The Friday the 13th franchise returns with the Deluxe Editions of the next three movies in the franchise. Parts IV, V, and VI do well in pulling the franchise together and making for a potential exciting next step after two horrible films in Parts II and III. All three Deluxe Editions are sold separately but all are set up in the same way as they last round of films. In addition to the film, they contain deleted scenes, director commentaries, original theatrical trailers, more installments in the independent Lost Tales From Camp Blood shorts series, The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited, and making of documentaries. These extras easily make these editions the definitive ones in terms of the releases available. The making of documentary on each one is spectacular and a must for any fan. I’d say that they are even more essential than the movies themselves!
The new editions kick off with what was to be the last Friday the 13th movie, The Final Chapter. While all involved claim this was to be in the end of it all (backed up by the rehiring of Tom Savini to do the make up and special effects as he did in the original film) the final scenes more than hints at, at a minimum, a franchise restart. The film picks up immediately after III, even going so far as to restage the ending of III for use as the beginning of The Final Chapter. After Jason escapes the morgue he is off again to Camp Crystal Lake to get some more revenge only to find a house full of renting teenagers and a new family next door, the youngest of which is a child make up effects prodigy and has a low tolerance for Jason trying to kills his sister.
The film stars some notables suck as Crispin Glover and Corey Feldman, who plays the boy that brought down Jason, Tommy Jarvis. After two pretty horrible films directly before this, I expected it to suck but I suggest that those that gave up on the franchise early on dig this one up as it’s likely the best one sans the original. For the most part, they probably should have ended here.
Of course, with The Final Chapter being a huge financial success, the franchise was immediately resurrected with Part V: A New Beginning. To give Paramount some credit here, this film is an attempt (a lame one though) at taking the franchise in a new direction. The focus is on the teenage Tommy Jarvis as he enters a group home. Haunted by his past, it once again catches up with him, resulting in the deaths of pretty much everyone directly or indirectly involved with him. A demented copy cat is revealed and Tommy starts to wonder if the real Jason may still be out there. Despite A New Beginning’s obvious flaws and see through plot, it would be another successful installment of the series. As a matter of fact, the entire plot would be ripped off and renamed Scream and become an even wilder success years later.
After fan angst over the copycat Jason in A New Beginning, the franchise decided to get its camp on and make a surprisingly excellent film full of both goofiness and fear. Jason Lives, Friday the 13th Part VI for those keeping score, is one of the best looking films in the franchise. It’s dark, shot well, and as about as real as looking as any films made in the eighties. Armed with new music from Alice Cooper, the franchise wastes no time “jump starting” the original Jason Voorhees as the now adult Tommy Jarvis (played by yet another actor) digs up his grave to stab his rotting corpse just one more time. All I can say is that Dr. Frankenstein would be most proud. The slaying begins and once again Jarvis and Voorhees duke it out. The humor in this film though really makes it special. While some will inevitably say that this is the moment where the franchise got silly, I contend that that this is the film where the franchise recognized what it truly was. From here on out we’d get movies like the futuristic Jason X and the epic Jason Takes Manhattan, so there you go.
Overall these are well worth your time if you have never seen them. The Final Chapter and Jason Lives are easily top notch films both for their era and for their trendsetting ways. A New Beginning is even better than most of the other franchise films if the truth were told. So, if its blood and violence you want, Mr. Voorhees is happy to oblige yet again with these definitive editions of three of the franchises most successful films.
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
