Jason Goes to Hell DVD: Review By Vamp

Well, it's nice to see a little more effort exerted into the "Friday the 13th" series. Like I said, with both "Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood" and "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan," I give them all credit for trying to come up with something new for the series. With "Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood" the superpowered lead woman aspect was a bit too much for the series as a whole, and with "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan," it had a very rushed storyline, Jason didn't really spend a lot of time in Manhattan, and the acting was borderline awful. This movie manages to come up with a brand new idea for it, while keeping the same basis of the storyline, only offering a new and resh twist to it. We finally get to find out what the reason for Jason's inability to die is, as well as finding out how he could be killed, once and for all. While the movie as a whole was not executed as well as it could be, the entire concept is, in my opinion, incredibly awesome, and makes for one hell of a "Friday the 13th" movie. I've heard many complaints that it wasn't even Jason Voorhees killing them. Bull. F*cking. Sh*t. It's Jason POSSESSING people. Who cares that you don't see the big man in his mask very much of the film? It's still him, and that's really all that matters, when you think about it. I really also like how it gives us information on the fact that Jason has some family besides his crazy, homocidal, vengeful mother. It's awesome to know that Mr. Voorhees isn't alone, although it does kind of steal that whole going after his family aspect from my main man Michael Myers from "Halloween," which is kind of why I like the aspect, since I love the "Halloween" movies, but also why I hate that it's using that aspect because it TOOK IT from the "Halloween" movies. Complex, right? Anyway, this movie was a very good attempt at making Jason a scary character again, and for the most part, it accomplished this goal. It's not the best "Friday the 13th" movie in the "Friday the 13th" series, but it is definitely not the worst "Friday the 13th" movie in the "Friday the 13th" series, either, and if you're a huge fan of the last eight movies, then you'll definitely be interested in seeing this movie.

This movie's director is a man named Adam Marcus, whose directed only a few other movies, which include "Snow Days," "Conspiracy," and an upcoming movie called "I Walked with a Zombie." Since I have not seen any of these other movies, I'll be reviewing his directorial skills based on what I saw in this movie. Marcus brings something new to the table for us with his characters, and his intense vision. We get ourselves new angles for kills, as well as some interesting new filters. Especially look for the ending scene between Jason Voorhees and Steven Freeman and Jessica Kimble. It's a pretty cool scene, and the filters used in it make the looks of the fight scene pretty awesome, since it happens outside at night. It's a very interesting scene to watch, trust me. Adam Marcus also works with Jon Huguely on the story. Huguely also helped Dean Lorey develop the screenplay for the movie.The writing of this movie was done very creatively, and really makes for a fun movie to watch. While some more time could have been spent developing the characters more, and a little work on the dialogue was needed. Other than those couple of things the writing for this movie was done really well. It was possible for them to come up with an interesting new concept that works, and use it to make this series seem fresher, while at the same time, not really changing anything at all about it. It still uses Jason's insatiable urge to kill, and live for all eternity to kill the teenagers that get too close to his beloved Crystal Lake, but it gives you the reason behind the, up until now, unsolved mystery behind Jason's inability to die. I really like that they've finally decided to delve into that subject with this movie, and it all works out really well for the movie because the writers seemed to put more time into this one than they did with "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan," and it really made for a more enjoyable, and a lot less funny, "Friday the 13th" movie, which really helps us to understand Jason Voorhees more than we ever did before.

While the visuals of this movie have improved from those of the last movie in the "Friday the 13th" series, "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan," there were a couple things that didn't exactly bode well with me. I'll start where I have been, and that's with the point of view of Jason Voorhees as he is killing his victims. You see it, though he's got different bodies whenever he does it. This adds a bit more intensity to the technique, if you ask me because not only do you have that feeling of apprehension when you see the human-Jason-Voorhees-suit, but you also have that feeling that makes you think, "Oh no! It's someone she trusts!" Which is a nice and fresh new feeling for the series, and I really liked that. The look of Jason is something that really bothered me with this movie. His mask was pretty much obliterated, since at the end of "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan," he was pretty much melted by a corrosive and toxic waste that flooded the sewers of Manhattan where Rennie, Sean, and Jason were having their final standoff. But they made Jason's head bloated and twice it's regular size. They may have changed Jason's look with every sequel that came out, but at least they kept it's basic proportions together. This one just makes Jason look a little odd, and not a little dumb. That really bugged me,e ven though he was still rather badass going around chopping people to bits. This is, so far and by far, the bloodiest movie in the "Friday the 13th" series, so it makes sense that they'd work on the look of the blood for it, and work on it they did, making it look passable and well for the kills of the movie. Speaking of kills, the one kill in this movie that really stuck out of the entire movie for me, was when Jason, disguised as the Coronor, takes a fence post, and stabs it through the woman having sex with her boyfriend, and then rips it upward, having her flap to both sides, split from the midsection up to the top. It was very gruesome, but also DEFINITELY very awesome. Next up, there's an ending scene where hands, which I figure were supposed to be the demons from hell, pull Jason back down to where he belongs. The hands looked so stupid, but the effect worked well enough, I suppose. They should have put a little more of a budget into making the demonic hands looking menacing, instead of something from "Evil Dead." There's also this little demon that comes out of Robert that looks so incredibly stupid skittering around all over the place. Watch the movie, and you'll know exactly what I mean. It just looked REALLY fake, and when Jessica catches it as it lunges at her, you can tell when they used an animatronic doll. Finally we've got the ending scene where Freddy Kruger's gloved hand pulls Jason's mask down into hell. This was an excellent effect, in my opinion, and sets us up for "Freddy Vs. Jason," even though "Jason X" is the next movie in the "Friday the 13th" series. The visuals of this movie really help this movie's creepiness along nicely, and were definitely a step up from "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan's" visuals, though the visuals are definitely NOT the best ever visuals that we've seen from this series.

The Storyline of this movie is my favorite part of the whole thing, though that's not really to say the rest of the movie isn't enjoyable, either. I really like the idea of Jason possessing other people so that he can track down his sister's family and regain the body that he lost to a rocket. It's an awesome concept, in my opinion, and one that adds freshness to the series, without making Jason battle superpowered women or move away from Crystal Lake. If there is one thing, though, that I can imagine the fans wanting at the point in time that this movie came out, it was an explanation for why Jason Voorhees won't die, and with this movie, the fans finally get there answer. I also imagine a slight intake of air, too, for them, as they entered the theaters and remembered how hilarious "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" ended up being, but I also imagine that that intake of breath was, for the most part, let out by the end of the film. While this film, as I've stated a couple times, did not end up being along the line of excellence that the original "Friday the 13th" was, it did end up saving the series from a gruesome and tragic ending, which I'm sure would have happened, had this been as bad as "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" ended up being. I applaud the storyline of this movie for coming up with something new for the series, and actually making it work. The angle that it gives Jason is really quite awesome, and what they came up with for Jason to transfer himself into other people's bodies, was just as gruesome as we could expect from a "Friday the 13th" movie, and from our friend Jason Voorhees. They kept Jason true to his maniacal killing story, but gave us insight to what drove him, aside from the fact that he wants to avenge his mother's beheading by destroying all teenagers who enter into his area. Speaking of his area, while Jason going to New York in "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" was an interesting concept, it ultimately failed due to the budget of the movie. It's nice to see that Jason has returned to his hometown of Crystal Lake. I also like how the world has finally realized that Jason Voorhees was not yet dead, and that they're making attempts to destroy him utterly and completely. Although I don't rightly know how exactly I feel about the bounty hunter angle of the movie. The Storyline of this movie was definitely a step up from what we got with "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan," and creates an excellent and interesting angle for which we can finally get answers as to what Jason Voorhees really and truely is, as well as why the bastard refuses to die.

The movie starts off with us seeing a woman named Elizabeth Marcus (Played by Julie Michaels of "Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway), as she is driving down a road. She turns into some trees, and stops at a cabin, where she gets out and walks into. As she tries to turn on the light, it burns out, and she heads into the storage shed to get some lightbulbs, when she hears some noises outside. She looks around warily, and goes back to getting the lightbubl. When she goes back inside, she replaces the bulb, and heads into the bathroom, where she strips, and hops into the shower. However, she hears a noise, and goes out to investigate what it is. She looks over the railing to the first floor of the cabin, and sees nothing, so she turns back to go to the bathroom and finds herself face to face with Jason Voorhees (Played by Kane Hodder of "Alligator II: The Mutation") who swings his machete at her the moment he sees her. She dodges, barely, and falls over the railing, landing hard on a table. She gets up, and runs out of the house, finding herself, yet again, near Jason, she turns, and runs into the woods with the towel draped around her, and begins to run. She can hear Jason running, but doesn't see him. Soon, she reaches a clearing, and stops, looking around for Jason. He lunges out at her, swinging the machete, when suddenly a blinding light floods the coming from stadium lights set up, and hundreds of men pop out of camoflage coverings holding up rifles and handguns and all sorts of weaponry. They begin to open fire on Jason, and he is held still by the rapid fire coming from all directions. Soon, one of the men pulls out a rocket launcher, and blows Jason to bits. At last, it seems, Jason Voorhees has been stopped. We see that the woman, Elizabeth Marcus, was an FBI agent, and had been set as the bait to bring Jason to this spot in the woods where he would be meeting his death. We see the body parts of Jason next, being taken by a Coroner (Played by Richard Gant of "Posse") into his office. He is stopped by two Security guards (Played by Tony Ervolina who was a bit part in "The House Bunny" and Kane Hodder of "Alligator II: The Mutation") who check his I.D., and frisk him, making it clear that it's an FBI office. The Coroner begins the long process of checking through the charred and mangled remains of what was once Jason Voorhees. When he gets to the heart, however, something strange overtakes him, and he begins to devour it. Soon, we see lights fill the room, and enter into the coroner, as he begins to expel some black viscous fluid from his mouth. We cut to the assistant coroner (Played by one of the writers, Dean Lorey) who is bringing in some food. He stops for the I.D. check and the frisking, and heads into the office. There he starts to insult the body of Jason Voorhees after saying it's a rare chance to say anything you want to Jason Voorhees. However, as we know, Jason is now the Coroner. The Coroner grabs a probe, and kills the Assistant Coroner. As the Coroner leaves the office, the two security guards make a crack about how much of a p*ssy Jason Voorhees was, and beign Jason and hearing them, Jason turns back around and kills them before leaving. We then see a news report done by a man named Robert Campbell (Played by Steven Culp of "Gross Anatomy") who is doing a broadcast about the death of the assistant Coronoer and the two security guards, as well as the disappearance of the Coroner, and the speculation on whether or not Jason Voorhees is dead or not. In it, we see him interview a man named Creighton Duke (Played by Steven Williams of "Under the Gun"), who is a bounty hunter. He explains that what everyone perceives as Jason, is not really Jason, but rather Jason wearing a body, and that Jason cannot die, unless he is killed a certain way. Duke says that he's willing to kill Jason once and for all, for the price of five hundred thousand dollars. Campbell tells the audience that he's agreed to pay Duke if he can give them incontrovertable evidence as to Jason's existence, and the fact that he's completely dead. We see a woman, shutting off the TV report. This woman is Diana Kimble (Played by Erin Gray of "Six Pack") who is working at a diner. Her boss, Joey B (Played by Rusty Schwimmer who was a bit part in "Candyman") is then seen teaching her son, Ward (Played by Adam Cranner of his first and only movie) and her husband, Shelby (Played by Leslie Jordan of "Ski Patrol") how to make the burgers into hockey masks to fit their two-for-one Jason's dead sale. We cut to Diana as she heads over to wait on a new customer at the diner, who turns out to be Creighton Duke. Duke knows who Diana is, and talks with her about it. However, Diana keeps telling him to get out, and asking him what he wants, even though she knows already, and soon, her boyfriend, Sheriff Ed Landis (Played by Billy Green Bush of "Private Debts") comes over, and takes Duke away for disturbing her, trying to act all macho. When he stays behind to see how Diana is, she yells at him for fighting her battles for him, and goes to sit at the bar. There she finds her daughter's ex-boyfriend, and the father of her grandbaby, Steven Freeman (Played by John D. LeMay of "Without a Map"). They talk, and she tells Steven to come over to her house at eleven o'clock. We cut now to Steven driving down a road at night, and running into some kids sitting around near an old sign, and he offers them a ride. Their names are Deborah (Played by Michelle Clunie of "Sunset Strip"), Luke (Played by Michael B. Silver of "Playing by Heart"), and Alexis (Played by Kathryn Atwood of "Cyber-Tracker 2"), and they're headed to Crystal Lake now that Jason is gone. Steven drops them off, even though one of them invites him with, and heads away. He has to meet Diana. Diana, meantime, has been closing up the diner, and meets one of the Sheriff's deputies, who tells her not to worry too much about the Sheriff's actions. They go their separate ways, as the deputy, Josh (Played by Andrew Bloch of "Hard to Kill"), meets his date. However, Jason in the coroner's body shows up and kills them both, and takes over Josh's body. When Diana gets home, she gets a call from her daughter, Steven's ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child, Jessica Kimble (Played by Kari Keegan of "Mind Games"), who is now dating Robert Cambell, the TV man. However, as they're talking, Josh shows up, who is possessed by Jason, and attempts to kill her, for reasons we don't yet know. That's when Steven shows up, and tries to kill him, but the man will not die, true form to Jason Voorhees. When he finally throws Josh out of the window, Steven sees that Diana has been stabbed in the back. Jessica had called the Sheriff, who now shows up, but when Josh's body is nowhere to be found, the Sheriff thinks that Steven is responsible, and takes him in and locks him up. He is put in the cell right next to where they're keeping Creighton Duke. Duke knows exactly what has happened, and laughs at him for it. That's when he tells Steven that only he can help Jessica to stop Jason. Steven asks what he means, but Duke says he'll have to pay the price. When Steven says alright, Duke breaks one of his fingers, and explains that Diana was the sister of Jason Voorhees, and that he's out to get her. When Steven asks why, Duke breaks another finger, and tells him that Jason needs a new body, and that the one's he inhabit don't last long. When Steven asks why Jason is after Diana and now Jessica, and prepares to have another finger broken, but Duke tells him anyway, that only through a Voorhees can he be killed and only through a Voorhees can he be reborn. Steven breaks free and heads to the Voorhees house to find answers to prove it to Jessica. Jessica and her baby are the key to Jason's rebirth, but also the key to his eternal damnation in hell. Meanwhile Jessica is back in town due to her Mother's murder, and she has Vicki (Played by Allison Smith of "A Reason to Believe"), a girl who worked with her mother at the diner. Vicki takes the baby to work with her. Joey tells her to get rid of the baby, but when she finds out that Steven had broken free, she tells Vicki to put the baby in back. Meanwhile, Steven has made it to the Voorhees house, but hears a sound, and hides in the closet, where he falls through the floor accidentally, and through a crack in the closet door, he sees, and hears, that Robert Campbell, her new boyfriend is double crossing her, and using her and her mother's body, to make money off of this whole Voorhees thing. Soon, Josh, possessed by Jason, shows up and possesses Robert's body, and walks off. Now he heads to Jessica's house and saves her as Robert tries to kill her, but when he runs over Robert she freaks out, not knowing what's happening, and pushes Steven out of the car and drives to the Station. They send a cop out to the road where she pushed him off, and bring him in. However, Robert, who hadn't died, shows up and kills everyone there. Jessica and Steven escape, however, and head to the diner, where her baby is being watched. Joey, however, sees her with Steven and refuses to let her have the baby. Suddenly, Robert shows up, who is, as we know, possessed by Jason, and starts to attack, and everyone mounts an assault. During the fight, Jessica sneaks in back, and finds a note where the baby was. She sneaks out alone, as everyone is dead, and Steven is left alone to fight against Robert. He wins, and leaves the place just in time to see Jessica driving off. He goes back inside, and finds a note saying that Duke has their baby. Now Steven must go and face off against Jason at his own house, so that they can end his reign of terror once and for all, and sentence him to eternal damnation in hell, where he belongs. The actors and actresses involved in this movie do pretty good jobs for their parts, though the actor playing Creighton Duke got on my hands. Once again, I applaud Kane Hodder who plays Jason masterfully as ever in this installment. He also plays Freddy Krueger's arm at the end of the movie, and the security guard at the beginning. Definitely involved thoroughly in the film, and really brings Jason's mask, for the bits that it is actually Jason's real body, to life wonderfully. The other characters manage to get down their respective character's emotions, feelings, worries, and other such characteristics pretty well. Definitely a pretty good job on the casting of this movie.

All in all, this movie was a definite step up from "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" and gives us a pretty fresh idea, without making the movie too much to swallow, or too dumb. Fans of the series so far will be overjoyed to find out exactly what keeps Jason alive and ticking despite all the stuff that happens to him in the past eight "Friday the 13th" movies. The Director of this movie manages to give us some new and fun angles and filters that really brings to life Jason's kills in this movie, and at the same time add a spookiness to the movie that seems to have disappeared since "Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives." DEFINITELY a pretty good job on the Directing of this movie. The Writer of this movie also handles it very well. The characters could have used a little more development, but the idea as a whole worked nicely to bring freshness to the series, and at the same time not make it too much or too stupid. DEFINITELY a pretty good job on the Writing of this movie. The Visuals of this movie manage to make a major upgrade from the previous installment of this series, and while a couple of things, like Jason's mask and the demon hands from hell, look kind of dumb, for the most part it all works out nicely, like the blood and the kills, to bring back more of that eeriness that was lost after "Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives." DEFINITELY a great job on the Visuals of this movie. The Storyline of this movie, as I've touched on a little bit already, does a great job of introducing freshness to the movie with out overdoing the idea, and underdoing everything else. It creates for us an origin that fans have been wondering at since "Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives," and manages to deliver it VERY well, and stepping up from the near-travesty that "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" was. DEFINITELY a great job on the Storyline of this movie. The Acting ties everything in this movie together. All of the Actors and Actresses deliver performances as characters that are PRETTY Convincing, PRETTY Believable, and PRETTY Realistic, as well as delivering performances as characters that you can really FEEL FOR, though I'm not sure how well you could RELATE TO them, on VARIOUSLY different levels. DEFINITELY a pretty good job on the Casting of this movie. So if you've been a fan of the "Friday the 13th" series since the start, and have stuck with it through it's ups and it's downs, and wondered at why the hell Jason won't die and how he can keep going on the way he does, and were disappointed with the way that "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" turned out, then this is DEFINITELY the movie that you need to see. It offers up that origin story that you want while at the same time outdoing the, as I said earlier, near-travesty that "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" was, and it will, in all likelihood, restore your faith in the series. So give it a try. I'm almost POSITIVE that you will NOT get disappointed with it. I know I didn't!!!!!

THIS CONCLUDES PART 9 IN MY REVIEW SERIES FOR THE "FRIDAY THE 13TH" SERIES!!!!! STAY TUNED FOR PART 10, "JASON X!!!!!"

I'm not really one who likes to watch a lot of Special Features, so I'm just going to list out what this version of "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday" has to offer in the Special Features department. This disc includes:

-Unrated and R-Rated Versions

-Widescreen Version of the Film

-Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

-DTS Surround Sound

-Stereo Surround Sound

-English Subtitles and Closed Captions

-Filmmaker Commentary - With Director Adam Marcus and Screenwriter Dean Lorey

-TV Version Alternate Scenes

-Jump to a Death

-Original Theatrical Trailer

As you can see, this version of "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday" offers up some interesting features that will let you take a look into the making and such of this movie, and is definitely good for the fans of the movie who, unlike me, LIKE to watch the Special Features on a DVD.

The Picture Quality of DVD's can be a very important thing. Sometimes it can get too Dark, and cause people to not be able to see very well what is going on in the movie. This especially sucks for Horror movies because it takes away the scare that you usually get with it, since you're not able to see clearly everything that is happening. Also, the Picture Quality can sometimes get too Bright, which causes color distortion on things, and when they mention the color of things, it'll be a completely different color than you are seeing. However, none of this is wrong with this version of "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday," which has been Digitally Remastered WONDERFULLY, and makes your viewing experience of "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday," QUITE enjoyable.

The Sound Quality of DVD's, like the Picture Quality, is a very important thing. Sometimes it can get too soft so that when you watch, you have to turn the volume all the way up, just to have to turn it back down all the way when it hits an action scene, and the fighting, killing, screaming, murdering, and explosions that take place cause your speakers to nearly go out because the Sound Quality was all of a sudden normal, meaning your TV is being louder than sh*t. I call that "The Silent Explosion" effect, and it's my least favorite thing to get with a DVD. Some people like to keep their volume at the same level for all of their shows, and really hate to have to change it, which is the way I am, so that REALLY sucks when you get "The Silent Explosion" effect. However, none of this is wrong with this version of "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday," which has been Digitally Remastered WONDERFULLY, and makes your hearing experience, as well as your viewing experience, of "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday," QUITE enjoyable.

Packaging is another VERY important aspect for DVD's because it's going to be what sells the movie for some people who've never seen it, or heard anything about it before. The Packaging of this version of "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday," was done very well, and does it's job nicely, with an excellent cover images, that features Jason's mask in silver, with a creepy worm-like thing crawling through the eye, and flames surrounding it. This cover will make people pick it up to read the back, where they'll most DEFINITELY be swayed into buying it, with the stills and images from the movie "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday," and a DVD Features/Special Features (In This Version Called "All Access Pass") Table of Contents placed provocatively around a very well written summary of what happens in "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday." This will DEFINITELY look good in your collection, as well, sitting with all of the other DVD's in your DVD collection, as well as with all of your other "Friday the 13th" DVD's. The Packaging was DEFINITELY put together nicely.

So if you're looking for a version of "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday," a movie that's got pretty good Directing, pretty good Writing, great Visuals, an excellent Storyline, and some pretty good Actors, that has great Picture Quality, superb Sound Quality, and excellent Packaging, then this is DEFINITELY the version of "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday" for you to get your hands on. I'd suggest at least renting the movie first, to see if it's your kind of movie. I'm almost POSITIVE, though, that you'll really enjoy this movie, and want to buy it, since it is DEFINITELY a step up from "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan," and restores the series partially, to what it was before "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" came out. So give it a try. I'm almost POSITIVE that you will NOT get disappointed with it. I know I didn't!!!!!