I hate to begin this review touting myself as the biggest Friday the 13th nut out there, but it’s true. I adore the early part of the series. The first four films are a part of horror history. And not only are they iconic, but they are actually quite well made films, in spite of what most reviewers will tell you.
Friday the 13th may very well be nothing but a retread of some of the giants that came before it, but no other franchise, not even the other two behemoths in the horror landscape, can claim quite the iconic status that Jason Voorhees has. This character has been around for 26 years and he is still going pretty strong. And with advent of the DVD, fans have been clamoring for a respected box set for the series. We have already been disappointed once before when New Line released a derelict version of the Nightmare on Elm Street box set with only Craven commenting on his films. The rest of the box set was anorexic in features. Now comes the New Line produced box set and although it is better, it still disappoints.
More on this later.
SYNOPSIS
Friday the 13th - The film takes place about 20 years after a young boy named Jason Voorhees drowns while at Camp Crystal Lake. His death was the direct result of the camp counselors making love while the young retarded boy wanders off. His legend has grown to the point where people believe that the young boy still haunts the campsite, disposing of anyone who dare set foot in the place again. After the camp re-opens, the counselors are systematically murdered. The climax is one of the best scenes in any horror film as the famous decapitation is performed without the aid of any CGI.
Friday the 13th Part II - Takes place a few months after the end of the first with the lone survivor of the fist getting killed her own apartment. The camp is re-opened again, this time be two over-zealous counselors who of course don’t believe the urban legend. This time, the young boy himself, now a grown man, in Jason Voorhees, is murdering everyone after seeing his mother decapitated. While this is a retread of the first, it is quite well done and it is the first of two episodes directed by Steve Miner, Sean Cunningham’s good friend who worked with him on Last House on the Left.
Friday the 13th Part III in 3-D - Begins moments after the second episode ends. Jason Voorhees retreats to a near by farm where he presumably nurses himself back to life. Vacationing teenagers take off for a weekend of relaxation at Camp Crystal Lake. Planning a few days of sex, drugs and rock-and-roll, they are in for a series of frightening surprises when a local motorcycle gang follows the teenagers back to their campsite, only to find a persistent Jason with an agenda of his own. This is the first time we are privileged to see Jason adorn the trademark hockey mask after killing our rotund jokester, Shelly. Jason delivers non-stop chills and thrills as everyone on the lake must fight for their lives. This is the second best installment in the series and Steve Miner shows us that he does have a touch for directing.
Friday the 13th Part IV The Final Chapter - Jason resurfaces from a seemingly deadly massacre and returns to Camp Crystal Lake to a new set of prey. Starring a young Corey Feldman as Tommy Jarvis, it seems Jason has finally met his match in the 12-year old horror movie fan Enlisting the help of a local hunter, Tommy and his sister must rely on one another to help defeat Jason, while trying to avoid certain death. Friday the 13th The Final Chapter is easily the best in the series and several factors contribute to this. First, Joseph Zito, who never really surfaced again after this film, directs the film with anger. This is a brutal Jason. This is a Jason that is as much a rated R felon as you can get. Also, Tom Savini returns to end Jason’s reign of terror, and boy does he ever! The final confrontation between Tommy and Jason is sheer and utter fun and puts no doubt (at least at the time) that Jason’s demise was absolute. And finally, although Kane Hodder became famous for playing the maniac, it is Ted White who has the best performance as the homicidal freak. His actions, his mannerisms and even his walk, are the best Voorhees we have seen.
Friday the 13th Part V A New Beginning - Goes a different route and although the premise is as far fetched as can be, the fifth installment is actually quite entertaining. Tommy Jarvis is now in a mental institution as a young teenager. This is a boy who has seen his sister attacked and almost killed, has to live with the fact that Jason killed his mom, and now has to grow up like a normal kid. Not going happen. While it is a bit unorthodox, it is a fine entry.
Friday the 13th Part VI Jason Lives - This is pretty much the last of the passable entries. Tommy Jarvis is now a grown man and he returns to Crystal Lake to dig up Jason from his grave and then burn the corpse to make sure that he is absolutely dead. Big mistake, as Jason comes back to life in a very Frankenstein like homage. This film also features a decent soundtrack with Alice Cooper performing the song “The Man Behind The Mask.
Friday the 113th Part VII The New Blood - The film centers on Tina Sheppard, a young girl with telekinetic powers who believes she drowned her father in Crystal Lake. Returning to the site as a method of supposedly helping her cope with her grief, Tina accidentally frees Jason from his watery grave, only to lead to more killing sprees by the man behind the mask
PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN - A graduating class of a local high school vacation on a cruise ship and unbeknownst to them, Jason is a stowaway on the same ship. Killing students by attrition, Jason eventually sinks the boat, stranding the few lone survivors in Manhattan. Among those survivors, is Rennie, who believes Jason attempted to drown her as a child. While an idea that might have looked plausible on paper, this is absolutely the worst of the series, even worse than Jason in space, as the killing machine is removed from his element and he suddenly becomes just another serial killer running around New York.
SPECIAL FEATURES
An 8-part featurette “The Friday the 13th Chronicles” which details the legacy of the films over the decades, features cast and crew commenting and their opinions as to why the films appeal to an audience. Some of the more notable names include Adrienne King, Betsy Palmer, Tom Savini, Kane Hodder, Sean Cunningham, Joseph Zito and Corey Feldman. While the feature is interesting, it is not quite what one would come to expect from the box set that took more than a decade to release.
A feature that includes “victims” over the years sharing some amusing anecdotes features Corey Feldman once again as the epicenter of the feature and it is always amusing and insightful to hear what he has to say.
Perhaps the best special feature in the set is the Behind the Gore feature that has insightful and fascinating pieces on make-up and effects guru Tom Savini. Also included are never before seen drawings and still illustrations that were the basis of the legend that became Jason Voorhees. There is also some commentary on how some of the more elaborate death scenes were created.
Every trailer except Part VI, which only has a teaser trailer is included and there is bit about the collectibles that have exploded in popularity.
Having said all this, you’d think that the 8 part box set is littered with a litany of extras. And you would be dead wrong in that assumption. This box set is, to be brutally honest, a disgrace to those of us that had waited for years to be able to view these films in their purest forms. I can remember being 13 years old in 1985, and begging my dad to take me to see Friday the13th somehow. Although it was rated R, I figured he could take me to a drive in to see it. But then suddenly, not even a week into release, the film was pulled from theaters so it could be edited with most of the disturbing graphic violence toned down. There has to be footage like this that Paramount has stored in their vaults that New Line could have included in their set. As it stands, the films are the theatrical versions only with no additional footage provided. And that is a shame. For years, Friday the 13th purists (loonies) have been screaming to have the lost footage put back in. But not with this box set.
Where is Steve Miner? Here is the man responsible for two of the early great efforts, and he is nowhere to be seen on this set. Even more disconcerting is that he is one of Sean Cunningham’s best friends. And yet he isn’t here to provide us with the commentary. In fact, commentary isn’t even available on all films. WHY?!! It’s a slap in the face to those of us who love the series. I could care less about the commentary from Rob Hedden. I want to hear from Cunningham, Miner, Zito, and other guys like Savini and Feldman. The directors here not only are from the later films, but they really don’t have much to say. Nothing interesting anyway. The strength of this series lies in the formative years. From 1980-1984, this was the toast of the horror genre. Halloween ran out of steam in 1981 and Nightmare on Elm Street hadn’t been born yet. This is when Friday the 13th was the iconoclastic series that we know of today. But very little attention is given to the early efforts. And that is a shame. This is what makes this box set a miserable failure. When the films should have lionized and celebrated, Paramount and New Line dumped on them. And there is no excuse for that. I know that there are bootlegged copies of the original and of Part VII that are uncut and have a plethora of gore. We also know that there are more trailers out there. But like the elusive and mysterious character himself, the Execs that put this shoddy DVD set together are murderous and blasphemous. How they can treat fans like this, like they honestly don’t care about us, is disturbing in its own right. You give any real fan a chance to improve on this box set, and I guarantee you that most of us could have done a better job.
Conclusion
This DVD set, while a collector’s must just to say that you have them on DVD, really should be skipped due to the inferior treatment of the fans. My bet is that in maybe another 4 years, there could be a 30 year box set with even more features and commentaries. Wait for it.
SKIP IT
