Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) New Line/Horror RT: 91 minutes Unrated Version (language, graphic violence and gore, nudity, sexual content) Director: Adam Marcus Screenplay: Dean Lorey and Jay Huguely Music: Harry Manfredini Cinematography: Bill Dill Release date: August 13, 1993 (US) Cast: John D. LeMay, Kari Keegan, Steven Williams, Alison Smith, Steven Culp, Billy Green Bush, Erin Gray, Rusty Schwimmer, Leslie Jordan, Andrew Bloch, Kipp Marcus, Richard Gant, Adam Cranner, Julie Michaels, Dean Lorey, Michelle Clunie, Michael B. Silver, Kathryn Atwood, Kane Hodder. Box Office: $15.9 million (US) Body Count: 18 kills and 4 possessions
Rating: ***
Shortly after the lackluster Jason Takes Manhattan, Paramount sold the rights to the F13 franchise to New Line Cinema (the house that Freddy Krueger built). The time span between the eighth and ninth installments was four years, the longest fans had gone without a new F13 flick. Originally titled Friday the 13th Part IX: Jason Goes to Hell, it was changed to Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday in hopes that it would create more interest among fans. It’s a good title, but the purist in me likes the first title better. Once again, the word “final” is in the title. Final, really? REALLY? We’ve been through this before and know the score.
I’d like to preface my next point by saying that I do like Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. It’s campily entertaining and has a fair amount of gore. My problem with it is that it attempts to explain why Jason Voorhees can’t die. BAD IDEA! Some things are just better left unexplained. The fact that Jason can’t be killed is something that should be accepted on faith alone, much like a child believes in Santa Claus bringing toys to all the children of the world in a single night. It’s a paradox really. I wanted to know why Jason couldn’t die, but deep down I really didn’t. All that aside, the explanation offered up here is absolutely ludicrous, so much that I still shake my head in disbelief twenty-odd years later. It should have torpedoed the movie entirely, but strangely enough doesn’t. Oh, it’s a bad movie, but it’s the kind that you don’t mind watching as it’s so much goofy fun.
In the years since his trip to New York, Jason has somehow returned to his old stomping grounds and resumed his murderous ways. As this latest chapter opens, a young woman makes her way to a cabin at Crystal Lake. It’s nighttime, she’s alone and does all the things that girls in horror flicks shouldn’t do (e.g. goes outside to get something from a shed, takes a shower). Sure enough, our hockey-masked friend appears and chases her through the woods …. right into a trap set up by the FBI. They literally blow him to pieces. The fact that they think it’s really over says very little about their understanding of who they’re dealing with here.
Jason’s remains are taken to a secure government facility for the autopsy. The coroner (Gant, Rocky V) becomes hypnotized and eats Jason’s heart. He becomes possessed by the demonic spirit of Jason. Let me lay it down for you. The spirit, which manifests itself as a black slug-like creature, moves from one body to another as it needs to, usually when one body becomes too physically damaged to continue. Yeah, RIGHT! Furthermore, in order for Jason to return to his original state, he needs to be reborn by way of a blood relative. Conversely, only a Voorhees can kill a Voorhees. Kind of like only a ninja can destroy a ninja, right?
As it turns out, Jason does have family in the Crystal Lake area, namely half-sister Diana Kimble (Gray, Buck Rogers), her grown daughter Jessica (Keegan) and infant granddaughter Stephanie. Circumstances force Jessica to return to Crystal Lake and be reunited with ex-boyfriend/baby daddy Steven (LeMay). He’s fully aware of the situation thanks to bounty hunter Creighton Duke (Williams, The Blues Brothers) who also wants Jason finished for good. The killer transfers into a few different bodies in his vigorous pursuit of Jessica and her baby while Steven tries to protect them.
As I write this, I’m thinking about my initial reaction to Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday upon seeing it opening day way back when. It sounds more like a sequel to The Hidden (another New Line release) than an F13 movie. It’s this kind of thing that makes me smile with bewildered delight. At least the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously. Directed by Adam Marcus, it’s decidedly tongue-in-cheek, especially with allusions to other classic horror flicks of the 80s. I won’t spoil the surprise by pointing them out here, I’ll only tell you to pay attention to certain background objects in the old Voorhees house. This raises a real quandary for me. Should I discuss the final scene or not? I mean, this movie is 21 years old, so most people have seen it. Also, it sets up the events of a particular sequel, so it’s not like I’m dropping a major spoiler. I guess I’ll leave it alone for now.
One thing that I really like about Jason Goes to Hell is that it marks a reunion of sorts. Producer Sean S. Cunningham and composer Harry Manfredini both return to the series. Also, Kane Hodder makes this third appearance as Jason. It dawns on me that I failed to mention him in previous reviews and the man certainly deserves his props. He makes a great Jason Voorhees.
I also haven’t mentioned the best kill scenes yet. They are as follows: an assistant coroner gets stabbed in the back of the skull with a probe, a naked woman gets cut in half from behind (very bloody!), Jason smashes two cops’ heads together, a man’s arm is graphically broken, another gets scalded in a deep-fryer, a woman’s face is literally smashed in, another woman’s head is squeezed until blood squirts out and a decapitation. I counted 18 onscreen deaths and 4 body jumps (I didn’t count them with the killings). The previous two F13 installments weren’t particularly gory, so it’s nice to see a return to form. Actually, Jason Goes to Hell is the goriest F13 yet. Of course, I’m talking about the unrated version on DVD as opposed to the one released theatrically. Other than the woman being cut in half, I couldn’t say what was added or expanded.
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday may be more-than-sufficiently bloody, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s the silliest entry in the series. If I may return to a point previously made, sometimes the answer to a burning question proves unsatisfying. Perhaps it’s best not to seek answers at all to certain questions. I remember hearing a classmate make a similar point when 2010 came out in December ’84. He said that while it’s a good movie, it spoiled the mystery of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I get it, I really do. That being said, I like Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday as a slasher flick, but not as an explanation of Jason’s immortality. I prefer to keep thinking of him as the hockey-masked killer that never dies no matter what.
