Customer Reviews

Friday the 13th: From Crystal Lake to Manhattan Ultimate Collection (Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part IV: The Final Chapter / Part V: A New Beginning / Part VI: Jason Lives / Part VII: The New Blood / Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan)

5 star:		(82)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(32)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

Paramount truly are quite shameful, lazy, and contemptable. Everything about this 'Ultimate' release screams "cheap-a$$" quite loudly. And here's why.

I think it is forgiveable that Paramount didn't see fit to release these movies in their uncut forms. It would lose them money in some circles if this boxset were to not be stocked in Blockbuster. So for this release, uncut death scenes have been prepared.

Here are the catches, and they are quite significant: 1) gore footage for the original Friday the 13th and Part 6 are presented in horizontal SPLIT SCREENS alongside the R-rated versions. That's right, Jason fans- it's squeezed into only HALF the screen space. That's 2 out of 3 movies. 2) The gore footage from Part 7 looks quite bad, in a very rough made-for-video way in which the age shows a lot of wear and tear. There's bonus footage here as well from Part 4, but it's made-for-tv deleted scenes that don't include any gore.

Also, remember when Paramount put out the first Friday on DVD? You could finally see Annie's throat-slitting in it's entirety. Well, Paramount's decided to cut that back out. So that means if you ever want to see it again, you have to buy the original on DVD separately. Which I'll be doing, you can bet.

Here are some other things you might like to know. The set contains 4 discs of movies. Each disc has 2 movies on each disc side. I'm sorry, but my DVD players freeze erratically whenever a disc has more than 3 hours and 10 minutes of stuff on them. 20th Century Fox released The Family Guy TV seasons in these very slim single cases- why didn't Paramount have this brainstorm too?! That way, we could get 1 movie a disc, like we deserve. At least that would show Paramount thought about someone else.

The 1 Bonus Disc contains a few truly bogus featurettes. Paramount didn't even get half the cast members that would have been willing to do interviews and commentaries. They just had some people go off to a convention 1 year and get a mere handful of people there on camera. They neglected to put effort into contacting actresses Kimberly Beck and Melanie Kinnamon, who have been very outspoken about their enthusiasm onset and their appreciation for the series fans. Also, director Steve Miner is absent from participation on the featurettes or commentaries. Yet he's been on bonus features for the House, Halloween H20, and Last House on the Left DVDs. So sorry, I don't buy that he didn't want to participate here.

The only real work Paramount did here was on the commentaries. The commentaries for only 4 movies. The directors of Friday the 13th's 6, 7, and 8 do commentaries. Jason actor Kane Hodder joins the director on Part 7, and the cast of Part 3 do a commentary. But there's yet another catch! These commentaries - at least the one I heard for Part 3, have the worst sound quality I've heard from a big studio commentary since John Waters track for the Cecil B Demented DVD. And even that was less TIN-can sounding than this.

This boxset is the biggest insult to fans of this series. And even at $57, this is overpriced. I urge everyone here to pay attention to the rumors I'm hearing about future re-re-releasing of these movies on yet another boxset or individual uncut releases. At the very least people, don't buy this until you hear it's about to go out of print. The Star Wars boxset is worth more than this.

Fans have been begging Paramount for years to release the unrated and uncut Friday the 13th films. The "Blockbuster and Wal-Mart won't sell them" excuse I've heard, here and there, is patently untrue. Both Blockbuster and Wal-Mart sell and rent unrated films (call either of them up and ask if they carry the unrated edition of "Bad Santa," if you need proof). They simply don't sell or rent NC-17 movies.

So what's Paramount's excuse? No input from the Directors of the films? Nope, that's not it. John Carl Buechler, director of Friday the 13th Part VII has openly campaigned for an unrated version to be released (so fans can finally see "the new BLOOD"). Tom McLoughlin, director of Friday the 13th Part VI, told me directly that he has contacted Paramount, letting them know that he would be willing to do a director's commentary AND re-edit an unrated Director's Cut of Jason Lives. The studio didn't take him up on his offer to create an unrated Director's cut (he does provide commentary on part VI). If this box set is any indication, they never will. Kane Hodder, Jason in Paramount's F13 6, 7 and 8 has been screaming for unrated and uncut versions, and has expressed a desire to do commentary for each of the films (including the ones he didn't star in). So why, at the very least, isn't there commentary on EVERY disc? I suspect it's because Paramount wanted to cram two movies onto each disc, leaving no space for commentary or other valuable extras on some of the films (and giving a compressed picture, that isn't much better than what you get on video).

Why aren't the films uncut and unrated? Because Paramount is too stubborn to release them that way. It has been known for years that Paramount has been "ashamed" of this series. They don't get what it is that makes the movies great, and therefore think they can give fans bargain bin box sets like this, rather than presenting them with the quality box set the Friday the 13th films DESERVE.

This should have been a 16 disc set. Each film should have had 2 discs, one featuring the unrated version, the other the theatrical version. There should have been commentary on the unrated version (disc 1) for the movie, and extras on the rated version (disc 2). It's a shame that Paramount won't sell the entire series to New Line, a studio who has expressed interest in doing a comprehensive box set, which would include the long sought after uncut films.

If New Line's Freddy vs. Jason wouldn't have been the hit it was, fans wouldn't even be getting this box set. Then again, they wouldn't have been missing much. Fans should let Paramount know what they think, by voting with their dollars. Until we get the box set we deserve, after we made these movies the gigantic hits that they were (most of them), and stuck with the series through thick and thin, we should reject this lame offering by Paramount and hold out for something better.

Paramount should be proud of this series. They should embrace it. They should never be ashamed of the 8 films they distributed. The only thing Paramount needs to be ashamed of is this quickie box set made to milk more cash from diehard Friday fans, at Halloween time. While I'll forever love the films, I cannot say anything nice about this set. It is easily the most poorly put together major DVD release I've ever seen. It's a disgrace. Not even the bloodiest uncut scenes could be as disgusting as Paramount's lackluster treatment of the Friday fans who have made the studio filthy rich, over the years.

This is the sloppiest, worst thought out attempt to steal money from Friday fans paramount has come up with. After spending 25 bux a pop on bare bones, terrible transfer DVD's, we get this "special box set" With NO real features besides the audio commentaries...No Uncut footage(especially part 7 which has TONS of cut scenes) No 3-d part 3, etc. God do I wish New Line had the rights to ALL these movies, then we'd have a worthwhile box set with UNCUT movies! As it stands, this is a cheap piece of trash and hopefully Paramount will put out a decent HD-DVD box set when that becomes the norm because this is ridiculous!

Although I am happy Paramount has finally released some sort of FRIDAY THE 13TH box-set - on the whole, it is pretty disapointing. It seems to be something that was very cheaply thrown together to make a few bucks and satisfying the fans' requests does not seem to have been "paramount". Most every other horror movie that a company has taken the time to release on DVD has been released in its original uncut version and with a director and/or cast commentary, so that should have been the bare essential for each historic film in this set - but we don't even get that. What makes it even worse is that the original FRIDAY THE 13TH has been released in every other country in a special-edition DVD (from Warner Bros) including the uncut version, a very nice "making-of" featurette and a commentary including several of the cast and crew. Paramount obviously was too cheap to even acquire the rights to those features and throw us a bone on this set. There is also no excuse for not releasing Part 3 in 3-D as that has also been made available in other countries. The "extras" on the 5th disc are embarassing and laughable - for example: the two people interviewed for Part 3 are not Steve Miner (the director) and Dana Kimmel (the star) but instead some guy I've never heard of (the director of photography) and Larry Zerner (Shelly, definately NOT the star). Shame on you Paramount - now that you have cashed in on FRIDAY THE 13TH one more time, do us all a favor and sell the rights to these films to NEW LINE (or even ANCHOR BAY, for that matter) so they can release a proper special edition box-set.

Things missing from this set:
1-uncut versions
2-commentaries for each film
3-Part 3 in 3-D
4-the original movie poster artwork

I never thought I'd actually see all of these movies released together, but now that they are, all I can think is what the crap was Paramount thinking?!?!

As I write this I can see a kick ass box set on my shelf called "The Nightmare On Elm St Collection." And as I look at that box set, I hate this Friday one more and more.

How can you not do four CRUCIAL things?

One being releasing these UNCUT (I know, I know, "we lost the footage"...BULL! You don't just lose footage to eight films!).

Another being NOT giving them GOOD sound for those who have been dying to pop these into their surround sound system...MONO?!?!?!

Another being no Friday 3-D in 3-D?!?!?! COME ON! Spy Kids was even released in 3-D, and that fan base won't give a crap about that movie in 5 years, while Friday fans are dedicated (Friday fans deserve a good box set!). How come a Sylvester Stallone gets to be in 3-D, but not a horror icon?!?!

Finally, two movies per disc? I swear Paramount, you are trying to have people NOT like this box set. Man, even the Leprechaun Box Set has the movies seperated!

My advice to anyone looking to buy this is: Just dish out another 30-50 bucks and get the Nightmare Box set, because it is the cream of the crop, and buy these Friday movies individually, this way you at least get better sound options.

This gets a -13 out of 10.

This is really a pretty good boxed set and the extras are great. But......
They have really shafted us on part 7. Once again it is the edited video version. The poor quality of the deleted scenes for many of the Friday films is understandable since this is archival footage and was never in the films as they were released. Really, its a miracle that this footage even exists. The restored scenes from Part 1 look great because the
film was released in europe and asia with these scenes intact.
Unfortunately, what many younger fans don't realise is that FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH PART 7: THE NEW BLOOD was the only film in the series censored AFTER its initial release to theatres. The sleeping bag murder was not censored until the film was released on VHS home video. In the theatrical cut Jason swings the girl in the sleeping bag against the tree
THREE times. It is NOT the same version featured in the cut scenes on
this DVD release. Since this footage went out in prints to theatres across the united states in 1988. It is reasonable to believe that this footage exists and that paramount has it. So what gives. The original
Bag murder was shocking and fantastic. I saw it opening night and the crowd gasped, clapped and cheered at the sleeping bag gag. A huge fan reaction. In the commentary Kane and John say they think the censored version is better. Yeah Right. Are the Political Correction Police holding guns at your groins you wimps? The 1 swing version sucks and isn't shocking at all, you sissies!!!!!
At the time of the video release, fan scuttlebut suggested that Paramount didn't like audiences reaction to the bag murder. I.e. they cheered and enjoyed it too much.
Finally, The box art on this release is very nice, and quite haunting actually, as it depicts the young boy Jason in the moments before
his infamous swim.

When Paramount pictures, first announced that they had a "Friday the 13th" film's box-set in the works, they said that they would release the films uncut. But over the past few months they have announced that they could not find the uncut footage. So what fans are left with are all of 8 first films with their original edits in widescreen on 4 discs (2 movies per disc), with an extra disc of special features. Special FEatures expected on the set include 4 Commentaries, 3 Featurettes (about 15 minutes each), a feature length documentary, are all 8 original trailers. Althought its not quite the "Alien Quadrilogy" that paramount promised, it is still the cheapest and easiest way to buy all of the first 8 friday films.

I have been waiting for this for about 10 years. Granted it's not as feature packed as we would like it to be, but for the price you can't beat it. I know the DVD package says that there is over 10 hours of features, and I know the 5th disc only has about 3 hours of features, but you've also got to count the commentaries that are on some of the movies. Since I already had Jason X and Jason Goes to Hell this rounds out my collection perfectly. Now this Halloween I can have an 17 film horror fest with Freddy and Jason and cap it off with Freddy vs. Jason.
I know theses arean't the BEST movies ever made, but it was one of the first slasher flick ever made. Most pf the plots are repeats from previous films, but you don't watch them for the story line or the acting. You want to see the interesting ways that people get disposed of. I love parts 6 and 7. They are personal favorites. Part one (if you've never seen it) has a great twist at the end. Then in part 3 when Jason gets his signature mask. It's great to see how Jason has evolved in the different films. There are a few inconsistancies in some of the films that tend to contradict some the things in the other films, but when you have a different writer/director for each film, it's hard to keep everything in line.
One of the greatest reasons to watch these films in order is to see how far we've advanced in the special effects field. Starting from a rubber body suit for the Kevin Bacon death scene in part one to the integration of computer graphics in the last few films is a great evolution to watch. All in all, this a great way to complete your Friday collection. For all those people that want to complain about the lack of features, I say count your blessings you have this one. Paramount could have never come out with anything and you'd be upset about that. Get over yourselves and let the rest of us enjoy our set.

PLOT:
I. Friday The 13th (1980): The film begins at Camp Crystal Lake in 1958. Two teenage counselors sneak into a room to have sex, but before they can undress, a mysterious figure murders them both. The film then fast forwards to Crystal Lake in 1979. A young girl named Annie (Robbi Morgan) enters the Crystal Lake diner and asks for directions to the camp, much to the shock of the diner patrons, who inform Annie that the camp has been closed for over two decades. Local lore holds that the campground is cursed, in addition to the murders, a young boy drowned in 1957. After the two counselors were murdered in 1958, several attempts were made to reopen the camp, all unsuccessful, due to a series of bizarre occurrences (unexplained fires, and another year, water contamination). Annie writes off these events as superstition and coincidence. She hitches a ride with a truck driver, who drops her off a few miles from the camp after he suggests that Annie return home and not work at the allegedly "cursed" camp. Meanwhile, the camp is getting fixed up by the owner Steve Christie (Peter Brouwer). The rest of the counselors soon arrive; they are Ned (Mark Nelson), Jack (Kevin Bacon), Bill (Harry Crosby), Marcie (Jeannine Taylor), Alice (Adrienne King), and Brenda (Laurie Bartram). Steve tells the counselors that he needs to run errands in town and leaves the counselors to continue camp repairs. Later on, Annie (who is still walking to the camp on foot) is picked up by an unseen person in a Jeep. Annie appears to be making a casual, if somewhat one-sided conversation with the driver. Eventually Annie notices that they have passed the turn-off road to Camp Crystal Lake. Annie politely suggests they stop and turn around, only to be disregarded by the driver, who in turn speeds past the camp and deeper into the forest. When the driver still won't respond to Annie's frightened cries to stop, Annie jumps from the vehicle, wounding her leg. She limps away into the woods, but is cornered by the driver of the Jeep, who violently slashes her throat. Who could the driver be and does he/she have any connection to the Camp Crystal Lake curse?

II. Friday The 13th Part 2 (1981): The film begins 2 months after the first film. Alice (Adrienne King), the lone survivor of Mrs. Voorhees' killing spree, is now recovering in her apartment. She goes to open her refrigerator, only to find Mrs. Voorhees' decapitated head inside. She screams and is suddenly killed by an unseen figure. Five years later, a new group of teenage counselors prepare to open up a new camp in Crystal Lake. During the preparation for the opening, some strange things start to happen and the counselors start getting murdered off by a strange figure wearing a burlap sack as a mask. If Mrs. Voorhees is dead, then who is this masked figure and what connection does he have to her?

III. Friday The 13th Part 3 (1982): The film picks up immediately after the end of Part 2. After Jason (now played by Richard Brooker) was stabbed in the shoulder by Ginny (Amy Steel), he didn't die. He left his cabin and stole a new pair of clothes from a roadside general store, and later killed the owner and his wife. Meanwhile, a group of teenagers are setting out to spend the weekend at a family-owned Crystal Lake cabin. The party includes Chris (Dana Kimmell), whose family owns the cabin, Chris' boyfriend Rick (Paul Kratka), the pregnant Debbie (Tracie Savage) and her boyfriend Andy (Jeffrey Rogers), the bong-tokin' Chuck (David Katims) and Chili (Rachel Howard), Vera (Catherine Parks), and Shelly (Larry Zerner), an overweight kid given to gruesome pranks. After the group moves into the cabin, Vera and Shelley go into town to get some supplies at a general store. Once at the store, the two are confronted by a trio of bikers and Shelly drives into their motorcycles. The bikers, Ali (Nick Savage), Loco (Kevin O'Brien) and Fox (Gloria Charles), make their way to the cabin for retribution, where they siphon the gas from the van to burn down the barn. Before that happens, though, they're killed by Jason. Chris and her friends are the next target for Jason's murdering spree.

IV. Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter (1984): Picking up immediately where Part 3 left off, police and paramedics are now cleaning up Jason Voorhees' (now played by Ted White) mess at Chris's family cabin. Jason's body, still with an axe embedded in his forehead, is put on a stretcher and sent to the morgue. Once delivered to the morgue, the superhuman killer rises again and kills an attendant and a nurse. He then begins to make his way back to Crystal Lake. A group of friends have rented a house on Crystal Lake. They are Paul (Alan Hayes), Samantha (Judie Aronson), Sara (Barbara Howard), Doug (Peter Barton), Ted (Lawrence Monoson) and Jimmy (Crispin Glover). The cabin next to the rented house is lived in by Mrs. Jarvis (Joan Freeman), her teenaged daughter Trish (Kimberly Beck), her twelve-year-old son Tommy (Corey Feldman), and their dog, Gordon. The group later meets Trish, Tommy and Gordon. The next day the group befriends twins Tina and Terri (Camilla and Carey More), who live in the area, and they all go skinny-dipping at Crystal Point. Trish and Tommy, driving by, stop to see who's at Crystal Point and the group invites Trish to a party that night. Trish's car breaks down a bit further along the road, and they are helped by Rob (Erich Anderson), a hiker with mysterious reasons for visiting Crystal Lake, who soon becomes good friends with Trish and Tommy, and camps out in their yard. The Crystal Lake setting seems like the ideal place for a nice relaxing vacation, little do the teeneagers know that they are about to get a little visit from Jason Voorhees.

V. Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985): Twelve year-old Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman) walks through the woods in the pouring rain to visit Jason's tombstone, just so he can make sure that the masked maniac is really dead. Suddenly he hears two men coming, so he hides in the bushes. The two men arrive at Jason's grave and start digging it up. They open up the coffin and find Jason's body covered in worms. Suddenly he wakes up and kills both of them. Jason (now played by Tom Morga) senses that someone is watching him and starts to pursue Tommy. Suddenly Tommy wakes up from this bad dream. Some years have passed since the events of The Final Chapter and Tommy (now played by John Shepherd) is an older teenager being transferred from the Unger Institute of Mental Health to the Pinehurst home for troubled teens. He has been traumatized ever since he killed Jason. At the home, he meets Pam Roberts (Melanie Kinnaman), the assistant director, and Dr. Matthew Letter (Richard Young). He later meets other residents: "Reggie the Reckless" (Shavar Ross), his employee grandfather George (Vernon Washington), Eddie (John Robert Dixon), Tina (Debi Sue Voorhees), Joey (Dominck Brascia), Violet (Tiffany Helm), Robin (Juliette Cummins), and Vic (Mark Venturini). Tommy knows that Jason is dead and buried, but he still has hallucinations about him and he sees him everywhere. One day, Joey pesters Vic until he snaps and kills Joey with an axe in a fit of rage. Vic is arrested and ambulance attendants Duke Johnson (Caskey Swaim) and Roy Burns (Dick Wieand) come and take Joey's body away. Soon after, murders start occuring in the area. Could Jason Voorhees be the culprit? No way; Tommy watched him die. Jason may have had superhuman strength, but no one could survive a machete chop in the skull, or could they?

VI. Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986): A year has passed since the events of A New Beginning. Tommy Jarvis (now played by Thom Matthews) is driving back to Crystal Lake (now renamed Forest Green) with his friend Allen (Ron Palillo). Tommy intends to go to the cemetery, dig up Jason's grave, and cremate it into ashes so he knows that there is no chance in Hell that Jason can ever harm anyone again. The two dig up the grave and Tommy opens the coffin. Tommy sees Jason's body rotting and covered with maggots. The sight of the body sends Tommy into a fury and he grabs a steel rod and drives it into the corpse. Suddenly a bolt of lightning hits the rod and brings Jason (now played by C.J. Graham) back to life. Allen is killed trying to save Tommy, who manages to escape. The terrified young man rushes to Sheriff Garris' (David Kagen) office and warns him that Jason is alive. But the lawman recognizes Tommy and knowing that he has been under psychiatric care since killing Jason, Garris ignores Tommy's ravings and throws him in jail. What Sheriff Garris doesn't realize is that the town is about to get a visit from one of it's most infamous citizens, and he's not friendly.

VII. Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988): As a child, Tina Shepard (Lar Park Lincoln) unconsciously used latent psychokinetic powers to kill her father by drowning him in Crystal Lake after witnessing his abuse on her mother. Now as a young woman, her mother takes her back to the same lakeside residence so that her powers can be studied (and exploited) by a doctor. But during an attempt to raise her father from the dead, she accidentally resurrects someone else long ago left to die in the lake: Jason Voorhees (now played by Kane Hodder). Jason is back and now he's meaner than ever, but has he finally met his match in the form of the psychokinetic Tina?

VIII. Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989): A year after the events in The New Blood, Jason (Kane Hodder) lies dormant on the bottom of Crystal Lake. A boat with two teenagers, Jim (Todd Shaffer) and Suzi (Tiffany Paulsen) drop anchor for a romantic evening at the lake. The anchor hits a cable tow at the bottom of the lake which sparks and revives Jason. He stows aboard the boat and kills the occupants. He then pulls up the anchor and lets the boat sail with the current. The boat later comes to a harbor and Jason climbs aboard a ship called the Lazarus. The ship is boarded by a group of graduating high school seniors who are going on a trip to New York City. What they don't realize is that they are carrying an extremely dangerous stowaway.

COMMENTS: Along with Freddy Krueger of the Nightmare On Elm Street series, Jason Voorhees was the other most infamous boogeyman of the 1980s. As a little kid, I was just as afraid of him as I was of Freddy. The writer of the first film, Victor Miller, was just trying to make a horror movie about a summer camp, but his creation grew into something beyond his wildest dreams. How ironic that Jason Voorhees went from being a seconds long cameo appearance in the first film to the main focus of all of the other films. Most people don't even know that Jason isn't the killer in the original film. Jason was originally meant to be a normal child, but make-up and EFX wizard Tom Savini (Dawn Of The Dead (1978)) felt that the Jason character wasn't special enough. He decided to base Jason on a drunk that he used to see around his neighborhood as a child; the man had one ear lower than the other, one eye lower than the other, etc. Savini ultimately designed Jason to be a retarded, deformed, hydrospephalic pinhead. I feel that the original film was the most classic and inventive out of all of the films, even though Mrs. Voorhees was the killer instead of Jason. Victor Miller ultimately never had any involvment with any of the sequels and he has reportedly never even seen any of the sequels as well. The second film is allright but it is nowhere near being the best. In this film it is discovered that Jason didn't actually drown in 1958, but most likely washed up on shore and lived in the woods as a reclusive hermit for the next twenty-something years. Apparently he witnessed his mother's decapitation from afar and set out to take out revenge on Alice, as well as all teenagers in general. What most people don't know about this film is that Jason Voorhees does not wear the hockey mask which became such an iconic symbol, but rather a burlap sack with one eyehole. Jason is seen without his mask in a dream sequence at the end of the film, and he looks deformed but with a full head of hair. Every other film depicts him as being completely bald, including Part 3 which takes place immediately after this film. Since this is a dream sequence, I guess it shouldn't be taken seriously but it should be noted that many of the other sequels also contradicted previous entries in the series. Part 3 is a very good film and is sometimes referred to as Friday The 13th Part 3-D, because it was made during an early '80s revival of 3-D films along with Jaws 3-D (1983) and Amityville 3-D (1983). This would explain why so many objects seem to pop out at the screen. Unfortunately the film is presented here in flat screen 2-D. I wish they would have released this film with 3-D glasses like Freddy's Dead in the Nightmare On Elm Street Collection. It just looks really ridiculous when it is not shown in the intended 3-D. When Jason is shown unmasked, his make-up looks very similar to his child-like version of the first film but now as a 40-year-old man. This is also the first film where Jason wears the infamous hockey mask, which he steals from one of his victims. After this film, Jason just basically became a copy of Michael Myers from the Halloween series. The Final Chapter is a very good entry in the series and (along with the first film) is my personal favorite. This is the only other Friday film in which Tom Savini did the make-up and effects. He designed Jason unmasked to be a 40-year-old version of his original creation. It looks very similar to the make-up in Part 3, but I feel that Jason's face in that film was much more animated. This film was really meant to be the "final" film, but the fans still demanded more. Ironically, this wouldn't be the only sequel to contain the word "final" in the title. A New Beginning must be one of the worst slasher films of all time. It is just bad-bad-bad. Fans were really dissappointed to find out that Jason wasn't even in the film. It turns out that the killer was just a guy pretending to be Jason. This was a really stupid attempt to try to bring back the franchise and whoever gave this script the green-light should be shot. The fans would never accept anybody else as Jason, so Paramount Studios decided to bring him back. Since he was dead for good, the studio decided to bring him back to life Frankenstein-style via a bolt of lightning. From this film on, Jason is a Frankenstein-like zombie and more-or-less unkillable. This was another very good entry in the series and a huge improvement over A New Beginning, which many fans discount altogether. The New Blood was another good entry in the series and many fans feel that the look of Jason in this film is the ideal look for Jason. The make-up and effects artists in this film decided to make him look like he has gone through seven films of being drowned, shot at, stabbed, burned, etc. His mask looks extremely damaged, his skin looks like rotting flesh, his clothes are basically scraps, and you can even see bones exposed through his skin, most notably his spinal cord through his back. When shown unmasked, he looks very skull-like. This film was nick-named Jason vs. Carrie, since the psychokinetic teen Tina Shepherd has many similarities to the title character from Carrie (1976). Jason Takes Manhattan is ultimately a let-down in the series and many fans feel that the film was falsely advertised. Most of the movie takes place on a ship, as opposed to Manhattan. The filmmakers were really trying to make a Freddy vs. Jason film, but it didn't pull through and unfortunately they decided to go with this horrible script. One thing I really hated was Jason's ability to move from one location to a distant other in only a few seconds span of time. The film also depicted Jason as being a normal child originally, who deteriorated from being underwater for so many years. This film is loaded with contradictions to previous entries. Interest in the franchise was already going down, but Jason Takes Manhattan was ultimately the final nail in the coffin and the franchise was later sold off to New Line Cinema (who also owned the Nightmare On Elm Street and Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchises.) The only films on this DVD box-set are the ones which were produced by Paramount. The other sequels which followed were Jason Goes To The Hell: The Final Friday (1993) [ironically it also wasn't the final film], Jason X (2002), and Freddy vs. Jason (2003), which teamed up Jason with Freddy Krueger of the Nightmare On Elm Street Series franchise. This film ultimately became the most successful film of either franchise. At the moment, there are plans to make a follow-up to Freddy vs. Jason and even adding another horror franchise boogeyman to the fold such as Pinhead (Hellraiser franchise) or Michael Myers (Halloween franchise). Whether this film gets made or not, production is already underway for a remake/reboot of the original film. The film will supposedly have Jason as the killer, as opposed to Mrs. Voorhees, and he will be wearing the hockey mask. Friday The 13th has ultimately become one of the most successful and long-lasting horror franchises of all time. Many of the films also featured many well-known stars in some of their first roles, such as Kevin Bacon (Tremors (1990)) in the first film, Crispin Glover (Back To The Future (1985)) in The Final Chapter, and Corey Feldman (The Goonies (1985)) in The Final Chapter and A New Beginning. Overall I would recommend this film to any die-hard slasher film addict. All of the films are presented in the original widescreen format (though I still wish that Part 3 was released with 3-D glasses.) Some, but not all, of the films are presented with a feature commentary. The box set also comes with a seperate disc entitled Killer Extras which is loaded with trailers, interviews, and several other goodies.

I was so excited when I first heard about this box set. It was dubbed "The Ultimate, Defenitive Edition," and I quickly marked the date of release eagerly. Why? Because I naturally assumed they'd finally be released in their uncut, gory glory. I mean, what's a collector's edition without that? I was really angry when I found out these were the same butchered theatrical versions with the same sound and transfers as the previous discs, and quickly changed my mind. No WAY was this piece of garbage going on my shelf. But, it got worse. I say an add on TV which proclaimed, "Eight movies, five discs!" What?! Well, turns out Paramount was too lazy to even spread them out well. Each discs got two movies on it! Can you be any cheaper? Plus, Paramount didn't even bother to film a decent documentary onthe series, just some crappy shorts with barely any interviews. How about hearing what Kevin Bacon thinks about part 1 being one of hus debut films? Maybe Crispon Glover, hmm? And where's Steve Miner? He directed two films, and gave Jason his hockey mask, I think he'd have decent stuff to say. But, truly, the really awful thing is the lack of unrated versions as I mentioned above. Paramount's bull excuse is that Blockbuster and Walmart don't sell unrated films. Really? Well, that explains why I've seen unrated versions of Eurotrip, American Pie, American Pie 2, American Wedding, Bad Santa, and even.... GASP!.... Jason Goes to Hell! These stores do not sell NC-17 rated films (as in PORN), but have no problem selling unrated stuff. Even when Paramount tries to do something right, as in showing deleted material, they screw it up by squishing it to the side of the screen. In short, don't buy this horrible, cheapie set, and wait til the rights are sold to New Line and they put out a decent set.

Shame on Paramount, and damn their black hearts straight to Hell!