Review of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) by Josh M — 07 Nov 2014

At this point, I'm simply trying to complete watching the entire franchise. I've made it through the first 8 films, why stop with only 2 remaining?

I went into this, for the first time in the franchise with the lowest of all possible low expectations. The biggest duds of the franchise so far are Part 5 and 8, the latter being arguably being the worst of the two.

After obviously realizing how terrible that Part 8 entry, Jason Takes Manhattan was, Parmount decided to sell the right of the Friday franchise to rival studio, New Line Cinema, owner of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

I am under the assumption that New Line felt they could turn the franchise around (why else would they buy it?) which is surprising seeing that their own Nightmare franchise had been on life-support for 4 or so years.

Well, long story short, they most certainly didn't turn the franchise around. Jason Goes to hell may not be as bad as Part 8 or Part 5, but it's damn close. I strongly recommend passing unless you are like me and just trying to complete the series.

Review Points:

- This movie feels and looks unlike any other movie before it. You can definitely feel New Line Cinema's influence. The directing, camerawork, atmosphere feels very similar to the Nightmare movies.

- I was a genuinely a little excited 15min in after what appeared to be a meta angle, similar to Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) : The movie begin with the routine stalking/kills sequence of a teen unrelated to the story (usually to just to get the audience excited) Well, unlike other opening sequences, the teens gets away and is chased to what looks like a movie set. Then about two dozen cops began opening fire on Jason, in an action-movie like fashion, until he blows up (guts exploding everywhere) By all accounts, this looks like a movie within a movie parodying the Friday the 13th franchise.

Unfortunately it's not. It is simply real sting-like operation set up by cops to lure Jason to them. Sigh.

- Jason looks awful. Why in the bloody hell did New Line Cinema think they needed to redesign him? Give me Jason from Part 7 every damn time, please.

- Friday (9) doesn't follow the story established in the first 8 films, instead opting to craft a new mythology for Jason. The movie introduces the concept that Jason is an entity that can travel body to body as well as be immortal unless killed by a member of the Vorhees family (with a magical dagger). While these are ludicrous in itself, they also transform Jason into a Freddy Krueger-like monster and one resembling an Alien. It's all very hard to swallow.

- Most of the film revolves around the remaining members of Jason's family and some police characters. No teen characters/protagonists in Friday.

- By far one of the most graphic sex scenes of the franchise. I'm all for nudity and the grindhouse-exploitation angle, but this felt more on the lines of a porno; it was pretty awkward.

- Some pretty gruesome (and funny) kills in Friday 9. It's unfortunate they didn't come from Jason, though. The kill after the above-mentioned sex scene was a graphic as any kill in the franchise. Holy moly.

- It is absolutely incredible how long it took New Line Cinema to follow through on their twist ending. I can't imagine how disappointed fans were to see Freddy Krueger and the promised of a Jason x Freddy film, only to have to wait 10 more years.