Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday Review

After a few years laying dormant, New Line Cinema grabbed the rights for the Friday the 13th series from Paramount and decided to make another film. The film is marketed as the final Friday, but final has never been set in stone for this franchise.

As always, we begin with the trailer. I think the trailer for this film is awesome. It's one of the better trailers for the franchise. There's even a trailer that makes reference to the first 8 films. But the one on the DVD is not that one. There's a lot of quick cuts. It's much flashier than previous trailers and there's a great burst of flame around the iconic hockey mask. It's just a great trailer. I'm being positive now because I really hate this movie. I think it's amazing that they were able to make a trailer that made the film look as appealing as this one does. It's truly great marketing for a very poor and ultimately crummy picture. The tagline is fairly lackluster though: Evil has finally found a home. I don't know if saying finally is good for an eighth sequel. Evil's home for the Friday series has been in Camp Crystal Lake. I just don't think the tagline is a good promise and really has nothing to do with the final product.

As far as the film itself...this is the worst film in the entire franchise and I'm not even playing. This movie truly SUCKS! The movie had a lot going for it too, so what went wrong??? First let's start with the positives: Sean Cunningham has come back to produce. He wanted Jason out of the hockey mask. It's kinda like he wants to ruin his own franchise, but ok. The director Adam Marcus, who was only 23 at the time, wanted to do something DIFFERENT for a Friday film. He definitely achieved that and a lot of his ideas were truly good. He aged up the characters. This is an incredibly smart move. Plenty of people grew up on Friday the 13th. These characters were dealing with what the audience who grew up watching the show would have been dealing with: babies and the death of a parent just to name a few. This was incredibly risky and I love the risk that was taken.

Another good thing is KNB's gore effects. This will be showcased a lot more in the unrated cut, which I'll review later, but still...KNB is always good and it's always a pleasure to see their work, even if only for a fraction, on screen. The mask especially is amazing in this one. It's like engraved in his head because he's worn it for so long. It's an amazing concept that unfortunately doesn't get seen much. Kane Hodder returns as Jason for a third time as well. This movie, I think more than any other, solidified him as the face of the franchise. He was never going to willingly leave the character of Jason, which is made obvious by the crazy mess that this film is. Kane Hodder, without makeup, is actually killed by Jason in this film off screen, it's such a nice moment for the fans. Kane alone I'm sure increased ticket sales.

Our final girl, Jessica, is one of the most unique final girls in the entire franchise. She's a mother! A brand new mother, or recent, at that, but still a mother. She's the oldest one in the series so far. She has to deal with a ton too. She has to deal with the death of her mother (the more I think about it, that's a common trend for the latter half of the series), the father of her baby is accused of murdering her mother, plus she has to deal with the fact that she truly is the only person who can ever kill Jason. This gets into some problems which we'll discuss later. She's one of the biggest fighters early on. She can easily take care of herself. She appears vulnerable for a scene or two, but very quickly she becomes incredibly strong. She does also finally kill Jason. Jason does get sent to hell at the end of the movie. All of these things are good, but the fact is the movie's final product is so bad that Jessica is incredibly forgettable. It's a great character though.

John D. LeMay, or Ryan from The Series plays the main guy Steven in the film. I like John as an actor quite a lot and this film is no different. He's also one of the only actor to appear in both The Series and the film franchise.

The last good thing is that Harry Manfredini returns as the composer. He's always a joy to have on. He did the first six films and the ninth one so far in the franchise. There's some great throwbacks in the score as well. Including the now classic 'Ki, ki, ki, Ma, ma, ma.'

With so much going for it, where did it possibly go wrong? First, the movie had no respect for the history of the franchise. Jason is now said to not truly be Jason. What we know of as Jason (who was established over time in movies 2-4, and 6-8) is just a body. Jason, according to this movie is a body jumper. He goes from body to body until he can be reborn through another Voorhees (which by the way is misspelled on the mailbox in the film). That's another thing, Jason has a sister! Why was this NEVER mentioned before? Oh, I don't know, because it makes no sense!!! That's the biggest offense of all. Jason body switches in this movie. Jason as we know him only appears in two sequences: the beginning and the end. What a waste on something called the final Friday. We should get a TON of Jason. The filmmakers could claim they do give that to us but in body switching form. This franchise isn't about BODY SWITCHING THOUGH!

Second, the character of Creighton Duke is a complete mess. He claims to have followed Jason for years. He knows all this crap about body switching and his character specifically completely changes the mythology of the franchise. The mythology is SOOO important to the fans...if only Adam Marcus realized this.

Finally, one of the worst things is an overflow of references to other current franchises just to have an inside gag. Like how Crystal Lake is now suddenly located at Cunningham county, Jessica passes by the Myers house, and showing the Book of the Dead from The Evil Dead trilogy FOR NO APPARENT REASON! This one shot will come into play later on though, but not in the films. The final shot is a good gag though. Having Freddy's glove pop out of the ground and drag Jason's mask under the sand was a GREAT set up for Freddy Vs. Jason. Overall though this film is a total train wreck and it shouldn't be considered canon.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday premiered on August 13, 1993. On a budget of $2.5 million, the film grossed $15,935,068, a step up from the previous entry and a good start for New Line. What was New Line going to do next with the beloved franchise? How could they continue on with Jason being condemned to hell...well, we'll discuss that next time...