BLU-RAY (OWN COLLECTION - SOON!)

In the thirteen (!) year history of HMAD there have been, I think, maybe three "news" type posts in lieu of reviews. I always had other outlets to write about such things, and I wanted to keep the site clean/pure, so apart from a few exceptions for friends, I never even considered it.

...but I also never considered Scream Factory would put together a mammoth boxed set of the Friday the 13th franchise, with new bonus features and even a few new transfers to boot. And even if I daydreamed about such a thing, I would assume I'd write about it on BMD, but... well... I can't, at least not right now. So I feel it's my duty to inform you fine people here, because if I can prevent even one (1) fan from missing out on this, it'll be worth it. There will only be 13,000 produced, so some folks will likely miss out - don't be one of them!

As expected, no uncut version of New Blood or whatever has been found, but I've long given up hope that it ever will and it's certainly no reason to be disappointed with what we're getting here. For starters, all of the films have their own discs, which is enough of a reason to pick this up over the last set in itself - if you yank JGTH out of your player in anger, it won't ruin Jason X along with it! Also, there are lots of new commentaries and interviews, plus two devoted bonus feature discs (one of which has a pair of related documentaries), so if you, like me, feed on the history of these movies, there's hours and hours of new stuff to look forward to this fall. And it comes in a nice sturdy box instead of a flimsy piece of aluminum that's blank on the side!

Read on for all the details and join me in drooling at the thought of that box on your shelf!

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the original and groundbreaking 1980 film Friday the 13th, Scream Factory™, the fan-driven entertainment brand devoted to all things horror, has announced the Friday the 13th Collection (Deluxe Edition), to be released on Tuesday, October 13th, 2020. The 16-disc set is the definitive Blu-ray™ collection of one of the most influential horror franchises ever created and includes all 12 original films from Paramount Pictures and New Line Cinema.

It also includes NEW and existing extras, a NEW collectible rigid slipcover with newly-commissioned art, a NEW 40-pg collectible essay booklet with archival still photography, and NEW 4K film transfers for Parts 1-4, with Part 3 in its original 3D presentation. Additionally, each film comes with a dedicated Blu-ray™ case featuring original theatrical artwork. A list of bonus features is below, with additional new extras to be announced at a later date.

The 12 films included in this must-own set are Friday the 13th (1980), Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982), Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985), Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988), Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989), Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (1993), Jason X (2001), Freddy vs. Jason (2003) and Friday the 13th (Remake) (2009).

Customers purchasing the Friday The 13th Collection (Deluxe Edition) on Shoutfactory.com will receive an exclusive, limited edition 36" x 24" lithograph featuring new artwork from artist Devon Whitehead, and an exclusive, limited edition 24” x 36” Friday the 13th 40th Anniversary poster featuring new artwork from artist Joel Robinson, while supplies last.

The Friday the 13th Collection (Deluxe Edition) is limited to 13,000 pieces and is available for pre-order now.

FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980) (2-Discs)

· NEW 4K scan of the original camera negative (theatrical cut and unrated cut)
· Audio Commentary by director Sean S. Cunningham, screenwriter Victor Miller and more (unrated cut)
· Fresh Cuts: New Tales from Friday the 13th
· The Man Behind the Legacy: Sean S. Cunningham
· A Friday the 13th Reunion
· Lost Tales from Camp Blood - Part 1
· Vintage Fangoria Magazine Article (BD Rom – New to the Set)
· TV Spots (New to the Set)
· U.S. Radio Spots (New to the Set)
· U.K. Radio Spot (New to the Set)
· U. S. Theatrical Trailer
· International Theatrical Trailer (New to the Set)

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2

· NEW 4K scan of the original camera negative
· Amy Steel podcast interview
· Inside Crystal Lake Memories: The Book
· Friday's Legacy: Horror Conventions
· Lost Tales from Camp Blood - Part 2
· Vintage Fangoria Magazine Article (BD Rom – New to the Set)
· Radio Spots (New to the Set)
· TV Spots (New to the Set)
· Theatrical Trailer

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3

· NEW 4K scan from the original film elements
· In 2D and a new 3D version
· Audio Commentary with actors Larry Zerner, Paul Kratka, Richard Brooker and Dana Kimmell
· Fresh Cuts: 3D Terror
· Legacy of the Mask
· Slasher Films: Going for the Jugular
· Lost Tales from Camp Blood – Part 3
· Vintage Fangoria Magazine Article (BD Rom – New to the Set)
· TV Spots (New to the Set)
· Radio Spots (New to the Set)
· Theatrical Trailer

FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER

· NEW 4K scan from the original camera negative
· Audio Commentary by director Joe Zito, screenwriter Barney Cohen and editor Joel Goodman
· Audio Commentary by fans/filmmakers Adam Green and Joe Lynch
· Lost Tales from Camp Blood – Part 4
· Slashed Scenes with audio commentary by director Joseph Zito
· Jason's Unlucky Day: 25 Years After Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
· The Lost Ending
· The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited Part I
· Jimmy's Dead Dance Moves
· Vintage Fangoria Magazine Article (BD Rom – New to the Set)
· TV Spot (New to the Set)
· Radio Spots (New to the Set)
· Theatrical Trailer

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V: A NEW BEGINNING

· NEW Audio Commentary with Melanie Kinnaman, Deborah Voorhees and Tiffany Helm
· Audio Commentary by director/co-screenwriter Danny Steinmann, actors John Shepherd and Shavar Ross
· Audio Commentary by fans/filmmakers Adam Green and Joe Lynch (New to the Set)
· Lost Tales of Camp Blood – Part 5
· The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited Part II
· New Beginnings: The Making of Friday the 13th Part V
· Vintage Fangoria Magazine Article (BD Rom – New to the Set)
· TV Spots (New to the Set)
· Theatrical Trailer

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES

· NEW Audio Commentary with Thom Mathews, Vinny Gustaferro, Kerry Noonan, Cynthia Kania and CJ Graham
· Audio Commentary with writer/director Tom McLoughlin
· Audio Commentary With writer/director Tom McLoughlin, actor Vincent Guastaferro and editor Bruce Green
· Audio Commentary by fans/filmmakers Adam Green and Joe Lynch (New to the Set)
· Lost Tales from Camp Blood - Part 6
· The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited Part III
· Jason Lives: The Making of Friday the 13th: Part VI
· Meeting Mr. Voorhees
· Slashed Scenes
· Vintage Fangoria Magazine Article (BD Rom – New to the Set)
· TV Spots (New to the Set)
· Theatrical Trailer

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD

· Audio Commentary with director John Carl Buechler and actor Kane Hodder
· Audio Commentary with director John Carl Buechler and actors Lar Park Lincoln and Kane Hodder
· Jason's Destroyer: The Making of Friday the 13th Part VII
· Mind Over Matter: The Truth About Telekinesis
· Makeover by Maddy: Need A Little Touch-Up Work, My A**
· Slashed Scenes with introduction
· Vintage Fangoria Magazine Article (BD Rom – New to Set)
· Theatrical Trailer
· TV Spot (New to Set)

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN

· Audio Commentary with director Rob Hedden
· Audio Commentary with actors Scott Reeves, Jensen Daggett and Kane Hodder
· New York Has A New Problem: The Making of Friday the 13th Part VIII – Jason Takes Manhattan
· Slashed Scenes
· Gag Reel
· Theatrical Trailer
· TV Spots (New to Set)

JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY (2-discs)

· NEW 2K scan of the original film elements (Theatrical Version)
· NEW 2K scan of the original film elements with HD inserts (Unrated Version)
· NEW interviews with Sean Cunningham, Noel Cunningham, Adam Marcus, Kane Hodder
· NEW Audio Commentary with Adam Marcus and author Peter Bracke
· Audio Commentary with director Adam Marcus and screenwriter Dean Lorey
· Additional TV footage with NEW optional Audio Commentary with director Adam Marcus and author Peter Bracke
· Electronic Press Kit (New to the Set)
· Theatrical Trailer
· TV Spots (New to the Set)

JASON X

· NEW audio commentary with Kane Hodder, writer Todd Farmer and Peter Bracke
· NEW interviews with Sean Cunningham, Noel Cunningham, Kane Hodder, Kristi Angus and Todd Farmer
· Audio Commentary with director Jim Isaac, writer Todd Farmer and producer Noel Cunningham
· The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees – a documentary on the history of Jason
· By Any Means Necessary: The Making of Jason X - Making-of/production documentary
· Electronic Press Kit (New to the Set)
· Theatrical Trailer
· TV Spot (New to the Set)

FREDDY VS. JASON

· Audio Commentary by director Ronny Yu, actors Robert Englund and Ken Kirzinger
· 21 Deleted/Alternate Scenes, Including the Original Opening and Ending with optional commentary by director Ronny Yu and executive producer Douglas Curtis
· Behind-the-Scenes Coverage of the Film's Development - including Screenwriting, Set Design, Makeup, Stunts and Principal Photography
· Visual Effects Exploration
· My Summer Vacation: A Visit to Camp Hackenslash
· Pre-fight press conference at Bally’s Casino in Las Vegas
· Original Theatrical Trailer
· TV Spots
· Music Video: Ill Nino "How Can I Live"

FRIDAY THE 13th (2009)

· Includes the Theatrical Cut and the Special Extended Version
· Hacking Back/Slashing Forward - remembering the groundbreaking original movie
· Terror Trivia Track with Picture-In-Picture with comments from the cast and crew
· The Rebirth of Jason Voorhees – a look at the making of
· Additional Slashed Scenes
· The Best 7 Kills

BONUS DISC 1:

· NEW interview with composer Harry Manfredini
· NEW location featurette on Parts 1 & 2
· The Friday the 13th Chronicles – an 8-part featurette
· Secrets Galore Behind the Gore – a 3-part featurette
· Crystal Lake Victims Tell All!
· Tales from the Cutting Room Floor
· FRIDAY THE 13th artifacts and Collectibles
· Jason Forever – Q & A with Ari Lehman, Warrington Gillette, C.J. Graham and Kane Hodder
· And more to come…

BONUS DISC 2:

· Scream Queens: Horror Heroines Exposed (2014) – including interviews with Adrienne King and Melanie Kinnaman (78 minutes)
· Slice and Dice: The Slasher Film Forever (2013) – including interviews with Corey Feldman and John Carl Buechler (75 minutes)Trailer Reel – all 12 trailers in a row
· Friday the 13th (2009) TV Spots
· Friday the 13th (2009) Electronic Press Kit
· And more to come…

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DVD Review: Friday The 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan

SEPTEMBER 15, 2009

GENRE: SLASHER
SOURCE: DVD (SCREENER)

I’ve already reviewed the film here, as well as put together a little summary/capsule thing for Bloody-D's 13 Days Of Jason retrospective series from this past February, so if you want my in-depth(ish) thoughts on the film, check those out by clicking the links above. In short - I don’t mind Jason Takes Manhattan as much as many others seem to. Yeah he’s on the boat too much, and yeah the leads are lame, but the supporting cast is fun (Wayne, Charles, and of course: JULIUS!) and a boat is still better than the umpteenth stalk through the woods and increasingly convoluted lake area (how many isolated houses are on this goddamn lake anyway?). It was a marked improvement over the previous entry, and as the final “Friday the 13th” entry (before New Line/the Jason title took over), it holds a bit of nostalgic value too. This review concerns the brand new special edition DVD and whether or not you should upgrade (spoiler: you should).

As with the others, Part VIII has been blessed with a 5.1 soundtrack, an upgrade from the previous release’s “Ultra Stereo” (which is still available). Paramount has also made the disc more foreign language friendly - French and Spanish dubs are included, so fans that speak those languages can now enjoy lines like “Toxic waste, son! The city floods out with the stuff every night at midnight!” (subs for all three languages, plus Portuguese, are also included). The picture quality, as with VII, is also a big improvement. Screen grabs are below (click to enlarge):

While not as striking as the difference between the transfers for New Blood, it’s still obvious just at a glance that the 2009 version is superior to the 2004 boxed set counterpart. The color seems a bit off (Jason’s mask seems yellow in the boat pic) at times, but the detail is vastly improved, with much clearer definition (look at the wood on the boat) and, again, the 2009 version restores previously cropped out visual information (look at the Olympus sign on the left side of the Times Sq. screenshot). This is just one of the many benefits of not squishing two films on the same side of a disc, as they did last time.

A more striking improvement is the amount of extras on the disc. Rob Hedden’s previous commentary has not been held over (why?), but there is a brand new one with Scott Reeves, Jensen Daggett, and Kane Hodder (who is recorded via conference call, as he was in Utah shooting Adam Green’s Frozen). It’s a surprisingly fun track, as the two leads mock their performances and clothes, and Kane provides a lot of interesting production info. Reeves could have taken the time to at least glance at the IMDb before leaving for the recording studio (he first asks Kane if he played Jason in any of the other films, then asks him if he has done any other horror films in general! Christ), but it’s a hell of a lot better than Hedden’s track, at any rate.

Of more interest, I am sure, are the “slashed scenes”. Gorehounds might be disappointed to see that only two or three of the kill scenes are extended (one of which is the aftermath of the long sought-after “dart” kill), but fans of the film will enjoy all of the little character beats and such that are presented here, as well as a minor subplot about how their graduating class was going to be the last, as the school was closing (I’m sure this tied into the notion that the film was intended as a series finale). A few more excised moments can be seen in the largely unfunny gag reel (only Peter Mark Richman’s goofs really amuse, as well as a prank Kane pulled on Tiffany Paulson in the opening sequence), so check that out for a few more. Rounding things out is the traditional 20 minute-ish retrospective piece on the film, with Hedden, Hodder, and a decent number of the cast, plus composer Fred Mollin and editor Steve Mirkovich (and his son, who played young Jason). By now you know how these things go, but as the film was always considered one of the weakest, it’s also been covered the least. Thus, you probably haven’t heard all of these stories a million times.

While a boxed set is still a rumor, Friday fans should be pretty pleased with these upgrades. Yeah, we’d all love uncut editions, but without the elements to do them properly, they’re probably never going to happen. And even if that one kill or that one cast member couldn’t be found, these discs are practically Lord Of The Rings-ian when compared to their 2004 counterparts, and for that every Friday fan owes Dan Farrands and his crew a giant debt of gratitude. It’s a shame he wasn’t involved with the releases of the first 3, but what’s important to realize is that even Paramount knew that the discs could be better and brought him on board to do 4-6 and kept him around for 7-8. Like the truly invaluable "Crystal Lake Memories" (which he edited), Farrands doesn’t play favorites with these films the way that David Grove did with his book - each film, good or bad, now has a respectable special edition that its supporters can relish and that its detractors can use to give it another chance.

Film score 6/10
DVD score 8/10

PLEASE, GO ON...

DVD Review: Friday the 13th VII: The New Blood

SEPTEMBER 15, 2009

GENRE: SLASHER
SOURCE: DVD (SCREENER)

I’ve already reviewed the film proper here, as well as put together a little summary/capsule thing for Bloody-D's 13 Days Of Jason retrospective series from this past February, so if you want my in-depth(ish) thoughts on the film, check those out by clicking the links above. In short - I don’t really like The New Blood much. Jason’s look is awesome and some of the kills are great, but the kids bore me to tears, the rushed production shows at every turn, and I never quite shined to the telekinesis plot, since it was obviously an attempt to compete with the (then more popular) Nightmare On Elm St movies, which had “superpowered” characters in its 3rd and 4th films. This review concerns the brand new special edition DVD and whether or not you should upgrade (spoiler: you should).

Regardless of how I feel about the movie, Paramount and Dan Farrands have put together a fine special edition for it. For some reason it was the only one of the films that had a 5.1 soundtrack on the previous releases, so nothing new to report there. But the video quality is practically night and day. Since no one sent me the other new discs (ahem!) in time for a worthwhile review, I never bothered to compare the video quality with the previous 2004 releases. Below are screenshots from the 2004 boxed set versions and their counterparts from these new 2009 releases (click to enlarge):

Not only is the color much improved, but I was shocked to see how much picture information the 2004 releases were missing. In the shot of Jason in the kitchen, notice the decoration on the left side of the frame that is completely missing from the identical frame on the old release. And in the forest shot, notice the sharper detail in the trees and on Jason’s ratty clothes (and again, far more picture information).

As for the extras, Kane Hodder and John Carl Buechler’s old commentary is gone, but the pair have recorded a new commentary, this time joined by (a separate) Lar Park Lincoln. It’s not a bad track; Hodder and Buechler repeat some of the stuff they said on the last one, but Lincoln’s thoughts are obviously new, and thankfully she takes up the bulk of the track (unless you haven’t listened to the old one, in which case you might want to hear more from the guys). And Buechler admits that the story isn’t up to par, which I don’t think he fessed up to on the last one.

We also get about 15 minutes’ worth of deleted footage. The footage isn’t in particularly good shape - it seems to be taken from a VHS tape with a bad tracking problem, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the damn cassette had been stored in someone’s flooded basement. It’s an even split between excised character stuff and kills, some of which were on the boxed set. Of most interest is a deleted epilogue in which Jason resurfaces from the water, which would have been nice to have (the theatrical cut of New Blood is one of the only films in the series that doesn’t end on a scare). Of course, we also get the usual retrospective with cast and crew, though it runs a bit shorter than usual and skimps over the more interesting things about the film’s production (such as its origin as Freddy vs. Jason). Then there is an interesting look at “real” telekinetic cases, as well as how realistic the film is at portraying this power (spoiler: it isn’t).

Of no use to anyone is a three minute fluff piece of actresses Diana Barrows and Elizabeth Kaitan going for a makeover, spurred by one of the film’s few memorable lines (“Need a little touch up my ass”). I could see maybe this thing having some merit had the girls at least talked about the movie a bit while they got their nails done and tried on new clothes, but nope. Even at three minutes, it’s a fucking waste of disc space, time, energy, and any other abstract object you can imagine. The only good thing I can say about it is that at least it’s not another episode of "Lost Tales From Camp Blood", which has finally been ‘cancelled’ (or maybe it just concluded its run - I stopped watching these worthless things after the 3rd entry).

In my opinion, it’s the weakest film of Paramount’s series, but like all of the others, it’s not without merit, and blood or not, is fun to watch with a bunch of friends and some beer. The extras aren’t quite as extensive as they are for Final Chapter or whatever, but if you’re a fan of the film there is no question you should be picking this version up. The fact that a proper special edition exists at all is a laudable achievement; after years of bitching, Paramount has finally tried to make amends for the previous releases - for the good films and the bad ones.

Film Score 4/10
DVD score 8/10

PLEASE, GO ON...

Non Canon Review: Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)

FEBRUARY 9, 2009

GENRE: SLASHER, SUPERNATURAL
SOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)
LAST SEEN: 2004 (DVD)

The first time I actually felt old was during the opening weekend of Freddy Vs. Jason. First, none of my friends wanted to go. I remember pleading “Come on! We’ve been waiting for this since grade school!” But no dice; in the end it was just me and my girlfriend, who hadn’t even seen most of the movies. Also, during the opening scene when the girl showed her tits, the kid next to me began making comments and shouting at the screen, and I had to tell him to shut up. In retrospect, the inane shit he was saying was just as bad as the inane shit the people in the movie were saying, but still, it doesn’t change the fact that I had become the old man in the crowd.

The main problem I had then, and now, with FvJ is that it’s not an equal movie. It’s a Freddy movie that Jason appears in, and I say this even though Jason kills all but like two people in the movie. This was a movie that was promised IN a Jason movie (Goes To Hell), but yet at no time, even during the Jason-centric scenes (i.e. the opening, the rave), did I ever truly feel like I was watching a Friday the 13th movie.

Making matters worse, it actually would have made for a pretty decent Freddy sequel, had Jason’s role simply been some anonymous (non-supernatural) killer. The idea of Springwood “quarantining” Freddy by keeping everyone who remembered him in comas is pretty great, and I also like the idea of Freddy gaining power by getting credit for someone else’s kills. Had the filmmakers not been tied to using Jason, they could have done more with this concept - I would have loved to have seen people coming up with different ideas of what this guy looked like in their nightmares (if no one remembered Freddy, how would they get the details of his appearance right?).

But even with that taken into consideration, it’s just a giant disappointment. The dialogue is beyond horrible (“Freddy died by fire Jason died by water, how can we use that?”), the kids aren’t compelling, and there are nonsensical plot developments that make even Jason Takes Manhattan look logic-proof in comparison (I love how the cop seeks out a few kids he doesn’t even know in order to help them find a serial killer). And like Jason X, they blow their wad on the first kill (the bed breaking) before settling for a bunch of lame ones that you’ll never remember.

The logic holes are just impossible to ignore though. Jason walks from CT (or NJ) to Ohio, a MINIMUM distance of 500 miles, seemingly in one night, and never kills anyone along the way. People fall asleep in the most unnatural situations possible, a lame cheat to get around the whole “we don’t know if they are asleep or awake” thing. And if Freddy is strong enough to resurrect Jason from Hell, why can’t he just do the same damn thing for himself?

The biggest problem, however, is the total lack of evidence that anyone had even SEEN one of the other Friday films. While Freddy gets some nice shoutouts (the house, Hypnocil*, some of Freddy’s more classic one-liners), it appears that the Jason motifs were learned from watching the trailers for a couple of them. He is from Crystal Lake, his mother is important... and that’s it. Nothing set up in JGTH comes into play, and you can forget about Tommy Jarvis or anyone showing up. Worse - they get so many things so damn WRONG. Since when is Jason afraid of water? And why would he chop off a guy’s head and then wait until his son wakes up to do him in as well? They don’t even get the ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma right (it sounds like chee-hahahahahaahah). The poster tells you all you need to know - Robert Englund’s name is there, but not Ken Kirzinger. Ultimately, since 90% of the movie takes place in Springwood and the plot is about Freddy’s rebirth, Jason is essentially a glorified Macguffin in the film until the final 10-15 minutes.

That finale, of course, is when the movie finally delivers on its titular promise. The battle is impressive, and for once in the movie, it doesn’t feel like one killer was favored over the other. Since Jason is stronger, Freddy has to use his environment, and it makes for a frenetic and exciting battle (THIS is how the finale of New Blood should have played out). And it’s also impressively splatter-y, particularly when they are more or less holding each other and gouging out eyes and cutting off fingers and such. And I LOVED that they are more or less “killed” by their own weapons - Jason using Freddy’s glove, Freddy wielding the machete. Obviously the whole movie couldn’t have just been the two of them whaling on each other (though that would be an interesting approach), but it’s a shame that they didn’t let them interact until the final act. There’s a great bit during the fight where Kelly Rowland’s character begins to trash talk Freddy, who lets her ramble before pointing out that she forgot about Jason standing nearby. More of the movie should have been their sort of “teamup”, but I don’t even think Jason is aware of Freddy’s existence until the final half hour.

On the plus side, it’s certainly the most stylish and interesting looking movie in the series (again though, that’s something that makes it feel like just a Freddy movie), and while replacing Kane Hodder is one of the lamest moves in horror movie history, Ken Kirzinger is a formidable Jason, questionable makeup decisions notwithstanding (what’s with the black head?). I also liked the idea that when Jason dreams, it’s of just doing the same shit he does when he’s awake (I also dig his sideways water hole of bodies).

However, it does have its fans, and they must be delighted with the DVD set - it’s easily the most jam-packed edition for films in either series. You get a commentary with director Ronny Yu, Robert Englund, and Kirzinger, and it’s a fun track, despite Englund’s traditionally lame puns and “humorous” comments. Englund is a movie/tv encyclopedia, so he’s constantly bringing up random movies and shows (“This shot reminds me of the TV movie Coma...”), which is pretty awesome because it’s the same type of nonsense I’d be saying. The DVD also offers a full-screen presentation for those fans who also happen to be idiots.

The 2nd disc has about three hours’ worth of content - including a very in depth look at the CGI shots in the movie, a handful of deleted scenes (with Yu commentary), and various other featurettes on production. Everyone obviously worked really hard and the various sets/design elements are indeed impressive, though a few of the comments are bit puzzling (like the guy who says that FvJ is the first horror movie he’s done, because he doesn’t count H20 and Final Destination as horror films?). Englund admits to using a double for some of the action during the look on the stunts, which I appreciated - beats a “I did all my own stunts” boast that everyone else will instantly refute. There’s also a fun look at the “summer camp” atmosphere created for the film’s premiere at the legendary Alamo Drafthouse in TX.

The most fascinating, however, is a look at the script’s development. There are two text articles (originally run in Fangoria) about the various unused concepts, and then a 10-15 minute piece with the eventual credited writers (Mark Swift and Damian Shannon**, who wrote the Dunes’ remake), the super hot New Line VP who greenlit the movie, Yu, and a few others. It’s a terrific piece, and far more interesting than anything that you’ll see in the final product. Also worth pointing out - a collection of trailers for (then) recent New Line movies, as well as Jason Goes to Hell and Freddy’s Dead. It’s interesting because it skips over New Nightmare and Jason X, likely due to the fact that they were box office duds.

I never really expected a great movie out of this concept, and like I said, as a Freddy movie it’s actually not all that bad. But the total unbalance in Freddy’s favor, and unforgivable rewriting of Jason’s character, make it hard to swallow for this Friday fan. I don’t even really count it as part of the franchise, but since it was the last time Jason appeared in a film until the remake, I thought I’d give it another look and include it in my marathon coverage. Rest assured, it will more than likely be the last time I touch the DVD.

What say you?

* It’s been 16 years and this shit STILL doesn’t have FDA approval?
** Rumblings during interviews for the remake, and also on the His Name Was Jason DVD, suggest that the pair are not entirely happy with the finished product on this movie either, and want to make clear that Jason was NOT afraid of water in their draft.

PLEASE, GO ON...

His Name Was Jason (2009)

JANUARY 30, 2009

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY
SOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)

A sentiment that many of the cast and crew on the Friday the 13th films share is that they thought their respective film, or at the very least, their role in it, would be forgotten in a couple of years. But as we all know, that is not the case, and now after two pretty in-depth books about the franchise, we have His Name Was Jason, a 90 minute documentary chronicling the franchise’s legacy from the perspective of both the filmmakers/cast, and some of its supporters within the horror community.

Unlike the books, which tackle each film one at a time, the doc spends about 10 minutes quickly summarizing the 11 films (the remake is discussed near the end of the film, sans footage or even stills) before getting to the real meat of the movie: the impact of the series as a whole. Film personnel and assorted celebrities spend the bulk of the film providing their thoughts on a variety of topics, including the MPAA battles, Jason’s different looks, and even the NES game (Adam Green’s synopsis of that disaster is worth the price of admission alone).

The great thing about the movie is seeing everyone again. Let’s not beat around the bush - it’s not often you watch an F13 film and recognize a bunch of folks. And since the big guns (Kevin Bacon, Corey Feldman, Crispin Glover) don’t appear anyway, it allows us to spend more time with folks like Final Chapter’s Judie Aronson (still SO hot), New Beginning director Danny Steinmann (who hasn’t made a film since), and the cast of New Blood (almost all of whom appear). Some haven’t aged well, others have (hello there, Jensen Daggett). But the omission of a few (such as Steve Miner) just reinforces the fact that those who DO want to talk about it have fond memories of their time at Crystal Lake. This movie’s a celebration, and so if folks didn’t want to be there, chances are we wouldn’t care what they have to say. Fuck em.

One gripe is the “I Love the 80s” feel about the movie. I can understand having someone like Adam Green around (the F13-inspired Hatchet is the only non-Friday film in the movie to make an appearance), and even horror journalists, most of whom grew up as fans and are now reporting on the franchise’s newer developments. But why the hell is James Roday from the non-horror show Psych taking up screentime? Why is Seth Green and some other guy rambling about what Friday characters should and shouldn’t do? Not that their comments are invalid (Seth Green is actually pretty hilarious), but I would have preferred all of their appearances confined to (brief) “How Friday has affected pop culture” section or whatever, and keep it to the personnel the rest of the time. Again - Paramount has really dropped the ball when it comes to providing extras for these movies, so this doc is probably the only time we’ll get to see these people reminisce. I don’t want Victor Miller’s screentime shortened so we can make sure Felissa Rose can speak her mind.

Luckily, there are lots and lots of supplemental material that fill in some of the gaps and make the package better as a whole. The bulk of the extras are on the 2nd disc, but disc 1 also contains longer interviews with all of the Jason actors, running about 45 minutes total. Some great anecdotes are included here (Ted White apparently couldn’t stand Corey Feldman), and it’s interesting to see how different the actors look from one another, and also how differently they recall their time behind the mask (White was originally dismissive of the role, and now embraces it, for example). The remake’s Derek Mears also proves to be the most appreciative of the other actors - whereas most of them point out how they didn’t want to do anything that the other guys had done, Mears took efforts to offer little tips of the hat to his predecessors via specific poses and such.

Be prepared to spend about three hours on disc 2. Over an hour of longer interviews with the film’s directors (all of them save Miner are present) kicks things off, and like with the actors, you’ll get a lot of great little anecdotes while realizing that some have fonder memories than others. Then there’s about 20 minutes’ worth of deleted scenes from the movie, in which certain topics are covered by two or three individuals. A few of the screenwriters also offer longer thoughts, and it’s worth noting how much more direct and honest they are when compared to their film’s respective directors (best line comes from Victor Miller: “Sean may call it an homage, I call it grand theft cinema” - regarding the Carrie-inspired ending).

The rest of the stuff isn’t as exhaustive. A pair of featurettes in which Fox from part 3, and Rob and director Joe Zito from Final Chapter, take you on a tour from a main location from their respective film is a great idea; I wish they had done one for every film. Then we get a collection of “fan films”, which are amusing but hardly essential (Zero Punctuation need not worry about Angry Video Game Nerd) though the “Rupert Takes Manhattan” one is worth viewing for Jason’s letter alone. Adam Green, Joe Lynch and Uncle Creepy then spend four minutes explaining the entire series, which is a pretty damn funny little bit. Then there’s a “Crystal Lake Survival Guide”, in which pretty much everyone interviewed for the film tells you what not to do when visiting the area (“Don’t step around Jason’s body”). Some Comic Con interviews with key folks from the remake are also included, and I’d like to point out that I was actually in the room when they were shot (you won’t see me though, I was too busy on my ultimately fruitless attempt to score one of the posters you’ll see behind the talent). Finally, a bit called “Shelly Lives”, which I will let you discover for yourself.

It’s kind of sad, but also very telling, that the most exhaustive and “complete” special edition for an F13 movie yet isn’t even an actual franchise entry. Paramount and New Line have never really delivered a top notch, overloaded set like this for any of their films (though at least Paramount is currently trying to make amends for their pitiful boxed set), so it’s nice to see them beat at their own game by Dan Farrands, Anthony Masi, and the rest of the folks behind this film. Take Steinmann, for example: he’s nowhere to be found on Paramount’s release of part 5, but Farrands and co. got him to talk for hours about it. It’s nice to know that someone with the power to deliver the things that fans want will actually use their position to get it to them, while Paramount offers us insultingly stupid filler like “Lost Tales From Camp Blood” on their discs. Don’t settle for renting disc 1 from Netflix, because you’ll be missing out on most of the fun. Every F13 fan should own this set, period.

What say you?

PLEASE, GO ON...

Non Canon Review: Friday The 13th Part 2 (1981)

JANUARY 30, 2009

GENRE: SLASHER
SOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)
LAST SEEN: ?

I honestly can’t recall the last time I watched Friday the 13th Part 2. It seems like it was really recent, like at the New Bev or something, but if that is the case I didn’t write a review, which doesn’t make sense. I know for sure I watched it in 2004, but I feel like I watched it within the past 2 years as well. I dunno. My memory sucks.

Anyway, I really dig part 2. It’s basically a remake of the original in terms of structure, though slightly faster paced (the body count is the same, but it’s ten minutes shorter and all but one of the kills are onscreen). I also, again, like these kids. They’re not bitchy or overly horny or douchey. Well, technically Scott is, but his target is somewhat charmed by his slingshotting/clothes stealing antics, and thus so are we.

I also kind of like/miss the idea that Jason is a human being. He really only had three movies as a mortal guy, from then on he was a supernatural force. This one may even make him a bit TOO human: he wears a nice pair of jeans, has a place to live, everything. He even has two chairs in his shack in case he needs to entertain company. But he was just plain scarier when he was a real guy.

Paul is also a much better “adult” than Steve Christy. What he lacks in "guy on a neighborhood watch list" appearance he makes up for in snarky attitude (“No seconds on dessert...”) and laid back charm. The scene where he says hello to everyone is great - he mocks some kids, and also waxes nostalgic about previous training sessions with others (these kids are all professional camp counselors, apparently). And the pained look on his face when Ginny beats him at chess is priceless.

Another thing I appreciate was the attention to detail. The lake looks the same as the one in the original (in that it’s pretty giant - the later films made it look like a little pond), and Alice is shown to still be drawing. It’s not much, but again, when compared to the later “ah, screw it” attitude of the sequels, it’s almost Oscar worthy. You go a while with watching only the New Line entries, and it’s almost a shock to the system to realize that back in the day, the filmmakers actually gave a hoot about the work of their predecessors. Hell, even the requisite cat scare is better than most, since the cat comes from outside, not a cupboard or whatever.

The only time in the series I didn’t side with Jason.

Of course it’s not without typically “baffling when you think about it” filmmaking issues. At least two of the kills make no sense whatsoever (why doesn’t Mark see Jason in front of him? They’re on a porch, it’s not like there’s a lot of horizontal room), and the kids who all take off to the bar should have come back at some point (I’d argue that their drunken excursions cost the audience too many kills - Ted should have been killed at least). There’s also Terri’s peculiar search for her dog - she keeps saying “Muffin?” but she’s looking straight ahead at eye level. And even though it’s shorter than the original, at times it actually feels longer, particularly during the endless chase at the end (which goes on for so long Miner actually has fade outs during the damn thing).

The new cash-in DVD release isn’t as extensive as Part 1’s, but it’s a quality over quantity deal. An interview with Peter Bracke (author of "Crystal Lake Memories") is pretty interesting, as is a panel from Fangoria’s 2004 New Jersey con with four of the Jasons (a panel I was actually in attendance for!). There’s also a rather silly look at some convention called Scarefest, where the festival organizers go on and on about how wide the aisles are and how much the attendees like the hotel, all the while skirting around the fact that those same fans are asked to dish out 20 bucks a pop to have these folks sign their own property. Another of those worthless “Lost Tales From Camp Blood” is also thrown in for whatever reason, and it's even worse than the first one. Finally, the film’s trailer is included.

I want to talk about the trailer, because it was pretty interesting for a few reasons. One - it uses the roman numeral II instead of “2”, which is what is used on the film itself (it’s notable because if not for the later Friday films, no one would know how to use Roman numerals today). Also, it blatantly lies about the events of the first film, claiming that twelve of Alice’s friends were killed, when in actuality only nine people died in the entire movie, three of which Alice never met. The reason, of course, is to recycle the “13/body count” thing from the 1st movie’s trailer. So they start at 14, and truthfully stop at 23, as Part 2 has a total of ten deaths (even though the clips don’t match up with the numbers). But that’s sort of unproductive, because it inadvertently makes it look like the movie has a lower body count than the original! What a wacky spot.

Overall, it’s up there with 1, 4, and 6 as the best of the Fridays. It just plain works, and proves again that a gimmick (3D, telekinesis, Freddy) is never a good idea. The sequels always turned out better when they stuck to the basics.

What say you?

PLEASE, GO ON...

Friday the 13th (2009)

JANUARY 30, 2009

GENRE: SLASHER
SOURCE: THEATRICAL (PRESS SCREENING)

Ever since I saw the teaser at Comic Con, I have been on board with Platinum Dunes' Friday the 13th remake. I liked the cast, I liked Jason's look, and I liked that they seemingly were trying really hard to make an F13 film that would sit comfortably with parts 1-4 (swap out 3 for 6, and that's the best of the franchise, by far). And while the end product is satisfying and occasionally great, there are some blunders that keep it from being the "ultimate Jason" movie that it could have easily been with another pass or two at the script.

Let's start with what works. The opening scene, which quickly explains the events of the original Friday, is a great idea. You can't ignore the mother, but you don't want to dwell on it either, so they blend it with the opening credits and get it out of the way. Also, Derek Mears is a great Jason - he's got the physicality and presence to match up with the best of them, and Scott Stoddard has done a great job with the makeup, making him look human, but not "just a guy in a mask", like he often appeared in the earlier films. You really feel that he's a guy who's lived in the woods for his whole life. And I really liked that they didn't come up with a bunch of "unique" kils - Jason sticks to the basics (machete, axe, bare hands) for the most part. He even uses an arrow for the first time since the original I believe. Like I said in my review for Part 2 - it's the films without gimmicks, with Jason just being Jason, that turn out the best.

But for every plus, there is a minus. The biggest is the rather awkward setup. After the "Mrs. Voorhees" prologue, we are introduced to a group of kids. But Jared Padalecki and the other top billed actors are not among them, so you know they aren't long for this world - they are ultimately just there to provide some fodder and introduce Amanda Righetti's character, who Padalecki will spend the entire film looking for once he is finally introduced. The odd thing is: this throwaway group is actually more fun and "Friday"-esque than the real group that comes along later. So while you are enjoying their antics and interactions (not to mention the fact that Righetti and America Olivo are among the most beautiful actresses in franchise history), you know they're all goners, and you just kind of want to get on to the actual movie. It's essentially a second prologue, albeit one that lasts about 15-20 minutes. As a result, by the time the REAL group came along, I felt like I was already watching a sequel. And furthermore, this limits the amount of time that THESE kids can spend together before separating and meeting their demise, which is a drag.

There is one bright spot in the main group though: Travis Van Winkle's character. He's a douchebag, but the kind of douchebag that you love. Nearly every one of his lines is laugh out loud worthy, particularly his interactions with Padalecki, and he steals the movie away from everyone that isn't Jason. Padalecki, on the other hand, is almost a non-factor in the movie. He's playing a variant of the Rob character from Final Chapter, but he just doesn't fit into the film at all. Maybe it's because he's a much more familiar face than the others, but whatever the cause, he sticks out like a sore thumb. The other kids are natural and fun and function as they are supposed to, no complaints there.

But I couldn't help but be distracted by one of the guys, who has an unfortunate resemblance to actor Mike Vogel from the Chainsaw remake. I know it's the same director and DP as that film, but I wasn't expecting their Friday to look SO MUCH like it. It technically looks great and beautiful, I never once buy that they are in New Jersey (it was actually shot in the same town as Tobe Hooper's original Massacre), and Marcus Nispel/Daniel Pearl have filtered the hell out of everything (really orange daytime, really blue nighttime) - nothing in the movie looks natural, resulting in a movie that actually looks the complete opposite from a Friday film, which is naturally lit and thus kind of bland. They went from one extreme to another, and thus at times I felt like I was watching a sequel to their Chainsaw film whenever Jason wasn't on screen. At one point, Padelecki and one of the girls discover a wheelchair in the underground tunnel system that Jason uses (he's sort of a Rambo-y survivalist here, with traps and everything), and while it's supposed to be a little reference to Friday 2, the first thing that popped in my mind was finding Franklin in Hooper's Chainsaw 2, because so much of the film felt from that universe instead of Friday's.

One final gripe concerns Jason's mother issues. Righetti looks like her, so he keeps her chained up. How is that "fun"? Between that and the traps he had lying around the area, it started to become dangerously close to Saw/Hostel territory (I actually wrote "Jigson" down in my notes). To its credit, he simply chains her up and her attempts to get free don't involve any self-inclicted pain, but still: the sight of a girl chained up and screaming is not what I think of when I think of "sticking to the tone of Fridays 1-4" (Brad Fuller and Andrew Form's own words). I know it's a "re-imagining" and yadda yadda, but they should have figured a way to come up with their own unique story (which they have) while keeping the light tone intact. Maybe we just have different ideas of what the first few films were like - I think of completely political incorrect teens, fake scares, and keeping the Final Girl out of harm's way for the entire film so she can find all of her dead friends later, but none of those things are present here.

However, silver lining and all - the "search for missing sister" setup allows for the film to have essentially two Final Girls. Righetti is one, the other is Danielle Panabaker as the "nice girl" of the 2nd group. You know the fates of every other character*, so it was nice to have a little bit of suspense whenever one of the two girls were in danger, because you suspect that one of them will buy it, you're just not sure which. It's one of the best ways around an inherent flaw in the slasher formula I've ever seen.

I know the review sounds mostly negative, but that's because I glossed over the great things about it, so you can enjoy it for yourself, while backing up my problems so you know I'm not just bitching. Everyone knows I am in Michael Bay's corner (I was the only one to cheer when his name came onscreen), and I've enjoyed all of PD's other remakes. And I enjoyed this one too; if 1-4 were their goal, then they have come pretty close to making it (it's better than 3, actually). I was hoping for something closer to 1 or 2, and maybe with time I will feel that way (I should note that some of my fellow horror nerds, such as Devin from CHUD and Ryan from Shock, loved it almost unconditionally). It's the best since 6 by far, which in itself is a huge accomplishment, as I was starting to suspect that it was just not possible to make a good Jason film anymore. The Dunes have done that; I just hope next time they make a great one.

What say you?

*At one point the token black guy goes to look for his missing (dead) friend, and says something like "I will surprise you at every turn!". Some guy in the back of the theater yelled "I'm surprised you weren't the first to die!!!" I laughed heartily for a solid 5 minutes.

PLEASE, GO ON...

Non Canon Review: Friday The 13th (1980)

JANUARY 25, 2009

GENRE: SLASHER
SOURCE: BLU-RAY (OWN COLLECTION)
LAST SEEN: 2004

I wonder what it was like for folks to see Friday the 13th during its initial theatrical run, or even a year or two later. Because for me, like many other fans I am sure, Friday the 13th means Jason. The first one I saw was Final Chapter, which had Jason, hockey mask, and the formula down pat. One of the universal memories for a lot of fans in my age group is finding out from a friend, or from an actual viewing, that Jason didn’t appear in the film at all except as a slimy mongoloid child in a lake. “His mom’s the killer? What the-!!"

As such, it’s probably the ONLY horror franchise in which saying that “part ___” is your favorite won’t get you roasted alive. It’s not very often you hear someone claim that Halloween 6 or Nightmare on Elm St 4 represents the best of the series, but with Friday the 13th, it’s equally uncommon to hear “the first one is the best”, at least in my experience. Obviously, the primary reason would be the lack of Jason, but in this most recent viewing, I was hard-pressed to find any other reason for putting it a notch or two below some “traditional” entries.

For starters, it’s the only one besides Jason Lives that has more of a focus on suspense than a body count. Only ten folks are killed in this one (a low for the series, though that’s hardly a surprise), and half of them are off-screen. But rather than have everyone die the second they split away from the others, as they do in the sequels, everyone gets a pretty lengthy stalk/atmosphere scene (and in Brenda and Bill’s case, that’s all they get, since their death is hidden from our eyes).

The characters also have far more personality than the later films (again, except for Jason Lives, which like this one, has a much smaller group to deal with). I love the scene where Officer Dorf comes along, because everyone (except Alice, who must be off dealing with whatever vague problem she has “out west”) gets a little moment to show their personality. They talk to themselves in the bathroom, doing impressions and such, make off the cuff remarks... they’re real people. There’s also a sense of camaraderie that a lot of the other entries lacked – even though these kids just met or barely knew each other, they seem more like a real group than say the kids in New Blood, who are supposed to be close friends and yet don’t gel together at all.

Plus, I liked the idea that the lake is actually part of the real world. We see diners, cops, truckers... it feels easier to identify with, like a place I would go to or actually have gone to in Maine or whatever. Again, some of the later sequels felt less natural because they were always so devoid of life beyond the people that were about to get killed.

And yet it still has that lovably cheap charm that is present for the entire series. The most laughable example is the “thunderstorm” that Kevin Bacon sees, which is clearly just a guy shining an orange light on his face from a few feet away. But you also get the scares that make no real world sense at all (was Crazy Ralph just waiting in the closet all day, hoping someone would need a can of soup?), people without peripheral vision, etc. And I think every single corpse blinks or takes a breath.

I wonder if the campers/counselors at
Tomahawk Lake run into as many problems.

One low-budget aspect that’s not as charming is the editing. It downright sucks at times: shots linger on forever (there’s at least two shots of Alice leaving a shot, and then we just look at a tree or whatever for another 10 seconds), and the film as a whole is about 10 minutes too long. There’s a fine line between developing character (having the kids play Strip Monopoly) and padding the runtime (watching all three of them take their turns back to back, with only a boot coming off). If they needed to be 95 minutes for whatever reason, maybe they should have shot an additional scene at the beginning with Mrs. Voorhees (or even someone mentioning that she EXISTED), which would make the reveal much less of a cheat. Though to Sean Cunningham and all 45 writers’ credit – they don’t really make much of an effort to make her look innocent, she pulls up in the jeep we know belongs to the killer, and more or less reveals her intentions about 12 seconds after meeting Alice), rather than waste time thinking she’s an ally only to slowly let her true side out.

Folks have demanded a proper special edition for years, and thanks to Platinum Dunes’ remake, we finally got one (I suspect that 90% of all horror remakes exist solely to make money off the original film again), and on Blu-Ray to boot. The video quality is quite good on the BR, particularly in the daytime scenes (look at the level of detail on the bricks and stones when Annie is walking through the town). It’s a very grainy film, and kudos to Paramount for not de-graining it for its high def release, which is a disastrous process that other films have suffered the indignity of on their ‘remastered’ Blu releases (Dark City, for example, now resembles something shot on DV). And the cut footage, which totals 10 seconds, is well integrated back into the film. The new 5.1 mix SOUNDS good, though the surrounds are mostly ignored. Considering all of the POV shots, I was hoping for a lot of tree branch crackling type noises to be coming out of my rear channels, but I honestly forgot that I was listening to a 5.1 mix once the film began. Still, it’s clear and richer than the original mono track (which is included) for sure.

A wealth of extras are also included, though for the most part they cater only to new fans (presumably those who will come out of the new film and then discover that it was a remake), as it’s just a bunch of stuff die hards already know (Betsy Palmer thought the script was a piece of shit! Tom Savini’s friend played Mrs. Voorhees at the end of the movie! It was cold in the lake!). There’s some reunion footage and a basic retrospective, both run about 15 minutes, with everyone telling the stories you expect. Another new feature is a lame short film focusing on a pair of Jason-esque murders. Without any explanation for its inclusion, this is the worst kind of filler nonsense, and it should have been excised in order to up the bit budget of the film itself. The one sort of interesting (to a well versed nerd like me) piece is an interview with Cunningham, shot in his own home. Again, it’s not like you’ll learn a lot, but it’s a nice and honest self-examination of the guy who is attributed to ‘creating Jason’ (something he more or less takes no credit for). There’s a commentary by Cunningham and a bunch of others, though it seems to be edited together from interviews instead of a screen-specific track. Again – if you’ve already read the books or even a bunch of Fangorias on the subject, you won’t really learn anything new. We also get the awesome original trailer.

Blu-Ray owners get two more extra features, another sort of generic retrospective about the film, and a look at Savini’s creations. Ironically enough, even they are exclusive to the Blu-Ray, they are presented in standard def and are also incredibly dark (which is great when Savini is talking about his legendary work, because you can’t fucking see any of it). They also seem to be re-edited from a full length (or at least, wider-ranging) doc about the series as a whole, as people from all of the films are thanked during the end credits despite the fact that only part 1 is represented either with cast, crew, or clips. In short – if you’re not a Blu-ray owner, I wouldn’t consider this to be the disc you lose your 1080p virginity on, but if you have BL already, by all means enjoy the crisper picture and less shelf-hogging package.

A landmark film that is known as much today for what it DOESN’T have compared to what it does, Friday the 13th is a must see for any horror fan. It holds up fairly well, and is nowhere near as half-assed or reprehensible as some critics would have you believe. And the great thing about it is that it proves a point that I have been trying to make since Horror Movie A Day began: I don’t care if a film exists solely to make some money (Cunningham and the others freely admit that it was made “to keep the lights on”), as long as the people involved put some effort into making something that will actually entertain, rather than use their “independence” as an excuse for its faults. That’s something the Michael Feifers of the world clearly don’t understand and possibly never will.

What say you?

PLEASE, GO ON...

Non Canon Review: Jason X (2001)

JANUARY 23, 2009

GENRE: SLASHER
SOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)

It seems hard to believe (at least, to me) but I actually missed Jason X during its brief theatrical run in the spring of 2002. There were two reasons: One – I was broke, and two – I was working on my student film (which was why I was broke). And folks told me it kind of sucked, so even though I felt kind of sad about missing this nearly mythical film in theaters, I opted to wait until DVD. Sometimes I wonder if my opinion of the film would be different had I gone with a few friends on opening night, as I did for JGTH and Freddy Vs, both of which I liked in theaters only to get bored to tears when watching them at home.

The problem with this movie is that it’s just so damn lackluster. It was the longest wait ever for a Jason movie (and probably always will be – nine years?!?!), an entirely new setting, new technology to use... and Jason strangles or “breaks” like half of his victims (with another half dozen off screen). By my count, there are really only 3 exciting kills in the entire movie (cyro-face, sucked through the airtube, and guy being cut in half at the waist). The crew is really proud of the fact that this is the least MPAA-mangled film in the entire series, but watching it I had to wonder – what the fuck would the MPAA have a problem with? An explosion? Christ, Prom Night had more splatter. Even the air tube one is limited to a shot of some latex smeared on a metal grate.

And by now I don’t expect any real continuity, but Jason’s appearance is just unforgivable. We can see Kane Hodder’s very human face through the eyeholes, and his outfit doesn’t look right either. The mask is also pretty terrible; even the fake one in part 5 looked better. And while he may have lost his teleportation ability, he has seemingly gained incredible intelligence – he never once seems confused as to why there are virtual reality worlds around him, and he knows exactly how to handle cryogenics the moment he wakes up in the future.

There are also a great number of missed opportunities. The science guys at the beginning claim that they want to study Jason for his unique regenerative abilities, and then the future has this nano-technology that can regenerate damaged tissue almost instantly (one of Todd Farmer’s best ideas is to have this technology get used early on in a funny scene where the frozen Jason manages to cut a guy’s arm off – it foreshadows Jason’s using it later AND it’s pretty funny). Why not work in a line or scene where the future people discover that it was Jason himself that allowed this technology to get created in the first place? That would be awesome!

Also, they apparently didn’t learn from VIII that putting Jason on a ship is a bad idea, but why never give him a chance to do his thing before he is discovered? He wakes up at the 30 minute mark, and everyone is in “Jason is alive!” panic mode at 36 minutes. They go out of their way to introduce a bunch of teenagers for Jason to kill, but they never get to really do anything teenager-y before they are all running for their lives and such. And on that note – I assume we’re supposed to believe that Jason is re-awakened because he senses all of the sex going on, but Jim Isaac is too pedestrian a director to make this idea even clear, let alone as perversely hilarious as it should be. For a movie that’s supposed to be funny, a lot of the humor is totally botched.

I know I knock on Harry Manfredini a lot for recycling his scores, but this movie proves why he should do just that. He did an all new score for this one, and it’s fucking TERRIBLE. It sounds like DVD menu music, or something taken from a 99 cent “Sounds of Halloween” CD from the supermarket. And why he doesn’t reprise the main theme (at least not really, a brief clip of it is used during the “Virtual Crystal Lake” sequence) is beyond me.

But it does have its strong points as well. One is actress Melyssa Ade, for my money the cutest woman in the series since Amy Steel. Another is the body count - what the movie lacks in quality it makes up for in quantity; Jason kills like 25 individual people in this one, plus causes the death of hundreds more when he kills the ship’s pilot, which results in the ship plowing into a space city and blowing it up. Also, the character of Brodski is the badass opponent we’ve always wanted in one of these movies. Creighton Duke was cool, but Jason killed him like 2 seconds after they first squared off. Brodski survives like 3 certain death situations, plus is the one to actually kill him off at the end (as opposed to the Final Girl). I just wish Tony Todd had played him – the actor is fine, but he’s rather unknown, and it would have been cool to have a known badass play him. And it’s rather minor, but I love the guy who plans to buy Jason from the professor. He’s only in one scene, but there’s something slightly off about the guy that made me wish he was in the movie more.

The DVD has respectable extras, about the same as offered on the Hell disc. We get a commentary with Isaac, Farmer, and producer Noel Cunningham, in which Farmer seems to be the only one who was legitimately excited about making a Jason movie (he also alludes that the script was rewritten without him). There’s also a making of that is mostly about the special effects, and another sort of generic retrospective about the series as a whole (Paramount apparently refused to give them any clips though, so we get lame recreations). New Line also provided a handy “Jump to a death” feature, which is exactly what you think it is.

Oh well, for all its shortcomings, at the end of the day it’s at least fun. Once Jason wakes up there’s a kill every 3-4 minutes, and the cast seems more into it than the last few movies. And like 5, it’s one that benefits from a larger crowd (the most fun I ever had watching it was with 3 or 4 friends and some beer on a hot summer night). It just could have been a lot better given the resources (this is the biggest budgeted film in the series, and it sure as hell didn’t all go toward the CGI, which is often terrible), and it’s a bummer that the space setting barely even factors into Jason’s exploits. I was hoping for one of the better Jason movies, but it’s really on the lower end of the 11 entries. I’ve given up trying to put them in an exact order – but I would say 6, 4, and 2 are my favorites, 1, 5, 3, and 8 are the middle rungs, and 7, 9, and Vs are the weakest. X is either the best of that last group, or the worst of the middle one.

What say you?

PLEASE, GO ON...